Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

211. Chapter 211: The Spirit Library 2

On the elegant white wall, topped with green brick gables, hung a large sign that read "Ba Sing Se University". Its grandeur seemed slightly out of place in the Middle Ring: while the buildings weren't quite as humble as those of the Lower Ring, the University appeared fancy enough to belong in the Upper Ring instead… at least, as far as its outside façade was concerned.

"I suppose it'd be pretty impressive, for someone who isn't used to royal palaces and the sort…" Sokka assessed, hands on his hips as he studied the buildings from afar: a large stone courtyard stood between them and the first building on campus. A statue stood at its center, presumably crafted in the likeness of the university's founder or anyone of renown and relevance for higher studies, Sokka assumed…

"Well, now, are you going to become a snob like me, gladiator?" Azula smirked, crossing her arms over her chest "You've spent too long in luxurious places to enjoy those that don't quite match your newfound standards?"

"Hey, my high standards aren't that new" Sokka pouted, his cheeks flushing "I'm not saying it's lame! I'm just saying… well, you know, a name as big and opulent as Ba Sing Se University kind of suggests something bigger, maybe? I don't know, a big tower with a bunch of old sages who stay locked up indoors reading and transcribing books…?"

"As ever, your overactive imagination has gotten the better of you" Azula chuckled "If you keep imagining grandiose things, naturally, our not-so-grandiose reality is only ever going to disappoint you"

"Well, I suppose that's true, but… uh, do you need something?"

The last words weren't addressed at Azula: a young, bespectacled man with dark skin and a round face stood by Sokka, scowling in a way he might have thought was menacing, but to two seasoned warriors it appeared quite innocent instead…

"I'll have you know, good sir, that Ba Sing Se University is…!" the man started, but his promised rant stopped cold suddenly as Azula leaned in to catch a proper glimpse at him.

It was almost as easy to read the man's thoughts as it was to read Xin Long's: a proud student, or perhaps a young teacher, of this institution, he had meant to give a piece of his mind to anyone who dared badmouth it. Yet he never expected that those who might do such a thing would be a top-tier gladiator, clad in his armor and loaded with deadly weapons, or the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, easily recognizable by her gold armor and hairpiece.

His lips trembled now, jaw dropped as he stepped away from them awkwardly. While Sokka was merely regarding him with a crooked eyebrow, it might as well have been a death threat for the scholar, who perhaps had never seen someone carrying that many weapons at once.

"Yes?" Azula asked, without masking her amusement "Is there something you'd like to add to our conversation, perchance?"

"I-I…! Oh, goodness, I didn't realize…! Oh no, oh no…!"

"I must say, where I come from, it's quite rude to eavesdrop on people's conversations and barge into them without at least excusing yourself…" Azula recited obnoxiously. Sokka knew she was trying to intimidate the man, but he couldn't quite back her up in her mischief: he bit his lip and smiled, watching as his clever sponsor toyed with the academic's mind as a playful tiger-lioness might with a baby bird that had fallen off a tree, right between its talons "So I assume you must have had a really good reason to do so… am I wrong?"

The man seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown, his chest heaving as he remained on the receiving end of two insistent stares. He wasn't, truly, a brave man, but standing up to people who undermined the university he had attended for years didn't seem like too difficult a task… until he realized who they were, of course. By then, all bets were off.

"I…! E-excuse me! I'm sorry! Have a good day!"

Without another word, the scholar ran away at haste: he nearly ran into the statue, but he corrected course at the right moment and continued onwards to one of the furthermost buildings, tripping on his own robes as he put as much distance as he possibly could between himself and the two newcomers.

Naturally, Azula no longer held back from laughing with abandon. Even though she had changed in many ways she still relished, undoubtedly, in wielding her authority to give people a scare. Sokka smirked at her, shaking his head in a poor attempt to reprimand her.

"I'm sure that was necessary, huh?" he asked, as she covered her mouth with a hand, still chuckling "A little more and you might even had him wetting his robes in fright…"

"Oh, come on, I hardly said anything that bad" Azula said, chuckling still as she gestured at Sokka to cross the wall's archway. They entered the University side by side, their hands hovering so close to each other their fingers grazed on occasion "It's hardly my fault that we can be so intimidating…"

"We?"

"Oh, because a fully armed man striding into his University must have given that guy nothing but peace of mind…" Azula said, raising her eyebrows. Sokka blinked blankly at her assessment before shrugging with a guilty grin.

"Yeah, I guess that's not a very reassuring sight for a studious guy, huh?" he said "Still, would've been useful to keep him around. He could have helped us figure out where to go to ask our questions, right?"

"Right" Azula admitted, as they stopped at the first building on campus "Well, we want experts on zoology and medicine, I suppose? I'd think an investigative physician might know a thing or two about substances that can induce chi-blocking…"

"Hopefully" Sokka nodded "Then… if we want experts, wouldn't it be a good idea to go to a teacher's resting room or something? You know, a place where they sit around and do nothing while they wait for their teaching hours to start…?"

"A teachers' lounge?" Azula suggested, and Sokka pouted.

"Well, yeah, I didn't go to any schools, so it's not like I'd know what that's called…" he grumbled. Azula laughed softly under her breath.

"Come on, quit pouting, it makes you look extra cute and we can't have that" she said, clasping him by the elbow and leading him towards the building's entrance.

"Uh, what are we going to do, then? Just look for that lounge blindly, or…?"

"We'll ask the first person we see who doesn't run away in tears at the realization that they're speaking with the Fire Nation's Crown Princess and her tall, dark and handsome gladiator"

"Ehehe? Is that how you'd describe me, really?" Sokka asked, grinning proudly.

"… Tall, dark, handsome and goofy, actually"

"Hey, maybe that's more accurate but I sound less cool that way" he whined, but his complaints merely compelled Azula to laugh further.

They didn't come across other people in the university's grounds – it was early afternoon still, but it seemed the majority of the students and teachers were busy in class, leaving them to wander the halls of the main building until they finally spotted a sign hanging over a door in a secluded corridor. Unlike the pristine, gold-lettered entrance sign, this one was tattered with age and decaying, so much that the ideograms written on it weren't easy to discern…

"Is this it?" Azula asked, eyeing the sign warily.

"Well, even if it is, it might only be the lounge for this building" Sokka said, biting his lip "Could be we need to find the lounge of another department, right?"

"And how do we know which departments are assigned to this lounge, if that's so?" Azula asked "Though, well, I suppose we could just go inside and ask…"

"You sure?" Sokka asked "Might be it's empty, and if it's not, maybe we're not allowed to…"

"Crown Princess Azula is allowed to barge in wherever she wants, whether in Ba Sing Se's University, the Royal School for Girls or anywhere else" Azula declared, raising her head arrogantly. Sokka snorted, his shoulders shaking at each laugh.

"You must have been a terror in school…" he said, and she smirked proudly.

"You have no idea. I'm quite certain a few of my teachers despised me, but they couldn't show it or else they'd pay dearly" she said, closing her eyes and snickering "I suppose I shouldn't flaunt my privileges so boldly, but sometimes they can really be a source of amusement…"

"Yeah, not just for you" Sokka chuckled, shaking his head as he moved in to open the door.

They were greeted by a spacious room, mostly occupied by a long table, the walls covered by half-empty bookshelves. Disorderly cushions laid on the floor next to the table, but while it appeared they were meant to surround a tea table, they were piled together in a heap that suggested the cushions would often serve as a makeshift mattress for someone instead. Only one person sat in the dimly-lit room, and he hadn't even raised his eyes from the book he was reading after they opened the door.

"Uh, excuse me…?" Sokka called, and the man snarled, still unwilling to set down the book.

"If you want to know your grades so badly, wait until class!" he snapped. Sokka grimaced as Azula failed to stifle a smirk "Students are forbidden from entering the lounge, everyone knows this"

"Why, I pity the students, then" Azula said, dramatically. Once more, Sokka was left to watch her with undisguised amusement as she took hold of a situation… and already, the teacher seemed confused enough by her words to finally tear his eyes away from his book… "No doubt their lives must feel meaningless in the face of such harsh prohibition. Surely there's no other room on campus where someone might take a nap so comfortably…"

"Eh, if a class is boring, they might just snooze off on their desks" Sokka suggested, with a smirk of his own. Azula chuckled.

"A-ah, I thought you were…! Oh, dear, excuse me, deeply, I…! I was just so engrossed with this book, I assumed you couldn't be…" the professor explained: he ran his sweaty palms over his slick hair, eyes nearly out of orbit as he took in the two sudden visitors to their university "I mean, I had no notice you'd be visiting the university, Princess! I-if it is you, that is, I assume as much but I've never met you before, so…"

"Well, it's Crown Princess, but yes, that would be me" Azula declared proudly, striding into the room with her head held high "I didn't offer prior notice, I suppose I should have… but the truth is, we only need to speak with a few specialists on two subjects. If you could point us in the right direction we'll be out of your hair and you can return to your, uh, fascinating book about plants, I suppose"

"Ah, it's my own book, actually" the man said, smiling awkwardly "I've been revising it, there's always something or another to fix and… uh, that's not important, what are these subjects you're preoccupied with, Crown Princess?"

"First, I need an expert on dragons" Azula declared. The man's jaw dropped: was it that outlandish a request? "And the other thing I need is a specialist on medicine, perhaps: we would like to know if there's any known substances capable of inducing chi-blocking by inhalation"

"Oh! But you don't need a medical expert for that!" the man exclaimed, grinning proudly "I'm the head of the botany department, and I can help you find all you need to know about the potential effects of natural plants on the human body!"

"Oh. A botanist, then?" Sokka said, hands on his hips "I guess I could use a plant for bomb-crafting, as long as it's not hard to come by…"

"You've come to the right place, then, because I…!"

"If you do know of a possible plant that can chi-block, that's wonderful" Azula said, raising a hand to stop the man's excited rambling "What of the expert on dragons? Is there one, or is there no one in Ba Sing Se who could help us in this particular area of knowledge?"

"U-uh, that's… well, I suppose there's someone…" the man said, though it seemed he spoke begrudgingly. Azula scowled.

"If so, could you help me find this mysterious person?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows.

Before the botanist could speak again, though, a loud voice drifted from the corridor and into the lounge:

"Ack, why does a head of department have to impart lessons to stubborn first-years?!" a shrill male voice exclaimed "They don't even want to be there! Spoiled Upper Ring brats, over half of them are going to drop out right after the first exams are done!"

The new professor entered the room when he finished his loud, outraged statement… only to freeze in place upon finding two strangers in the teachers' lounge, aside from one of its typical users.

"Oh, uh… students of yours, Tenya?" the new arrival asked, prompting the pair to turn on their heels to face him: he was short, and his hair stood on end as though to offer him a few more inches of height. Yet he only seemed to shrink further when he identified the regal woman and her companion "Oh, shit! O-oh, no, no, I mean…! Goodness, what a pleasure, what a delight! We are, uh, most honored to host you in our teachers' lounge, Princess Azula!"

"Well, I suppose they catch on faster each time" Azula said, with a small smirk.

"The Princess actually requires your services, Hiei" Tenya said, scowling visibly at his co-worker "Or so she claims. I, frankly, can't quite fathom why she would want to speak with someone who works with filthy, wild beasts, but…"

"Oh, as if it were that much better to spend all day in meadows sniffing flowers!" Hiei said, rolling his eyes as he took a pompous stand "B-but if he's telling the truth, then Princess…! I would be most obliged to help you, in whatever regards you may need my assistance with! Just say the word, and it'll be done!"

"That's good" Azula said, with a dry grin "Know anything about dragons?"

"I… dragons? Uh… w-what exactly about dragons?" Hiei said, his enthusiasm waning at her request "We don't have much information on their extinction, if that's what you are looking for…"

"That's not it" Azula said, shaking her head "If anything, quite the opposite: what information do you have on the places that comprise a dragon's natural habitat?"

"Oh. Well, I can't think of an answer right away, but I have enough books that can help you! I assure you, you will have your answer!" Hiei said, beaming as he rushed towards the bookshelves behind Tenya.

"How pitiful, you don't even know where to start looking, do you?" Tenya said, standing up with a smirk "Whereas I know exactly what kind of information the Princess requires about plants that can muddle with chi and where to get it from!"

"Oh, boast all you like, you won't get to it before I do!" Hiei growled, as the two scoured the bookshelf quickly, hoping to find the tomes they were looking for.

Sokka and Azula watched the two men rushing to fulfill their requests, the evident rivalry between them fueling their researching efforts. The botanist and the zoologist might not be so enthusiastic if it weren't in a bid to outdo each other, but if their eagerness helped them achieve their goals, the Princess and her gladiator wouldn't complain one bit.

"I guess it'll be easier if we split up, huh?" Sokka suggested, biting his lip.

"Indeed. I'll take the zoologist, you'll have the botanist" Azula nodded "It'll save us some time this way rather than tackling our questions one at a time, I suppose"

Sokka smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing her armor gently. It wasn't much in the way of comfort, but it was the only kind of affection they dared display in front of strangers. As much as they had been a lot less uptight about their secret relationship these days, it wouldn't do to give it away now, not even to two teachers of Ba Sing Se university who seemed far too preoccupied with their own conflicts to remember why they were searching for important information in their books right now.

Ten minutes later, both Tenya and Hiei had found enough books to pile in two towers on the tables they had chosen to sit at. Azula took her seat by Hiei, watching as he rushed through the indexes and glossaries of his large books, searching for mentions of dragons; Sokka sat next to Tenya, arms crossed as he waited for the man to announce his discoveries… which he did as quickly as possible, beaming brightly at having found an answer long before his rival had.

"And here we are! The Juruo flower, also known as voodoo lily!" Tenya declared cheekily, and his smile broadened at Hiei's frustrated snarl behind him "Its smell is akin to that of rotting meat!"

"Woah, that sounds awful" Sokka said, smiling approvingly.

"Touching or ingesting the plant is very dangerous" Tenya continued "It causes bad reactions in the body, which, as any physician would tell you, is what happens when chi is disturbed or disrupted, so…"

"Wait. What kind of reactions are you talking about?" Sokka asked, frowning.

"I mean rashes, or allergies, or…"

"Allergies? I mean, sure, I guess inducing a sneeze attack on my opponent doesn't sound like the worst idea, but that's not what I was looking for" Sokka said, grimacing. Tenya blinked blankly.

"Then you want… chi-blocking? Actual, physical chi-blocking?" Tenya said, scowling "But that's… that's not something I've ever read about before. I mean, there's plants that can certainly make a mess of your perceptions, but chi-blocking is a very specific skill…"

"Ha! And just as you fumble things after being in a rush, I find the answers for the Princess!" Hiei declared, and Tenya's focus shattered at his co-worker's apparent victory "Here we are, Princess, here we are!"

"Uh…" Azula read the book, analyzing the graphic depictions of what appeared an archaic civilization: while she would have readily assumed this was a location she ought to find, where she should search for dragons, the content of the book strongly suggested otherwise "Are you sure this is what I need? It looks like a book on legends of old civilizations…"

"Oh, perhaps, but this does say that the Sun Warriors worshipped two great dragons! One was red, the other was blue!" Hiei announced proudly. Azula's eyebrow twitched.

"The Sun Warriors have been gone for thousands of years. If they did worship a pair of dragons, it stands to reason they'd be gone, just as they are, right?" she said. Hiei blinked blankly.

"W-well, maybe, but there's a chance, however slim, that there's hints about what kind of environment a dragon would favor in these legends about the Sun Warriors" Hiei said, struggling to save face now "See, see… the dragons would hide inside large mountains!"

"Large mountains?" Azula repeated, a twitching grin on her face "Well, that sure is helpful: that's the only clue I've had for three years. Is this really the best the head of Ba Sing Se's Department of Zoology can do?"

"Or the best that the head of the Department of Botany can do, too?" Sokka declared, stealing into Azula's particular method of applying pressure on people in hopes it might compel both Tenya and Hiei to work harder.

"N-no, of course it's not the best!" Hiei exclaimed "We're only getting started, don't you worry…!"

"I'll prove myself, don't fret, there's more in the next books…!" Tenya said, reaching for the next tome on the pile and scouring it quickly.

Sokka and Azula exchanged another glance over their respective scholar's heads: this was starting to look like a waste of time. Naturally, they wouldn't give up so quickly, but if these experts couldn't offer an answer, let alone make an educated guess on where to find one, their hopes to find other dragons – as well as their hopes to develop a new weapon to keep Toph at bay with – would easily shrink into nothingness.

"It's okay, it's okay, there's something about dragons in this one, I remember…" Hiei tried to reassure Azula, while Tenya read frantically through another of his books.

The deficient lighting in the lounge only worsened when someone else, another professor, presumably, appeared by the room's threshold, blocking the light drifting in from outside. Azula and Sokka raised their eyes towards the newcomer, though Hiei and Tenya continued as focused on their reading as they had been all along.

"Ah, Hiei, Tenya! It's so rare to see you both together" the new arrival said: he wore a large round hat and white robes – rather, they would have been white if they hadn't been covered in the dirt of what could only be the result of many days of traveling "I'm back!"

"Uh, great, but as you can see, Zei, we're kind of busy here?" Tenya said dismissively, waving a hand in his direction before returning to his books.

Strangely, Zei didn't seem affronted in the least by his co-worker's disregard, or for Hiei's non-existent greeting. He only continued to smile affably, and that only felt weirder yet to Sokka, for whom the stranger was slightly more intriguing than the many plant drawings that hadn't brought him any closer to his goal so far.

"You're a teacher here as well?" Sokka asked the newcomer: Zei nodded, the wrinkles of the middle-aged man were highlighted by his constant grin.

"Ah, I am. I'm the head of the Anthropology Department" Zei answered, cocking his head to the side "And you are?"

"Uh… huh. I guess you didn't recognize us right away" Sokka said, smiling awkwardly. If anything, it was a nice change of pace not to be recognized immediately "I'm Sokka, and I'm Princess Azula's gladiator"

He gestured at Azula when he mentioned her, and they both prepared for the promised, nervous meltdown that followed whenever someone realized they were facing royalty…

"Ah! It's my pleasure to meet you" Zei said, beaming and nodding in their direction.

Both the Princess and her gladiator blinked blankly at Zei's calm reaction. Welcome as the change of pace was, it had certainly been unexpected.

"Wow. It's been so long since someone reacted so normally at meeting me that I'm no longer used to it" Sokka chuckled, nodding in Zei's direction "Good to meet you too, Head of the Anthropology Department. You were on a trip, I take it?"

"Oh, he always is" Tenya huffed, shaking his head "Doesn't matter how many times the rector tells him there's plenty of ruins to study all over the world, he keeps obsessing over finding some ridiculous library in the middle of the desert. A fool's errand, we always tell him, but he never listens…"

"If I were to find this vast collection of knowledge, the university and the students would benefit greatly from the discovery" Zei said. Even now, after his co-worker had dismissed his dedication to his cause, he hadn't lost his temper over any injuries to his pride. Either he was truly resilient and impervious to any insults… or he was bottling everything up and would lash out eventually, perhaps. Sokka only hoped he wouldn't reach that presumed explosive point while they were around…

"Wait… but you're an anthropologist!" Sokka said, grinning as he sat up properly on his chair "No idea if you're interested, but Azula and I saw these old ruins at the outskirts of a mountain cave, near Omashu? Might be you could dig into that and… haha, dig into it! Uh, I mean, you could probably research them, if you have the budget or whatever it is you need for that?"

"Ah, thank you for the tip" Zei smiled "I shall keep that in mind for future excavations! But for now I'd rather focus on the Library. I've been on so many trips so far, I'm sure one of them will pay off eventually…"

"Library…?" Azula repeated: she had been focusing on reading a book over Hiei's shoulder so far, but she had overheard the word moments ago, and she had heard it again now "What is this library you speak of?"

She didn't expect both Hiei and Tenya to sigh audibly at her question, whereas Zei's face lit up instantly for it: the man strode towards her, depositing his large travel bag on the table across Azula, from where he drew an old parchment, spreading it before her.

"This is the library I meant" Zei grinned "Wan Shi Tong's Library"

Azula blinked blankly at the building depicted on the open scroll. It was, without a doubt, a truly grand construction, far grander than most she had seen… and she was a Princess, no less. Sokka rose to his feet and snuck up behind her, to steal a glance at the sketched library, and he whistled in appreciation at the detailed building, with many cupules topped by sharp spires.

"How does someone build something like that…?" Sokka whispered "And in the desert, of all places?"

"Wait, what?!" Azula exclaimed, glancing back at Sokka with such large eyes he was taken aback.

"Uh, yeah? That's what that guy said, anyhow…" he pointed at Tenya, uneasy, but Azula's attention was on Zei once more.

"Y-you don't mean… this Library is in the Si Wong Desert?" Azula asked, a dangerous, trembling grin on her lips. Zei wasn't affected by her reaction in the least, answering her question readily.

"That's right! It's a vast collection of knowledge, brought into the physical world by the great knowledge spirit, Wan Shi Tong" Zei declared, grinning.

By now, Sokka's enthusiasm had receded altogether. Hiei and Tenya had only stopped focusing on their work briefly to offer him a "told you so" skeptical leer, and they returned to their reading now that it was clear, by Sokka's grimace, that he wouldn't put any stock in tales about spirits, no matter if they had impressive libraries to their name or not.

Yet that skepticism would soon be replaced by absolute, utter confusion when Azula spoke again:

"Is it real?" she asked "Is there an actual Spirit Library in the Si Wong Desert? I had heard of it before, but I didn't think it could be anything but rumors and embellishments…"

"Woah, woah, woah… what?" Sokka said, leaning on the table beside Azula: she glanced up at him, a strange hint of guilt in her countenance. He had no idea how to gauge the Princess's current behavior and unexpected, sudden willingness to believe in something to do with spirits.

"I guess I never did tell you, did I…?" Azula spoke quietly, under Sokka's insistent gaze "Well, you see, Zhao claims he came across this Library once before and…"

"Oh! A witness? Is this true?" Zei exclaimed, and finally he seemed to react emotionally at something… though it was with genuine, unbridled enthusiasm "Is it too much trouble to request for an introduction? If I could speak with someone who was there, I might be able to narrow down the Library's location far more easily!"

"Wait, Zhao says he was in this Library?" Sokka asked, with a crooked grin "And you believed him? You?"

"I didn't until now!" Azula responded with such agitation Sokka couldn't help but chuckle softly. Yes, his skeptical Princess hadn't become a believer of spirits for no reason, he had no need to fear otherwise… "Two people who have never met before wouldn't possibly have a chance to agree on the existence of this Library to trick the rest of us, now, could they?"

"Well, maybe they could if there's some secret league of wicked people devoted to spreading ridiculous stories and they're both just members of it… kind of like the White Lotus?" Sokka said, shrugging carelessly. Azula scowled.

"Right. Because I'm sure Admiral Zhao has enough free time on his hands to join such weird associations" she huffed "The likelihood is that… well, maybe there's more merit to the tale of the Library than it sounds like. Otherwise… otherwise I doubt Zhao would have obtained some sort of knowledge on the Northern Water Tribe's weaknesses. That's what Hahn was trying to use as leverage when he tried to marry me, remember? When we set up that trap for him, Zhao confirmed that whatever information Hahn was concealing was the same as what he'd learned in this Library. So…"

"Not to offend this very upstanding admiral of yours, Princess… but we've always thought Zei was affected by drinking cactus juice during one of his trips into the desert and thus hallucinated the whole story about the Spirit Library" Hiei chimed in, a finger raised as though requesting permission to intervene – despite he had already done so "Perhaps the same thing happened to him?"

"I suppose my father did say that was a possibility, but why would two entirely different people hallucinate about a Spirit Library in the Si Wong Desert?" Azula said, scowling.

"Pfft. Your dad really thought Zhao hallucinated everything?" Sokka chuckled. Azula rolled her eyes.

"That's not the part you ought to be fixating on, or is it?" Azula sighed, before focusing on Zei again "Where have you looked for this Library? If you have a map or anything of the sort…"

"Ah, of course!" Zei announced, and he rummaged through his bag quickly once again for another scroll, more tattered yet than the depiction of the Library…

Azula's jaw dropped at the depiction of the desert: the map wasn't particularly detailed, but the trips Zei had taken across the desert were: she could count at least twenty-five different possible trips, most of them twisting and turning – in some of them it seemed the anthropologist had traveled in circles even, something that hardly appeared useful in the quest for a Library that, if it was as large as depicted in the artwork he had shown them, should be easy to spot in the distance, as far as Azula could tell.

"These are my latest travels" Zei grinned, pointing at the red-dotted lines "And the black ones are the older ones"

"You… you've traveled this many times to the desert and found nothing?" Azula asked, grimacing.

"Oh, I've found many things, make no mistake!" Zei announced proudly "Though even if I've learned much about desert cultures – the sandbenders wanted nothing to do with me, but I didn't relent! – I certainly haven't found the Library just yet. But I'm sure, on the next trip…"

"How do you still get funding to do this if you've found nothing yet…?" Sokka asked quietly, and once more he felt Hiei and Tenya's gazes on him, approvingly this time.

"We were fortunate that Governor Tiang has been so generous with the University's budget" Zei said, beaming "Still, I've paid for most the latest trips myself. The rector doesn't want to continue to fund a project he considers a lost cause, but I will prove him wrong soon. I know I will"

Sokka sighed and shrugged, but one glance at Azula told him she wasn't quite as ready to stop focusing on tales of the Library as he was…

"Can I ask why you're so interested in this thing?" Sokka said, pulling out a chair to sit beside Azula now "It's not like you to believe in anything involving spirits, you know…"

"I know, it must seem so ridiculous to you" Azula admitted, rubbing her brow with her fingertips "But so far it doesn't look like our two helpers are any closer to discovering what we asked them to than Zei is to finding his Library"

"W-wha…?!" Hiei exclaimed, the color draining from his face.

"We're nowhere near as hopeless as he is!" Tenya exclaimed: as ever, Zei remained impervious to every criticism he received.

"Surely not" Azula said, rolling her eyes "But I'm thinking… if you do discover something, you can simply send word to Ba Sing Se's Palace with whatever you've found. If need be, we'd drop by again to check on your progress… but other than providing you with extra pressure, I don't think our presence is necessary while you investigate the dragons' possible whereabouts and if there are plants that can induce chi-blocking, right?"

"Oh, if such information is to be found anywhere, it is in Wan Shi Tong's Library" Zei declared with an easy-going grin: as he had closed his eyes, he missed out on the scathing glares the other two department heads shot in his direction.

"I do wonder if that's so…" Azula whispered, biting her lip.

"Azula…" Sokka called her, his voice wary "I know you're desperate to find dragons, and if you're convinced this will work, I won't be against it, but are you sure about this? For real?"

"I know, this sounds ridiculous…" Azula acknowledged "But see, Professor Zei seems to have traversed most the desert already, right? There's only a few areas he hasn't visited so far. If we travel that way, on Xin Long rather than on foot… don't you think an aerial view would provide us with a much better chance of finding this huge building?"

"Yeah, well, it would, if it exists" Sokka huffed "And while Zhao may believe it does, I don't know if I believe in his word wholeheartedly and frankly, I'm surprised you do. Maybe the truth is that he found his information from some sketchy source, someone your father wouldn't want to give any credit to… like, I don't know, Jeong Jeong?"

Azula scowled at the mention of that name, but she didn't interrupt. Zhao had been Jeong Jeong's student, after all, so it wasn't impossible…

"Maybe he said something about it, and to be more convincing, Zhao mixed whatever knowledge he gained with weird rumors about a Spirit Library to lend more believability to his story" Sokka said, with a shrug "Yeah, maybe it's a stretch too, but isn't the Spirit Library just as much of a stretch?"

"It might be" Azula sighed "And if we can't find it with Xin Long's help, I'll sooner assume it just doesn't exist, outright… but we do have a whole week and three days to spare in our visit to Ba Sing Se, don't we?"

"Uh… yeah. I guess we do" Sokka admitted.

"As much as I could stay put in Ba Sing Se, witnessing the training of the new Enforcers, isn't this the perfect chance to fulfill what I've been promising to Xin Long since we first found him?" Azula asked him "Like I told you before, it's possible we won't have other opportunities in the future, at least not for a while"

"But won't it be a waste anyhow to travel all the way to the desert if there's nothing to be found…?" Sokka asked, an eyebrow crooked.

"Huh. A long, lonely journey on Xin Long's back, away from all civilization… certainly sounds like the most dreary prospect" Azula recited, though her tone had changed: she was teasing him lightly now, and her taunts were landing exactly where she needed them to. Sokka swallowed hard, trying not to blush.

"Hmm. Yeah, well, I suppose maybe I'm overstepping my boundaries, aren't I?" he said, clearing his throat "You're the sponsor, I'm the gladiator, you call the shots…"

"And you'd do best to remember that" Azula smirked, pushing herself to her feet.

"You'll look for the Library, then?" Zei exclaimed, his eyes glistening with excitement "Oh, wonderful! No one else has believed the Library might be real in many years, this is grand news!"

"Do you have any other advice on how to find the Library, by any chance?" Azula asked.

Zei nodded before rushing through the lounge, seeking an empty scroll with which he hoped to offer Azula a new version of his map of Si Wong Desert. He traced the outline of the Desert hastily before drawing several circles: the locations he had scarcely been able to inspect.

"Here. And in case you might need it, you can take the depiction of the Library too!" Zei said, smiling as he rolled both the new map and the drawing of the Library's architecture into a small scroll that he handed to Sokka "I hope this will help"

"It should… if there's a Library at all, of course" Sokka said, though his tone suggested nothing but pessimism at the prospect "Thanks anyhow"

"T-then you're leaving, just like that?" Tenya asked, puzzled. Their sudden arrival in the teachers' lounge had seemed to throw a wrench in his day before, but now he appeared most distraught to see them go.

"If you find out anything else about the plants, like I said, send word to Governor Tiang. That's where we're staying while we visit Ba Sing Se, and where we'll return, regardless of whether we can find this Library or not" Azula said, shrugging "Either way, your services are appreciated. If you require any payment for…"

"No, none of that, no payment needed, whatsoever" Tenya interrupted her, shaking his head… though Hiei held his tongue, fiddling with his thumbs with an air of guilty insolence that Azula elected to ignore "It's not like we could help you much, to begin with…"

"Well, perhaps if we do discover anything of use, you might consider…?" Hiei suggested, and Tenya huffed.

"This is the Fire Nation's Crown Princess, you dolt! Don't be such a leech!"

"Hey, now! Your department always gets more money than mine, nothing wrong with me trying to make the most of a business opportunity…!"

"Nobody wants to pay you to clean animal droppings all day long!"

"And why the hell do they pay you to sniff flowers, huh? Huh?!"

Azula sighed and resolved silently to leave the two bickering scholars to their business. Still, as she guided her gladiator towards the door, the anthropologist stopped her, disregarding any notion of protocol or propriety by reaching for her arm.

"Uh, excuse me?" Azula said, blinking in disbelief at the contact between the man's hand and her body.

In the blink of an eye, Sokka strode closer and separated Zei's hand from Azula with a prominent scowl. Zei smiled guiltily, although he hardly seemed more nervous now under a threatening glare than he had earlier.

"I'm sorry, I suppose I shouldn't have done that, but I wished to ask you…" he said, bringing his hands together before bowing deeply towards them "If you were to find anything, any signs of the Library, I beg you… please, share your discoveries with me!"

Azula and Sokka eyed the man with uncertainty. As inappropriate as he might have been in some ways, and as lacking in certain areas of decorum, he certainly appeared far more sincere about investigations and research than the other two. Even so…

"I suppose it wouldn't be much trouble to do so, but I can't promise we'll find anything at all" Azula said "I'm willing to try, doesn't mean I'm expecting to succeed, so… don't hold your breath"

"That's enough for me" said Professor Zei, smiling as he rose to his full height again "Thank you! The best of luck on your travels!"

"Uh-huh. Just remember to keep your hands to yourself if we ever cross paths again, buddy" Sokka said menacingly, as he stood near Azula by the lounge's door.

"I guess I ought to thank all three of you, despite so far nothing looks particularly promising" Azula told the scholars, glancing back at them by the room's threshold "Still, I'm grateful that you've taken your time to investigate our requests at such short notice, and I'll be grateful for any further information you may offer in the future. We'll be back eventually if the Library angle doesn't yield any results"

"And if it does, please return with good tidings!" Zei said, beaming as Azula and Sokka raised their hands in farewell. Tenya and Hiei had stopped arguing to listen to Azula, and now they waved as well, begrudgingly, their failure to fulfill the Princess's expectations weighing heavily on their slumped shoulders.

Their visit to the university hadn't taken a long time, so it was still early afternoon by the time Azula and Sokka rode the train back to the Upper Ring. As much as they resorted to Sokka's technique of riding on the very last wagon, to avoid large crowds, they weren't alone on the wagon at any point through the voyage and thus, they couldn't quite get away with holding hands while they returned to the Palace, as much as they would have liked to do so.

"You know, sometimes I can't believe it's been such a long time since you nearly landed on your face in this filthy, nasty train…" Sokka mused, chuckling as the train continued onwards to the final stations. Azula scoffed.

"You hadn't rubbed it in enough today, of course you hadn't" Azula said, rolling her eyes but smiling regardless "I'm sitting beside you without any humiliation involved, isn't that enough for you?"

"And miss out on a chance to laugh at our past experiences? Heck, no" Sokka grinned, earning himself a slap on the arm from his Princess.

"Of all things you could want to relive, it's always the stuff that makes me look foolish. Wretched gladiator" she said, shaking her head in reprieve that Sokka ignored as he chuckled at her reactions. His smile waned after a moment, though, as he bit his lip and glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"You're sure about this Library business, then? I mean, if we get to spend some more time together without anyone butting in, you know I'm game. But we've literally just gotten out of that desert…"

"Not true, it was almost three weeks ago…"

"And I didn't expect we'd want to revisit it so soon" Sokka finished "Granted, if we spot Foo-Foo it'd be fun to greet him, but we're absolutely going to be loaded with supplies this time, alright? As much water and food as Xin can carry along with us"

"Agreed" Azula nodded "I know this is as good as a shot in the dark, Sokka, and you must think I'm mad to give any credit to stories about spirits… the universe knows I think it of myself too, and yet I can't help but wonder if that's where we'll find our answers"

"Well, for all our sakes, I hope we do find something" Sokka said, grinning "That way you might stop thinking you're crazy, huh?"

"Hmm, but that brings about another problem" Azula mused, biting her lower lip "If this Spirit Library does exist… is there a chance spirits will determine we're unworthy of their knowledge because we've denied their existence for all these years?"

"Uh… maybe. Possibly. But what's it to them?" Sokka said, pouting as Azula laughed "It's not rational to believe in stuff blindly anyways! And for the record, I still don't believe in any of it and won't until I see it for myself. All this spiritual nonsense sounds like delusions to me…"

"It might be" Azula conceded "But I guess we'll only know for sure after we take off tomorrow"

"Tomorrow?" Sokka repeated, and Azula nodded with a proud grin.

"Get as much rest as you can tonight. If all goes according to plan… we'll need all our energies for this coming challenge" Azula said. Sokka smirked and nodded.

"Right. And this time I get to hold you the whole time while Xin flies us, so it'll be more fun than the Race was" he declared cheekily. Azula laughed and rolled her eyes as the train came to a halt in the final station of the Upper Ring.

A feast had been prepared in the Palace to celebrate Sokka's success in the Green Gates earlier that day. While their new venture wouldn't throw off those plans, it certainly startled all their traveling companions and hosts once they announced their decision over dinner.

"You'll be taking a trip to the Si Wong Desert to look for a Library that might not exist?" Rui Shi repeated, blinking blankly after Azula had spoken. She was uncharacteristically flustered under his scrutiny, no doubt knowing that, if someone else had revealed any intentions to look for any potentially non-existent places, she wouldn't have reacted any differently than he had now…

"I know it sounds absolutely insane… and if you think I'm going to get myself, my dragon and my gladiator killed by dehydration or heat strokes if we stay out there for too long, well, I wish I could give you genuine reassurances that that won't happen, but I can't" Azula admitted. Rui Shi raised an eyebrow slowly.

"But…?" Rui Shi said, encouraging her to continue. Azula merely shrugged.

"That's all I thought to say, frankly" she admitted, and he dropped his head on his hand.

"Every single time I think you've made your most outlandish decisions yet, you endeavor to prove me wrong" he groaned, shaking his head before focusing on the stew on his plate once more.

She probably ought to have felt guilty, to a fault, for having pushed Rui Shi so far on enough occasions that, without much arguing needed, he already seemed to have given up all hopes to reason with her when she had just announced her intentions to seek out a mythical, most-likely-non-existent location. Still, his compliance meant there would be one less obstacle in her quest for her dragon's kin, and that ought to count as a victory, to a fault…

"Are you certain this is a good idea?" Governor Tiang asked, raising an eyebrow "One scholar from the University has sought this Library for as long as I've been Governor, probably longer still, and it doesn't look like he's found much evidence of its existence so far…"

"I wouldn't give much credit to talk of this Library either, if it weren't because… well, someone I know personally claims to have been in there. Or so I hear" Azula sighed, shrugging "Otherwise I would have chalked it all down to nonsense. And it still might be, but I'd better try, at least"

"Can you perhaps send word to this acquaintance of yours who claims to have visited the Library?" Song asked, chiming in quite nervously – she was no longer so anxious about speaking directly to Azula, but she wasn't sure she was allowed to intervene in a conversation between her and the Governor. Azula encouraged her to speak, however, with a gesture of her hand "If they really found it, maybe they can offer some advice to point you in the right direction?"

"Not the worst idea" Azula acknowledged, nodding "Though the plan was to set out tomorrow, and he's in the Fire Nation. If I can't find the Library this time, I suppose I'll ask for his advice once we return home"

"If it's a Spirit Library, though… maybe it changes locations!" Fei Li chimed in, with a large grin. Azula crooked an eyebrow questioningly, and he shrugged "Well, you know, spirits are supposed to be weird… so a Spirit Library might be weird like that, too! Could be that's why that scholar can't find it…"

"Curiously… that might even make sense" said Tiang, stroking his chin.

"All the more reason why searching through flying is the better option, then" Azula said, smirking "That way we'll even have the perfect visual of the Library scurrying off to a new location, if that's what it does"

Sokka chuckled at the image she had painted: as much as she seemed to hope the Library was real, Azula's skepticism hadn't vanished altogether. He wouldn't have loved her any less if she decided to believe in spirits, naturally, but her certainty in this endeavor had been quite strange, as far as her gladiator was concerned. She had never mentioned this story of Zhao's before, so either she had given the matter so little importance back when she heard of it that she had forgotten about it altogether, or she had believed it all along and kept it from Sokka out of fear that he might judge her for being gullible… yet considering how dismissive she had been, up to date, in regards to anything spiritual, Sokka was far more inclined to believe the truth was the first possibility.

"You shouldn't stay out in the desert for too long, though" Rui Shi spoke again, leveling Azula with a stern glare "Do you expect three days of flying about the desert will be enough to find what you're looking for…? Or to determine it doesn't exist, as the case may be?"

"Three days sounds reasonable enough" she acknowledged "Frankly, I'm not sure I'd be able to endure longer than that if we can't find anything"

"Good, then. Three days it is. We'll set out to find you if you don't return by then" Rui Shi declared. Azula smiled but nodded in unusual compliance as Rui Shi turned on Sokka next "I expect you'll go too?"

"I thought I would, yeah…?"

"Then, as it seems you're the more skeptical one about your voyage, for once, I expect you to keep the Princess on schedule" Rui Shi declared. Sokka chuckled.

"I'll try…"

"Considering how poorly he handled those same duties at Ty Lee and Haru's wedding, I highly doubt that's a job for Sokka" Azula smirked, prompting most the table to laugh at her scathing comment.

"Hey, now! I wasn't that bad! We weren't late, not for real!"

"Well, you arrived with three minutes to spare or so, I suppose…" Azula said, rolling her eyes as Sokka fumed, glaring at her as he nibbled on a picken leg.

"Ty Lee did get married, then?" Jin asked, smiling brightly "Oh, that's wonderful. She had been so worried about their relationship back when she first came here, I'm glad things worked out for them!"

"As are all of us" Azula nodded, smiling too "She's quite happy with Haru, probably the happiest she's ever been"

The conversation was derailed into a retelling of Ty Lee's wedding, as Jin was thrilled to hear all about it: after all pertinent anecdotes had been shared, Jin took to retelling her own stories about her wedding to Tiang. The governor laughed along with the tales, blushing whenever they were slightly embarrassing, such as how he'd cried after the ceremony was finished, and how he'd scrambled all across the Palace frequently during the reception, trying his best to keep the guest nobles in check – there were at least two couples caught in inappropriate dalliances in the open terrains, and a few others in the Palace's own rooms. A group of young women had also rushed the Palace mid-celebration, demanding for the marriage to be revoked because of Jin's lowly birth… and Tiang had sealed the matter by openly kissing his bride in front of everyone in attendance. He had blushed crimson at that particular story, but he owned up to it proudly, even encouraging the group at the dining table to toast to his beloved wife, who couldn't seem to stop laughing as she recalled the memories she was so fond of.

Everyone left the dining hall in high spirits, but the Princess didn't turn in right away: Sokka saw her slipping towards one of the dining room's adjacent corridors rather than choosing those that led closer to their assigned rooms. The hallway she was treading through would guide her towards the Palace gardens instead…

Disregarding all concerns about whatever people might say or think of his bold decision, Sokka only smiled and followed her. By the time he caught up with Azula, she was already in her dragon's temporary refuge: Xin Long sat up to greet her, and his tail shifted excitedly as he listened to his rider's words.

"… I know it's not a sure thing that we'll find anything, but if that Library exists, it really might help us discover the best place to look for dragons" Azula spoke, her voice hitched by anticipation "So… it's a start, at least"

Xin Long groaned, and where he had seemed so discouraged on the previous day, now he smiled and pressed his head against his rider's chest. Azula laughed softly, her fingers stroking her dragon's smooth hair as she buried her face in his mane, mindful of his horns.

"Get a lot of rest, okay?" she said "We're off to a pretty long trip again. We'll bring a lot of supplies anyhow, but we might be on the road for three days or so. You can handle that, right?"

Xin Long only separated from his rider to nod proudly. Azula chuckled and patted his head once more, though she noticed her dragon's attention had been claimed by someone else… she was already smiling as she turned towards Sokka. She had recognized his footsteps earlier, but she had decided to focus on sharing their new mission with Xin Long instead of acknowledging him.

"You shouldn't be sneaking up on me at night. Not in a dragon's refuge, at least" Azula said, teasingly. Sokka chuckled as he stepped closer, his hand joining Azula's at Xin Long's mane.

"Yeah, I'd save it for your Barge's cabin only, but I figured I'd join in on your private celebration about our new quest" Sokka smiled "Granted, I have very little hopes of finding any weird desert libraries, but things always tend to turn out just right when it's the three of us. Right?"

"I suppose so. Our track record as a team is pretty flawless" Azula acknowledged, as Xin Long chuckled "Thwarted a gang of brigands when we'd barely just met this troublemaker, he helped you save me from the clutches of the White Lotus, then we defeated my father's creepy assassin and took a whole vacation together while no one was the wiser…"

"With all that in mind, if anyone's bound to find that place, it's us" Sokka chuckled. Azula smiled, her fingers locking around his.

The night's mantle protected them once again from prying eyes as Sokka dared edge closer to Azula, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. She smiled, resisting the urge to tug him back towards her once he pulled away. They had tempted fate plenty as it was, since Ba Sing Se was ever meant to be out-of-bounds for such escapades. She would have more than enough chances to kiss him once they were on the road on the next day: even at his best speed, Xin Long would take hours to reach the desert, and she knew how they would pass the time until they got there.

Morning arrived to find them as well-rested as they could be – Sokka and Azula had taken to sleeping far more deeply after the Race, for their bodies hadn't replenished their energies fully just yet. Xin Long had been restless through the night, but if he was tired, he gave no signs of it as Sokka strapped several bags of supplies to his saddle, helped by Song – she had insisted on doing so, to deter Azula from damaging her right wrist further by carrying the heavy luggage Sokka had prepared for them.

"Be careful" Rui Shi sighed as Azula stood by Xin Long's side, supervising Sokka's work "The desert… it's not a hospitable place. You ought to know already, after you crossed it throughout your weird race, but still…"

"I know it's a bitter place for you" Azula nodded, glancing at Rui Shi remorsefully "Though with the Rough Rhinos locked up, I'd think we'll be safer than you guys were when…"

"They were far from the only threat in that desert" Rui Shi warned her, shaking his head "They likely avoided you and the Race's organizers because it was something far too important and official to intrude in it… but the sandbenders are dangerous, Princess. They're desert-dwellers, and they're always seeking opportunities for profit. We encountered a tribe before we found the Rough Rhinos… we had to trade off one of our mongoose dragons for any information on their whereabouts. From what others told us later in that Oasis, we got off easy: they're renowned for stealing and scavenging, and they know the desert better than anyone else. Try your best to stay out of their reach, if you can. All three of you"

"If they wanted a mongoose dragon, I don't dare imagine what they'd be willing to do for an actual dragon" Azula sighed "Thanks for the advice. We'll try to stay airborne for as long as possible"

"Good. Like I said, they're sandbenders… they have special vehicles that they power through their bending" Rui Shi said "If you notice any such thing approaching, escape at haste"

"Very well, we'll do that" Azula said, offering Rui Shi a small smile "Thanks for not being too upset about this. I honestly expected more resistance from you"

"Do you think I've truly learned nothing in all these years?" Rui Shi said, skeptical "If not even Sokka can dissuade you from doing this, what are the chances that you'll listen to me instead?"

"What makes you think I listen to him any more than I listen to you?" Azula smirked, and that at last brought a smile to Rui Shi's face.

All bags were successfully bound to the tubes on Xin Long's saddle by then: busy as he had been, Sokka hadn't paid much attention to Azula and Rui Shi's exchange. He grinned goofily at them, oblivious of Azula's latest barb about him, and Rui Shi couldn't hold back a chuckle for that as Azula strode up to her dragon's saddle, hoisting herself up with her left hand alone – Sokka rushed in to help her a moment too late, but he sighed and smiled before following her lead and sitting behind her, careful to avoid kicking any of the bags that dangled around the saddle

"Good luck, Princess. May the spirits favor you, if there's a Library to be found at all" Rui Shi said, bowing his head respectfully towards them.

"And if there is…!" chimed in Song, standing by Rui Shi now, a cheeky grin on her face "Please, don't hold the books with your right hand, Princess"

"Ha, I'll keep that in mind" Azula smiled, nodding towards them "We'll be back in three days, as promised, or sooner if we're miraculously successful before then…"

"Then we'll hope for that. We'll charge into that desert to find you if you don't, you've been warned" Rui Shi said menacingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine, fine, we won't make you do that" Azula smiled.

"See you!" Sokka said, waving at their friends as Xin Long stood up, readying himself for take-off "Go hang out with Myeung and forget about us for three days, Song!"

"Oh, I will!" Song laughed, waving as well: the fully-armored dragon had begun a light trot, and within moments he was coursing the skies with his rider and her gladiator.

The city sped below them in a blur: Xin Long didn't fly at his top speed right away, but he grew faster with each passing moment, making haste even when their journey was only beginning. Azula smiled, stroking his hair reassuringly as she reminded him not to spend all his energies… yet her dragon seemed determined to keep going as fast as he could, disregarding all caution.

"Ah, well. If we end up having to nurse you back to health if you burn yourself out, you'll have no one to blame for it but yourself" Azula declared. Xin Long huffed, shaking his head proudly: how could a dragon possibly burn himself out? Dragons burned others, not themselves! "Please, you know what I mean, you…! Oh, never mind, you stubborn dragon…"

Xin Long laughed mischievously at her surrender, taking her words as flattery. As much as she pretended to be cross with him, though, Azula couldn't help but smile fondly at her dragon. He was back in good spirits, and she hoped deeply that he would remain so enthusiastic and hopeful for the rest of their trip.

"Well, damn. We haven't been airborne for five minutes and we're already halfway through the Middle Ring?" Sokka said, blinking blankly.

"Yeah, he's trying to break his speed records, I suspect" Azula smirked.

"Heh… I can't say I mind if he does" Sokka said, grinning as his thumbs toyed with Azula's belt gently. The Princess shivered, his fingertips caressing her softly, imperceptibly for anyone who might have spotted them from below "That way we'll be free to make out as we please in no time"

"Ah, that's a compelling argument for a fast flight, certainly" Azula smiled: her bandaged hand ventured down to lace her fingers with Sokka's own. She could tell he was grinning behind her without needing to hear him speak, or to see it with her own eyes.

Twenty minutes after taking off, they had already flown past the Inner Wall: recklessly, carelessly, the Princess and her gladiator indulged in the relentless kissing they had missed out on while they visited Ba Sing Se. Xin Long didn't complain about it this time, no matter how passionate his two riders were. He only put a stop to their kissing spree, flavored with no end of groans, moans and daring caresses, when the Outer Wall was within sight, at the far end of the Agrarian Zone.

"Ah… I'd needed that" Azula admitted, grinning as she rested against Sokka carelessly. His hand had slipped under her armor, and he had fondled her breast most gratuitously, but he drew it out now, even if with a sad sigh.

"I need more than that, myself…" he whispered. Azula chuckled "Might be we can find a nice corridor in the Spirit Library where we can go for it, huh?"

"Sure, but only after we find out everything we need to investigate" Azula said haughtily. Sokka laughed, dropping his head on her shoulder "What's so funny, gladiator? It's only natural to deal with responsibilities first and have fun afterwards as a celebration, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that's been your philosophy while training me over the last years" Sokka smiled, pecking her cheek one more time before sitting upright, unwillingly separating his body from hers "The promise of having fun with you certainly has been the best motivator to get things done"

"Then I'm sure we'll find out everything about dragons in a heartbeat, as long as that Library is more than just a random tale" Azula smiled at him over her shoulder, but she turned forward again, eyes trained on the southern mountains in the horizon.

The mountains would give way to the large river they had traveled through merely a week ago with her Barge. Across that river waited the Si Wong Desert once more… she breathed deeply, stilling herself. Finding the Library wouldn't be easy, no matter if it was massive, for none of them understood what its alleged spiritual qualities entailed. Would it be visible for any who sought it? Were there any terms, any tasks that needed to be fulfilled before finding it? Was it perhaps as strange as Fei Li had put it and the Library had the power to change locations somehow? The thought wasn't at all reassuring, but there was no point in worrying about what hadn't come to pass: it was still the first of three days before Rui Shi's time limit was up, and Azula intended to make the most of it while they could.

They reached the river around two hours after taking off, and by then, it seemed to Azula that her dragon was overexerting himself: he was slower, though no less spirited for it.

"Xin…" she warned him, and the dragon merely groaned proudly in return as they coursed over the water "We can take a break if you need one. Fact is, you probably do. Don't be so stubborn, will you? You've flown too far, too fast…"

"He's about as bad as you when he's really determined to get something done, isn't he?" Sokka smiled behind Azula, thumbs grazing her hips again. Azula scoffed, leveling him with a sharp glare over her shoulder.

"No one is quite as bad as me, mind you, but he certainly is trying his best to contest that reality" she retorted, prompting both Sokka and Xin Long to chuckle at her proud words "Either way, we do have three days. I know we ought to reach the desert as soon as possible so we can start searching without much trouble, but it's still a long journey and I'd rather Xin Long doesn't faint on us while we're flying there"

"Well, yeah, no one wants him to faint in the desert or elsewhere, but he's put up with longer journeys before, hasn't he?" Sokka grinned, patting Xin Long's hind leg. The dragon responded with a proud growl.

"Brilliant, go ahead and encourage him, why not…?" Azula sighed, shaking her head as she folded her arms over her chest "Truthfully, the problem is the desert isn't a particularly hospitable place and Rui Shi was keen on reminding me of that earlier. It seems there are dangerous tribes of sandbenders that take to buying, capturing or even poaching animals from their owners… I have no idea who they sell their stolen creatures to, but I'd rather Xin Long isn't weakened once we reach the desert. It's hard to say what would happen if those sandbenders caught us"

"Uh… well, I think it's safe to say you and I could defeat them, but it's better not to take any risks" Sokka admitted, biting his lip "So… how about we take a break at the northern mountains? We'll get a decent view of the desert from there already, and Xin Long can replenish his energies so he can scorch anyone who tries to steal him from us. Right?"

"Huh. Sounds pretty reasonable" Azula said, smiling at him before leaning closer to Xin Long "You heard that? Are you finally going to comply with Sokka's idea, or will you continue to do as you please?"

Xin Long fluffed his hair in a vain display but he ultimately agreed to follow through with Sokka's suggestion. He wanted to find that Library as soon as possible, and to find dragons far more than he wanted to find the Library… but he knew to abide by his rider's concerns when they were well-founded.

An hour later, they reached the mountains that hugged the desert: Xin Long landed easily, though he breathed heavily once he did. However easy flying appeared to be, it took a toll on him to press his body as much as he had. By Azula's request, Sokka removed the dragon's saddle and armor during their break, lightening the creature's load so he could rush off to find something to hunt without being hindered by extra weight.

Xin Long returned by noon with a half-charred deer carcass dangling between could his paws. It was fortunate that Azula and Sokka had already eaten by then, for Xin Long made quite a bloody spectacle of tearing up the dead beast as he fed from its flesh. Azula groaned and hid her face in Sokka's chest as he chuckled and patted her shoulder reassuringly: the sight of blood wasn't all that disturbing for either of them, usually, but Xin Long seemed rather determined to ravage the carcass in the most unseemly manner to mess with his rider, just as he had done with the fish in Shu Jing.

They finally took off again, half an hour after Xin Long was finished with his meal. With his energies replenished, their new trek through the desert had finally begun.

"It's so bleak, huh?" Sokka sighed, propping his head on Azula's shoulder "Nothing but sand everywhere the eye can see. I mean, you could argue it's the same in the South Pole, but I don't know… snow is prettier than sand, at least"

"You're probably more than a bit weary of sand, considering you have to fight in it all the time" Azula sighed, reaching back with her lips to brush them against his cheek. Her tenderness brought a small grin to his face "I can't say I'm enjoying the scenery much either, especially with no damn libraries in sight… admittedly, now that we're here, this whole quest feels quite impossible, doesn't it?"

Xin Long grunted and jerked in flight to startle his rider. Azula rolled her eyes as Sokka clasped the saddle's tubes, grimacing.

"Sounds like he's not very happy with what you said now…"

"He's threatened that he'll toss me off the saddle if I keep saying negative things" Azula said, smiling a little "So I suppose I'll shut up"

"I'd offer to shut you up in the best possible way…" Sokka teased her, and Azula smirked "But we're supposed to be looking at the horizon until one of us finds a huge building with domes and whatever the heck was in that drawing, right?"

"Indeed" Azula said, rummaging through her bags for the papers Professor Zei had given them.

It was futile to search the horizon for such a grand building, both Azula and Sokka knew as much: if there was anything similar to what was depicted in this artwork anywhere nearby, they'd find it easily. But so far…

"I can't see anything that looks at all like it. It's just a whole lot of sand" Sokka sighed "It's really hot by now, too…"

"And not in the fun way" Azula huffed, shaking her head.

She unfolded Zei's map of the desert next: the circles where he hadn't searched thoroughly ought to be their destinations, but Azula had the nagging feeling that, if the Library was anywhere in those directions, the scholar would have seen it. A building of such magnitudes couldn't possibly have escaped his notice…

"Say… there's something there"

Sokka's voice stole her attention from the parchment altogether. She raised her eyes in the direction Sokka was pointing at…

"Well, it's too far away, I can't tell what that's supposed to be" Azula said.

"Hmm" Sokka placed his palm right above his eyes, shielding them from the gleam of the sun as he tried to unravel what he'd glimpsed moments ago "But it looks big, doesn't it? And out of place in the desert?"

"Hopefully" Azula said, breathing deeply before patting Xin Long's shoulder gently "Let's check it out, shall we?"

Xin Long nodded promptly, speeding up again: he flew high above the desert, at what ought to be a safe enough distance to avoid any sandbenders, if they came across any of them. And just as that thought crossed her mind, Azula caught sight of something small, quite far away still… but it seemed to be moving fast. She narrowed her eyes, but that wasn't enough to identify whatever it might be.

"Something wrong?" Sokka asked, reaching under her armor's shoulder plate to rub her arm gently.

"Maybe. I don't know if that's a sandbending contraption, but whatever it is, we're better off avoiding it. It might have seen us already, for all we know, but I'd feel at ease if we were out of its reach"

Xin Long nodded and angled his body to the west while still progressing towards their temporary goal. But the more distance he covered, the easier it was to tell that what Sokka had glimpsed in the horizon wasn't quite what they were looking for.

"That doesn't look like a big fancy building with domes and whatnot, huh…?" Sokka sighed, shaking his head "Damn. Here I thought we'd found something…"

"Well, a tall, nasty-looking rock is still something. Not what we were looking for, sure, but it's not nothing, I suppose…" Azula mused. Xin Long had slowed down now, as good as pouting in midair as he glared reproachfully at the rock "Are you mad at that thing for not being the Library, Xin?"

The dragon grumbled a response that brought Azula to chuckle, despite her dragon's moodiness. The mesa ahead didn't appear to hold any answers, but Xin Long didn't change directions. He had spent quite a bit of energy once again by flying so fast towards the tall, natural rock formation, and he could use another break.

"Well, definitely not a library. Or maybe it's a very strange one that looks nothing like what Zei thought it would" Sokka declared, once Xin Long stopped on the summit of the mesa.

"Seeing as I can't spot any books, I'd rather think this isn't the Library at all" Azula sighed, heaving herself off the saddle "Though it's possible the books are just tucked away somewhere inside those caves, right?"

"Uh… caves?" Sokka said, blinking blankly.

"Still apprehensive?" Azula smirked at him. Sokka huffed and jumped off the saddle too, studying the strange holes within the mesa's summit from a distance.

"However uncomfortable it may make you, Princess, I'll always be apprehensive about caves. Whether they host the tombs of our past lives or not" he declared. Azula laughed softly, following him as he scrutinized the walls of the cave with uncertainty "These look pretty weird, don't they? There's some substance stuck to them… and it looks gross"

"This could be a nest of some sort, couldn't it?" Azula suggested, blinking blankly "Not of dragons, of course, they don't make this kind of sticky-looking yellow substance… not as far as I know, that is"

Xin Long shook his head briskly when she turned to him for confirmation, and Azula smiled at his negative.

"This place is giving me the creeps" Sokka grimaced "Not that there's a lot of caves that don't give me the creeps, but don't you feel like someone's watching us?"

"Who could possibly be watching us in this forsaken desert?" Azula smirked "Let alone while we're up here. Well, unless you meant… the creatures that made this thing?"

She pointed at one of the many holes on the wall, and just on cue, a strange, buzzing noise reached them. The very ground under their feet seemed to vibrate, and without having to ponder the situation much, both Azula and Sokka concluded immediately that its source was the inside of those strange caves…

"Okay, Xin, I'm sorry but I think your break ends now!" Azula exclaimed, clasping Sokka with her uninjured hand and tugging him towards the saddle at haste.

She didn't have to say it twice: as soon as both Azula and Sokka were safely on the saddle, Xin Long trotted off the mesa's surface. The Princess and her gladiator ventured a glance over their shoulders…

To find large, aggressive buzzard-wasps flocking out of the caves in the mesa in quick succession.

"Run! I-I mean, fly!" Sokka exclaimed, scooting closer to Azula.

"Xin!" Azula shouted, and the dragon picked up his speed, doing his best to ignore the following of buzzard-wasps he left in his wake.

He flew around the tall mesa, hoping to conceal his shape behind the rock once he was too far away for the buzzard-wasps to see him. But just when it seemed he would shake off the pursuers…

"Shit! Sandbenders?!" Sokka squeaked.

The same contraption Azula had spotted earlier might have been one of the eight sand-sailors they were faced with now. The Princess yanked Xin Long's reins in an unusual, impulsive burst, forcing the dragon to gain altitude to avoid the pillars of earth and sand the newcomers were bending towards them.

"Oh, that wretched library had better exist!" Azula snarled, the fast wind buffeting at her face and hair wildly "And if it does, it better be worth all this grief!"

"Ah, I think we're too fast for them to keep up!" Sokka announced, glancing over his shoulder at the sand-sailors: they had lagged behind, though the same couldn't be said for at least five of the buzzard wasps "Well, for the sandbenders to keep up, anyhow, because the buzzard-wasps are…!"

"Ugh, please duck!" Azula growled.

Without thinking, Sokka obeyed. And so, he was left to gape in sheer horror as his lover charged and launched a powerful lightning blast straight at the closest of the buzzard-wasps: it fizzled and froze in midair for moments before plummeting to the waiting sand below.

"Azula!" Sokka squealed once she had released her energy "You can't just…!"

"Oh, yes I can! Stay down, I said!" Azula huffed, pushing Sokka aside as she charged yet another load of lightning.

"Ack, no, you don't!" Sokka growled, his hand reaching up for one of the weapons hanging on his back.

Azula released another lightning blast before Sokka could brandish his boomerang. His throw was fast and efficient, knocking down two of the buzzard-wasps before the boomerang's course was broken by the impact. Xin Long rolled his eyes as he flew downwards so Sokka could snatch the weapon again: the last of the buzzard-wasps attacked, and while Sokka squirmed in dread, Azula launched a fire wheel with difficulty at the creature, relying on her left hand the most to use her technique properly.

"Azula, quit bending!" Sokka exclaimed, but the Princess ignored him as she watched the final creature falling ungracefully to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd rather have these creepy beasts chasing us all the way to… well, wherever it is we'll end up next!" Azula snapped.

"That's no excuse! I could've handled them myself! I have a sword, I could've just chopped off their heads if they came close enough!" Sokka squeaked, scowling reproachfully at the Princess. Xin Long was closer to the boomerang's landing site by now, and Sokka leaned down to snatch up the blue weapon, his eyes still mainly set on the Princess he was trying to berate "Can't you just sit on your hands and not do anything you shouldn't, Azula?"

"If I sat on my right hand, I'm sure it would wind up in much worse shape than it's already in" Azula said, with a dry grin. Sokka huffed, finally scooping up the boomerang by one of its auxiliary circular holes, and he glared at Azula skeptically.

"It's a figure of speech!"

"Not a very smart one to use with someone whose wrist is fractured…" she said, though her face was fashioned with a playful smirk by now.

"You're one to talk about smart things, the one who decided to bend with said fractured wrist…!"

The sound of buzzing interrupted their promised argument again: not all the buzzard wasps that had pursued them were unconscious or dead, apparently. Still, Xin Long had no intentions of waiting to see if they would wake up or not: he turned towards the creatures abruptly and unclenched his jaws, unleashing a potent inferno of blue flames that had his riders bracing themselves against the bright glare of his fire and the shockwaves it left in its wake.

Without waiting to ensure he had successfully slaughtered the enemy, Xin Long turned again and flew fast and high, as fast as he could possibly go. His riders, still dazed and startled by his violent attack, forsook their argument and sat quietly on the saddle, cautious over any other possible enemies that might pounce on them while they weren't paying attention.

The sun was more merciless after their violent encounter with the buzzard wasps than it had been when they took off: it was merely a few hours past noon, and mirages in the scenery urged Sokka to reach for a waterskin and drain some of its contents. He passed it to Azula without waiting for her to request it: between the two of them, they finished it in just a few swigs.

"This… isn't good news" Azula whispered "If we drink all the water this fast…"

"We'll be all out of water way sooner than we anticipated. Fun" Sokka finished, swallowing hard "Do you think we're close to any settlements? If we were, we could try and trade for water there, maybe…"

"As long as it's not Swamp water, I'll be fine with that" Azula smiled. Sokka shuddered with displeasure.

"Yeah, definitely" he assured her "We're going in the opposite direction of the Swamp anyhow, aren't we?"

"We are" Azula confirmed, breathing deeply as she looked through the map "Say… what do you think this is?"

"What?" Sokka leaned over her shoulder, following her fingertip to a peculiar circle marked over the map. The majority of the circles on the map were large, save for this small one… so what was so special there to mark a circle with it?

"Do you think maybe it's a place he expected to find the Library at?" Azula mused. Sokka shrugged.

"It's not inside the big circles he didn't look into, though" Sokka said "It's so small it seems weird to highlight it as a location to look at…"

"We're pretty close to it now, though" Azula mused, raising her eyes "No Library in sight yet, but…"

Again, there were strange shapes in the horizon. Azula, Sokka and Xin Long narrowed their eyes at the same time as they tried to scrutinize whatever it was this time…

And just so, the shapes began moving, rapidly. At a distance, they looked small, but up closer…

"Shit, it's more sandbenders!" Azula snapped, yanking Xin Long's reins "We're shaking them off!"

"There's more behind us, too!" Sokka exclaimed, glancing over his shoulder: the same five sand-sailors from earlier had taken to tailing them at a distance, perhaps hoping to sneak up on the dragon when no one was the wiser.

"How unbearably persistent…!" Azula huffed, leaning over Xin Long's frame as the dragon sped up further.

The small circle was either meant to signal a sandbender encampment, such as the one in the distance, or it signaled something else they couldn't identify yet. At this point, Azula wasn't entirely sure which option she'd rather believe in. The Race had certainly been an easygoing matter, back when no one had been trying to take down her dragon mid-flight and steal him away for potentially nefarious purposes…

"We're faster than them, and out of reach as long as we're airborne!" Azula shouted, as Xin Long pressed himself to his highest speeds, putting as much distance as he could between them and their pursuers "Either they leave us be or we'll make them pay direly…!"

"I'm afraid that threat would work better if they could hear you!" Sokka said, gritting his teeth: the sand-sailors shrunk in size, but it was clear the sandbenders weren't giving up anytime soon.

"Keep up this rhythm for as long as you can, Xin!" Azula bellowed, and Xin Long responded positively to her command through his mind, fully focused on powering his flight at all costs.

If this was how their quest for the Library would unfold, Azula's hopes for success were doomed to vanish. It was bad enough that finding a spiritual location sounded like a fool's errand from the get-go, but if they had to worry about buzzard-wasps, sandbenders and who knew what else, their trip through the Si Wong Desert would likely turn into a complete waste of time… and that possibility stung harder than she had expected it to. To have wasted a whole day in this pointless endeavor, to have forced her dragon to work this hard only for him to invest his energies and hopes in the impossible… who was she kidding? Why on earth had she ever thought they could find this alleged Library…?

Xin Long groaned suddenly, bringing her back from her depressing thoughts: he was the one to glimpse something in the horizon now, when Sokka was busy glaring over his shoulder to ensure the sand-sailors were lagging behind them and Azula had lost herself temporarily in her own desperation. Within moments, she saw it too:

A tall tower stood ahead of them: its color wasn't much different from that of the sand underneath their feet. It was decorated by a pattern of circles in a spiral that ran through the expanse of the tower, all the way from the bottom until it reached the ledge right below the large windows, positioned under each section of the hexagonal roof. The architecture of it might have been something to admire, in any other circumstances, but Azula was so puzzled by the strange building she couldn't quite do so: why would there be a tower in the middle of this forsaken desert? Who on earth could have built such a thing?

"Okay, I think we've put enough distance between us and… woah! What's that?!" Sokka exclaimed, finally turning around to find the same startling sight that had kept Azula speechless so far.

"I… I don't know. But if Xin could sneak into it through the windows, perhaps…!"

"Are you sure they're big enough for him?" Sokka asked.

"Well, we can scooch down, press fully against him…" Azula suggested, swallowing hard "If we hide in there, and those sandbenders are too far away to notice what we're doing, we might actually shake them off for good"

"Huh… doesn't sound like a bad idea" Sokka admitted, biting his lip "Though I can't help but wonder…"

"Why the blazes would someone build a watchtower out here, if that's what it is?" Azula finished for him, with a weak grin "Yeah, I thought the same thing"

"Old civilizations, again? But it looks so strong and sturdy" Sokka said, cocking his head sideways as the tower loomed closer yet "Something's weird about this place…"

"Everything's weird about this damn desert, apparently" Azula sighed, ushering Xin Long to slow down and hide in the tower, as she had suggested moments ago "But Xin Long can definitely use another break. It might be a good idea to stay in here until he's recovered"

Sokka nodded as they finally reached the tower: the windows appeared large enough to fit Xin Long, but not too comfortably. Azula and Sokka leaned down over his body, with the gladiator laying atop the Princess's back, both shrinking in their frames as best as they could so the dragon could fit into the tower slowly but surely.

"This brings back unpleasant memories…" Sokka grimaced.

"What sort of memories?" Azula asked, pressing closer to Xin Long as the top of the windowsill grazed her ear.

"I didn't tell you that much about my dashing escape from Fazhan's Arena, did I…?" Sokka gritted his teeth: in his case, he had bumped his head to the top of the window, and he had to lean in closer to Azula to pass through it "Ack, it was… kind of like this? I got stuck in the hole, our exit spot… it wasn't fun. I thought for a second I'd burn alive, stuck there, and what a pathetic death it would have been, huh?"

"Well, we're both quite grateful that didn't happen" Azula sighed: her legs were through now, and moments later, so were Sokka's. Their many bags had also bumped into the sides of the windowsill, but everything had gotten through by now, and Xin Long slipped his tail into the building safely.

It was mid-afternoon already, and Azula sighed in relief at the light respite they received from the harsh sunlight. The building's shade already helped them replenish their energies, and she considered climbing off her dragon's back to remove his saddle and armor, so he could rest better…

Until she realized he was still airborne.

"Uh… this isn't a watchtower" she announced, glancing down at the darkness that spread underneath her dragon's paws "There's no floor to stand in here. It's hollow…"

"Woah. Then what the hell is this?" Sokka asked, grimacing as he glanced about himself with uncertainty: the light drifting in from the desert was playing wicked games with his eyesight, the contrasting brightness making it so he couldn't detail the inside of the tower.

Azula focused her eyes on the darkness below, as much as she could at least. She struggled to scrutinize the interior of the tower, but after a moment she sighted a light emanating from below. A quick attempt to resonate revealed its source couldn't be fire of any sorts, so…

"Crystals?" she whispered "Like the ones in the Tomb…?"

"What?"

"I'm seeing a light down there. I'm not sure what it is, but… Xin, I know you hate being underground, but isn't it better if we check out what this is? This tower is… well, mysterious, at the very least. If there's nothing inside, you can fly us out right afterwards anyhow, can't you? It's not like we have anything else to do while we wait until the sandbenders are gone…"

Xin Long groaned softly, apprehensive of the idea of flying into whatever this strange building was. He had pointedly avoided going underground for as long as he could… but as long as they didn't put too much distance between themselves and the exit they should be safe, shouldn't they?

With a sigh, Xin Long dropped slowly across the tower, his ears perked for any noise, his whiskers twirling in midair as though to pick up any warning signs through them. The deeper they went, the stronger the green glow became: Sokka could see it by now, too.

"We're already below the sand level, I think" he surmised, glancing about himself with uncertainty "What on earth is this place?"

"I don't know, but whatever's down there has to be huge" Azula said, her uncertainty fully replaced by curiosity by now, as they reached the bottom of the tower "Look, Sokka…"

The brightness of the crystals lit up what they soon found to be the largest building either of them had ever entered before. Their lips parted, but they remained silent as Xin Long continued to drop slowly towards solid ground. It appeared there were multiple floors, so many they couldn't tell where the building ended at all. Each wall was richly decorated in gold and marble, with uniquely carved shapes at every archway, that led into corridors lined with…

"Azula…?" Sokka said, his voice thin and weak. The Princess might have poked fun at his tone if she had been any less shocked than he was.

"Bookshelves. Books? Sokka…! We found it?!" Azula gasped, and now Xin Long perked up, blinking blankly and rapidly as he descended on the open corridors.

"It can't be!" Sokka exclaimed, his lips tugged by the overpowering urge to grin "It was real all along, then?! And it was underneath this… this weird tower?!"

"The tower must have been one of the spires, look!" Azula laughed, reaching for the drawing in the pack. She pointed at the tallest spire: its shape resembled that of the tower they had found and entered…

"Impossible. This is… impossible" Sokka laughed in disbelief as Xin Long touched down on the solid rock corridor.

Sokka jumped off the dragon's saddle hastily, spreading his arms to help Azula down. The Princess would have normally taken advantage of the opportunity to kiss him in celebration for their grand achievement, but as flabbergasted as they were, neither one thought of it as they glanced about themselves in sheer wonder.

"It's… it's insane. It's huge!" Azula laughed, a hand on her head "And it's real. It was real all along. Which, I guess, means… means spirits are real too, somehow? I mean, I suppose it's possible a building of this magnitude could be built with human effort, but… I don't know. It'd take hundreds of years, at least, even with top-notch earthbenders, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, especially to find all the material to build it" Sokka said, leaning down to touch the cold marble floor with a hand "This is really solid stuff, probably on par with what you guys have in the Capital's Palace…"

"There's nowhere near this much marble in the Palace" Azula said, with a disbelieving grin, gazing about herself still "This is absurd, and… huh. Look at those carvings. They look like… owls?"

"Oh?" Sokka had been peering down to the seemingly endless floors of the building when Azula called for him. She was pointing at the sculpted figures that crowned each archway that led into the corridors, full to the brim with books "I guess they do look like owls"

"Why, though?" Azula said, stroking her chin with uncertainty "If I had a huge library to design… wouldn't it be more fun to feature different kinds of symbols everywhere? Perhaps symbols referring to whatever book sections are in each corridor?"

"You're so very business-oriented" Sokka laughed, standing beside her as they glanced at the archways that spread before them "I don't know, maybe? Though, come to think of it… even if we're not hallucinating over a heat stroke, and we actually found this place, how are we going to find the books we're looking for?"

"Maybe there's a guide somewhere?" Azula said, grinning sarcastically "Or a list of available books, who knows"

"Could be they're assorted by genre" Sokka suggested "Better that than alphabetically, anyhow…"

"Each section ought to be sorted alphabetically, though…"

The two humans seemed rather keen on debating how the library was organized while the dragon behind them panted in amazed disbelief. He had very little use for books, even though he knew they were very important thanks to his bond with Azula. He could read lightly too, if it was needed, but he would leave the investigation to his riders. Xin Long trusted they would find what he needed them to, and he had already done his job properly, as far as he could tell…

The cheerful dragon would have lashed into an all-out celebration, for they had made decent progress with the first part of their quest towards finding more of his kin, but an eerie feeling froze Xin Long in place. He frowned and glanced over his shoulder, his scales tingling unpleasantly…

A large shape lurked in a corridor on their level, so far away that anyone with less sharp senses might not have noticed it. But Xin Long had.

Azula had never thought she'd hear Xin Long yelp and squeal until that day. Her foolish discussion with Sokka was brusquely interrupted when her dragon, for the first time in their partnership, showed her a facet of himself he had proudly hidden up until now: unbridled, pitiful fear.

Xin Long scrambled, hiding behind both Azula and Sokka, shrinking in his frame as the pair before him eyed him in complete confusion.

"What on earth got into you now?" Azula asked, blinking blankly.

"Come on, Xin! We found the Library! Cheer up!" Sokka grinned, but that wasn't enough for Xin Long's panicked eyes to shift back into his usual mischievous, far more easygoing self…

The realization that he wasn't looking at them, that his attention had been claimed completely by something further away, compelled Azula and Sokka to turn around at the same time. By then, Xin Long was outright trembling… and the violent shivering only worsened when the massive owl came into sight.

He was at least as tall as the archways: now the owl motifs made more sense, for the building had to be decorated in his likeness… at least, that's what Azula ought to have thought, if she hadn't been breathless, astonished beyond reason, by the sight of the unnaturally massive creature before them. Sokka's reaction was no better than hers: he yelped too, though less noticeably than Xin Long had, and he took an instinctive, protective stance before Azula even if he had no idea what they were going up against.

For it was a massive barn owl, with white feathers framing its face and black ones across the rest of its body. Its dark and deep eyes bore into them, producing vertigo in all three new arrivals, a stronger sense of vertigo than if they'd glanced down the banisters in hopes to glimpse the Library's basement. That such a massive creature could exist defied all logic… and yet there it was, in front of their eyes, studying their pale faces intently as it came to a halt before them.

"What the…? How the…?" Sokka gasped, all words eluding him now: they would continue to elude him after the owl's beak opened slightly, and a deep, booming voice resounded in their ears once it did.

"It has been many years since any humans dared visit my study. And such is the case for a reason: those of your kind are no longer allowed to enter this Library"