Chapter 5: Aerodynamics
Azula frowned at the blueprints scattered at the foot of her bed. "Sokka, what's this?" He didn't need to answer; it was a big mess, that's what it was. She gave the schematics a little once over. "Are you building Aang another glider? Isn't he a little too busy with his… whatever he is doing?"
"He's trying to build up this new place called Republic City," Sokka declared. "Which is why the glider isn't for him."
Azula furrowed her brows, "Then who…" Her eyes narrowed as she put two and two together. "Sokka, no. Absolutely not."
"I figured that since you can't walk, maybe you'd like to fly."
"I-I'm going to be able to walk." She thought that she was trying to convince herself more than him. "I don't need any special treatment." But she did and she was already getting it. She didn't want any more of it. The fewer reminders and brightly waving banners pointing at her newfound weaknesses, the better.
"Don't tell me that the mighty princess Azula is afraid of heights."
Azula scoffed. "I am not afraid of heights." She was, however, afraid of showing the whole world that she couldn't walk anymore. That she had to rely on objects and other people to do it for her. "I just don't want to use some silly glider." She didn't want to use a ridiculous and bulky wheelchair either.
"Come on, you might enjoy it!" Sokka tried. "I've already started on it."
Azula sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. She had half the mind to tell him that he'd wasted his time…
"Please?" He pouted. "You can even help me make it and you can add your own touches."
She supposed that it could do her some good to accomplish something. Even if that something was assembling a glider. She supposed that in some way, that would be similar enough to helping herself get moving again. "Alright, fine. But I get to decide what designs we go with."
"Great! Now, let's get you outside," Sokka collected the mess of parchment sprawled across her bed, tucking them into his pockets. "I'll show you what I've started on."
"Very well then," Azula sighed. She was not thrilled about the potential of being seen by others in this condition, but she wasn't going to tell Sokka to build the glider in her room. With his help she was moved to her wheelchair, insisting that she wanted to fix up her hair before venturing out.
"If I can't dress properly, then I can at least make my hair look more dignified." She had already combed her hair and busied herself by tying it into a long ponytail. "Better not to look like a slob that just came out of bed."
Sokka leaned against a wall and chuckled, taking one of the schematics out of his pocket to give it a glance as he waited for Azula. "Having your hair down makes you look like a slob?"
"Of course it does," she rolled her eyes, slipping another band around her hair. It wasn't as perfect as she wanted it to look, but compared to how she struggled in the past to even tie her own hair she was doing phenomenally well.
Sokka merely shrugged, casually checking to see if he got the measurements right for the glider's rudder on his schematics. "I dunno. I thought you looked kinda pretty with your hair down."
"You think? Well, I have… I beg your pardon?" It took her a few moments to realize what he had said and she turned with a surprised look plastered on her face. Even then, she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly. Pretty. He called her pretty. And he had said so easily and so casually. The thought pleasantly tickled her far more than it should have.
Sokka was still looking over his glider plans when he slowly raised his head. He blinked, puzzled by the odd expression she sent his way. Then his eyes slowly widened. Azula could even see his cheeks brighten to the color of a tomato.
She did hear him correctly then. He had said it. The realization even made her own cheeks brighten to a light pink.
"Do you wanna go outside to see the glider?" He spoke very hastily, nearly stuttering in the process.
"Yes, let's go outside to see the glider," Azula responded almost as quickly, nodding her head awkwardly.
"Okay, let's go outside to see the glider." He hastily stuffed the schematics into his pocket, immediately striding over toward Azula to wheel her out the door.
The glider was not hard to miss once Azula and Sokka made their way out to the courtyard. It was a giant winged structure, framed by wood with cloth forming the wings themselves. The design was surprisingly simple. It reminded Azula of Aang's glider with some modifications. It was a bit of an eyesore in its current state, but Azula couldn't believe Sokka would put in all that work just for her.
"So, this is it!" Sokka said with pride, monitoring Azula's face closely for her reaction.
She nodded, smiling gently. "This is it…"
"I know it's not much to look at right now, that's why I'll need your help to finish it."
"What can I do to help?" she asked.
"Well, I'm going to need a little more twine to secure the wings better, but mostly I'll need you for the aesthetics and if you have any ideas for improvements - "
"Improvements? Either this thing is going to allow me to fly or not. What's there to improve?"
"Well for starters, I was thinking of adding a snack compartment, you know, just in case you're suddenly craving fire flakes or something."
She couldn't help but laugh. Of course Sokka would think of food. "So… somehow this huge thing is going to attach to the back of my chair?"
"Yep!"
"And then what?"
"What do you mean?"
"How do I exactly… get into the air?"
He grinned. "Well, you're going to have to wheel off a cliff or a high ledge of some sort, a grand leap of faith - "
"I knew you were trying to kill me."
"I am not!" he laughed. "We'll start off easy, with a ramp or something, and we'll find some cushioning to soften your landings while you're getting used to it. It will all work out, I promise. You trust me, don't you?"
She rolled her eyes. "Perhaps," she muttered reluctantly. It was uncharacteristic of her, but she did trust Sokka, and trust was not something that came easy to her. Somehow he had managed to chip through her guarded exterior and earn her confidence.
He smiled softly at her before continuing where he left off. "A-And then you can control the glider by shifting your body weight, using the air currents to guide you."
She was quiet for a moment as she wondered if she could actually do something like this. "What do you think it will feel like? To fly?"
"Well you've flown on Appa before…"
"It's not the same."
"Hm." A brightness flickered in his eyes, and Azula could tell he had an idea. He stepped in front of her chair. "Give me your hands."
She eyed him suspiciously.
"Just do it."
Cautiously, she put her hands in his. He promptly turned them over such that his hands were resting on top of hers.
"Okay now when I say 'go', push up on my hands as hard as you can while I push down. Don't worry if your arms start to feel tired, just keep pushing until you feel me stop."
"Okay…"
"Go!" He immediately started pushing her hands down, but she met his resistance and pushed back up. "Whoa, damn girl, you are strong. You're giving me a workout here."
She smirked, continuing to push his hands up. When about twenty seconds passed by, he abruptly stopped applying pressure. As if she were possessed by a mysterious force, her hands magically floated into the air. "What is happening?!" she blurted, laughing. Her hands rose above her head.
"I imagine flying feels something like that. Weightless and a bit out of control. Sort of like falling in love."
The words tinged her cheeks bright red: she'd never been one to find talk of love and romance inherently embarrassing, she even had pushed Zuko and Mai together countless times, whether back when they were children or even later, during the war… yet somehow Sokka, for the second time in a single day, had spoken words thoughtlessly that spurred a strange reaction in her chest.
A strange reaction, she found, much like the one he was describing.
A slow, tingling sensation tickled her chest, spreading so fast her head was lighter for it, just as her blush gained intensity... more than anything because, while he blushed as well, he also smiled at her, as though he had no intention to take back his words, like he had when he'd said she was... wait. He hadn't taken that back. He had deflected the subject, but he hadn't taken back his compliment…
The most unexpected thought came to mind as they held each other's gaze: was he knowingly, deliberately, flirting with her? More importantly… did she want him to?
"Falling in love, you said?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.
Her mouth was suddenly so dry upon speaking the words that she felt tempted to wheel her chair around and speed her way back inside the Palace with the excuse of needing something to drink… but that tingling feeling urged her not to. It urged her to see this through to the end, to find out whether there was any purpose to it or none at all.
"Yeah. I mean, I figure it's similar to that… one of those feelings you never forget, and love to experience over and over," Sokka said now, with a chuckle. Azula raised an eyebrow.
"You want to fall in love over and over again?" she asked, uncertain if she wanted to hear the answer to his question… though, if he answered positively, she would inevitably wonder if, at some point, he might be able to fall in love with her, of all people.
"Well, you see…" Sokka said, smiling as he rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. "I think that, when you find someone you treasure, it's like you're falling in love whenever you're with them, or when you're thinking of them, or when you know that you'll see them again soon. I don't mean I love the idea of falling in love with a thousand people, if that's what you thought… for me, loving someone means, well, falling in love with them over and over again, probably harder each time it happens..."
"Sounds… a little inconvenient," Azula said, though she smiled despite not knowing why. Sokka chuckled and shrugged at her response.
"It might sound like it… but I think it's worth it," he said, earnestly. "I hope this glider will make you feel that way, too."
"About the glider, about flying… or about you?" Azula asked… only realizing she was flirting far more openly with him than intended after the words had left her lips. "We should continue working on the glider," she added quickly and before he could make anything of it. "The sooner we make the final adjustments, the sooner I can get back inside and away from…" She jerked her head in the direction of the folks openly gawking at her.
"Who cares about them?"
She loathed to admit it but she did. They had been staring at her for the better part of the day, since she and Sokka had emerged from the palace.
She wasn't sure how they hadn't gotten used to seeing her in a wheelchair. Part of her hoped that they would just come up and say something to her, make some remark about how it was such a shame, that she had been so unstoppable and powerful before. She knew that they did so behind her back. Instead they lingered off to the side with their pitying looks and hushed whispers.
"They're just trying to be sympathetic."
"I don't want pity," Azula declared. She wanted to feel powerful again. The glider wouldn't be quite the same, but it would afford her a new type of mobility to replace that which she lost. "Can we get this glider finished?"
Sokka nodded, "Of course, princess."
They worked in silence. Tense silence. Partially, she wished that she hadn't cut their flirting short. She thought to give it another try but she didn't think that it would come so naturally this time. With most of the obvious additions and adjustments made, Azula broke the silence to ask, "so what's next?"
"I was thinking that we could start with the snack compartment."
Azula gave him a sturdy punch to the bicep. "Securing the wings it is. We will paint them with blue dragons and tongues of lightning."
"Or we can add a snack compartment." He winked.
"You'd like to take a lunch break, wouldn't you?" she asked. She wasn't strictly opposed to doing so, it would be a nice break from prying eyes.
"Tempting," he tapped at his chin with a finger, his demeanor suddenly souring. Azula could hear a soft growl emanate from Sokka. "Very tempting. I wish we had brought food with us."
Then his eyes widened. With a wide grin he reached into one of his pockets, rummaging around for something. To Azula's utter surprise, he pulled out a thick piece of cloth tied up neatly with string. When he unwrapped it he pulled out some of its contents with his teeth, gnawing at it with delight.
"I forgot! I had some jerky with me." He grinned from ear to ear as he swallowed the dried meat, savoring the zesty flavor. He shoved the bundle of meat in Azula's direction. "Want some? It's salmon-shark jerky. The taste is to die for!"
Azula's head recoiled back as she pinched her nose shut. "I'll die from the stench. You mean you had that in your pockets the whole time?"
"Yeah," he stated simply. "Come on, try some! I promise the taste is better than the smell."
She wasn't keen to take his word on that. However, perhaps she could take a small leap of faith. He was going out of his way to be rather accommodating to her after all.
She plucked a piece of jerky from him and tentatively bit at the edge. Despite the unappealing scent, the taste was surprisingly delicious. She took a bigger bite. And then another. Soon she found herself reaching for another piece, to Sokka's delight.
"See? I told you that you would like it," he smirked as chomped at another piece.
"Yes, yes, you were right for once," she rolled her eyes and swiped the whole bundle of jerky from his hand. "That's enough for you. Stop slacking off and build my glider."
He chuckled as he took up some nearby tools. "All right then. I'm glad you're so eager to fly."
She grumbled a little while she munched on the jerky, watching him put together the pieces of the glider. Bit by bit, hour by hour, the eyesore she initially saw in many separate parts on the ground were slowly shaped into a contraption that could fly.
Most of the physical work was done by Sokka, while she looked over the schematics and told him which part was supposed to go where. He started by securing the wings with more twine, making sure it was perfectly fastened to the frame. She almost got the impression that he was making bat wings. With how light and slender the wings looked, she could only hope they would support her weight.
As he worked she would ask a question as to where he got the parts and supplies and he would answer in kind, all while putting together each part. She found it fascinating how he could multitask while having a conversation without so much as missing a beat. She even marveled at how the sinewy muscles of his arms tightened each time he strained to secure a piece of the glider. He wasn't the lanky boy from the war anymore. She almost wanted to pinch at a bicep to see how firm it really was. Oh, how delightful it would feel.
"Um, Azula." His voice snapped her out of her apparent trance. "I know the glider is starting to look nice and all, but I need to know where this piece goes."
She blinked, quickly looking back at the schematic. "Right. That's one of the three long pieces that will connect it to the seat. Just attach it to the rear of the glider, near the tail wings. There should be a hole you can fit the lug through. Snap it in place and secure it with rope."
"Got it," he said.
They continued working well into the evening, but shortly after the sun vanished beneath the horizon, the glider finally came together.
"This. Looks. AWESOME!" Sokka celebrated, admiring his own handiwork.
"I suppose it will do. For now."
He grinned slyly at her. "Hey, we make a pretty good team, don't you think?"
His grin was so disarming. "Let's see if it flies first before we make that assertion, hm?" she asked, heat filling her cheeks once more.
"Fair enough." He shrugged. "I bet you're just dying to try it out."
"I'll admit, I'm intrigued." She smirked. "For all our time and effort spent on it, I hope for your sake that it works."
"For my sake?" he laughed. "Is that a threat, princess? Are you going to punish me if this doesn't pan out?"
"Why do you sound so eager for a punishment?"
"I'm not! I just didn't realize you were into that sorta thing. Good to know."
"I am not!" she insisted, clearly flustered. She hated how he was always able to invoke these reactions in her, the way he made her heart pound in her chest every time he was near.
"Okay, okay. If you say so." He walked behind her chair and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Well, as much as I want to see if our hard work paid off, it would be safer for you to try it out in the daylight. Shall we call it a day?"
She nodded. "Mmhmm." For a moment she was tempted to reach up and touch his hands, his strong hands that lay so gently on her back. She knew better than to do this, of course. He was probably just flirting with her because he felt sorry for her. Or maybe… just maybe… it was something else.
She guessed she'd find out which it was in the morning.