Chapter 37

After his trip to the Spirit World, Aang had a renewed sense of hope and purpose. He knew he had a difficult task ahead of him, but knowing he didn't have to do it alone made things much easier.

Despite General Fong's offer to teach him earthbending, Aang declined. Ever since Roku told him that he must soon find an earthbending master, he had his heart set on his old friend King Bumi of Omashu. Plus, he needed to go someplace where Katara could teach him more waterbending before he began his earthbending training.

After taking a brief respite at the earth general's base, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Yue began to head south through the mountains toward Omashu in search of a relatively safe place with lots of water. Eventually, they found a section of the mountains cut away by a river and continued to follow its path. Along the edge of the water were steep cliffs covered in vegetation—the sight excited Aang. It meant spring was coming soon. A bit further down the river, the water pooled into a lake with a sand beach on its far bank. They knew without a doubt this was the place and set up camp.

Heeding Avatar Roku's advice, Aang immediately set to work training harder than ever before, and Katara was more than happy to work with him.

While they trained, Sokka spent much of that time with Yue, who was eager to explore the land that was so different from the one she had grown up in. Down here, closer to the equator, there was no need for the warm winter coats they had been wearing all through their journey, and Yue's robes proved to be a bit too cumbersome in the wilderness. Katara had provided her with a set of her own clothes in order to help maximize her level of comfort.

It was strange not to be dressed like a princess, but Yue found she liked it. It also helped her to not be constantly reminded of what she had lost, but rather, helped her to focus on what she could do now to help Aang. She was eager to learn any skills that would aid in that process.

Sokka was more than eager to teach her. He found her curiosity endlessly endearing.

First on the agenda was how to fish.

"There are three ways that I know of to catch a fish," he explained as they walked further up the river and away from where Aang and Katara were waterbending. "Angling, spearing, or netting. For now, I think we should stick to angling. Netting's the easiest, but we don't have one with us. Spearing is the quickest, but it takes the most skill. Angling is a nice compromise."

He showed her how to use his fishing rod, find appropriate bait, and find the best places to find fish in the water. Yue even managed to catch one on her third attempt. Sokka then showed her how to kill it quickly with a knife, claiming that it didn't taste as good if it's death was drawn out. It was a little jarring to see such a thing firsthand, but Yue reasoned that it was better than letting the creature suffer longer than necessary. Next, Sokka showed her how to wrap it up in leaves for later cooking.

"Katara can show you how to do that," he said. "Cooking's never really been one of my strong suits."

"Sounds fair," she said as they began walking back to camp. "Sokka?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could teach me how to fight?"

"Huh?" he asked, a bit stunned as he stopped in his tracks.

"I've been thinking," Yue said, also slowing in her steps to face him. "We're probably going to be in dangerous situations again, and I should at least know how to defend myself."

"You don't need to fight. I'll protect you. I promised your dad I would."

"I know, Sokka, and I appreciate that. But I want to pull my own weight. If I had been born in your tribe, I would have been allowed to at least learn if I wanted to. I was never even given the choice."

"Okay, I promise I'll teach you. But no weapons yet."

"Thank you, Sokka," she said with a grateful smile before leaning in and pressing her lips against his.

Zuko sat in his cabin, mulling over some documents sent from War Minister Qin, but he really wasn't interested in them at the moment. He was currently thinking about more immediate plans. His ship was set to make port in less than a day. From there, he would travel on land for two more days to get to Omashu, where General Kanzo and his troops still resided. Mai's family would not arrive for at least another three days. He wanted to be there beforehand to surprise her and to also make sure the transition from Earth Kingdom to Fire Nation rule was going smoothly.

Once that was taken care of, he hoped to have a lead on the Avatar's whereabouts. Since the fall of the Northern Water Tribe, no one had seen him.

Still, even that he had trouble focusing on, despite how much he'd rather think of it. There was a serious problem that he had not yet dealt with, and he wasn't sure of the best way to do it.

Specifically, he had not informed Ozai that Azula would not be among the prisoners delivered by Commander Lee—that he had allowed her to escape. He did not want his father to think less of him due to this transgression, but Zuko knew he would not be pleased.

So he had waited in the hopes that his men would have successfully captured Azula and Ty Lee. It was clear they had failed, which irritated Zuko to no end.

At the very least, he had to ensure that the proper measures were in place to placate the Fire Lord as much as possible. It was all he could do for now.

Zuko pulled out a blank piece of parchment, dipped his brush in some ink, and began to write.

On the fourth day since escaping Zuko's ship, Azula and Ty Lee reached the outskirts of Jang. They found that still free Earth Kingdom villages were few and far between in these parts, so they hadn't been able to get much in the way of food. But it was still better than anything they could have gotten out in the wild.

Still, they were both looking forward to being able to have enough money to actually get what they needed, and they were glad that the wait would soon be over.

They had decided to set up camp in the forest outside of Jang and wait for night to fall. They didn't have to wait very long. Within a few hours, twilight had faded, and Azula was on her feet.

"Time to go," Azula said, pulling up the hood on her cloak to conceal her face as best she could. "I want you to wait here."

"Are you sure?" Ty Lee asked, looking up at Azula from her spot near the campfire.

"Yes, it will be easier if I go alone. I'll be back before you know it."

Ty Lee nodded at her, and the firebender took off toward the village.

As Azula began to sneak into town, she couldn't help but think of her time at the North Pole just a few weeks prior and the lengths she had gone to in order to find the Avatar. "If only I could have held onto you. If only Zhao hadn't gotten in my way," she thought angrily before reprimanding herself. "Don't think about that right now, Azula. Just stay focused."

Azula's eyes scanned the streets. There were guards present, but she knew she could avoid their detection if she stayed in the shadows. As she turned the corner onto the street of the storage facility, she caught sight of the docks. Without even meaning to, Azula looked for the familiar single-stacked steam powered warship left to her by General Iroh. It quickly became apparent that her ship was gone, no doubt confiscated by the Fire Nation per Zuko's orders.

She felt a pang of sadness. Not that she would have been able to do much with it now, but it still hurt. It was just one more reminder of how badly things had turned out, and one less connection to the man responsible for her happier childhood memories.

She shook her head to dispel those thoughts and continued on toward the storage facility. Since it was late, there was no one working inside. All Azula had to do was get past the two guards positioned on the street, which she did with relative ease.

Once inside, Azula quickly found the locker where she had left her Uncle Iroh's Jian sword and a small black chest containing all of her remaining money; her scrolls, inks, and brushes; and, most dear to her heart, the gifts from her uncle.

The key was long gone—having been taken from her when she was taken into custody at the North Pole—but Azula was becoming quite adept at picking locks. Within a few moments of working at it with her knife, the lock was off. Anxiously, Azula tucked away her knife and opened the locker door.

Only to find it completely empty.

Azula stared in disbelief. An unexpected wave of despair rose up in her as she closed her eyes. She found herself unable to move from her spot. "Where did everything go?"

She felt numb. Even something so simple as this—a simple task of retrieving her belongings—was made impossible. She wondered why the universe felt the need to keep taking everything away.

Slamming the door shut, Azula turned away.

An hour later, Azula returned to camp, empty-handed. Ty Lee took one look at the other girl's aura and bit her lip. It looked way too much like it did when Azula was on Zuko's ship.

Wordlessly, the firebender sat beside Ty Lee and stared into the campfire.

"What happened, Azula?" she asked worriedly, scooting closer and wrapping her arm around her friend's waist.

She didn't answer at first, just continuing to stare into the fire.

"It's gone," she finally said, her voice low. "Everything's gone—my ship, my supplies." Azula let out a shaky breath, willing herself to keep her anger under control. "That's not all," the firebender continued, procuring a scroll from beneath her cloak. "I saw this on my way out of town," she explained, handing it to Ty Lee, who took it with her free hand and unfurled it.

There she saw Azula's face and her own beneath it. Alongside their pictures was some writing giving their names, physical descriptions, their crimes against the Fire Nation, and the terms of the bounty on their heads.

"Wanted dead or alive," Ty Lee whispered with a frown. Seeing it all in writing gave a certain finality to things.

Azula suddenly reached up and pulled out the ribbon that held her top knot in place, freeing her hair as it spilled down her back. She then took the scroll from Ty Lee and threw it onto the fire. Azula's face was hard as she watched the paper burn until there was nothing left of it.

Once it was gone, she turned away from Ty Lee and lay down on her side, pulling the saddle blanket over her. The acrobat looked at her sadly for a moment, before reaching up and undoing her braid. Once done with that, Ty Lee lay down beside Azula and nestled beneath the blanket before hugging the firebender from behind.

"Things will work out, Azula," Ty Lee said, trying to offer her some comfort.

"I don't want to talk anymore tonight," Azula said, her tone a mixture of anger and defeat. "Goodnight."

Ty Lee sighed. "Goodnight."