Azula breathed deep and snapped a punch forward. Bright blue flames leaped from her knuckles, igniting the darkened night sky. While the others had long since settled down for sleep back at camp, she had crept off into a secluded clearing in the surrounding forest to get in some practice. Not that she needed practice, of course. Even without Sen's essence, her firebending was still top notch. Still, after not being able to bend for several weeks, desire burned within her to use it. To cut loose, and feel her chi flow.

Everything about her firebending felt different now. The more she went through her forms, the more clear that fact became. For so many years, she had pulled her bending from a source of anger, cruelty, and malice. Now, it came from a place of peace. No longer a destructive wildfire within her, but instead a life-giving sun. Ran and Shaw had given her newfound appreciation for her bending. Firebending was not solely a tool to destroy her enemies. It was a way to bring harmony within herself. A way to find the peace she'd been searching for.

As she shifted into the final pose of a particularly advanced firebending form, Azula charged an electric current through herself. With a thrust of her fingers, she shot a sizzling bolt of lightning into the sky. She smirked, watching the bolt streak across inky darkness. Oh, how she had missed that.

"So, how does it feel?" a voice said. "Having your bending back."

Azula came out of her stance and looked over her shoulder. Kuvira stood there at the edge of the treeline, arms folded. With a quiet scoff, she ignited a ball of fire in her palm. She stared at it, captivated by the blue glow. "Like a dream I hope I never wake up from. It's not as powerful as it was when I had Sen's essence obviously, but everything is much crisper and fluid. I feel like the prodigy I was born to be."

"Well, I might not know how it feels to be considered a prodigy, but I do know that dream-like feeling you're talking about," Kuvira said, making her way into the clearing. "Everything that's happened to me since I got out of prison has felt like that. Heck, even before then. Just being with Korra..."

"Hmph." Azula bounced the fireball in her palm a few times and cast it into the air. "You two are sickeningly mushy, you know that? You might try getting a room one of these days."

"Oh, look who's talking." Kuvira raised an accusatory brow, hands planted on her hips. "You and Anraq aren't much better."

"Please, we're much more sophisticated."

"You were nibbling at his ear earlier."

Azula flinched, glancing back at the matriarch with a clear of her throat. "Oh, well... you weren't supposed to see that."

Kuvira snorted out a disbelieving laugh, and bent up an earthen seat from the ground to sit. "So, how are things between you two going, anyway? I'll be honest, if I had ever tried to think of someone he'd end up with, you wouldn't have been anywhere near that list."

"Things are fine." She created two fireballs this time, and began tossing them around in the air. "I mean, as good as they can be. I guess. This whole relationship business is still new to me, but we're taking it slow. Don't want to ruin it, you know?"

"Ah, so you two haven't...?"

Azula balked, and promptly dropped the fireballs. What kind of question was that? Was this the kind of thing 'normal' people talked about? With a grumble of disgust, she recreated her fireballs and threw them into the air again. "I hardly see how my intimacy with Annie is any of your business. We're not that close, Matriarch."

"No, I suppose we aren't," Kuvira sighed. "To be honest, I'm still a little cautious. I'm no stranger to life changing revelations like you just experienced, but even so, you did do a lot of damage. Not just to us, but to the nations, and to the world."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that," she muttered. "You don't need to remind me. Let's just say, I was misguided."

"I think that might be a bit of an understatement."

"Hmph, maybe." Azula added a third fireball to the initial pair and began juggling them between her hands. "After I came back from being trapped in the Spirit World for so long, I had such a clear view of what I wanted to do, what I thought my destiny was. Take the Fire Nation throne, start an empire, make the world bow to me, become the ruler I was always meant to be... It was all I thought I needed."

Kuvira leaned back on her hands, watching the fireballs bounce up and down through the air. "And now?"

"Now it all seems so trivial. I mean really, what was ever the point? I don't know anymore whether I actually wanted that for myself, or if I was just trying to prove something. In the end, does it even matter? Would I even matter?" With a tired sigh, she blasted the fireballs into the sky, where they exploded in a shower of embers. "Every time I've tried to climb on top, to dominate and rule with fear and manipulation, I've fallen flat on my face and lost everything. I'm tired of that. I just want to live my life now. I don't know what that life will be, but that's almost the fun of it. Forget destiny, forget fate, forget what I always thought I wanted. I'll just figure it out as I go."

"Well, that's not a bad way to do things," Kuvira replied. "It's actually sort of what I've been doing these past couple years. I didn't know where my life was going or what I'd be doing. Heck, I thought I was going to be in prison for the foreseeable future. I've pretty much just gone with the flow since then, and it's worked out alright."

"Yes, well, as good as going with the flow is, first thing's first." Azula shifted her stance and guided herself through another firebending set. "We have to stop Yula. I have to stop her. After all, I created her, turned her into a combination of the worst parts of myself. Now she might be worse than I ever was. Or at least just as bad."

Kuvira breathed deep, and lifted one of her hands. Several small stones hovered up from the ground and began to spin above her palm. "You definitely changed her. I still can't believe she's the same person I met in Ba Sing Se. The methods she's willing to utilize, her complete lack of remorse, what she did to Zaofu..." She let the spinning stones drop into her palm, and clenched her fingers tight. When she opened them again, all that remained of the stones was a fine powder. "She needs to be stopped."

Azula spun a backhanded fist through the air, sweeping out a wave of flames. "And I still owe her for betraying me. Not that I blame her now, but still, she does need to pay for what she did."

Kuvira nodded, and let the dust in her hand fall away. "We'll get her, one way or another."

"Of course we will, and I'll be the one to do it." Azula finished her form with another scorching shot of lightning into the sky. "By whatever means necessary."

Her words crept out with a distinct coldness. While she may have found peace within herself and be determined to be better, she hadn't suddenly become a different person. She would still take care of her enemies however she had to, and right now Yula was her biggest enemy. An enemy who deserved to face consequences for the things she'd done.

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Kuvira said, bowing her head. "If there's any way to end this peacefully, I'd prefer to go that route."

"Yes, yes, but if it does come to that then there's no use crying about it. Yula may have been innocent once, but now? Well, we can't let our feelings get in the way of doing what's right."

Kuvira nodded, not even bothering to try and counter the suggestion. She knew Azula was right.

Azula placed a hand to her hip, and turned a challenging glance towards the matriarch. "So, since you're up and about, how about a friendly spar? I'm dying to put my skills to some actual use."

Kuvira lifted an eyebrow at her. "And by 'friendly spar', you mean...?"

"I mean you better bring your A-game, Matriarch." Azula smirked, igniting a pair of flickering blue flames in her palms. "Because I'm not going easy."

Kuvira stood up from her seat and peeled several metal strips off her armguards, hovering them above herself. An equally competitive grin cut across her face. "Fine, you're on."


Asami held her head in her hands, elbows propped up atop her desk. She had been drifting in and out of an exhausted daze for the past hour, doing everything she could to keep herself awake. With the news from Zaofu about the Dragon Empire's plans for expansion—which really was just a polite way of saying 'invasion'—the past few days had been pandemonium trying to reconfigure defenses and make plans to keep the city safe. She had been prepared for Azula to try something eventually, but the entire situation had changed with Yula usurping control over the empire.

Yula was an entirely different brand of ruler. At the very least, Azula had been intent on taking things slow and trying to get what she wanted through subtler means. That was something Asami could have dealt with. Yula seemed to prefer the brute force method, and wasted no time in exercising that force. Now, Zaofu was gone—not taken over, but wiped off the map—and Republic City would likely be the next target.

A knock tapped at her half-open office door. "Madame President, you wanted to see me?"

Looking up from her hands, she saw General Iroh standing there. She breathed a quiet sigh and straightened herself. "General, yes. How are our defenses coming?"

Iroh made his way into the office and stood at attention. "Our Navy has a blockade around all of Yue Bay, and we have scout ships patrolling through the Mo Ce Sea in case of a naval attack. We have outposts set up along the United Republic borders to alert of us of any invading forces, while our Army and Air Force are on standby, ready to act at a moment's notice. The good news is that they're definitely not going to be sneaking up on us."

"And the bad news?"

The General pushed out a deep breath. "Depending on how large a force Empress Yula decides to send, we won't have nearly enough numbers to hold off an invasion for long. The Dragon Empire military consists of both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom forces combined, both of which were already the two largest militaries in the world to begin with. The United Forces has only a few thousand ground troops, plus a modest fleet of airships, five battleship battalions, and one hundred bomber planes. I estimate the empire has at least five times that."

Asami held her breath in attempt at retaining her composure. Numbers might not be everything, but in this case they were a huge factor. If the Dragon Empire's forces were as large as she kept hearing, Republic City didn't have much of a chance of repelling a full scale invasion. At least, not on their own. "Have we heard back from Chiefs Eska and Desna, and Chief Tonraq, yet?"

"The North has agreed to lend us part of their Naval fleet if we need it," Iroh said, "but they want to keep troops back to defend themselves in case of imperial attack. No word yet from the South."

"We'll have to ready an evacuation," Asami muttered, sinking into her chair. "The only problem is we can't evacuate anyone until we know where the attack is coming from. If one is coming at all."

"We're fairly certain one is coming. From what Captain Hong Li told us, Zaofu is just the tip of the iceberg."

Asami closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her face. "I just rebuilt this city a third time. Now it's about to be under attack again. I can't let Republic City fall."

"I know," Iroh replied. "We'll be doing everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Has there been any sign of Korra yet?"

Iroh shook his head. "I'm afraid not, but it's still early. According to the time frame we were given, the Avatar should be arriving in a day or two."

Asami nodded, and straightened herself again. She had to keep her composure. Had to stay calm. "Thank you, General. You're dismissed."

Iroh shifted awkwardly, concern twisting across his face. "Madame President, before I go, have you heard anything from my mother? I haven't been able to get ahold of her, but I know she would never go along with Empress Yula's plans. If she tried to resist..."

"No, I'm sorry," Asami replied. "We've been trying to make contact with the Earth Queen for the past several days, but our messages to Ba Sing Se keep getting ignored."

Iroh bowed his head. "I see. Thank you." With a parting salute, he left the office.

When she was alone again, Asami fell back against her chair and pinched her fingers against her eyes. The night was late, well past midnight by now, and she could feel the onset of a headache beginning to throb between her ears. What she wouldn't give to simply go home and sleep.

Another knock rapped at her door. "Hey, Asami? Uh, I mean, President Sato."

Asami lowered her fingers and looked to the doorway. When she saw who was standing there, she broke out with a relaxed smile. "Oh, hey, Mako. You know 'Asami' is fine."

"Uh, right." Mako cleared his throat, making his way into the office. "Still not sure on that sometimes."

"What are you doing here so late?"

"Well, I just got off work and I was passing City Hall on my way home," he said, tapping his fingers against his thighs. "I figured I'd stop by and see if you were still here. And you are. So... yeah."

She quirked an eyebrow at him, but for the moment let his awkwardness slide. "And how are things at the station going?"

Mako groaned out a quiet sigh. "It's been pretty crazy, actually. We've mostly been working with the United Forces to prepare the city for an invasion, and those of us that are actually working the streets are spread thin and overworked. Chief Beifong has the worst of it. I don't think she's slept in three days."

"Sounds rough."

"Yeah, it is..." He sighed again, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. An awkward pause lingered between them before he cleared his throat and added, "Sooo, uh, I know you're pretty swamped with being the president and all, but... Wu's band is coming into town. We're all heading down to Lao's Bar tomorrow night to see them play, if you wanted to come with?"

Asami narrowed a curious look. "Who's 'we'?"

"Well, Bolin and Opal, Jinora, Kai, Bumi, Kya, and I think Varrick and Zhu Li too," he said, counting the names off on his fingers. "So, you know, pretty much everyone. Would be great to have you there."

She paused, staring back at Mako with pursed lips. Considering everyone was going, he wasn't trying to ask her out on a date. That was a relief. They had too much bad history in that department to try dating again. Still, she was in the middle of trying to prepare the city against an impending invasion. She didn't have the kind of time to go out to a bar and listen to a band. Common logic told her to decline, and continue her work. The nagging headache now pulsing through her skull argued against that logic. The police force weren't the only ones overworked.

"You know what?" she said, flashing a small smile. "I could use a night out. Count me in."

Mako returned a beaming smile of his own. "Awesome, I'll let everyone know you're coming. We're meeting there at eight."

"Eight o'clock it is."


Kuvira flinched when Korra touched the fresh burn along her jaw. "Ouch, watch it."

"Hold still, you're making it worse," Korra said, pressing a glowing bubble of water to the burn.

Sitting next to Kuvira, Azula grumbled and tried to pull away from Anraq. "Annie, I'm fine."

"No, you're not," he insisted, with a harsh sternness to his tone. He eased his girlfriend into place and lifted his own healing water to her ribs. "Just sit still and let me heal you."

In the aftermath of their spar, both Kuvira and Azula now sat in front of their significant others, reluctantly receiving treatment for the injuries sustained during their fight. While the spar had begun simple and casual enough, a mere test of each other's skill, they hadn't taken long to escalate things into an all out contest, both determined to one-up the other. Nearly an entire acre of forest now lay in ruin, while both of them had limped away in hospital-worthy conditions. Lucky for them, they had a couple of master healers back at camp to treat those injuries. Not that either of them would admit they needed any treatment.

"Honestly, you two," Korra muttered. "As if waking us up in the middle of the night like that wasn't bad enough. I thought we were under attack!"

"It wasn't that bad," Kuvira said, turning her head to the side.

"Oh no? Tell that to the forest you just decimated." Korra immediately turned Kuvira's head straight again, so she could continue healing the burn. "You both look like you went through a meat grinder."

Kuvira frowned, averting her eyes away from her girlfriend. "Don't look at me, she started it."

"Hey, I told you I wasn't going easy," Azula said, as she tried again to pull away and refuse Anraq's assistance. He was having none of it. He forced her to sit still, lifting her arm upward so he could better access her ribs. Only then did she finally relent. "Besides, you're the one who threw a boulder at my face."

"After you set my shirt on fire!"

"Well that is generally what tends to happen when you get hit by a fireball."

"Alright, enough," Anraq groaned. "How about for now we all agree to no more sparring? We want to make it back to Republic City in one piece, don't we?"

Kuvira glared back at her opponent with a frown. "Fine."

"Yes, fine," Azula replied, with a roll of her eyes. She paused, glancing away with a smug grin. "I still won, though."

"You did not!" Kuvira nearly shot up from her seat, but Korra forced her back down.

Azula's grin widened. "Please, of course I did."

Korra pinched the bridge of her nose and heaved out an annoyed groan. "Okay really, you two are like children."

"Ugh, can we just get going?" Kuvira tried to stand up again. Still no luck, as Korra planted her firmly back into her seat.

"Not until we're done treating you both," Anraq said, shifting a disappointed frown between the two. "So just settle down and let us work."

The healing session lasted well into the morning. By the time the sun neared its highest point in the sky, Korra and Anraq finally deemed their patients fit to travel. While most of their more severe injuries had been healed, numerous scrapes and scratches lingered behind. No time to wait around to heal everything. They needed to get to Republic City as soon as possible.

Zuko stood next to Druk, watching the four approach. "Are we all healed up and ready to go now?"

Azula rolled her eyes. "Yes, Zuzu, we're all better. Not that there was anything to worry about to begin with."

Anraq deadpanned at her. "You had two cracked ribs and internal bleeding."

"Nobody asked you, Annie!"

"Let's not even get started on Kuvira's injuries," Korra muttered.

Kuvira frowned. "I wasn't that bad."

"You were missing two teeth! Do you know how difficult it is to reattach teeth? You're lucky we even found them!"

"Don't forget the burns," Azula chimed, with a mocking grin.

"That's it," Kuvira said, taking an aggressive step towards her. Korra held her back, redirecting her instead towards the dragon. "Next time I'm breaking all your ribs!"

Azula's smirk deepened. "Oh, you can try."

Sitting atop Druk's back, Anraq buried his face into his hands. "Okay... everybody on."

While the others climbed atop the dragon, Azula turned to her brother. She grabbed at the strap of her swords and removed them from around her shoulder. "Oh, Zuzu, I almost forgot. I guess I won't be needing these anymore."

When she offered them to him, he simply held up a hand and shook his head. "Keep them. They were a gift. Besides, I'm sure you can figure out a use for them."

Azula took the swords back and gave them a curious look. "Well, then I suppose I'll have to keep up with my swordplay."

"Hey, slowpokes, you coming?" Anraq looked down at them from atop the dragon's back, his hands planted against his hips. Both Korra and Kuvira already sat behind him.

"Yes, yes, we're coming," she replied, hopping into the space in front of him.

Druk lowered his head for Zuko to climb aboard. When they were all in place, the mighty dragon took to the skies. Next stop, Republic City.