A/n: Oh my god, I can't believe I've had this chapter finished and just sitting there for months without uploading. I'm sorry ^^;

Can't say when the next upload will be. But I'm working on it. Holiday time now. Fewer distractions (...sometimes). Sorry for all the sporadic updates. Unfortunately, that doesn't look to be changing any time soon. Bear with me, though. I will *not* abandon this story (or any of my others). I refuse to.

Chapter 10

Azula watched carefully as her latest food tray slid through the gap below the rock-door. It was time to put the next step of her plan into action.

"Um, Haydin?" she called in a soft voice,

"…yes, Princess?" The Earth Kingdom guard replied hesitantly,

"Oh, nothing,"

"…Did you want to say something, Princess?"

"It's just," Azula replied, trying to sound as vulnerable and weak as she could, "I'm just so alone. No one cares about me anymore,"

"What makes you say that, Princess?"

"Well it's true. I haven't seen my friends in years, and Zuzu only visits out of pity. No one really cares about me anymore."

"What about your parents?"

"Mom went missing years ago. She's probably dead. But she never really cared for me like she did with Zuzu. And Dad's locked up at the Burning Rock. I'll probably never see him again either. I'm all alone in this miserable life," she ended dramatically,

"…you're not alone," Haydin replied in a low voice,

"…what do you mean?" Azula asked in mock surprise,

"…you…you have me,"

And with those quietly muttered words, Azula knew she had the guard right where she wanted him. Sealing the deal, she tenderly reached her arm out through the gap under the door and grasped his hand, from where he knelt in the corridor.

"Thank you," she whispered, before letting go and crawling further into her cell.

Haydin got back up off the floor and re-took his post, standing guard. He stared soberly at the opposite wall. What was he doing? He was stationed to guard the princess, not be her friend. She was a convicted criminal who had done many bad things, towards his own people no-less! But…but how could someone so vulnerable and small be capable of such evil? Surely the court had gotten the wrong person. She was too…beautiful to be guilty. Surely she was just the scapegoat for some other evil bastard. Maybe even for her brother. Perhaps he was the evil one, and it was all a big cover-up…

Haydin shook his head. Nothing made sense. Who was he to think such things? He was simply Azula's guard. And that's exactly what he was going to do; guard the princess, no matter what.

Azula stared at her reflection in the bowl of pea soup. Excitement danced in her eyes. She would be out in only a matter of days. And Haydin was going to help her.

Toph stood uneasily at the door to the stable-courtyard. Aang was saying goodbye to Sokka and Suki, who stood in the early-morning sun, attempting to get warm despite the morning chill. Toph was preoccupied; saying her goodbyes to the earth. Sweet, solid, stable earth. How long would she have to go without its reliable touch, flying on Appa? She hoped it wasn't too long.

"I can't believe Zuko and Katara left without saying goodbye," Aang complained to the watertribe boy and Kyoshi warrior.

"They said goodbye to us. I guess Katara just couldn't find you. Where have you guys been, anyway?" Suki asked,

"In the secret archives, under the ground," Aang replied dismissively,

"Secret archives? Like a library? Of Fire Nation secrets?" Sokka asked, suddenly interested,

"I guess. We didn't really have time to check everything,"

"And where could one find this Secret Library?"

Aang shrugged, "Ask Toph. She's the one who found it. It was so dark half the time; I don't think I could even find my way back there,"

"Hey Suki, guess what we're doing today?" Sokka asked excitedly,

Suki rolled her eyes, "What are we doing?" she replied in a monotone.

"Spelunking,"

Toph marched over to the couple, "Don't even bother. It's locked with a fire-key. And the entrance is too complicated to just stumble upon. I'll take you there when we get back,"

"But – but –"

"Drop it, Sokka. You'll just get lost. And then there'll be no-one to come rescue you, without me or Zuko. And I don't think he'd be happy with you snooping around in his palace while he's gone," Toph replied sternly. She was letting her uneasiness of flying get to her.

Sokka rolled his eyes. Like that mattered. He wasn't a silly kid anymore. He was an adult now.

"You'd better listen to her, Sokka. I don't want to spend the next week or so alone." Suki reminded him.

"What about Iroh. He's still here. And Momo," Sokka pointed out, just as Momo circled the group and landed on his head.

"Yes, but it's not the same without you," she replied, kissing him quickly on the cheek.

Aang watched in amusement as the older boy caved.

"Fine," Sokka replied, "No exploring. But I don't see why everyone else gets to have an adventure,"

"Don't worry Sokka. I promise we'll be back in time for the party. And I'll try not to have too much fun while we're gone." Aang assured him.

"Whatever Arrow-head; just stay safe," Sokka punched him affectionately.

"Hey, that's *my* thing!" Toph protested.

"You can't *own* punching," Sokka replied,

"Oh yeah?" She challenged, landing a heavy fist in the middle of his chest,

Sokka buckled over, "Ow, my sternum!" he muttered.

Suki giggled, and hugged Toph good-bye. "Serves him right," she muttered, "And remember to stay safe. It's going to be quite without you guys,"

"It'll be good to head out again," Aang replied, "We haven't really had any adventures since the war ended,"

"Yeah, if we stay cooped up much longer, we'll probably forget how to have fun," Toph added, her un-seeing eyes turned to Aang's direction.

Aang laughed distractedly, hopping up to his place on top of Appa's head, "Well, we'd best head off now. Bye Sokka, bye Suki. We'll be back soon, hopefully,"

"Yeah, hopefully," Toph replied, creating an earth bridge to Appa's saddle.

"Yip yip!" Aang called to the giant Bison, and the took off.

Suki and Sokka remained in the courtyard, waving good-bye until they disappeared on the horizon.

"I hope they find what they're looking for," Sokka muttered jealously.

"Well, it looks like we've got the palace to ourselves," Suki winked flirtatiously, Sokka grinned, "Yeah, I guess we do,"

"And I think I know the perfect way to enjoy it…" Suki continued,

"Yes, good idea Suki. Let's have a tea party!" Iroh announced, appearing seemingly out of no-where. The couple jumped in surprise.

"…tea party?" Sokka replied,

"Sure, I'll have the cooks make some little cakes, and we can invite some people over. It will be great," The old man decided with enthusiasm,

"Yeah, Tea Party, just what I was thinking," Suki lied. So much for being alone.

The lowly travellers continued down the dirt road, having fallen into silence. The sun was setting behind them, colouring the sky various hues of pink and stretching out into the dark blue before them.

"It's getting dark. Do you think we should stop and set up camp for the night?" Katara asked her companion.

Zuko anxiously looked at her, and back at the road.

"I know you want to keep going so we'll find your mom sooner, but the ostrich-horses are getting tired. If we stop now we can leave earlier tomorrow morning. And besides, I don't think the land after the forest would be good for camping," Katara added, eyeing the open and unprotected grasslands just visible in the distance, at the edge of the forest.

Zuko nodded, "Alright then, we'll stop for tonight."

They led their ostrich-horses off the road and a little way into the forest, where they found a small clearing. Katara unpacked their sleeping bags as Zuko gathered branches and made a campfire.

Later they sat by the fire, eating the left-over cheese and bread from lunch.

"That's one thing I didn't miss about being on the road," Zuko began,

"What?"

"The food,"

Katara grinned, "Don't worry, we'll be at the first town by tomorrow night. We should be able to get real food there,"

"Hopefully."

"I didn't see Mai at the palace. Is she out visiting family?" Katara asked, moving the conversation along,

Zuko looked up, "Um, no. She's not living at the palace anymore,"

"Really? Why not?"

"We broke up a while ago now,"

"Oh Zuko, I'm so sorry,"

"It's ok. It wasn't really a surprise. We hadn't really been happy together for a while; It wasn't that much of a shock when I found out,"

"Found out what?"

"When I found her in the arms of one of my generals,"

Katara was speechless. How was she supposed to respond to something like that?

"It's ok," Zuko replied, breaking the awkward silence, "I'd had my suspicions that something was happening. But I wasn't mad. I'd been a pretty lousy boyfriend. Mai deserves better. We're still friends and he's still one of my lead generals. And I've seen them together. They're really happy. I guess since we're in peace time, Zoung has more time to spend with her than I did. In that respect, I envy him,"

"Wow, it's pretty good that you and Mai can still be friends after all that," Katara replied,

Zuko shrugged, "Why wouldn't we be? I don't blame her. And by the time I found her with Zoung, we were so estranged that we were barely even together. It's my fault, really. I guess I'm just not cut out for a relationship,"

Katara reached out to comfort him. "Don't say that. Maybe you and Mai just weren't right for each other. I'm sure you'll find someone who's right for you one-day,"

"Now you're starting to sound like Uncle," Zuko sighed,

"Why? Does he talk to you about it a lot?"

"A lot? More like daily. Uncle's always going on about how I need to settle down and have an heir. Something about the throne being unsecured until my successor is determined,"

"Already? But you were only crowned a few years ago. And you're so young! It's not like you're going to die tomorrow and leave the Fire Nation in disarray,"

"I think that's what Uncle is afraid of. He mentioned something about politics. Apparently, if I die before a successor it found, the throne will go to my nearest blood relative. And at this point, I have two distant families who are both eager to get the crown. Their power struggle would likely split the Nation. So I can see why Uncle may be so concerned, but it's a little too much to worry about right now, on top of all my other Fire Lord duties."

Katara smirked, "So finding a wife is a duty?"

"Apparently," Zuko smiled back. The whole idea did seem laughable.

"And here I thought it was supposed to be about romance," Katara remarked jokingly,

"So, what about you and Aang? He seemed a bit off last time I talked to him," Zuko asked, hoping he wasn't being too forward.

"Oh, I broke it off with him last night. Same sorta situation as you; there was really nothing left keeping us together."

"You don't say?"

"Yeah, I guess you don't really know what love is when you're that young. We slipped back into our old routine pretty quickly after the war. All these years, I was more like mother-figure to him that a girlfriend. I guess it just took one final nudge to break it off officially," Katara recollected,

"Huh, so it looks like we're both pretty unlucky in love," Zuko commented,

"Yeah, sure seems that way," Katara sighed.

The fire crackled on in the silence that had settled.

Zuko yawned.

"I guess we'd better get to sleep if we're to start again early tomorrow," Katara suggested,

Zuko nodded rolled out his sleeping bag as Katara waterbended the fire out, and settled into her own bedding.

She fell asleep with a small smile on her lips.

...*sigh* I should make this chapter better, but I can't be bothered. But the *next* one will be good, I promise!...whenever it comes out...hopefully before Uni starts again...