Anraq gawked at the beach house that sat atop the hill before them. "This was a vacation home? It must be the biggest house on the island."

"Indeed," Zuko replied, offering a quiet hum of acknowledgment. "When you're part of the royal family, even your getaways go above and beyond."

'Above and beyond' was one way of putting it. 'Depressing' was another. Azula folded her arms across her chest, staring at the house as they strolled along the winding path up the hill. The moon hung low in the sky, washing a silver glow across the sloping tiled rooftop. Whatever could have compelled Zuzu to move back here? So many awkward and painful memories. Not because they'd actually had terrible times on Ember island, but the fact that their family had only ever been happy when on vacation. A reminder of everything they had never been on a normal day. A mask, to hide exactly how dysfunctional they'd always been. Perhaps Zuko had moved on from those memories and made new ones. Made this place his own.

As they neared the front steps of the home, Anraq leaned close to her. "Are you okay with this? I know it's been a long time since you and Mai met. I mean, I may not have been around back then, but with how you spoke about her and that other friend of yours..."

"I'll be fine," she insisted, with a narrow glare at the front door. "This has been a long time coming. I have a few words I want to say to her."

"Well, alright then." He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and followed Zuko through doorway.

"Mai?" Zuko turned on the light to the main atrium and made his way inside. "Are you still up? I'm home."

Silence lingered briefly, before the muffled sound of footsteps echoed from deeper in the house. The door at the far end of the room slid open. The woman standing there was old, with long gray hair tied up in a pair of buns. A billowing red robe wrapped around her, hiding a thin, frail frame that hunched forward. Her face was narrow and gaunt, creased with a deep set of wrinkles. In spite of her posture, she moved with a surprising swiftness and grace not usually seen from someone her age. Eighty years later, but still Azula recognized the shade of a much younger girl in that old figure. Mai.

"Welcome home," Mai said, with a pleasant smile. She made her way to Zuko and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "You were gone awful long this time."

"Yes, well, there were some things that required my attention," he said, glancing over his shoulder.

Mai looked beyond her husband to see the other two standing there. "Oh, we have guests? Can I get them some tea, or—?" Words stopped cold in her throat when her gaze fell upon Azula. Her eyes narrowed, pausing with the briefest hesitation. Recognition tore through her moments later with a widened stare. She snapped her focus back to her husband. "Zuko, I thought you said you weren't ever going to bring her here."

"I know, I'm sorry. Some things have happened. I—urgh..." Zuko staggered and fell against the table next to him. He clutched at the edges of the table with a tight grip, able to keep himself from toppling over.

Mai rushed to his side with a gasp of concern. "Honey, are you alright? What's wrong?"

"Like I said, things happened," he muttered, sucking in a deep breath. "I need to lie down. I'll explain everything in the morning."

Anraq came to their side. "I'll take him, ma'am. I'm a healer, I can help." He lifted Zuko's arm around his shoulder, and assisted the old man towards the door at the other end of the room. He paused briefly to look back at Mai and Azula. "We'll just, uh... leave you two alone for a few minutes."

When they were gone, Mai turned a slow glare towards the other woman. "Azula."

"Mai." Azula tightened her arms across her chest, darkening a glare of her own. "You got old."

"You haven't aged a day. Do I even want to know how that's possible?"

"It's a long story, and quite honestly I don't really feel like explaining it right now."

Mai hissed out a sigh. "I see you haven't changed much, either."

Azula turned her head and puffed out a haughty scoff. "Why change what's already perfect?"

Mai's eyes narrowed even further. "I didn't believe Zuko when he first told me you were back. I thought he was playing some kind of twisted joke on me. Then I saw your picture in the paper. Now, here you are standing in front of me. After all these years..."

"Yes, here I am." Azula met the other woman's gaze with unflinching poise. "And here you are."

"Don't tell me you're still bitter about what happened back then," Mai said, with a bite of sarcasm. "Wait, who am I kidding? Of course you are."

Her scowl deepened. She stepped closer to Mai and pointed an accusatory finger at her. "You betrayed me! You and Ty Lee both!"

"I did what I thought was right in that moment, and that meant saving Zuko from you. I knew what I did, and I accepted it. I see you still haven't."

"You and Ty Lee were all I had! You were my only friends, and you turned on me. Do you know what that feels like? Having the only people you thought you could rely on stab you in the back?"

"Friends?" Mai's glare intensified. She moved closer, almost nose-to-nose with Azula. Even in her old age, she carried a striking fierceness about her. If anything, she was more intimidating now than she had ever been. "You never treated us like friends. We were your henchmen, always expected to do whatever you said without question. You controlled us by making us afraid of you, by threatening us, and when we finally acted on something even stronger than our fear for you, you couldn't handle it. You were angry because you lost control, not because you ever cared about us."

Azula swallowed, choking back her initial response. She found her lips floundering, searching for some kind of biting quip to fire back. Nothing came. She managed a feeble, stumbling retort, a softness in her voice that sounded so much unlike herself she wasn't completely sure she was the one saying it. "That... that isn't true."

"Who are you trying to fool, Azula? Me? Or yourself?"

Azula let her gaze shift away, tilting towards the floor. The scowl that had creased her face moments ago vanished, relaxing into a distant stare of thought, and uncertainty. Mai was wrong. Of course she was wrong. She had to be.

Mai sighed. "Look, I'm not still angry about back then, and I don't have a grudge anymore. It's been way too long for that." She took a step back, hands folding beneath the sleeves of her robe. Her glare remained fierce, challenging. "But that doesn't mean I like you, especially after what you did to Izumi. I don't fear you anymore, either. If you do anything I don't like, if you give me one reason to believe you might hurt Zuko, I will stop you. I know he has a soft spot for you because you're his sister, and he thinks you're different from the Azula we used to know, but I know what you're still capable of. I won't let you hurt anyone else I care about, do you understand me?"

Mai's assertion snapped Azula out of her daze. She uttered a grating scoff, and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you've become just as sickeningly noble as Zuzu. You don't need to worry, I'm not going to hurt him. He's my brother."

"That never stopped you before."

"Yes, well that was then, this is now." Azula lifted her head to look back at Mai, offering a knowing smirk. "Like you said, it's been a long time."

Mai deadpanned. "Right, I'm sure you're so different now. I'll probably wake up tomorrow with my house burning down around me."

Azula huffed, planting her arms over her chest as she glanced towards the wall next to them. A family portrait hung nearby, depicting a younger Zuko and Mai, along with a teenage Izumi. "I'm not going to burn your house down, Mai. I couldn't even if I wanted to."

Mai's gaze narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I..." Azula paused, clenching her jaw tight. Of all the things to have to admit out loud... "I can't bend. I don't have my firebending anymore."

"You what?" Mai coughed out a mocking laugh. "Right, I totally believe that."

Heat flared into Azula's cheeks with a bright flush. "Don't mock me, you old hag! It's true."

"Of course it is." Mai turned and shuffled towards the sliding door at the other end of the room. "There's a guest room down the hall. You can sleep there. Don't try anything funny, though. I'll know."

When Mai was gone, Azula muttered an irritated grumble. "Like I'm some kind of child..."


Azula stood on the beach, watching the waves break against the shore beneath the glow of the full moon. She breathed in deep, steady, and closed her eyes. Think back. Remember the basics. Firebending comes from your breath, not your muscles. Control your breathing, extend your chi through your body, and create fire. Opening her eyes, she thrust a punch towards the ocean. Nothing. Her form was crisp, perfect, and yet still no fire.

"Bend!" She punched again, snapped a whirling kick forward. thrust her fingers. Still, nothing. Not even a tiny ember. With a groan of frustration, she stared down at her hands. "What is wrong with me? Why can't I bend?"

"Hey, Azula."

The voice sent a sudden jolt down her spine. She spun around to see Anraq standing behind her. "Oh, Annie. I didn't notice you there."

"It's fine, I just got here," he said, as he moved next to her. He stared out over the water, a distant look in his eyes.

"It's late." Azula joined his gaze, watching the moon rise further above the horizon. "What are you doing out here?"

"Couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"I... I'm trying to firebend.."

Anraq hung his head. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'm the one who thought we should wait until night to infiltrate the temple. Then I was careless and alerted the guards. We should have been there sooner."

Azula focused on the moon, letting the silver glow fill her vision. Perhaps as little as a few months ago, she would have jumped at the opportunity to blame someone else for everything wrong in her life. Not now. Not anymore. "It's not your fault, Annie. It's Shin Tsang's fault. And Yula's. And my own, most of all."

"I can't imagine how hard this must be for you, losing your bending." He looked back at her, carrying a deep sympathy in his gentle blue eyes. "My waterbending is a part of me. If I lost it... It would be like losing a piece of myself."

"It's more than that," she said, raising her hands to stare at them. She slowly clenched her fingers into fists. "My firebending was everything to me. I was my firebending. A prodigy, a weapon, a perfect princess and ruler. Now what am I? I'm nothing."

Anraq recoiled with a look of genuine surprise. He stepped in front of her, held her hands in his own, and gave an insistent squeeze of reassurance. "That's not true at all. You're still you, Azula. Your firebending doesn't make you who you are. It might have been an important part of you, but it wasn't all of you. You are what makes you who you are."

"And what exactly is that?" she countered, with a quiver in her tone. A knot lodged in her throat, choking her words "Why are you even here, Annie? Why are you still with me? I've been a cruel, spiteful person to everyone around me. I've made it a point to step over people and climb to the top no matter the cost. Anyone else would call me a horrible person. A monster. What on earth do you see in me?"

"I told you before, I'm here because I've seen another side of you, under all that cruelty and arrogance. You don't think it's there, but maybe that's because you're afraid it can't be. You don't need to be afraid." He pointed at her, planting his finger firmly against the top of her chest. "It is there. You just need to reach for it."

She looked away, twisting her lips into a deep frown. "You sound so sure."

"I am sure." Anraq lifted a hand to Azula's chin and gently lifted her gaze upward. "Azula, I'm here because I care about you, and I am not giving up on you."

Another knot bounced into her throat. Different than the one before. Nervous, disbelieving. It tightened so much she nearly stopped breathing. "You really do care, don't you?"

"I do. I promise, I'm not going to leave you. No matter what happens, I will be there for you. I'll help you however you need me to."

Azula swallowed, forcing the knot down into her stomach, where it ruptured with a nauseous churning. There were her nerves again, strengthening with renewed ferocity the longer she met Annie's gaze. She leaned closer, enough to feel his breath against her lips. Her lungs heaved, her chest pressing against his. She leaned closer.

No, what was she doing? She nearly lost herself. She couldn't do that. She'd only ruin the moment. Shifting her head to the side, she set her chin against Annie's shoulder and wrapped her arms tight around him. Not quite what she'd almost attempted, but at least this way she wouldn't make a fool of herself. "Thank you, Annie."

Anraq glanced down at her, lifting a brow. "What are you doing?"

"Hugging you?" Panic surged into her chest. Oh no, she'd still managed to screw it up, hadn't she? She had made herself look stupid, yet again. "Is... is that still allowed?"

Annie merely smiled, wrapping his own arms tight around her in return. "Of course it is."


Mai huffed a deep sigh. She stood at the edge of the beach house courtyard, watching Azula at the center of the open yard. The former pordigy had been going through the same series of basic firebending forms for the past hour now, ever since breakfast. Not a single blast of fire the entire time.

So, perhaps Mai had been too quick to disbelieve Azula's claims from last night. Azula really couldn't firebend anymore. Oh, the absolutely irony of it.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she said, glancing towards her husband next to her. "Trusting her, after everything she's done?"

"I know you're hesitant, Mai," Zuko said. "I was too, at first, but there's something changing in her. I can feel it. She's conflicted, and confused. Right now, more than anything, she needs guidance. Just like I did, a long time ago."

"Alright..." Mai sighed again, wrapping her arm around his. "Just don't let your guard down around her."

"I'll do my best." Zuko gave his wife's arm a reassuring squeeze, and leaned in close for a kiss. "When we leave later, I want you to go stay with Ty Lee on Kyoshi Island. It's only a matter of time before Yula learns where I live, and when that happens you might become a target."

Mai nodded. "I will. It'll be good to see her again, at least. It's been years."

Zuko kissed his wife again, and made his way away from her towards the center of the courtyard. "Azula, do you have a moment?"

"Of course I have time," she muttered, ceasing the firebending set she had been working through. "I have nothing else to do on this island. It's just as dull as I remember it."

Zuko grabbed the leather strap he had slung over his shoulder and removed it, along with the pair of sheathed broadswords attached to it. "Here, take these."

Azula took the weapons with a curious stare. "Your old swords?"

He nodded. "I thought you could use them, at least while you don't have your bending."

"What do you mean, 'at least while' I don't have my bending?" She drew the blades from the sheath and studied them, testing their weight in her hands. "No matter what I try, I can't bend. This isn't temporary, you dolt."

"Actually, it may be. You see, the Avatar has the ability to restore a person's bending. She did so for many after the Equalist incident in Republic City, when Amon took away people's bending. If we go see her, she could do the same for you."

Azula nearly fumbled the swords out of her grasp. "What? She can?"

"Indeed, she can."

"Actually, I think I remember hearing about that." Anraq approached the pair, carrying his club with him across the courtyard, the one Azula had given him for his birthday. He had since restored the weapon with a new leather grip and a fresh coat of paint along the side. Removing a rag from his pocket, he began polishing the weighted ball at the end of the club. "I wasn't there for the whole Equalist thing, but I'm pretty sure I read an article about Korra restoring bending to people who lost it."

"Well, that's a nice thought and all," Azula muttered, "but you both are forgetting that the Avatar hates me. Not that I blame her, of course. I did try to kill her. Still, she's not going help me."

"You let us worry about that," Zuko said. "I know the Avatar very well. I'm sure I can persuade her."

"Yeah, and she is still one of my best friends," Anraq insisted. "She'll help, I'm sure."

"If you say so." Azula took a step back and gave the swords a couple of practice swings. They were foreign in her hands. Although she had received general weapons training under Master Piando as a child, he had focused her on smaller weapons like knives, while leaving swords for Zuko. "I'm not going to get my hopes up."

"In any case, I need to check on Druk and make preparations if we're going to leave by tonight," Zuko said. "In the meantime, you practice with those."

Azula gripped the swords tighter and hacked at the air. "Hmph, they don't seem difficult."

"Okay, hold on." Zuko took a step forward and held his hands up, urging her to stop. "First of all, you're holding them wrong."

She narrowed a glare at him. "I am not."

"Here, like this." Zuko extended his hand, and Azula reluctantly handed over the swords to him. He took the blades and turned his body, guiding them through an elegant and fluid form. "Remember that these are dual swords, two halves of the same whole. Think of them not as weapons but as extensions of your own body." He spun around and delivered two successive slashes, one after the other. His motions were sharp, perfect. After a few moments more of demonstration, he relinquished the blades back to his sister. "You try."

Azula snatched the swords from him with an irritated grumble. She held the weapons the same as Zuko had, and attempted to mimic his actions. Her strokes were crisper this time. Not perfect, but better.

"This is easy," she declared, with a smug scoff.

"Well..." Zuko stroked a hand along his beard, watching her with a thoughtful hum. "You're doing better, at least."

Azula scowled in his direction. "I'm doing fine!"

He chuckled, and broke out into a smile. "Just keep practicing. I'll check on you later."


Two hours later, Azula remained at the center of the courtyard practicing with her new swords. Zuko's swords. How humiliating, not only being given his weapons but also having to be instructed by him like some kind of novice. She'd never needed his instruction before. She'd always been better his better when it came to firebending. Now, she had no firebending. At the very least, she might as well have something else. These swords could be that something. Nonetheless, the irony left a sour taste in her mouth, and a deep bruise on her pride.

Then again, perhaps her pride needed a little bruising.

"This isn't so hard," she muttered, as she leaped into the air with a whirling spin. In the same motion, she swung the blades outward. When she landed, she turned her stance again and made another pair of cuts at the air. "Hmph. Simple."

Azula spun a second time, and her grip fumbled on one of the handles. The sword whirled through the air across the courtyard, nearly taking off the top of Anraq's head as he made his way towards her. He managed to duck in time to avoid the bladed projectile

"Whoa!" he proclaimed, raising his hands in surrender. He blinked back over his shoulder to see the sword clatter on the ground. "Easy, I don't need a haircut that bad."

"Ugh, these things are so stupid!" Azula threw the other sword to the ground. "Just when I think I have them right, I do something like that."

"You just need to keep practicing," he said. "No one learns a new skill right away."

"I do." She folded her arms with a deep sigh, and returned her focus to him. Her brow lifted, as she noticed he wasn't wearing anything but a pair of swim trunks, and a towel draped over his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Anraq looked down at himself with a shrug. "Well, this is a beach, isn't it? Your brother had a spare pair of trunks, so I figured I might as well make use of it while we're here. I haven't had a good swim in ages."

"Oh, of course." Azula frowned. She'd been so busy training, she hadn't stopped to consider actually using the beach. They weren't exactly on vacation. "That makes sense. I guess."

He gave her a wave, and continued on through the courtyard. "Have fun practicing."

Azula watched him until he disappeared, and shifted a glare down at the scattered swords. That was enough practice for now. After retrieving the weapons and returning them to their scabbard, she hurried back into the house, found the stairs, and made her way to the attic a few minutes later.

Several stacks of old chests greeted her. She started with the ones she recognized, the ones her parents had used so many years ago to store old clothes. She found robes, pants, shirts, nightgowns, blankets, a whole assortment of various garments. Not what she was looking for. With a disappointed groan, she moved on to the next set of chests. Still nothing.

"Looking for something?"

Azula flinched at the voice, slowly looking towards the stairs. Mai. "I... ugh, fine." She'd been caught. No point in lying. "I'm looking for a swimsuit, alright? I wanted to try out the beach before we left. Is that a crime now?"

Mai paced across the attic towards the window and looked outside. From their perch atop the hill, the beach was visible down below, clear enough see Anraq diving through the waves. With a lifted eyebrow, she looked back towards Azula. "I see..."

Azula blushed. She stifled the sensation with an irritated scowl. "Are you going to let me borrow one or not?"

Mai eased a deep sigh, shuffling towards one of the chests near the back of the attic. She dug through the chest, and pulled out a two piece swimsuit, colored red with black trim. "Here. This should fit you."

Azula held her arms across her chest, tapping her fingers against her elbows as Mai approached her with the swimsuit. She stared at it a long while, letting the heat build further in her cheeks. The heat burst, and she snatched the swimsuit. "Yes, I suppose this will do."

"You're welcome," Mai called, with an unamused stare.

Azula paused at the top of the stairs, slowly meeting the old woman's gaze with a small, barely noticeable smile curling the edge of her lips. "Thank you."


Anraq surfed atop a wave, bending the water at his feet. He grinned wide as the wave broke, and propelled himself into the air to come crashing beneath the surface. When he reemerged, he floated on his backside with his eyes closed and his arms hanging lazily out at his sides. Dear spirits, he hadn't had a good swim like this in ages.

"Hope you don't mind some company. I could use a swim too."

"Hmm?" Anraq eased his eyes open to see Azula standing on the nearby dock in a two piece swimsuit, her hips cocked to the side with one hand pressed against her waist. "Oh, of course not. Come on—waah!"

Azula jumped into the water directly next to him, splashing him with a wave that lurched him below the water. He broke the surface again, coughing and sputtering.

"Hey, watch it," he said, wiping his bangs out of his face. "What are you trying to...?"

Words evaporated from his mind, as he watched Azula climb the ladder back onto the dock. Sunlight beamed around her, causing her entire body to glisten. She threw her head back, flipping her wet hair over her shoulders. A spray of water circled over her head, glowing like a halo. He blinked in stunned silence, completely unaware of his awkward gawking.

When she reached the top of the dock, Azula looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "What's wrong? You're staring."

"Uh, nothing," he said, shaking himself out of his stupor. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just... Nothing."

"Right..." She squinted at him in curiosity, and made her way farther along the dock towards the deeper water. "Well, as soon as you pick your jaw up off the ground, I'm jumping in again. So try to prepare yourself this—" Her words cut off as a stream of water lifted from the ocean and splashed across her backside. She jumped, uttering an uncharacteristically surprised squeal. When she recovered, she shot a heated glower down at Anraq. "What was—did you just splash me?"

"Who, me?" Anraq lowered his arms, causing the small pillar of water behind him to drop back into the ocean. "Nooo. Definitely not."

"Oh, you will pay for that." Azula backed up to the opposite edge of the dock and lowered herself with her knees bent, ready to break into a run.

Anraq lifted his eyebrows. "Hey, wait a minute now. Don't do anything crazy."

Azula sprinted across the dock and lunged into the water next to him. She curled herself into a ball as she struck the surface, blasting a wave up and over Anraq. When she broke the surface, she swam at him and lashed her arms through the water to splash him. "Smack me with water, will you? I'll show you!"

"Heh, I admire your effort, but are you forgetting who you're dealing with?" Anraq whirled his arms in the air, causing the water Azula splashed at him to coil around his body and redirected straight back at her.

"Hey!" Azula shielded herself, as repeated streams crashed against her. "Cut it—pheh!" She coughed out a mouthful water. "Cut it out!"

"You started this," he insisted, with a playful smirk. "Now you deal with the consequences."

"Oh no you don't," she muttered, taking a deep breath. She ducked below a water blast, and disappeared beneath the surface.

"Huh?" Anraq looked down at the gleaming water around him, unable to see below the surface through the sun's glare. "What is she—whoa!"

A sharp tug on his ankle pulled him into the depths below. So, that was her game? Not if he had anything to say about it. With a whirl of his body, he bent the water around himself and lifted into the air atop a spiraling cyclone of water. Azula came with him.

"Come on, trying to outmaneuver a waterbender in the ocean?" He laughed, hoisting her onto his shoulder. "Not very bright."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, smacking her hands across his back. "Put me down at once!"

Anraq shifted the water cyclone forward and lifted her higher. "That's it, time to finish this!"

"I. Don't. Think so!"

Before he could throw her into the water, Azula flipped herself forward and wrapped her arms around Anraq's waist. Her momentum dragged them both backwards, spiraling over one another into the ocean below. The water cyclone collapsed over them, a miniature tidal wave violently washing them back to shore. Anraq slid across the wet sand on his stomach, while Azula rolled head over heels and landed on her backside, arms and legs spread out in the sand.

"Ugh..." Anraq picked himself up and waved one of his arms forward, bending a glob of seawater out of his mouth. When his throat was clear, he coughed and held a hand to his gut. "I think I just drank half the ocean."

"Hmph." Azula sat upright and crossed her arms over her chest. Her lips curled into a smug grin. "I win." No sooner than she said it, another torrent of water splashed across her face.

Anraq returned the smirk. "You were saying?" A wet clump of sand promptly smacked across his cheek.

They both paused, blinking at each other in awkward silence. A moment later, they burst into laughter. Real, genuine laughter, even from Azula. Now there was a side of her he'd never seen her express before. Spirits, what a beautiful side it was.

"I don't think I've ever heard you laugh like that before," he said, wiping the wet sand from his face.

She immediately silenced herself and turned away, sudden embarrassment creasing her face. "Well you don't need to make fun..."

"Oh, no, I wasn't—" Anraq smacked himself on the forehead. Maybe that hadn't been the best way to put it. "I just mean, it's nice seeing you smile. You know, happy."

"Oh. Okay then." She managed a small smile, returning her focus to him. Her gaze drifted downward, stopping at his chest. More specifically, the scar seared into his flesh just above his heart. Her smile faded, sinking into a distant frown. "Does that hurt?"

"Huh?" Anraq glanced down at himself and traced his fingers along the mark. "Oh, this? No, it's just a scar. I barely even know it's there half the time."

Azula leaned forward and grazed her own fingers against the scar. Her touch was light, gentle. With a deep sigh, she pulled her hand away and bowed her head. "I... I'm sorry. I tried to kill you back then, but now you're the closest friend I have."

Anraq shook his head. "Don't worry about it, really. That's in the past. Besides, I lived, didn't I? Takes more than a little lightning to keep me down."

Her gaze lifted, and she offered a subtle smirk. "Yes, you are quite virile, aren't you?"

He paused, lifting an eyebrow at the odd choice in compliment. Not that he was complaining. Picking himself back up to his feet, he started brushing the wet sand off himself. "Anyway, we should probably get changed. We'll be leaving soon."

"I suppose you're right." Azula sighed, and flipped herself up from the ground. "I do hope they have something fitting for me to wear."


Zuko watched from atop the hill, as Azula and Anraq made their way back from the beach. "Does that seem like the Azula you used to know?"

"Well, she's certainly as competitive as she used to be." Mai glanced at her husband, uttering a deep sigh when she noticed that knowing look in his eyes. "Okay, I suppose there might be something different about her. That doesn't mean I trust her. She's still done horrible things."

"I know," he replied. "I'm trying to help her with that. Just give her a chance. Please?"

Mai relented with a roll of her eyes. "Fine..."


Azula stood in the courtyard, looking over her new outfit. It was rather simple travel garb of Fire Nation design, with loose pants and billowing sleeves. The clothes fit well enough, but did there have to be so much extra fabric hanging around her arms? These sleeves were preposterously baggy. Maybe best to cut them off later and save herself the trouble. At least find a way to wrap them tighter.

"I suppose this will do," she said, as she strapped the belt of her sword sheath around her shoulders. "Even if it is rather plain."

Mai glared at her from several paces away. "It used to be mine."

"Oh." Azula pursed her lips and gave a simple shrug. "Well, as I said."

"Hey, check this out!" Anraq ran out of one of the side doors across the courtyard, waving his arms at them. He wore a blue and white sleeveless shirt, tied off at the waist with a sash. His pants were a darker blue, and included a pair of shin guards and brown boots. Even his hair was different, no longer in a Fire Nation topknot, but instead a warrior's wolf tail. "I've always said, I look best in blue."

Azula squinted at him. "Is that Water Tribe clothing?"

"Yeah, apparently Chief Sokka used to visit here years ago. There were some of his old clothes stuffed in the back closet." A delighted grin spread across his face. "Can you believe it? I'm wearing an official Chief Sokka uniform!" He turned around, showing off the shoulder holster for his club. "Doesn't it go great with the club?"

"Yes, that's fascinating," Azula said, with an eye roll. "Can we just—" She paused, narrowing a closer look at him. "Wait, did you shave?"

"Oh, yeah," he replied, rubbing a hand across his bare chin. No sign of the goatee he'd been previously sporting.

"I thought you hated going clean shaven?"

"Well, I do. Usually. But you said you liked it, so..." He paused, patting his hands frantically across his jaw. "Wait, what's wrong? Did I miss a spot?"

"No, no you didn't miss anything," she said, with an ever so subtle smile. "You look good."

"Oh, well... Heh, thanks."

Mai looked back and forth between them both with a roll of her eyes. "Oh geez..."

Azula glared at her. "What are you scoffing at?"

"Nothing," she said, her expression returning to its usual deadpan. "Just you two."

A shadow fell over the courtyard. Druk descended into the open space, landing next to the group and lowering close to the ground so Zuko could jump off.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Zuko said.

"Been ready," Anraq said, making his way over to the dragon.

Azula followed close behind. "Yes, I think I've had enough of this place to last me another eighty years."

Zuko turned to his wife, reaching out to hold her hand. "I'll see you again soon, honey."

Mai leaned up to kiss him. "Be safe."

"I always am. Say hello to Ty Lee for me." He gave her another kiss, and hurried to join the others. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Zuko seated himself at the front of the dragon and gave Druk's scales a firm pat. Wings unfurled, and they took to the sky. "Alright, everyone. Next stop, Zaofu."