Wanted

By: AgentAyu

Chapter 8

Notes: I've changed Zuko's daughter's name to her canon name in the previous chapters. Shizuku is now Izumi. Also to make up for not posting for over a year, a very lengthy chapter. More notes at the end of the chapter. GWWR and Wanted are now cross posted on AO3 as well.

Disclaimer: Disclaimer from the Prologue still applies.


Lan Long was Ursa.

Her mother was Jing's mother. Azula clenched her fists as she saw Ursa smiling and hugging Jing, happy to see her youngest daughter. The older woman didn't even notice that her oldest daughter was standing in front of everyone witnessing the interactions between the mother and daughter. Unable to continue watching without causing a scene, Azula walked off the porch and headed towards the village exit. She barely heard Ty Lee call out for her as she kept on walking.

"Azula?" The firebender stopped at the soft voice of her mother's. "Azula? Is that really you?"

She didn't turn around or respond. Her throat continued to tighten as her teeth clenched to keep from turning around and screaming at the woman who abandoned her and her brother fifteen years ago.

"You've really grown. You've grown into a beautiful young woman that I always knew you would."

The firebender shook her head before letting out a deep breath and prepared herself to stand her ground. Slowly she turned around and kept her eyes down. "Lan Long, I've heard so much about you from your daughter." Azula was trying hard to keep her cool while showing how furious she was towards the woman in front of her. "But you're needed elsewhere right now instead of talking to me. Your husband is trying to deliver a baby and doesn't have his assistant. Since I'd only cause more harm than good I'm sure he would appreciate the help."

"Azula…"

Ursa choked on whatever she was about to say seeing Azula's glare. Ty Lee pushed herself forward ready for whatever the other girl could possibly do. She was scared. The last time Ty Lee saw Azula like this was at Boiling Rock when she betrayed her princess, her best friend.

"Your husband needs you now. And we have nothing to talk about... not like you ever had time for me anyways." Azula mumbled the last part. Slowly she backed up as she continued to glare at her mother. Once she was past the village's last hut, she turned and ran to the beach leaving everyone else behind.

Once she arrived onto the beach she fell to her knees and clenched her fists until her knuckles were white. She hadn't felt this hurt and angry since Boiling Rock with Mai. Everything from that day as if she was reliving it again. Azula stood up and shot her arm out trying to lightning bend only to have an explosion in her face as she was thrown onto her back. Letting out a frustrated scream she jumped back onto her feet and began firebending every direction with streams of fire and fire balls flying everywhere.

"Out of all the places, why did she have to be here?" She sat down with her knees up and arms on top of them. "Why?" Azula placed her forehead as she kept repeating the question to herself.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Chi sipped her tea as she waited for her patient to arrive. This would be their first session. There were three possible results that could come out of today: either nothing will happen, her patient would be against her because she was a waterbender, or her patient will comply and the healing process will begin. Chi hoped very much for the latter. While it wouldn't bother her for nothing to happen, she didn't want her patient's condition to worsen.

She looked down at her hand as she felt the warmth of the sun's rays. This location was the most balanced for the two benders to be equal in means of comfort with their respective elements around them. A pond with a mini waterfall for natural sounds of tranquility in the garden next to the building's open wall. Even though it was daylight the garden's stone lanterns were lit along the pathway to the open walls. The gentle breeze cause the wind chimes to play their song making the late summer very picturesque. Chi looked up just as the medical assistants wheeled her patient to the table.

"Please remove the straightjacket and anything that is chi blocking her." The medical assistants gave Chi a questioning look. "It will be all right. I'm sure our princess would feel more comfortable if she could move her arms and not have her natural abilities blocked."

Hesitantly the medical assistants did as they were ordered. Once everything was removed they backed away from the princess. "Please leave the princess and I be."

Slowly they backed further away from the two benders, but did not leave the room. They were on standby in case they had to restrain the princess. Chi let out a deep breath before standing up and glared at the assistants. "I said leave the princess and I be!"

The assistants jumped before leaving the room completely. The doctor sat down and observed as her patient rolled her wrists slowly and rub them. She gave Azula a warm smile. "How are you today, Princess?"

Azula ignored Chi as she continued to rub her wrists. She was trying to be discreet as she tried to see if she could escape. "If you want to escape I won't stop you, however, if you can barely feel your arms like normal; you're certainly not going to be able to run away at this present time. And then there are the other medical assistants who would try to stop you, though I doubt they would be able to since you're a prodigy. So for the time being why don't you have some tea?"

The princess didn't respond, but stopped looking for an escape and stared down Chi. The waterbender continued smiling as she sipped her tea. "What is your favorite tea, Prin-"

"Cut to the chase. What are you possibly going to do? I doubt you're going to succeed like the previous ones. Some were so weak I heard I drove them mad. I'm rather proud of that one actually."

"No you're not, Azula. You didn't want to hurt those doctors."

She clenched her fists as she tried ignoring her mother's voice. "Shut up." Azula muttered.

"If you want me to 'cut to the chase', Princess, then I will. Since you do not want me to beat around the bush, let me show you." Chi waterbended the tea from the pot and into Azula's cup.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Ursa praised.

Azula shot up from her chair glaring at Chi as if she was about to murder her. "What is a filthy waterbending peasant doing here in my country?"

Chi calmly sipped her tea to Azula's reaction. "A waterbending peasant, yes. Filthy? I would hope not, that is not exactly healthy and it would have been very disrespectful to be in my princess's presence if I was filthy."

"Don't you dare address me as your princess when you have no ties to the Fire Nation!"

"Azula! Don't speak to your doctor like that." Her mother scolded.

The firebender clenched her fists even tighter to keep herself from lashing out at her mother. She could deal with her later, but now it was more pressing to deal with the waterbender in front of her. Losing to Katara and losing her crown to be Fire Lord was hurting her as if it was yesterday. Having a waterbending doctor was the last thing she wanted to deal with. Azula would do everything she can to get rid of this doctor like she did the rest. No one understood her.

"Forgive me, Princess. I do have ties to the Fire Nation. My father was a Fire Nation soldier working in one of the prisons where they kept the waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe. What he and the other men he worked with did to my mother and the other women… Well, that's how I got here. Therefore it is my greatest honor to be in your presence. Since I am one of your subjects."

"How horrible." Ursa mumbled.

Slowly everything her doctor had told her began to sink in. Azula's eyes widened in horror realizing what had happened to Chi's mother. She knew those crimes happened in the prisons, but she feigned ignorance not wanting to believe it was true while the war was happening.

"Like I told your brother, do not pity me. It is a harsh reality of the war started by Fire Lord Sozin. I am a doctor who happens to be a waterbender, a healer at that, I will never turn my back on a patient who needs me. I will do everything in my power to help you recover, Princess. But, I can only do so if you let me. I promise you that I will not lie to you and will lay everything out. Starting with, I am your last chance of recovering. If I can't help you then the hospital is going to give up on you. We can only do so much to help if you don't want to help yourself. In order to help you, I will have to use my waterbending. Please allow me to help you, Princess Azula."

Azula looked away from Chi and at the hallucination of her mother. "You're bleeding." Ursa calmly told her daughter. She looked down to see her palms were bleeding from clenching her fists. Shaking her head she looked back at Chi.

"I'm done talking." The princess sat back in her chair and stared at Chi for the rest of their session.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Ty Lee continued watching Azula sitting on the beach. She wanted to walk up and hold the other girl, but she didn't know where she stood with Azula. The acrobat still felt guilty for telling the firebender to trust her only to betray her the next day. Despite what any of her friends say, Ty Lee knew she was one of the key reasons for Azula's downfall at the end of the war.

"Are you happy?"

The acrobat was startled suddenly hearing Azula's voice. "What?"

"Are you happy?" Azula lifted her head to look out into the sea. "You've been living here since the end of the war, so I'm going to assume you're happy."

"As happy as I can be, but…" Ty Lee slowly approached Azula and sat next to the other girl. "not completely happy."

"Did you know she was living in that village?"

"No. I only visited a few times and never ran into her. I was surprised to see her when the other women arrived for the training retreat. She recognized me immediately as well and asked me to keep it a secret since everyone else was oblivious to her backstory, except that she was from the Fire Nation." Ty Lee sat down next to the princess and wrapped her arms around her legs. She didn't like the awkward tension that was between her and Azula.

"Thank you." Azula whispered.

"What for?"

"For stopping me from becoming a murderer and… I'm sorry. For putting you in that situation and for locking you up."

"You're welcome." Ty Lee felt her cheeks warm up a little. This was the second time Azula sincerely apologized to her. "I'm sorry for breaking your trust." She bit her lip to keep herself from saying more.

Azula let out a deep breath and stood up. "You don't need to apologize. Like I said, I put you in that situation. I don't see how else you could have done that differently."

"I could have stopped Mai."

"Then I would have struck you. I was already in motion when you chi blocked me, if you didn't do that I wouldn't have been able to stop in time. I'm not as perfect as everyone believed. The war proved that."

"You're always perfect to me." Ty Lee mumbled quietly that Azula couldn't hear. "So what are you going to do?"

"What?" Azula looked at Ty Lee seeing the her sitting cross-legged on her bed. She shook her head knowing they weren't in her bedroom back in the Fire Nation.

"I asked, what are you going to do?" Ty Lee slowly stood up worried about Azula's sudden change in attitude. "Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Azula took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "It kind of felt that way just now. Déjà vu. I suddenly remembered the last night we talked before the Boiling Rock the question caught me by surprise was all. It's funny… I did kind of ended up like Zuko in the end." She looked at her palm imagining a ball of fire seeing how weak her firebending was compared to before she went crazy.

"Yeah, you did. No longer pressured by your father, able to do what you want and not follow his plans. Be who you want to be." Ty Lee said quietly just enough for Azula to hear so she could pretended to not hear the acrobat if she chose.

"But I haven't broken away from him. Zuko faced him. I never did and I don't know what I want to be… I do know what I want though." Azula replied as she looked back out to the sea.

"What do you want?"

"Too many things." She looked at Ty Lee from the corner of her eye. "One of the things I want is to be able to firebend like I used to and to be able to lightning bend again."

"You will. I know you will. You're the best firebender in the world."

Azula gave Ty Lee a sad smile. "If only that were true now. I don't have the same drive anymore because I have no reason for it. I don't want to overthrow Zuko. I don't want to do anything that would harm whatever Zuko worked hard in the past nine years. The world changed so much already and it's for the better. Also I happen to like my niece and I don't think she would want me to cause any harm to her father."

"I believe you." The whole time she had been looking at Azula's aura. It was brighter than when she last saw the firebender in the hospital when the Kyoshi Warriors stood guard for Zuko during the Harmony Restoration Movement conflict. And her aura never changed once when Azula talked about Zuko; she wasn't lying. "Do you want to go back to town yet?"

"Tch… I'd rather swim across the sea and go back to… whatever is the a name of that village instead of going back and seeing her." Azula glared at the sea.

Ty Lee giggled. "I wouldn't recommend doing that. While I'm sure the elephant koi fish wouldn't mind you, there's the unagi you'd have to worry about." The acrobat began walking about to the village.

If Azula did want to walk back to the village, Ty Lee wanted to walk in front of her. She wanted to give the firebender some sense of control by giving the princess her back, leaving herself open. Ty Lee had a feeling Azula wouldn't want to have her back exposed to her despite what the other girl had said. She was surprised when Azula instead began walking beside her.

"What's an unagi?"

The acrobat turned around and continued walking backwards as she looked out towards the sea. The elephant koi fish weren't swimming around at the moment, so the unagi wasn't going to shoot out of the water like it normally did.

"You'll see one day."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

For months their sessions had the same outcome like the way their first session ended. Azula starring Chi down while the doctor sipped her tea and occasionally asked Azula questions that she never answered. Today was a little different as Chi slid an envelope over to Azula. "This is from your brother."

Azula stared at the envelope debating whether to open it or destroy it. What could possibly Zuko send to her that he didn't tell her on his visits. Not that she could remember most of her brother's visits since the assistants usually sedated her whenever she thought of attacking Zuko. Yet he always came back to visit and continued to show kindness to her. Slowly she grabbed the the envelope and opened it.

"I'm an aunt."

Chi gave a small smile. "Congratulations."

"Congratulations? Congratulations?" Azula laughed. "That means I've really lost the throne. I'll never be Fire Lord. My niece is the crowned princess and will take the throne some day. And why couldn't he have come and tell me this himself? It never stopped him from telling me other things while he visited."

"Are you going to plan a coup then? Kill them?"

"What?" Azula questioned. "I… no. I'm not a murderer. I'm NOT a murderer! That would make me a monster. I'm not a monster. DO YOU HEAR ME? I'M NOT A MONSTER!"

The air was tense as Chi evaluated Azula's reaction while the princess was breathing heavy from her outburst. "You're not a monster, Princess. My apologies for even asking a question like that. May I ask what brought this up about you being a monster? Or not being a monster."

Azula hung her head in defeat. She was done. "That is the last thing my mother called me before she disappeared. I was becoming a monster like my father. But I'm nothing like him, he is a monster. He murdered Lu Ten."

"Prince Lu Ten? How could your father have murdered him? Prince Lu Ten died during the Siege of Ba Sing Se." Chi asked. She definitely did not expect this to happen while trying to treat Azula.

The princess shook her head. "No, he didn't murder Lu Ten personally, but he hired someone to track down Lu Ten and murder him. It was his whole plan to take the throne from my uncle. Lu… he was Uncle's only child and without an heir there no way for Uncle to pass the crown down except to Zuko or myself. I overheard my father not long after my mother disappeared how he had set everything up to become Fire Lord. I don't know how he killed my grandfather though."

"Azula, you were scared and kept the secret no child should have kept. Honey, I'm sorry." Ursa apologized to her daughter.

"Shut up." Azula muttered as she shut her eyes trying to make Ursa disappear. "I'm done talking. I'm done with everything. I'm tired of being the one with all the secrets. I'm tired. So tired." She leaned forward muttering until she had her arms wrapped around her thighs and her head hanging between her knees. "I'm so tired."

Chi's heart broke for her princess. No one should have had to go through with what Azula and Zuko had gone through with their childhood. She was beginning to understand more why the firebender lost her sanity at the end of the war. The waterbender looked over at the stone garden lanterns and saw the flames were burning blue.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Tonight we celebrate for the newest member of our village and a future Kyoshi Warrior!" Oyaji announced proudly before turning his attention to Sokka and Suki who were showing off their newborn daughter, Mikki.

The entire village cheered and collectively gave their congratulations to the new parents as the feast continued around the giant bonfire. Laughter and stories were passed all around. Azula was away from most of the village as she ate her food in silence. They might have fed her and were being polite towards her, but she was not welcomed to their village, their island, their home.

"Um… Azula? Why are you sitting away from everyone else?" Jing asked as she approached her firebending master.

"How many times do I have to tell you, kid? I'm not exactly welcomed here."

"Well, duh! We've covered that, Azula! You smeared their name, their image, all to conquer Ba Sing Se from the inside. But, why aren't you sitting with Daddy and I? Is it because of my mom?"

Azula's silence gave Jing her answer.

"Our mothers never knew each other did they? They didn't know each other because Mommy and your mother are the same person, aren't they?"

"Yeah… Lan Long is my mother, but I know her by a different name. Her real name that she was given by our grandparents in the Fire Nation." Azula looked at Jing.

Jing sat down next to Azula. "Now I get why Mommy looked so sad whenever she read 'Love Amongst the Dragons', she was thinking of you every time she read it to me."

The older firebender let out a huff. "Jing, I don't want my feelings towards her effect what you feel for her. This is fifteen years worth of problems that you had no control over since you weren't even born yet. And it once again is tied back to my father's family."

"Are you and Mommy going to be constantly fighting? Does Daddy know?"

"I'll be doing most of the fighting because I honestly don't care what she has to say at the moment. There are so many things I want to lash out at her about. As for your dad, he has to know. The way he had said things in the past month makes it obvious that he knew everything."

Jing scrunched her nose. "Well, that's not fair! He knew I had a brother and a sister the whole time! And they're royal! Too bad I'm not royal either."

Azula laughed. "Trust me, kid. You wouldn't have wanted to be part of the royal family. It's too messed up, just look at what happened to Zuko and I. However, you are from a former noble family on our mother's side. They sadly lost their nobility status because of our great-grandfather."

"What?! What did he do?"

"Besides being born the Avatar? He was labeled a traitor by my great-grandfather from my father's family."

"NO WAY!" Jing jumped up in excitement. "We're related to Avatar Roku?! That's so cool! Why was he labeled a traitor?"

"That's a story for another time and I see your mother wants you to go back over to your parents." Azula looked away immediately so Ursa wouldn't get any ideas of them talking tonight.

The young firebender frowned. "Won't you come sit with us?"

"Not a good idea."

"But!" Jing let out a frustrated sigh and stomped her foot. "You don't have to talk to OUR mom if you don't want to, okay? I don't want you sitting by yourself though, besides after pretending you were my older sister for the past month I would like to sit with my actual sister with my dad and OUR mom. Please, Azula?"

"Fine." The young girl grabbed her sister's arm and tugged towards her parent's direction.

"Azula!" Yu exclaimed. "I'm glad you could join us! Have you?" He did know how to end his question and thought best to leave it vague for the villagers to not understand, but enough for Azula to understand where he was going with that short question.

"Yes, I have met your wife." Azula glared at Ursa. Her mother frowned from the cold shoulder her eldest daughter was giving her. "And yes, I'm aware that you know about everything. Jing knows the basics of this… family drama. She and I have an understanding of certain situations." She gave another glare towards her mother. "However, I would like to continue training her if I may have your permission."

"Of course." Yu replied for him and Ursa. He turned towards his wife and gave her a reassuring smile for this to past someday. "Please, sit and eat!"

The two firebenders sat and ate whatever plate of food Yu had passed them. Jing immediately began talking to Ursa and asking more about their great-grandfather and her mother's life in the Fire Nation before she was banished. Azula occasionally gave her mother a warning glare that they would absolutely not be talking tonight. Her gaze began to wander as she half-listened to her mother and sister talked. She stopped when she spotted Ty Lee. The acrobat looked at Azula and gave a shy wave while Azula looked away. She looked back at the other girl and watched her as if trying to remember every detail.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Azula had her hand covered her face as she feigned sleeping ever since the incident at Boiling Rock, she never kept her back to any doors or other people while she slept. Two years have passed since Azula revealed what Ozai had done in the last years of the war. Recently the daily sessions have moved to the princess's room since she absolutely refused to leave her room. Chi would sit there drinking her tea, continued to ask questions Azula would never answer, and now occasionally smoking her kiseru.

Zuko hadn't visited her once since her niece was born. It was through Chi that she later came to learn that her niece was named Izumi. While Azula would never admit it out loud to anyone, not hearing this from her brother personally had hurt her as she had come to miss her brother's visits even if she had to be sedated from attempting to attack him. To her it showed someone had still cared about her and now that he hadn't visited her once in two years, she had given up.

"Happy birthday, Azula. I remember how the midwives we so ecstatic that their princess was born at the highest point of the Summer Solstice. They said you had to have been very lucky to be blessed by Agni in such a way. I guess that's why it didn't come as a surprise for me when you began bending at the age of three. You are a natural." Ursa recounted with awe.

The princess closed her eyes and shifted to cover her head with her pillow to try block out her mother. She heard the same thing every year since she was admitted to the hospital. She inhaled deeply as she tried to bask in the warm feeling of the sun as it was the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. There was only so much of the sun's energy she could feel while inside, she wanted to connect with Agni again.

"I can help you connect with him if that's what you desire. I can even guide you to recovery if you really want to help yourself."

Unfamiliar with the voice, Azula opened her eyes and peeked out from under her pillow to see an old man in place of where her mother's hallucination was standing. While he was marked a traitor to the Fire Nation, Azula recognized the man in front of her. Why he was here confused the princess. Why would she be hallucinating Avatar Roku?

"You are not hallucinating, I am here. However, only you can see me because you are my great-granddaughter. We are spiritually connected like I am to the Avatar and my other descendents. The Avatar is the only one who has the capability to talk to me more freely, but when one is at their lowest that is when they seek answers elsewhere. That is how I am able to talk to you now, Azula."

Slowly she sat up from her bed as she stared at Roku in disbelief. Avatar Roku being one of her great-grandfathers from her mother's side of the family. She wondered if Zuko knew of anything if they were related to Avatar Roku.

"Princess?" Chi asked.

Azula growled in anger. She could feel the heat in her palms as if fire was about to be produced. This was the first time she could feel herself coming close to firebending in a long time since she's been chi blocked. She didn't know how much of it had been from her anger that was escalating, the Summer Solstice, or both. There was no way she could be related to the traitor. Why would her grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, allow the traitorous blood to be passed down the royal family.

"Princess Azula, is everything alright?" Chi slowly approached the girl.

"Get out." Azula growled as she kept glaring at Roku. "I SAID GET OUT!" She slammed her fist to the wall leaving a scorch mark from her sudden burst of fire.

Chi quickly evaluated her patient. "Princess, I understand you want me to leave. Before I do though… I would like to make a deal with you. Allow me use my waterbending on you to assess your chi and I won't have the assistants place the chi blockers on you anymore."

The firebender opened and closed her mouth as she tried processing everything that was happening around her. "I… fine! I don't care anymore!" She stared at Roku as she could feel her eyes stinging as she tried to keep herself from crying out of frustration.

The cool feeling of the water moving along her back was soothing. Azula began to feel light headed as her sudden rush of energy began to fade. She unclenched her fists and laid down on her bed as Chi continued use her waterbending on her. It was new and different not feeling the water being bent at her in a fight, but like a massage.

"As promised, we'll leave the chi blockers off of you. Our session is done for the day. The assistants will come by occasionally to check on you, Princess." Chi walked over to the door and turn back. "By the way… Happy birthday, Princess Azula." She gave the princess a small smile and left the room.

Once she was returned to her office down the hall from her patient's room, she ordered one of her assistants to get Hino. While this was the first time she was able to use her waterbending on the princess, she was able to tell in the past that this case was not going to be about Azula's sanity, but her spirit as well. Over the years she felt the various shifts in her princess's spiritual energy as if she was fighting a war inside herself.

"Hey, what did you need to see me about?" Hino asked as she entered her friend's office.

"Well as the head doctor I thought I'd best inform you of some of the changes with our special guest." Chi poured some tea for the two of them. "First off, now don't yell at me, she is currently not wearing her chi blockers and she has some capacity to firebend."

Hino inhaled deeply to keep from yelling and calmly spoke through her gritted teeth. "Isn't that a bit dangerous? Especially during the solstice?"

Chi smirked before passing Hino her tea cup. "Normally, yes. However, there was something different about her. I told you in my previous reports how it seemed like two energy sources fighting in her, right?" Hino nodded remembering those entries over the past few years. "The 'warmer' one is very dominant today while the 'colder' one had a cameo appearance when the princess slammed her fist against the wall. By the way, don't worry about the scorch mark on her wall. Very minimal damage that could be easily cleaned later."

"You are taking this rather well for someone who's patient had suddenly acted differently in the last couple of years."

"Maybe so, but she allowed me to waterbend on her today. My suspicions about those two energies were confirmed and in return I did say we won't put the chi blockers on her. She's a bender, Hino. You and I both know that's not healthy if we kept blocking her chi. That's why I never had her wear them during our sessions. I don't think she's going to be hurting anyone or herself if we allow her to not be blocked. At this point I believe it will help her."

The head doctor sighed. "I guess I have no choice, but to believe you. After all, you're still here. You've last longer than the other five doctors she's had combined."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Daddy, I think Azula is acting weird." Jing whispered as she stared at her sister.

Yu looked at the older firebender and followed her line of sight over to Ty Lee. Looking back at his wife's first daughter he was able to make the connection and chuckled. "Don't worry about her. You'll understand one day."

"But it's weird! She's just staring."

She looked away immediately when Ty Lee looked over at them. A small sad smile appeared on her face as she heard Ty Lee laugh on the other side of the fire. When Ty Lee looked away, she looked back at the other girl.

"See!" Jing exclaimed loudly. The sudden exclamation shook Azula out of the trace she had fixed on the acrobat. "Azula, I hope I don't turn out as weird as you when I'm older."

The older firebender gave her protege a confused look. "What are you talking about?" Jing rolled her eyes and finished the last of her food. Azula returned the eye roll and leaned back to look up at the night sky. That was one of her favorite things while travelling during the war and her unofficial banishment. No matter how the day went she always had the stars to look up to and let her mind wander. At least when the sky was clear, thankfully it was tonight.

"Hey."

Azula looked up to see Ty Lee and stood up immediately. "Hey."

Ty Lee smiled. "Hey."

"Hey…" Azula began rubbing the back of her neck not sure what else to do.

"Now they're both being weird, Dad!" Jing whispered. "I don't want to be this weird when I'm older!" You just chuckled again and patted his daughter on the head.

"I was wondering where you might be staying for the night? Since Yu is going to be staying for the next couple of days to make sure Mikki is alright and everything."

"Oh, well…" The princess looked over at Yu for help since she wasn't sure what to do. Originally she was going to stay with Jing and her parents until it was confirmed that Ursa was Yu's wife. Now it would only cause more tension than what Azula wanted to deal with at the moment.

Sensing his assistant's distress he spoke up. "Ty Lee, would it be okay with you if Azula stays with you while we're here? Lan and I have a lot to talk about especially with the more recent events since she's been gone for the past month."

The acrobat's eyes lit up. "Of course! That is if you want to, Azula."

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Um… actually would we be able to go now?"

"Of course."

Both girls bid Jing's family a good night, except for Ursa in Azula's case, and headed towards Ty Lee's hut. Sokka and Suki kept their eye on Azula as she passed the new parents. The firebender expressed her congratulations to the couple to be polite only to cause more tension.

"Since the island is small, I have two roommates as well. Though we have our own bedrooms so you shouldn't have to worry too much about them being on guard around you. Suki will forgive you eventually I'm sure." Ty Lee tried to ease some of the tension that was in the air between Azula and the other Kyoshi Warriors.

The princess shrugged. "That'll be quite a while then. I have a better chance of having Sokka forgive me rather than Suki. Though I do have something for Sokka that I was… rewarded into my possession while I was traveling the Earth Kingdom. Not that I expect him to forgive me when I give it to him, I'm certain he'll enjoying having it back though."

"Back? What was the reward?"

"His sword. A bounty in the Earth Kingdom found it in Wulong Forest. In exchange for his bounty, I got the sword instead of the usual payment. Aang told me how he lost it during Sozin's Comet."

Ty Lee smiled at the explanation. "That's sweet of you. Sokka does sometimes have his moments where he mopes about losing his space sword, but would never want to change it because it helped him save himself and Toph."

"I've seen every single one of my brother's friends during my unofficial banishment except Toph."

"She's the Chief of Police in Republic City. She's also still trying to get more metal benders on the force so she's probably really busy."

Azula nodded. "I thought as much since it was her deputy that June and I turned the bounty into. The United Republic of Nations is coming along well. I'm glad Zuko and Aang were able to resolve the Fire Nation colonies issue."

The acrobat laughed nervously. "Well it wasn't exactly easy. Another war almost broke out over it."

"So I heard."

"And a few other things, but that can be for another day. Now you met June, the bounty hunter? How did you get partnered up with her?"

"That's also a story for another day."

Both girls looked away from each other unsure what else they could say. It felt natural for them to be talking to each other, but also tense because of their history. The tension between the two was starting to grow until Ty Lee finally spoke up.

"I'll go grab the extra futon for you. Though… it's the futon your mother used during the training. It's the only extra one we have since I'm assuming she's going to be with Yu and Jing tonight. Just thought I let you know."

With that Ty Lee left Azula alone in her bedroom. She quickly scanned the room to see it was minimal with a nice blend of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. There was a photograph sitting on top of the drawer. Photographs were certainly not cheap as Azula came to learn since cameras and photography were still fairly new. Upon closer inspection it was a picture of Ty Lee and her sisters at the circus. The same circus Ty Lee ran away to join and the one Azula manipulated the other girl to leave. A surge of guilt ran through her remembering that day clearly.

She could not let the guilt sink in again, what's done is done. There was no way for her to go back and fix it. All she could do is move on and try to make amends for it later. Azula closed her eyes and took deep breaths as she began muttering to herself what Roku had taught her when he helped her recover.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

After Chi left her alone through the day, assistants walked by her room at various times to make sure everything was still controlled. They were all on edge because Azula no longer had the chi blockers on thanks to her deal with the doctor. She didn't understand why the doctor was so desperate to use her waterbending on her. Azula didn't feel any different.

The princess was lying on her bed holding her right wrist as she stared at the ceiling contemplating everything. From her doctor letting her not have the chi blockers on to remembering the ghost feeling she felt run along her right side where Ty Lee had hit her. The events of the Boiling Rock kept replaying in her head reminding her of the beginning of her downfall.

"Have you thought of my offer?"

And then there was Roku.

"Why should allow you to help me? How do I know you are my great-grandfather? There is no way my grandfather would have allowed your bloodline to taint his since you're a traitor." Azula replied.

"You only know half of the story of what happened while I was still the Avatar. You don't even know the truth behind the propaganda spread by Fire Lord Sozin. Haven't you felt as if two entities have been fighting inside you? That has sadly been both Sozin and I as our energies been fighting for dominance of your spiritual being." Roku explained.

Azula stood up until she was standing in front of Roku. "And how do you plan on helping me?"

Roku gave his great-granddaughter a gentle smile. "I can start the process and only guide you. In the end only you can help yourself. For so many years your father's bloodline has been dominant and left you in your current state when everything that you had shaped to be your world was no longer there."

"So you want your energy to dominate my being? Assuming I believe that you are my great-grandfather."

"No, I'm not trying to have my energy dominant. Sozin's energy threw you off balance. You are the legacy of the Fire Lord and Avatar. Neither of us should have complete dominance over you. I'm can help guide you to bring balance between your two sides and the you decide how you pursue your destiny. You could either continue the path you were living or choose another path. One of our energies while have more influence, but should dominant since you are both."

The princess sighed looking into Roku's eyes tiredly. "What do I need to do?"

"You are out of balance and you will need to face what is blocking your spiritual flow. While you will not be opening your chakras like the Avatar would, this is a matter of facing your inner demons and bringing balance to your spiritual energy. I must one you, once the process starts you must finish."

"And what happens if I don't?"

"Then you will die. You will undergo a spiritual sickness and only you can help yourself pull through what you will face. I can only be there as a guide, but your choices is what will determine the outcome."

Azula didn't realize she was trembling hearing she had only one chance to recover. "I'll do it. I've already lost everything including my sanity. Only thing I have left to lose is my life."

"You are my great-granddaughter." Roku gave her a reassuring smile. "While I've never been present in either you or Zuko, I'm still spiritually connected to both of you and know you two are meant for greater things than the war Sozin started. Though I must also warn you, you will also be on a time limit. Not only will your choices determine what will happen to you, but whether or not you recover before your body gives out from the stress."

"I don't want this life." Azula replied just above a whisper as a stray tear slid down her cheek. "Could we please start?"

Roku nodded before closing his eyes. The two stood in the middle of the room with nothing happening. Azula was confused as to why he wasn't doing anything. Slowly she felt her chi start to fade as the sun was setting. The solstice was coming to an end. The princess also closed her eyes as she felt the last of the sun's energy fade when her whole body began to burn. She screamed in agony as she opened her eyes seeing Roku burning her alive. Roku never let up until there was nothing but a body sized pile of ash in the middle of the room.

"When you are ready, rise." Echoed in the room until there was silence.


Note: A lot of things had happened in my life since I last updated Wanted. Quite a bit of personal struggles that left me in quite a bit of a rut that I lost most of my motivation. However, I never gave up writing this or GWWR. I've been writing slowly and bit-by-bit to keep it moving forward. I've been re-reading all your reviews have definitely helped me continue writing after all these years. I'm putting Playing With Lemurs on hold so I can finish writing Wanted and GWWR.

I can't believe it's been nearly three years since I started writing Wanted. When I look at the publish dates and the last updated dates I can't believe how much time has flown by without warning.

Here are some things I have planned for Wanted to keep you guys wondering what will happen in future chapters: I am going to have parts from The Search used in Wanted, primarily the flashbacks. While it seems like Azula and Ty Lee are on good terms, they still have a lot of things to resolve from ten years ago. Ursa and Azula are going to take a while to mend any form of their relationship, they're first going to learn about each other as a person since they are practically strangers.

Somethings I would like to hear back from you: Do you think Azula would keep finding Ursa a secret from Zuko or would she send word to her brother about their mother? Would Azula ever be able to bend blue fire again or do you think she'll bend a different color fire? What do you think Azula's reaction would be if she were to try Iroh's bubble tea?

Thank you so much for sticking around as long as you have and welcome new readers as well!