A/N: Wow, I'm in a C2

A/N: Wow, I'm in a C2! I have no idea what that stands for, but it's still pretty awesome. Looleeloo.

Chapter 6 – The Journey

Sigh.

"Aren't we there yet?" Azula demanded.

With good reason. They had been traveling in this way for Agni knew how long (the sun never seemed to move in this place), the monotony only breaking up when the lion turtle, tired from carrying the extra weight, would ask her to get off its back and swim beside it. During these periods, the princess always made sure to clench one of its immense paws in one of her long-fingered hands. She'd be damned if this beast swam off without her.

Right now was not one of those times. Here she was, sprawled out as comfortably as she could be on a turtle's hard shell, shivering as the wind sapped the heat from her still-damp clothes. She couldn't wait until this miserable trip was over with so she could wake up and be in her nice, cozy... cell. Oh yeah.

"Patience, child," the lion-turtle chided. "Our destination has been within sight for some time now. It is simply a matter of time."

"You said that before," the princess reminded the beast. "Probably days ago, though who can tell when the sun never moves? And it feels like we've been slowing down. We'll never get there at this rate!"

The lion-turtle nodded in agreement. "You are starving to death," was all it said in way of explanation.

This, of course, led Azula to stiffen. "But you said there was no need for food here!" she yelled. And indeed, though she had been in the water for what felt like days, she had not once felt the pangs of hunger or thirst.

"In the realm of dreams, no. But your body has not awakened in many days, and therefore has not eaten or drank. The effort of your loved ones is all that keeps you alive and us from drowning."

"What does that have to do with you being slower than a dried out slug-sloth?"

"You are the type who does not easily accept concepts you do not physically experience," the lion-turtle replied. "If you did not see, touch, hear, taste or smell it, it did not happen. All of this is your spirit's effort to heal itself in a manner your mind will accept."

Right, thought Azula. Maybe there was something to this whole "crazy Azula" theory after all; this whole concept was insane.

"Myself and the phoenix included," it continued. "Since I am a part of you, as you weaken, so do I."

Ty Lee scrubbed her eyes with a wide yawn, checking up yet again on her best friend. Sure enough, she was thrashing again. Every so often Azula would start pumping her arms and kicking her legs, and her body temperature would decrease rapidly. Blankets and hot water bottles solved the latter problem, and the former tended to go away on its own after an hour or so.

With a groan, she stretched her stiff muscles and rose out of the straight-backed wooden chair that had been her home for the past five days. Of the four of them – herself, Mai, Zuko and Ursa – she had left Azula's side the least, pretty much only leaving to relieve herself. She could feel her muscles atrophying already, and she hated that she might lose her flexibility, but there was no way she could focus on bends and stretches when her friend could be dying, physically or spiritually.

She couldn't really blame Zuko for not being there; he did, after all, have a Nation to run. Even then, he handed some of his duties off to his advisors so he could spend more time with his sister. Mai was also making an effort to spend time helping out, and though she still spent an hour a day alone with Zuko, she had cut her hours behind those white doors down to three. Ty Lee couldn't begrudge the private girl some time to herself; it was about time she started doing something for herself, anyway, instead of being bored all the time.

Ty Lee did, however, have a problem with Ursa. Her daughter was sick, for crying out loud, but she couldn't spare more than two or so hours a day to spend with her? And every time she did come, she looked so uncomfortable that even the acrobat was squirming in her seat. From what Ty Lee could see from her aura, it wasn't that she didn't care, or didn't like Azula, but the wavering borders hinted at uncertainty. Still, as Azula's mom and the oldest one among them, she should be trying to take more responsibility.

But she guessed it wasn't really her business. She'd just keep watching over Azula til she got better.

"Hey," a voice called from the doorway. Ty Lee glanced up to see the blind girl, Toph, staring... well, not really at anything. "How's Sweet n' Psycho doing? I felt her thrashing around and thought I should help."

The acrobat waved a dismissing hand. "She does this now and then," she replied. "It'll stop in a while. All I've got to do is make sure she doesn't throw herself out of the bed." Which was one of the reasons they'd moved her to her bedroom. "All I've got to do is feed her tiny bits of broth now and then, so it's really a one-person job. I wouldn't mind some company, though."

A nod. "Fair enough." Toph dragged a chair over to the other side of the bed, causing Ty Lee to wince at the wooden legs scraping against the stone floor. Propping her feet up on the blanket covering Azula, she folded her hands behind her head and leaned back. "So how come you're here? Most people don't fly halfway across the world to help out a chick who's treated them like crap their whole life."

Ty Lee nodded reluctantly. "I know she can be really horrible," she agreed. "I mean, she killed a twelve-year-old boy, even if he wasn't exactly helpless at the time. And she's always been kind of mean..." Her eyes narrowed fiercely, an expression that felt wrong on her face. "But there's got to be more to her than that. For one thing, I can't believe that anyone is just pure evil. There's got to be good in everyone."

"What if there isn't?"

"That's the thing," the acrobat protested, "I know there is. Mai and I might not know every little thing about Azula, but we can both tell the important things. That's why we went with her."

The earthbender frowned, puzzled. "You told me the other day that she bullied you into going."

"Well... yeah, she did," the older girl admitted. "But that wasn't why I went. I've always been too fast for Azula; I could've disabled her and run away to some other circus or something. When I went with her, it was my choice. Because I know deep down that she wouldn't have put my life in danger unless she was desperate. Just like Mai didn't go just because she was bored, I didn't go just because I was scared."

"Wow," Toph muttered, mulling the new information over. Eventually she seemed to come to a conclusion, because she looked – or rather, turned her head – in Ty Lee's general direction and said, "You know, Poofy-Pants, growing a backbone won't keep you from doing all those freaky moves and stuff."

"What do you mean?"

Toph snorted. "I mean that no matter how much you care about a person, you never let 'em walk all over you to spare their feelings. Cuz then it never stops and after a while you start getting bitter, 'til one day you hate them so much you don't give a damn what their feelings are."

Ty Lee could tell by the flickers of red bordering Toph's aura that she had experienced this firsthand, and that her parents had been the ones to do this. She was very familiar with the red border. Until recently, Mai and Zuko had both had it. She'd had it herself until she'd run away and joined the circus. But all of theirs had never been as prominent as Azula's. Hopefully her mother's presence could help with that, since Ty Lee sincerely doubted that Ozai would aid in Azula's recovery, willingly or otherwise.

"I guess," she conceded. "But a lot of what she did is probably because - "

"Who cares?" the green-clad girl interrupted. "So what if she's got mental problems that made her act like a jerk? The fact is she was still a jerk and can't be instantly forgiven for everything because of it. If you don't yell at her over it, she'll keep on doing it. Like a wolf-bear pup that pees on the carpet – you can't just excuse it because it doesn't know better. You've got to teach it to know better."

The acrobat considered her new friend's words, gross though they were. They did make an odd sort of sense, she supposed. "I guess you're right." As though on cue, Azula's thrashing finally calmed. Once she removed all of the hot water bottles from under the blankets, Ty Lee lifted the small clay pot of broth from the nightstand and spooned some between the princess's lips. The fact that she could swallow small bits at a time was all that was keeping her alive at this point, though Ty Lee knew that that wouldn't last for much longer.

Azula was tired. Weak might be a better term, but she refused to use that word on herself. Every moment she lay on the lion-turtle's back or swam at its side sapped more and more of her strength, and all the while the mountains in the distance seemed to draw no closer. The cold water had a way of stealing all the warmth from her body, and if it weren't for her firebending she might have frozen to death by now.

However, if the choppy waves and dark clouds were any indication, then soon she'd be soaked through with no way of drying herself thoroughly. Wonderful.

"Isn't there any way to go around?" she asked.

"We will not last a longer route," the lion-turtle replied. "We are both weakening, and a roundabout route would be the end of us. The true path is often riddled with obstacles."

Speaking in riddles. Again. Azula prayed to Agni that, when she woke, she might never hear another riddle or cryptic speech as long as she might live. "How do you know we'll make it through this alive?"

"There is no knowing what has not yet come to pass," the infuriating beast replied. "But we have better chances of survival going through here."

Hmph. Either that, or this animal just wanted to abandon her where she had the least chance of survival. She clenched her hands tighter around the edges of the shell in response.

As soon as the first fat drop of water hit her nose, she knew that this would be no gentle, prolonged rain; this would be a violent squall, and the winds picked up to prove her hypothesis.

In a matter of minutes the waves were slamming into the duo, soaking Azula and attempting to drag her off of her impromptu steed. Eventually gripping the edges of its shell was no longer enough, so the princess wrapped her arms around its neck. Her hair was plastered to her face, but she dared not swipe it away.

"You must release me, child!" the lion-turtle cried in a strangled voice. "Else we shall both drown!"

"How do I know you won't leave me?" Azula shouted over the storm.

"You must trust me!"

"Trust is for fools!" the girl shrieked. "Every time I trust someone, they leave me!"

"But I cannot," the lion-turtle insisted. "I am a part of you, and cannot leave, so release me!"

In the end, Azula would not figure out exactly why she let go. Maybe the lion-turtle held some power over her. Maybe she realized that the beast seemed to know what it was talking about. Maybe she was just playing the fool one more time in putting her trust in someone.

But she did let go.

Before she could grab onto her companion's leg, a vicious wave greedily dragged her under the water. She frantically looked around – which way was up? It was dark in every direction! And her swimming skills were no match for this; pig-dog paddle wasn't even suited to fine weather!

As she was on the verge of releasing her scant lungful of air and inhaling water, a giant clawed foot rose from below her and shoved her up into air – sweet air! She greedily inhaled several lungsful before turning to confront her savior.

There, before her, was a face so massive it boggled the senses. For a second she toyed with the possibility that the beast had saved her only to eat her, but then she really looked.

"Is that... you?" she shouted, realizing she didn't know the lion-turtle's name – if indeed it had one.

"Yes," it answered simply. "Climb onto my head, and we shall weather this storm."

Azula managed to leap from its paw to its face, and from there scramble up to the back of its neck, where its shell overhung enough to protect her from the worst of the rain.

"She's going to make it!" Ty Lee squealed.

Zuko lifted his head slightly, exhausted from late nights and long days. "How can you tell?" he asked.

"Her aura's starting to show through," the acrobat replied. "And almost all of the sickness is gone!" Granted, the red and blue churned like before, hinting at confusion, and the colors were still faint, but she had pulled through. If they could just keep her alive long enough for her to wake up, she could get better!

The only thing that worried her was that the red barrier surrounding her aura still remained strong and unbroken. Still, the madness was dispelled for the most part, meaning they could finally get through to her!

"Zuko, Ty Lee," Mai suddenly spoke up. "You've both been working too hard. Go get some sleep and I'll watch her."

Zuko nodded, apparently too tired to argue, and gave Mai a quick kiss before leaving. Ty Lee followed, but stopped at the doorway.

"Will you send somebody for me if she wakes up?" she asked, anxious to see her friend.

The projectile master nodded. "I'll get one of the guards outside the door," she replied.

Ursa overheard the good news from the courtyard below her daughter's window. A relieved sigh ghosted through her lips. Though she didn't know the first thing about auras, Ty Lee seemed to know what she was talking about, so the former princess would trust her judgment. It wasn't as though any of them had any other ideas; even Zuko's letter to Iroh had helped little, only saying that the fever needed to run its course.

As for Ursa herself, she had been little help over the past two weeks. If she was honest with herself, she would admit that she had been actively avoiding her daughter's bedroom since the first day.

It wasn't that she didn't love her daughter, or care if she survived; she did. In fact, she had spent most of the two weeks right in this spot, within earshot of every new development and easy reach in case of an emergency.

No, love was not the problem. The problem was... she didn't know how to deal with Azula. She hadn't known before she left the Fire Nation, when she saw her little girl every day. Now... seven years had turned that little girl into a ruthless stranger, if the accounts she'd heard were accurate. How could she get through to this stranger when she couldn't even get through to the girl she'd raised from birth?

"Is this where you've been all this time? Right outside?" an angry voice demanded.

Ursa turned to see Ty Lee standing there, angrier than she'd ever seen the girl. Though the only light in the moonless night came from Azula's window, it was obvious from looking at her that she'd been neglecting herself for her friend; her eyes were lined with dark circles, her normally perky braid was skewed with wisps of hair escaping it, and her skin was paler than usual.

"I didn't want to be too far," Ursa explained, "in case - "

"Save it!" Ursa gasped at Ty Lee's interruption; she had never heard the girl raise her voice to anyone before, much less an elder. "We dragged you halfway across the world so you could help your daughter, and you just stand here and listen? What kind of mother are you?" Her voice thickened, and a few tears spilled onto her cheeks. "Is this how it always was?" she demanded. "Always there for Zuko, never there for Azula? Is this why she's so messed up inside?"

Ursa was about to protest, when she really considered the question. No, it had not always been like this, she knew. It had started when Ozai had begun to favor Azula, when her already phenomenal skills as a firebender took off to unprecedented heights. Zuko had wilted at his father's sudden rejection, and Ursa had had to make up for the lack. In her concern for her son, she realized, she had done the exact same thing to Azula.

Before she could reply, a guard dashed toward Ty Lee. "Excuse me, my lady," he entreated, dropping to one knee, "but Miss Mai has told me to inform you that Princess Azula is about to awaken."

The girl positively glowed for a moment, before turning such a cold look at Ursa that the woman retreated a step. "You stay out of there," she ordered. "Until I know how she is, I don't want you screwing her up." With a sudden whirl, the girl flounced back through the door she had come from.

Ursa didn't argue. This newfound revelation plagued her mind, and she needed some time to think about how she would confront her daughter... and make up for her past mistakes.

Weak.

That was how Azula felt. Even before she opened her eyes, she could tell that she had no strength in her limbs. She felt hot and clammy, shifting uncomfortably underneath a heavy blanket. Noticing how much softer this bed felt, she blearily opened her eyes and was met with the familiar red canopy of her own large bed.

"Azula! You're awake!"

Before she could react, she was covered in a mass of pink. What was more surprising was the dark red form that enfolded both of them in its arms.

"Ty Lee? Mai?" she managed to rasp. A sob from the former and a tighter grip from the latter confirmed her suspicions. Were they really this upset about her illness? Why?

Each let go of her several moments later, and Mai propped her up and held a glass to her lips.

Not questioning – she was so thirsty – she drank greedily from the cup, noting that it was peach mango – her favorite. She turned her head away when she had her fill, lying back into her pillows and entering a peaceful slumber.

A/N: So for days I only managed to get a couple pages done, but I guess I got inspired; I did the rest today. Anyway, expect some forward motion (finally!), blah blee bloo. Also, there's a lot of symbolism in Azula's "dream," if you couldn't tell. I know what I intended everything to represent, but I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions. Being told spoils all the fun.