I don't have time to respond to reviews tonight as I have to leave for a concert in a few minutes. So I just wanted to drop in and give a general thank you for your support!


She can only flex her fingers as the ice works its way into her bones. She is bound by tight leather straps, to what, she isn't sure. It is too dark. But she is almost completely immobilie. Frosty, phantom fingers trail the length of her body, seeming to run over each and every chi point. Azula shudders but can do no more than that as the fingers continue to roam and trace the webbed path of her chi.

She breaths somewhat heavily; even this is made difficult by the restrictiveness of her binds. The spectral fingers reach her head, all of them and at once. They seem to drill into her skull the pressure is achingly intense as they try to penetrate her mind. Each to the likeliness of jagged icicles.

She jerks against her restraints. It is a futile effort, she can't even raise her back from whatever surface she is tied too. The pressure on her head continues to build. The first frigid finger slips into her brain. There is a sharp jab and then there is…

Light.

She wakes feeling just as breathless as she had been during her nightmare. She closes her eyes and clutches the blankets, the rocking of the ship brings are a strange sort of comfort. It is a constant. It is a sensation that reminds her that she is awake.

She pulls herself out of bed and dresses herself before making her way to the ship's deck. She spies Sokka looking out over the waves. He turns and catches her eye. With a soft smile, he beckons her over. "Good morning."

She shrugs. She doesn't particularly feel as though it is.

"You didn't sleep very well, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

"Thinking about, what we talked about?"

Though that is a good guess she shakes her head.

"Another nightmare then?" After an extended pause, he asks, "want to talk about it?"

"No." She looks over the railing. Having put several days between their ship and the Water Tribe, the weather was becoming more bearable. She doesn't have to dress herself in anything more than a light jacket. Still she craves days where the heat will be abundant and smoldering. "I want you to tell me more about me."

Sokka rolls his eyes. "Of course you do."

"You made me a promise and I will hold you to it." She doesn't think that this is any grounds for laughter and yet Sokka snickers. She gives a slight frown.

"Okay, let me think…"

"On that first morning." She begins, "you said that I reminded you of your friend's crazy sister. You can start there."

Sokka rubs the back of his head. "Do you remember every word I've said to you since you woke up?"

"I don't have anything else to fill the space with." Azula replies. "So give me something."

Sokka sighs, "alright." He motions for her to follow him, she supposes that privacy wouldn't be a bad thing. But he doesn't lead her to the cabins, instead they stand in a miniature cafeteria. "The reason that you remind me of my friend's sister is because…"

"I can put two and two together." She cuts him off.

"Right. Well, that's not the important part. Your brother's name is Zuko and he's the Fire Lord."

The title has as little meaning to her as the name attached to it, but she feels that it is safe to assume that it is an important one.

"You're royalty." He elaborates.

"Royalty…" Of course.

"Oh come on!" He throws his hands up. "It can't be that hard to believe. You didn't even know and you were already acting the part."

Azula shrugs. "I suppose that, that is good to know before entering my nation." She tests the sound of it.

And she likes the sound of it.

The thought that she has subjects of her own. The thought that she had been someone before she became no one.

"Why did I run?" She asks. "Into the Forgetful Valley."

Sokka seems gnaws on his cheek. "Because you didn't want to go back to the institution. The first one you were in."

"And why was I institutionalized in the first place. I want specifics."

"You're relentless." He groaned.

"You have already told me that I'd lost my mind. I can handle the truth, Sokka." She folds her arms over her chest. "So give me the whole story."

"Ask nicely." He gives a lopsided smile.

Sleep deprived and completely on edge as it were, she is in no mood for jesting and jokes this morning. "I'm not going to beg for what's mine." Her voice drops considerably. She is sick to death of the games and the tiptoeing. Of everyone knowing more of her than she. "Tell me what you know about me."

.oOo.

Sokka's smile fades. For the first time since he'd pulled her out of the tundra he wonders if he is making a mistake. A familiar sense of unease takes root in his mind. Blue fire or none, with that cutting golden gaze, she remains as imposing as ever. "I like to think that I'm a patient person." She continues. "But that is wearing thin, Sokka."

She emits a very familiar sense of superiority as she looms...well, not exactly over him-she is still significantly smaller but she has a presence to make up for that.

"Look, I just think that there are some things that we should wait to talk about."

Her frown only seems to deepen.

"I mean that I haven't figured out how to say them yet."

"How about you make it simple." She hisses. "And simply tell it exactly how it is."

He hates the way her eyes narrow, it instills a fear that he hasn't felt since Katara had initially taken her down. Since boarding the ship, the princess has been nothing but temperamental and unkind. He supposes that there had been some softer moments, but mostly her temper has been slowly simmering as hot as her fire.

He decides that this time around he won't let her speak down to him.

"I saved you from that tundra. I risked my life for you and you want to be difficult."

"I didn't ask you to do that."

Sokka can practically feel his eye twitch. "I think that the call for help was implied!"

Azula shrugs.

Her apparent indifference is almost worse than her blunter arguments. Coupled, she leaves him feeling terribly under appreciated. And after all the trouble he has gone through to help her…

"You want the truth about you, fine!" He snaps. "You are evil!"

.oOo.

Azula flinches.

"Everyone looks at you the way they do because you tried to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground. Well, your dad did that but it was your idea. Before that you invaded Ba Sing Se and overthrew the Earth King."

She forces her face to remain blank and uncaring though the revelation is quiet jarring. She hasn't put much thought into theorizing what her history could have been–seeing no point in doing so–but she didn't think that she would have considered a history rooted in destructive tendencies. Her throats burns with unease.

"So that's it then? You didn't want me to know that I'm powerful." She states dryly.

"I was hoping that you'd be…" what? What did he think she'd be? She doesn't think he knows because he simply pushes forward, "but I guess evil is just part of your personality. Even without your memories you're…you're…" he sputters, "you're the most powerful jerkbender out there!"

Evil.

Rooted in her personality…

She likes to think that, that isn't true. She hadn't felt any inclinations towards it. None at all. She comes to decide that had he not told her she had been a vicious force, she wouldn't have guessed.

She supposes that she might not have the friendliest mannerisms and demeanor, but she has trouble seeing herself calling for mass death by fire. "I'm not evil." She I insists plainly.

.oOo.

Though she keeps the edge off of it he can see the hurt and perhaps distress in her eyes.

He realizes that he hasn't forgiven her not for capturing Suki, not for anything. He may have been able to push it aside to save her life but it is still very much there. A hint of resentment that grows with every cold and barbed word that falls from her lips. He blurts it out before he can stop himself, "You are. You killed someone."

He can elaborate. He can tell her that Aang rose back up. But his temper gets the best of him, he'd let her believe that he is still dead.

"What?"

"You're a killer."

Her eyes flicker with with a cocktail of emotions before going wholly expressionless once more. He can't hear her, but he can read her lips. "A murderer." She turns her back on him and wanders out of the cafeteria.

Too late he realizes that he may have just pushed her right back into the dark.