Wide black sails fluttered as Azula emerged from the vessel's lower bunkers. Guards' faces flickered all shades of pale, their clouded breaths dissipating in the frigid air while sailors sniggered.

She walked in red and blue fur suit, courtesy of the Fire Nation's poor perception of the savages' fashion. No black and gold armor adorned her body. The ruby loopies in her dark hair glimmered.

"Fit for a tribal bride, don't you think?" were the last words she heard from her father.

The Southern Water Tribe's white horizon loomed over. She's done enough screaming and begging. It's all enough. This was her fate. He stepped up by her side just as she announced, "I walk alone when the ship docks."

"We were instructed not to follow your orders. When your father gave you to Chief Hakoda's son, he stripped your title away. You should know that traitors are not fit to command us."

Hours later, she watched her new husband. The young man stood with his poor excuse of an old boomerang in a more accurate costume of the people from the Water Tribe. He looked as unimpressed as she was when Zhao explained the arrangement.

The chief and Zhao spoke in low murmurs.

"Do we need to celebrate?" the chieftain asked. "We apologize. The news of her being here was unexpected. "

"There is no need. Do what you must. You can kill her if you like little wolf," Zhao grinned in her husband's direction. The young man shifted. "From now on, there are no longer Princess Azula or Prince Zuko. Lord Ozai has moved on."

Azula still didn't look up.

"Azula, would you do the honors?" Azula forced her hands to keep still when she bowed in front of the man she would lie with. She can sense Zhao's smirk, "Recite your vows to your beloved."

She watched Zhao walk out of the igloo to the vessel in the dead morning. He waited for the shouts from the sailors and sent sharp demands. She heard winds howling and snows seeping, thinking about the worn out look on Azula's face as he left.

"Farewell."


Ty-Lee sat quietly on the edge of the balcony into the arena. White railings aligned every wall, marked by the black and gold pillars on each edge. The arena below was two hundred feet deep. Ever since she was forced to watch the little girl claw her way out of a battle with fifty children, Ty-Lee has never missed a training session, whether she fought with kiyi or just witnessed the spectacle.

"She has improved," Ozai's voice slid between them. He stood next to her in his royal regalia, turning his gaze unto her side. "I have no one but you to thank for training her."

"Illah is talented. I'm as proud of her as you are."

Ozai nodded. "She has better stamina that any of the children I trained. Zuko wasn't competent, and Azula did have her moments. Illah is superb."

She felt Ozai's gaze still stuck on her just as she started squirming at the sound of Azula's name, "I'm surprised. Your close friend possibly coming home. Are you not happy? "

"Forgive me, my king, but are you even sure Azula would want to come back?"

"She will have no choice but to," he said, reaching out to touch the small of her back. Ty-Lee felt a strange urge to snatch it off. His hands were hot, too hot that she felt like she was burning anytime he ordered her into his chambers. "It's about time she sees how great the Fire Nation is becoming. And she needs to know that even her friend has joined our greatness. I expect you to teach her everything I've taught you. Understood?"

"Yes, King Ozai."

Down, below, The guards were twenty tiny red dots surrounding a black dot. Kiyi looked calm, feet spread evenly apart with hands barely lifted up.

Azula always fought with her hands poised to attack. Kiyi did not like doing so. As Ty-Lee taught her, she gave off the impression that she was unarmed and unfit to attack.

Like a bomb, she surged within the crowd. Short jabs echoed in the halls. Kiyi disarmed three guards in one swipe. She bent to swipe her foot under another one's foot, toppling him over the floor.

Blue fire snaked around the frightened red dots and lit the grand arena.


Azula felt light headed again, but she took the pepperberries Katara handed her into her satchel. The winds were louder. The civilians hurried into their houses for the upcoming storm.

Katara nudged her lightly as they sat side by side in front of the abandoned fire vessel.

"You're in the zone again," they had just completed one of their last training sessions. Azula was proud of the effortless fire she gushed out, but still missed the lasered offenses she used to make. Still, Azula wouldn't dare think she lost her momentum in her prowess. "So, did you finally tell my idiot of a brother?"

"Of course," Azula murmured with a smile.

"Figures. Had to ask because he's already told Gran-gran"

"Good riddance. The woman's been begging for a child."

Katara laughed, her water jug bouncing against her.

When she found out Katara was a waterbender, it was around three months into her stay at the Southern Water Tribe. She attempted to attack her on their trek to the Eastern neighbouring village.

Katara fought back with an avalanche, and Azula found herself trapped under snow.

Azula apologized on the very spot they were on. Katara did her part by telling Azula that she needed someone to train her, Azula did hers by telling her that her avalanche trick was superb.

Azula rubbed her hands over the makeshift fire she made, watching Katara toast kebab arctic hen. The spices Azula handmade had been slathered all over the meat. She decided early on that if she had to eat Water Tribe, she had to find anything to spice up her food, which involved days spent with Katara like this, experimenting with different fruits and sauces;

"I know you're worried about your dad," Katara murmured. "But I won't tell you everything will be alright. That's your husband's job."

"Thank you for putting me at ease."

Katara smiled before she let it dissipate, "You know he won't let you stay here right?"

"My place is here," Azula answered, glancing at the woman who was more of a sister to her than all the girls combined. "...with all of you. I know I'm not apart of you all but-"

"Azula, you will always be one of us. You're my sister in crime, and now we're stuck together so there's nothing you can do about it. But you of all people should know what your father may do, and you can't expect for us to sit down and let it happen. Everyone respects you, even the ones who still don't want you here."

Katara picked out a kebab and handed it to Azula, who took the first chunk and a bit of sea prune. "I don't think your dad will kill you like you said."

"My father isn't like yours." Azula murmured.

"He legally adopted the servant, but would everyone else agree with his decision? You said the only people who have the right to be heir to the throne were those related to Sozin. It just seems strange for your father to do something like that."

Azula blinked. She hasn't thought about Zuko for a long time. The last time she spoke to her brother, he dressed in a black cloak and snuck into her room, shaking her awake.

"Come with me," he had said.

"He's my father. He won't do anything to me."

"He was my father too," Zuko murmured, holding her shoulders.

That was the last time she saw him.

The sounds of snow crunching forced her gaze up. Sokka waddled in the snow in the heaviest furs and bright smile. Katara shot up and asked, "What took you guys so long?"

Azula spotted Hakoda rushing up ahead of Sokka. Of course he'd know early. Bao, right behind, laughed as the chief rushed over to Azula and grabbed her in the tightest bear hug she's ever been in. Wrinkles deepened at Hakoda's smile when he pulled back. She stopped to try to imagine her father in his position.

"How are you?" he asked in a low murmur.

"Perfect," she said as he pulled her into another hug.

Katara laughed just as Azula felt someone tug her back. Sokka planted a warm kiss on her cheek. "I told him."

"Of course you did."

Azula spotted Bao slowing down. She nodded in greeting and he returned it. She was comfortable enough to say that he had been one of the first people to treat her with kindness, even when she was too immersed in her own misery.

"Good afternoon, Bao."

"I was just as surprised as Hakoda about the news," he said, stopping to shake her hand. "Congratulations. I'm sure Sokka's ecstatic."

"Yes, I am, sir!"

Sokka side hugged her and stood straight up proudly. Luckily, she and Katara made some more kebabs for the men to eat. They stayed around the fire, eating and conversing about how their days separately went. Azula was warned about Kanna's preparation for her return to the village. Katara and Hakoda argued about how to throw a feast for her.

Sokka nudged her when she picked out a water jug to drink from. "What?"

His nose began touching hers, before she took his lips. The soft smacks they made went unnoticed by the lit fire.

Meanwhile, she felt eyes burning her sides before she pulled back.

Just as she spotted Bao looking, he turned his head away.


"Nice weather isn't it?"

Zhao watched the uniformed girl lean over the railing. She just finished a training session with Lo and Li supervising her. The dry old women also did not like Illah, who they called, a terrible mistake for Lord Ozai to make. The Fire Nation Military's slow descent in skill proved that. He looked back at the seas, "Perfect. Just perfect."

Illah terrified people.

Zhao realized this when she'd been a young dirty troublemaker, scaring off the younger servants and vandalizing the palace. She had an uncanny shakiness about her eyes, a bright gold that could spot any liar.

Zhao saw through the bullshit: the armor and sly smile, the laughs and dark expressions. He did not see an innocent child or poor lowly servant. He didn't even see Azula in the child as people liked to say. No. He saw a living demon.

"I heard you led Azula to the Southern Water Tribe."

"That is correct. And if you're not careful, I may take you there too."

In another time, he stood by Azula as they sailed out into cold lands. He remembered the bloodless look on the child's face and how he felt justified in throwing her away.

He'd often look in the palace at her portrait, stunned by the woman she became when he was ordered to return.

He saw her sit with her dark wavy hair and pink full lips. Her eyes drew him, enough to almost forget what he wanted to say. He could say that it had been a foolish mistake to let Azula go, with or without those Fire Sages and their black magic prophecies.

"Be careful, General Zhao," she said, "You wouldn't want to play with the new child of the Phoenix King."

"What child? You, a lowborn girl from a fucking village out near the colonies?" he asked, "I bet that even with all the people you have killed, you would never be a trueborn."

He felt the sailors tense, but he didn't care at this point. Drowning in the seas to avoid the mission didn't seem like a bad idea either, but Zhao liked his life too much to consider such a thing. Illah still smiled, her long filed nails beating the rails.

"You are absolutely right," she said, "I'm no Princess Azula. I'm the girl from Hir'ra who doesn't need her bending to slash the throats of one hundred men. I'm the slave who was thrown in a pit with fifty training soldiers.

"I'm definitely not the type of girl who'd allow a man to throw me off into the Water Tribe. I didn't have to read text scrolls and go to school to learn firebending. I had to watch people to learn.

"I will be the girl who will commit the second best thing that has ever happened in history, and you will be there to watch me, General Zhao. Watch carefully from this day forward."

Zhao didn't say anything back. He bowed his head, "My apologies, your majesty."

"None taken," Illah grinned.

He snatched his robes and walked away.


Polar fleece rubbed her skin as she stretched. Azula moved, languidly until she palmed the other side of the furs. She lifted her head.

"Sokka?" she called.

She leaned up, narrowing her vision until she saw the outline of her husband, a dark silhouette in the blue lit room. His frame remained sturdy, with his hair falling around his chin. Sokka sat still, deep in thought, and unaware she awoke until she called his name.

Azula left the furs, her bare body kissing the cool air. She crawled over until her breasts pressed against his back. Sokka felt warm.

She kissed his temple, "I used to think I slept on the best pillows, until I met you."

He chuckled, before she leaned over to kiss the corner of his lips.

"You are never this quiet," she whispered. "Tell me what's going on in your mind?"

Sokka reached up for the hands that embraced him from behind.

"Do you remember what I said to you when we'd been trapped in that cave?" he asked.

"How could I forget?"

Sokka sighed, "I told you…"

"That you'd do anything to keep me, if I'll have you," she answered. "Name it, I'll do it...just for us to work this out."

"Well...I sounded desperate."

Azula laughed. Sokka pulled her around until they were chest to chest, nose to nose. She leaned over to kiss him, just like they did in the caves when they'd been younger. Sokka held the back of her head, a wavy mass entangled in his large hand.

Azula slid a hand down over his groin, "Come lie down with me."

Things riddled Sokka's mind. She could feel it, down to her bones. The uncertainty in his gaze despite their silent banter, almost made her worried he'd do something behind her back. Azula leaned back on the furs, pulled larger arms after her and She sighed when Sokka settled in between her legs.

He said something before taking her lips.

Entered, and she held her breath.

"You won't," she whispered back. "I won't leave you."