Azula knelt to examine the bushes and compose herself before turning to her companions. "The trail leads this way" she said shortly, already turning to follow it as they silently fell in behind her. For a moment she missed Laith intensely. Silence with him was never forced or wary.
She led the way through the trees, and soon she could hear splashing and gentle voices. Waving for her companions to stay back, Azula crept forward, clambering up a tree to get a better view.
In the clearing beneath her stood around a dozen young women, a few years older than her physical body, gathered around the avatar's bison. They wore dramatic white and red face paint and longer, wider skirts than Azula had seen anywhere but Narnia. Belted at their waists were golden fans. Familiar golden fans...
Heart in her throat, Azula scanned the crowd, looking for Suki's distinctive reddish hair. Black, black, brown, black... There! The girl closest to the bison had the exact same hair color as Suki, cut the same way Suki had it when they first fell into Narnia. But wait. It could still be someone else...
The girl turned her head and called out to someone. Azula would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Suki?"
"Who said that?" Suki asked, turning.
"Suki." Azula dropped from the tree, standing in front of the crowd. She ignored the cries of alarm at her sudden appearance and fire nation clothing to sweep into the best curtsey she could do. What she wouldn't give for proper skirts to do this with...
"Queen Suki the Undaunted," Azula began. She thought back to the last conversation they had shared before leaving Narnia, "I often wish I had been named for the lion, rather than the warmonger."
She peeked up to see Suki return the curtsy, struggling to hold back tears.
"Queen Azula the Merciful" she said, choking on her emotions, "as far as I'm concerned you were, sister queen, sister mine." Then she dashed forward and dragged Azula into a tight hug, squeezing like she never wanted to let go.
"I missed you so much," one of them whispered, Azula wasn't sure who.
"I knew it was real." The other replied.
"Is anyone going to explain why our captain is hugging Miss Fire Nation over there?" One of Suki's comrades asked.
Azula hurriedly pulled back, suddenly aware of what it must look like, but Suki just laughed and slung a casual arm around Azula's shoulders. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."
Azula smiled up at her once again taller sister. "If we're both here, that must mean that Teo and Laith are too," she said.
"Bets on how much trouble Teo's gotten himself into without one of us to reign him in?" Suki asked mischievously.
"Oh by the lion's name, I don't even want to consider that," Azula covered her eyes dramatically, "I suppose we'd best track them down, then."
"First I need to return Appa to Aang," Suki said, turning to look at the sopping wet animal still standing in the stream, "he's probably scouring Ba Sing Se for him as we speak."
"It's as good a place as any other to begin looking," Azula shrugged, "although I do think Teo mentioned living in an abandoned air temple once though..."
"So that's where we'll go next!" Suki laughed as she and Azula wandered off, chatting amiably. The rest of the Kyoshi warriors watched them go, gobsmacked.
Finally, one of them shook her head. "I don't want to know! I really don't want to know."
"We are honored to welcome the Kyoshi warriors!" The earth king announced grandly as they all knelt before him.
"We are the earth king's humble servants," Suki said seriously. Azula ducked her head further so her borrowed headdress would hide her smile.
