A/N: Sorry for the delay, friends! As a bonus, i've thrown in a whole ton of Azula and Sokka for you all, as well as lightningbending! And a murder mystery. (Though it isn't a very long murder mystery; the conclusion is pretty much reached by the end of the chapter. But I encourage you all to give it some thought as you read! And let me know if you like this kind of stuff; I enjoyed writing Inspector Sokka, so I might be able to be convinced to include him more, if you let me know your honest thoughts...)


Sokka stood with Azula outside her apartment, frowning at the door. She was frowning at him.

"You have no idea what happened, do you?"

Sokka grunted.

"You're entirely useless."

Sokka bristled. "Well, let's see YOU do better, then!" He crossed his arms, huffing in indignation.

"That's your job, Inspector." She exaggerated his title, smirking at him. "Seems your inspection failed to bring about any results."

"Do you always speak this formally?"

"What do you mean?"

Sokka sighed. "Never mind." He turned back towards a desk that had been appropriated for his use. Statements lined the desk from various interviewees and guards, as well as maps of the palace and outlines. "Let's review what we've learned so far."

"Ugh, I'm tired of this." She waved her hand and turned to walk away. "I don't want to waste my time with an incompetent detective."

"Oh, really?! Well…" Sokka struggled to think of an insult. "You're more incompetent!" He yelled after her; she laughed, but turned around.

"I'm amazed at the grandeur of your insults." She sauntered over to him. "How about we do a little challenge?"

"Hmm?" Sokka raised an eyebrow. His inner man wanted to accept without even thinking about it; but his common sense told him that, well, this is Azula. It's probably an Agni Kai or something.

"I will play devil's advocate to your theories. If you can convince me of the culprit by this evening, then I will grant you the personal satisfaction of removing their head!"

Sokka gaped at her. "Uh…that's supposed to be enticing?"

"Well, yes, of course. Doesn't everyone desire that?"

"…no."

"Oh. Well…" She paused in thought, tapping a finger on her chin, before a smirk settled across her face. Sokka got a terrible feeling in his gut. "Instead, i'll give you the honor of accompanying Ty Lee and I to dinner."

Sokka opened his mouth to respond when Azula beat him to it, whispering, "I hope you aren't thinking of disrespecting the Princess of the Fire Nation by turning her offer of company away…"

"O-of course not, Princess." Sokka gulped. "It would be my honor."

my honor that dies. Sokka thought. If nothing else, at least I'll get to keep a close eye on her…

Azula licked her lips. Perhaps too close. He interiorly sighed.

"Inspector!" One of the guards snapped to attention in front of him and saluted quickly. Sokka crisply returned the salute.

"Report."

"Sir, General Rhon is moving to officially denounce the Princess to the Council as the murderer."

Azula's gaze narrowed. "He dares to accuse me? Does the fool not know my father?"

"Princess, he claims to have an irrefutable proof that you committed murder."

The guard left unsaid how Fire Lord Ozai would react the scandal. The Princess murdering one of her closest friends, the heiress of an influential family? He would not be pleased, to say the least, regardless of her innocence or guilt.

As if to rub in his claim, General Rhon burst into the lounge, giving Azula a sinister look. He was dressed in full Fire Nation General regalia.

"Princess! I have some bad news to bring you." He adopted a sad expression. "I'm afraid poor Mai passed away."

Her eyes bulged out; Sokka could feel the temperature rise. He took a step back from her as she snarled. "What? She was supposed to survive!"

"It seems your plan failed, Princess." He sneered. "Though I may not call you that for much longer."

Sokka blinked, a new thought rising in his mind. He grabbed the arm of one of the Intelligence officers near him and whispered, "Have those two had issues?"

The officer paused. If it weren't for the fact that Sokka was an Inspector, his comment would, at least, be immeasurably rude; at worst, a reason to fire him. Speaking about a General and the Princess in such a crude manner! But Inspectors were rather above such petty matters.

"Yes, sir. We know the General framed his predecessor for a military failure, though we didn't have the evidence to move on him."

Sokka nodded and whispered something else to him; the officer nodded and dashed off. Azula and the General were busy trading insults; Sokka decided to change the topic. He walked over to a board where the notes of the investigation were posted.

"Hmm. Quite the case, General." He said, looking at the board in interest.

The General turned to look at Sokka. "Indeed, Inspector. I hope the Princess hasn't poisoned your opinion on the matter."

"I am only vulnerable to the truth, General." He spoke curtly. The General laughed.

"Then I'm sure we'll get along splendidly." He walked up to the board; Azula walked to Sokka's other flank, a stubborn frown set on her face.

"It is a rather strange case." Sokka murmured. "Only two entrances to the building: an unguarded window and the guarded double-doors. Ty Lee was gone at the market all day, and Azula was in court until around six in the evening, when she returned and we happened upon the scene."

"Strange, don't you think?" Azula murmured. "The timeline."

The timeline was indeed strange. The girls had lunch together at noon before going their separate ways: Ty Lee went to the marketplace to shop, Azula to court and Mai to…do whatever she did. At this point, the windows were unlocked.

At three, four maids entered the expansive apartment to clean. Before they entered, a guard locked the windows; they could only be unlocked with his key, which remained on his person. The windows hadn't been broken, so no one could have entered or exited by the windows after three.

About a half hour later, the guards saw four maids exit. Shortly after that, the guards reported seeing Mai; they didn't keep track of whether she was leaving or entering, so unfortunately, there isn't a clear understanding of how she was seen. But she was certainly alive when the maids left, so they didn't kill her.

But between the maids leaving and Azula arriving, the guards didn't see anyone enter. And the windows remained both locked and whole; no one could have entered through them.

In addition, the room was thoroughly searched, revealing that no one was hiding. Nor were there any secret passages.

It logically appeared that Azula was the murderer; who else could have been in the room for the murder? But the girl, by Sokka's examination, must have died at least a half-hour before she got there, if not even longer before that. He didn't get to examine the body at length; in fact, he only gained a glimpse of her back before the medics hauled her away.

In fact, no one saw the body's face; not until it reached the morgue. With this thought, Sokka blinked, grabbed another aide and whispered an order to them. They ran off.

But returning to the case at hand:

Who could have killed her?

"Princess, the case seems quite solid." The General laughed. "How will you explain it? An invisible ninja? An earthbender who can also bend wooden floors and make them appear unbroken? A suicide?"

"Rest assured, General: I will come to the truth of this. The culprits will suffer."

"Culprits?" Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed. I doubt this oaf of a General could have managed to murder her alone." She smirked as the General's face grew red. "He probably sent one of his lackeys."

"But how? No one could get into that room, Inspector!" The General thrust his arm towards the timeline as evidence. "No one but the Princess!"

Sokka made a show of examining the statements made by the different individuals: the maids, the guards, Ty Lee and the Princess. After stroking his fake beard, he gave a dramatic sigh.

"I'm afraid that there will need to be more investigation, General, before my office makes a decision on the matter."

The General huffed. "I don't possibly see how anyone else could have done it!"

Sokka waved him away. "We shall see. For now, I think I wish to speak to the maids and guards again. Guard!" He called to one nearby. "Bring in the maids again. I need to go over some details."

As Sokka walked off with the guard, Azula sunk into the Inspector's plush chair and stared at the evidence. There had to be something; there's no way Mai committed suicide…


"Spread your feet; imagine you are settling yourself upon a low stool. Let your back and legs stabilize you and facilitate your breathing."

Aang and Iroh had continued on their wandering path through the Earth Kingdom; at this point, they stood amidst a small range of low mountains. They currently were practicing firebending at the top of one of the lower mountains; the other, taller ones should give them relative privacy. Especially concerning what they were going to practice today.

Aang fell into the stance. His breaths came deep and fluid.

"This feels more like an earthbender stance than a firebender one."

"That's because this is an earthbender stance; it's meant to bind you to the earth."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because earth grounds out lightning."

Aang's mouth dropped open. It suddenly clicked in his mind where he had seen this stance before: the horse stance. Lightning.

He was about to learn how to lightningbend.

His heart suddenly beat twice as fast.

"Slow, deep breaths, Aang," Iroh cautioned, as he breathed deeply. "We will not begin bending lightning right away."

Aang complied and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. For a few moments, they sat in silence, breathing deeply.

"Remember, Aang, that firebending is about the heart–your interior fire."

He imagined the flame within himself as he breathed.

"When you bend, you pour yourself into your bending. That's the weakness of a selfish heart: it's focused on the self. It can never pour itself fully and totally into its bending; even what it gives, it desires to take back. So they firebend with their passions: anger, hatred, pride, sorrow, attachment…"

Aang could see that. When Zuko firebended, he saw (and even felt, to some degree) his anger and pain, which made the fire more biting and more painful to feel. It was like firebending communicated the person's heart to the other; Zuko's heart (and almost every other firebender he's met) was consumed with anger and desire.

"But there's another way to firebend: you pour yourself into the bending." He took a deep breath. In and out. "There was an old phrase in firebending mysticism: to be consumed in the fires of love. They meant it literally: to pour yourself into your bending out of love for another. It is an act of sacrifice, and it makes our fire more beautiful, more powerful and more good."

With this, Aang and Iroh punched together, forming fireballs that spilt out over the canyon. Aang noticed that the fire didn't extinguish until a ways away–a lot farther than an average fireball.

It felt strange, this new way to firebend. It felt like part of himself, like a small, beating heart, was inside the fireball, consumed in the fire. It was strange and more exhausting, but fulfilling.

"Now." Iroh glanced at Aang. "As you know, there's another branch of firebending that is rare and beyond powerful–lightningbending."

Aang felt a shiver crawl along his spine. Lightning held a kind of power that no other bending did: one strike could be fatal. You couldn't block it with a blast of fire, or a splash of water; only a block of earth could stop it, and even then, it would turn that earth into a blast of fragments flying towards you.

Lightning was, without a doubt, one of the greatest weapons known to benders.

"Lightning is very difficult to master, because it is unlike most bending. Bending usually involves a connection to something in the heart: firmness and stability for earthbending; passion for firebending; responsiveness and agility for airbending; calm and flowing for waterbending. But lightning is not like any of these things. Lightning does not come from within; it cannot! It is too powerful, wild and destructive. We can only be its guides, never its master."

Iroh assumed the horse stance, thoroughly grounding himself. He held his hands in front of him.

"Lightning comes from a very strange place: detachment." He began to move his hands in the circular motions that Aang had only seen done by Azula; electricity began to crackle, and the air seemed to fill with sheer power. "You must be able to separate yourself from all the energy within yourself: all your emotions, feelings, loves, desires, positive and negative–everything must be put away, so that your sole purpose remains. In the void of your heart, empty of all but your will, you can reach out and draw in the power of the Sun, letting it build within you. And then–"

His fingers shot forward, and in a thunderous boom, lightning flashed forth, cracking against the sky.

Aang's mouth dropped open. "That's incredible!"

Iroh laughed. "Masters of lightning can summon it in an instant, foregoing any preparation; but it can take many years to attain such a high state. Now!" He turned to Aang. "Let us see you try."

Aang assumed the horse stance and closed his eyes. He took all the thoughts and feelings he had, and began to separate them–

"Wait a second." He paused. "How can Azula bend lightning if it requires detachment? Isn't she super attached to power?"

"That's the problem." Iroh sighed. "Azula and my brother are willing to sacrifice everything around them for the sake of power; detaching themselves from other things is easy for them, because they don't care about anything else. Their world revolves around them. So it is that lightning makes the good great, and the evil worse."

Aang closed his eyes once more, beginning the process. He took in a deep breath, feeling the pulsing fire of light outside of him; he slowly began to separate himself from his thoughts.

Empty of thought.

Empty of emotion.

Empty of passion.

Empty.

He felt strange–as though there was nothing left in his heart.

"Remember, Aang, your purpose. When all else is gone, you will have nothing but your goal left: no emotions to spur you on, no desire to lead you, nothing to distract you. You must have a goal for which you are willing to give up everything else; anything less, and you will never bend lightning."

In that moment, his purpose was clear: to bring balance to the world. To save and improve the lives of all.

In short, to do what he was meant to do.

With that purpose, he emptied himself entirely and totally. Suddenly, he felt the burning power of the Sun within him. He began to move his hands in circles, drawing the massive, uncontrollable, passionate energy of the Sun into himself. It built like a pressure within him, growing hotter and more powerful by the moment. Electricity sparked and cracked all around him.

Finally, he felt like he was about to burst; in an instant, he extended his hands and shouted with all his might, letting all the pressure loose, intending it to go straight.

In a flash and mighty boom, lightning flew over the canyon, scarring the edge of the adjacent mountain.

"Congratulations, Avatar Aang. You are officially a lightning bender."


Azula groaned.

"None of this makes sense!" She banged her head against the desk. "How can there be no other possible culprit but me when I didn't do it?!"

"Calm down, Princess." Sokka intoned dryly. "Let's go over the facts."

"Ugh," she frowned, "alright."

"So." Sokka paced in front of the board. "We know that you, Ty Lee and Mai ate lunch around noon. Then you and Ty Lee left the apartment for the entirely of the day, while Mai remained in the room."

"Yes."

"We know that there were four sets of guards, each a pair of two. One from noon to 1:30, another 1:30 to 3, another 3 to 4:30 and a final bout from 4:30 to 6. The second pair locked the interior window before changing shifts; the third pair saw four maids leaving by 3:45. They also reported seeing Mai alive after the maids left; they did not remember whether she was entering or exiting. No one else entered or exited until you came at six and saw the body."

"The body?" Azula bristled. "She has a name, you know."

"I do." Sokka answered brusquely. "Time will tell as to what that name is."

"Her name is Mai."

Sokka made no comment. Azula narrowed her eyes at him, but before she could question his silence, he continued.

"The facts make it seem as though no one else could have entered and killed her except you. But I have my doubts. So!" He turned, walking back to the board. "Let's examine our witnesses. First: the guards."

"Each guard has an immaculate record; to think that two could be convinced to betray the Crown, especially since the assignments are random…"

Sokka nodded. "I agree. I sincerely doubt any of the guards lied or conspired with the killer, especially since other guards patrol the corridors. If either abandoned their post for an instant, it would likely be noticed. However," he tapped his heel against the floor, as he scratched his chin philosophically, "they might be mistaken in what they saw."

"Impossible." Azula shook her head. "They would be able to identify any look-alikes of Mai, Ty Lee or I."

"Not look-alikes of you three." Sokka wagged his finger. "Look-alikes of the maids."

"The maids?"

"The maids are randomly assigned, are they not? The guards are unlikely to know their faces; they would just recognize the number of maids that enter, and compare that to the number that left."

Azula frowned. "So? Four went in, and four came out. Unless my math is wrong–which it never is–no one could have snuck in or out as a maid."

"Wait!" Sokka held up a hand. "Don't jump to conclusions, Princess. That's not how investigation works."

"Oh, really." She drawled. "Because your method is working so fabulously."

"IT WILL WORK FABULOUSLY!" He yelled, before clearing his throat. "Indubitably."

"Well, what am I assuming, then, Inspector?"

"We know four maids entered and four left; but you are assuming it's the same four."

"Well, who else could it have been? Mai?!" She said in an irritated tone.

"Probably not Mai. But consider: why couldn't a third party have hidden in the apartment and swapped out with a maid?"

"Because the window–"

Then Azula froze. The window was locked only after the maids arrived. Before the maids arrived, it was unlocked.

It was possible that someone had snuck in and hidden inside the room.

Azula's mind raced along the same line of thought that Sokka had apparently been traveling on. If someone was hiding in the room, they couldn't have walked out the window after; it was locked. And they couldn't go out the front door as-is; they would be recognized as an intruder.

So they needed to leave as a maid.

So they presumably swapped clothes with a maid and left. But then what happened to the maid?

"The room was empty when we searched it…" Azula said slowly.

"Not exactly." Sokka smirked.

Then Azula's eyes lit up and connected with Sokka's.

Grinning fiercely, they both said, at the same time:

"The dead body wasn't Mai."