Early in the spring, Azula left Cair Paravel for the day. She didn't tell anyone where she was going or when she would be back. The birds probably knew, because they were incurable gossips and knew everything. The trees probably knew too, but they held their peace. She walked, quietly, finally beginning to be at home in the long skirts of Narnian fashion enough to easily navigate the trails of the woods. She walked most of the morning, and finally she came to her destination.

Azula laid a hand on the edge of the stone table, felt the cold of the stone seep into her hand, cool even in the heat of the sun. If she turned, she knew, she would see the very bush that had hidden her and Suki that terrible night they'd watched Aslan die on this very table. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the little mouse holes where the mice that had gnawed off the ropes had emerged, and the exact place she had been standing when she turned to see Aslan resurrected, whole and radiant.

Footsteps approached, but she didn't move as she felt more than heard Laith come closer and stand beside her, joining her contemplation of the table.

"Should've known you'd follow me," Azula muttered wryly, "Are the others here too?"

Laith quietly shook his head, not looking at her.

"He died," Azula said quietly, "He walked out of camp knowing what would happen. He was humiliated, bound, taunted, and then the witch killed him. I watched it happen. That would have been me, was supposed to be me."

Laith laid his hand on her shoulder in quiet consolation.

"He sacrificed himself to save me," Azula continued, "I will never be able to pay that back."

"I don't think he expects you to," Laith said quietly.

"I know," Azula swiped at her suddenly burning eyes.


Zuko watched his sister leave. She did this every year, when spring came. She left the palace, leaving behind all the guards and servants, not even taking a water skin or a war balloon, and she vanished for the entire day. She never said where she was going or why.

"I almost forgot that was today," Teo said reflectively, rolling up beside Zuko, "She'll be back, don't worry. She just has something she needs to do."

"What?" Zuko asked.

"Say thank you," Teo smiled.

Out on the cliffs looking over the ocean, Azula sat quietly and watched the waves. Later she'd go down and enjoy a meal together with her brother the fire lord and her siblings the other narnian monarchs and the avatar and his posse. They'd all crowd into one of the smaller dining halls and they'd all talk and laugh and probably end up throwing food at one another and just enjoy being in one another's company. They'd all tease Suki and Sokka about when they'd finally admit they were planning to get married and Teo and Aang would rant about their new discoveries on Tel island and the reintroduction of Air Nomad culture to the world and they'd all probably stay up much too late talking. Maybe Jet would even refrain from making an idiot of himself. But for now, Azula just needed to sit here and remember.

The grass was warm under her hands and she could smell the salt of the sea, but she could still almost hear the birdsong that would surround the stone table in the early days of Narnia during her reign there.

Azula still wondered if she had been worth the sacrifice of the most noble being she had ever known, and she doubted she would ever stop. But for now, she would content herself with trying as hard as she could to be worthy, and taking the time to remember.

She closed her eyes, turned her face up to the sun, and smiled.