The Return

by tubendo

The ice of the South Pole hides many things, and when Azula and Sokka are confronted by something far greater than themselves, the strength of their relationship is tested, and the Princess has to decide whose path she will follow: the path of her father or the path of freedom. (Sequel to Into The Fire)

4. Chapter 4

Looking at all the faces before him, Sokka felt a sense of regret; he wanted to go help both Aang and Azula, and he knew that it was the right thing to do, but as he saw his village looking back at him, he couldn't help but think that he might be making the wrong decision. He didn't like second guessing himself, and it was one of Azula's pet peeves about his personality; she hated when he was indecisive, and for the most part, he had avoided being so ever since he returned home to the South Pole. The thing he honestly got most indecisive about was what he'd ask his grandmother to make for dinner when it was his turn to choose; with most things, rationality and his opinions applied, he was able to figure out a decision pretty quickly. He turned back to face his father, who had just hugged Katara, and he leaped in, without a second thought; he wasn't going to be indecisive about saying goodbye, knowing that if he was going, he wanted to make sure his father knew he had every intention to return.

"Good luck, Sokka." his father whispered to him, the Water Tribe teen trying his best not to tear up.

Ever since he had been shipwrecked, he had actually been dreading the moment he was currently experiencing, that he'd have to say goodbye again; first he said it to the Freedom Fighters and Bato, then he said it to Iroh, then his friends Kori and Sneers, and before he knew it, he was back home, now saying goodbye to his father, something he had never had the opportunity to do when they were on the ship. Both of them expected Sokka to jump aboard one of their sail-ships and leave along with the other warriors, but instead, he distracted Azula and set off a chain reaction that led to her defeat in an Agni Kai against Zuko.

"We'll be back. Don't worry, Dad." he assured him, before smirking, "Plus, once Aang has to learn earthbending, maybe we'll see each other in the Earth Kingdom." he suggested, his father tilting his chin up in thought.

"We still intend to help those rebels out. Make sure Aang tells them about us being friendly and all when he pops up and tells them he's the Avatar."

"Of course. I wouldn't miss an opportunity to help the tribe." he declared honestly, knowing that his people needed all the help they could get, and assisting the Earth Kingdom rebels seemed like a sure way to secure some support after their country had been liberated.

Hakoda turned to face Katara, who moved into a group hug with the two of them, "Come 'ere." he prodded her, as she reached in, the three of them having a warm family hug; Sokka cherished the moment, knowing that even without their mother, they were still a happy family.

"Gran-Gran, get over here." his sister asked of Kanna, the elder woman stepping forward slowly as she approached the other three.

"Of course, I'll miss my two grandchildren." she assured them both, before she first hugged Katara, before Sokka joined in, squeezing them both tightly.

"Take care of Dad, will you. He might still need advice from time to time." he suggested, making his grandmother snicker.

"Oh, anything for my darling son." she assured Hakoda with an overly babying voice, who turned away with a blush, embarrassed by his mother's words.

"Uh... thanks, Mum." he mumbled, appreciating her words, but not the public setting in which they were spoken.

"I'll even miss the angry, fire-breathing girl. I'm glad she ate my cooking, at the very least." she added, making Sokka muffle a laugh, not wanting to do so when the Princess might have heard her.

"She's not that impolite, Gran-Gran." he assured her, "I'm sure she'll miss you too." he suggested, glancing back the other direction toward Appa, where both Aang and Azula were standing, awkwardly talking amongst themselves.

"Now, you all stay safe. I don't want you doing anything I wouldn't." he suggested, the Water Tribe teens glancing at each other.

"So... you're giving us permission to take down Fire Nation ships?" Katara asked, coming to the most extreme conclusion she could.

"Well, I mean, not-" their father began to argue before Sokka cut him off with a hug.

"You're the best Dad ever!" he assured him, "And don't worry, we'll whack a few helmets on our way. It'd just be impolite not to."

"That's not how being polite works, but... you are right." Hakoda retorted, giving him a reassuring smile, "Now, you two better head off before Azula has a fit; I can already see her clenching her fists from all the way over here."

"Thanks for the heads up." Sokka gave his father a grin before turning his heels, giving the rest of the village a wave, "Good luck everyone!" he told them, earning a few waves from the other villagers; it was a small place, and although he did know everyone by name, he didn't really think they'd take much of another young man leaving to go fight- the fact he was going with the Avatar made it all the more interesting.

Sokka picked up the last bag he hadn't packed onto Appa up, feeling the weight as he heaved it over his shoulder; it consisted of his Fire Nation armour, which was still a highly useful disguise if he ever needed to break into a Fire Nation installation, or imitate an on-duty soldier while they were in a colony or something of the likes. He hadn't worn it since he arrived in the South Pole, seeing that it wasn't as good at insulating the heat as his parka, and even if provided adequate protection, he didn't exactly need it while he was going hunting. Fighting the people that wore the same armour, that was a different story. He began to pace along through the snow laden icefield, making his way toward Azula and Aang, the latter of which became eager as he saw the two Water Tribe teens approaching.

"So, are you two all ready to go?" he asked them, the pair nodding, before Aang dropped the bag down in front of Appa.

"Hey..." he asked with a pant, "Uh... could you, just toss up the bag with your airbending? It's a little hard to carrying a whole bag of armour, let alone get it onto that saddle."

"What do you need the armour for anyway?" the young Air Nomad inquired, making him chuckle.

"Well, it's Fire Nation armour. As likely as it would be good for protecting my body against fireballs, it's far better as a disguise. Plus, it's a lot harder to chi-block and dodge when you've got heavy bits of metal and leather all over your body, weighing you down."

"I totally get that. Air Nomads don't wear armour, because we're always ready to move out of the way of danger."

"Kinda guessed that with the skimpy outfit." he acknowledged, making Aang look at his robes self-consciously.

"It's not skimpy. These are the traditional robes of an Air Nomad." he declared, Azula chuckling at his reaction.

"I mean, Sokka's got a point. It looks quite cold in that outfit."

"I can keep the warm air close to my skin with airbending." he raised a finger, making Katara's eyes widen.

"Wow, that's pretty cool. Does that mean you could make a bubble or something around Appa to keep us warm?" she asked, Aang narrowing his eyes in thought.

"Huh, I've never actually tried that. You never know when that might be useful." Sokka cleared his throat, getting the young Avatar's attention, "Sorry, you didn't answer my question. The bag? Could you..." he then made a motion with his fingers imitating the bending he had seen Aang do in their very short spar, "send it up."

"Oh, yeah, of course." he nodded with a grin, before making a gesture with his hands, "Just step back, I've only tried this with people."

"People?" Azula raised a brow at him skeptically, getting that it was a little absurd he mightn't be able to raise up a relatively sturdy inanimate bag when he could do the exact same to a living, breathing person.

"Oh, sorry, I should have said myself." he clarified, the three others looking at each other with confusion, before they witnessed his technique, were he whisked the air around the bag, before he used his bending to push it up, creating a small ball of air that spun rapidly underneath it, just like how Katara had suggested he do with Appa to keep them warm.

The ball then rose up into the air, throwing the bag up with it, before it dispersed as the snow covered hessian bag careened down onto the saddle, making a loud thunk. Nodding at the quick work the young Air Nomad had done, Sokka proceeded to glance around the side of the sky-bison, unsure how exactly to climb aboard.

"Uh... how do I get on?" he asked, Azula chuckling before she jumped up with the assistance of her firebending, blue flames spurting out of her hands, and feet, making the group all step back, not wanting to get their faces singed; looking up at his girlfriend, he sighed with annoyance, "I can't bend." he gestured, the young Avatar turning to face him with a reassuring grin.

"I could try the air scooter on you." he suggested, making him snort, seriously doubting that would be safe in any way.

"Maybe not." he admitted, before approaching Appa, looking right up at the Princess who was sitting back on the saddle already, "Could you give me a hand?" he asked her, whose face turned into one of annoyance as she pulled the glove off of her right hand, before offering him her hand, which looked so small and dainty compared to the thick parka that covered her body.

He grasped her palm, the two of their hands tightening around each other, before Sokka kicked his foot forward into one of Appa's legs, before he used the force to raise himself up, helped by Azula's tight grasp on his arm. Once he landed on the saddle, he sighed with relief, turning to face his girlfriend, giving her an appreciative smile.

"Thanks, Azula." he gave her a thumbs up, the Princess simply putting her glove back over her hand before leaning back.

"Should I add that to the list of favours?" she offhandedly asked him, making the Water Tribe teen scoff.

"You're still keeping a list?" he asked her with a tone of disbelief, before crossing his arms, "Plus, I absolved any future debts by making sure you didn't end up in prison in Yu Dao."

"Technically, it was Iroh that allowed that to happen." she raised a finger, making him roll his eyes; giving her uncle, who she despised, credit when it suited her was something pretty hypocritical for her to do.

"So you like him now?" he sarcastically asked her, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"No. The fuddy tea-drinking fool can go eat ash for all I care." she grit her teeth, "It's his fault the Agni Kai happened in the first place, so I'm not giving him that much credit." she argued, the two of them turning their heads as they saw Katara climbing up Appa's tail, making Sokka realise that would have been an easier way up.

"Okay, I'm sorry for making you pull me up. That was a bit stupid on my behalf." he admitted, his sister approaching the pair, sitting down across from them on the other side of the saddle.

"So, what's this, your uncle is getting all the credit for saving you from prison?" she asked the Princess, obviously wanting to rile her up; despite her sometimes considerate attitude, his sister obviously wasn't going to give up her ways just yet.

"I'm not giving him all the credit. Firstly, credit goes to Mai, Kori and Sneers, who helped me escape the city undetected... well other than the one Mai knocked out." she recounted, Aang landing down on the saddle with the assistance of his airbending.

"Who are you talking about?" he asked her, the Princess's face turning to a grimace; she probably had wanted to leave Yu Dao on better terms with Mai, who was her childhood friend.

"My best friend- well, one of my best friends."

"The one who... doesn't chi-block?" he asked her, Azula nodding.

"Ah, quite perceptive you are." she acknowledged, "Mai. She is Zuko's girlfriend... huh... she might be the Fire Lady now." she admitted, making Sokka look at her skeptically.

"I doubt he'd get married. He's only what... nineteen?" he asked her, the Princess shaking her head.

"Eighteen." she raised a finger, before she chuckled, "Maybe she didn't stay with him. Power corrupts." she suggested, making Sokka's eyes widen.

Power was the thing that had driven her to do horrible things, and he realised that a lack of it had actually made her a somewhat kinder person, although that kindness obviously had limits; she was still vengeful, and he guessed that if she was given a choice between killing her brother and never attaining the throne, she'd kill her brother in a heartbeat.

"If power corrupts, then why should we let you get your fingers on it?" Katara quipped, the Princess scoffing.

"I have hindsight to give me wisdom... or better phrased, living in your icy hell-hole for six months. Plus being stuck in a forest with your brother. That was enlightening, and not in a kind way, more in the sense that the Earth Kingdom is full of xenophobic morons who are too hateful to accept the peace that my brother might offer them." she told them, making Aang look back at her with slight concern.

"Uh... okay." he mumbled, before he moved up onto Appa's neck, "I'll get us in the air now."

"I think that was a little bit of an overreaction." Sokka admitted, before turning to his sister, "And shut up, Katara. You're starting fires on purpose, and you're the waterbender here!" he growled at her, making Aang snicker.

"That was a good one." he admitted, the Water Tribe boy nodding, appreciating the small amount of respect offered to his wit.

"Thank you." he simply addressed him before turning his head around, looking back toward the village, where a number of people were still waiting there for them to set off; he gave his father and grandmother a wave, which they returned, before he heard the Air Nomad call out the most odd thing.

"Okay, boy, here we go. Yip-yip!" he chanted on the massive beast, which groaned for a moment before he moved his tail up; Sokka tensed up, unsure what was going to happen before he felt his weight moving around in a way that he actually hadn't experienced since a very specific moment; when he was in the pagoda-like bridge of Azula's sinking Royal Barge, back when they enemies.

That wasn't the nicest memory he had etched into his mind, but it was quickly swept away when he saw them rising up from the ground, beginning to speed up, faster and faster as the sky-bison rose up above the village.

"Bye!" Katara called out, waving over the edge of the saddle as she looked down at everyone, whose faces were understandably filled with awe.

Sokka waved with a bittersweet smile, knowing that even if he ought to go with Aang, that leaving his village, tribe and family once more seemed wrong; he was remedied by the fact that he had Katara and Azula with him, who would both be of great emotional and practical assistance, as well as annoy the crap out of him when they felt like it. Aang was new, but Sokka had no problem with that, knowing that making a new friend, especially one that seemed genuinely kind-hearted was nice for a change; though he loved his girlfriend, he wasn't going to deny that it had been a struggle to get to know her, remembering the fact that she had threatened to kill him over boiled water the morning after they first met on her ship.

He turned back to face her, taking note of her distant expression as she looked out over the horizon, "Is something wrong?" he asked her, the Princess shrugging her shoulders, glancing back toward the village as they flew away from it, across the icy waters that seemed to go on forever, even if he knew from his experiences that there was a wide and crazy world beyond them.

"No. I'm just thinking about... home." she admitted, before turning back to face him, "I'm sorry you had to leave. I know you didn't want to, even if you feel like you have you." she admitted, before sighing, "That's how I felt when we took that fishing boat from Yu Dao. I had no idea when I was going to go back home, and even now I still don't."

"I guess you're right. Do you miss it?"

"Having servants to do my bidding and being able to serve my nation from the comfort of the palace was something that I appreciated." she admitted, earning a snide glare from Katara, who obviously thought she sounded quite selfish and ignorant to say something like that.

"And you want that again? Has the life of the 'servant' made you any wiser, Princess Azula?" she asked her, making her chuckle, crossing her arms.

"Well, I have learned what independence truly feels like. But you need others to help you get things down, even if they aren't doing your bidding." she eyed Sokka, reminding him of the fact that even before she had lost her status and authority, she still treated him as an equal.

"I don't mind working. It makes me feel like I'm not just a kid anymore." Katara admitted, "But I would prefer some more breaks."

"Good for you, we just got the biggest break in a lifetime." Sokka suggested with a grin, making his sister face-palm.

"This isn't a vacation, Sokka. We're going to help Aang master the elements, in any way that we can." she declared with a serious tone.

"Oh yeah, thanks for that again." the young Avatar piped up, Azula raising her hand casually.

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll be the best firebending master in the world. Trust me."

"Didn't you say yourself that your father is the strongest firebender alive?" Katara quipped, the Princess looking back at her with a snide glare.

"Technically, yes. But he would never help the Avatar. He's not a pragmatist like me."

"'Pragmatist', okay." the Water Tribe girl stared at her before turning her eyes toward the front of the sky-bison.

Sokka wanted to laugh, thinking that she might not even know what the word meant; he did, but that was because he was the kind of kid that asked his father every time a new word was mentioned what it meant.

"So... uh... we're going to aim for one of these 'Southern Raider' ships first, right?" Aang asked them, the group nodding.

"We might need to find some place to camp. Our clothes will need a wash, and I'm sure that we would all sleep better on the ground in tents rather than on this saddle." Katara suggested, making her brother snicker.

She was the one giving the commands, not the Princess, who he assumed would be more willing to take the lead; he guessed that being around a bunch of people her age of varying maturity gave his sister an excuse to be the boss.

"I have a feeling Katara's going to be bossing us around." he admitted, making his girlfriend snicker.

"I demand that you keep your maternal instincts to a minimum. Your brother is a grown man." she raised a finger at his sister in jest, whose eyebrow twitched as she snarled, obviously trying to hold back her anger.

"I'm not trying to act like his mother! If he wants to clean his own socks and underwear, then he can do it himself!" she declared, making Azula look at her boyfriend with a slightly concerned face.

"She washes your underwear?" she asked him with unease, the Water Tribe teen nodding, before he realised the disgusting aspect of such a task; having his sister clean his underwear, given the things he did in them was gross to say the least.

"Okay, yep. Maybe I'll stick to cleaning those myself." he admitted, surprising his sister, who looked at him with an almost suspicious look.

"You're deciding to start cleaning your underwear now? Why the sudden change of heart? Is Azula making you man up?" she quipped, indirectly complimenting the authority of his girlfriend, who took her words kindly, a smug grin forming between her cheeks.

"Ah, as much as I'd like to believe that, it's not because your brother seeks to make cleaning a manly task."

"I'd rather just make sure you don't touch any of that." he admitted, Katara's eyes narrowing at him, before they darted between both him and his girlfriend; when they widened, he raised a hand, pre-empting her question.

"S-Sokka, that's- ew... I've been..." she began to mumble before turning away with disgust, making the Princess snicker; as gross as the idea of her cleaning his underwear was, she still found the time to laugh at her unease.

"Oh, how goodwill can lead to such... tragic things." she grinned at the Water Tribe girl smugly, who raised her clenched fists in disgust.

"Tragic? It's gross!" she declared, before turning to face her brother, "I can't believe you made me clean those."

"He just didn't take time to think it through. A classic Sokka move, I might add." Azula congratulated him, the Water Tribe teen side-eying her with annoyance, seeing that she was clearly insulting him, despite her cheerful tone.

"Thanks, your majesty." he mocked her before turning around to glance off the side of the saddle, not wanting to continue thinking about his idiocy and dirty underwear.

He looked down at the ice-shelf, seeing the Southern Raider shipwreck not too far from the edge; it still towered above everything else for miles around, so it wasn't hard for him to spot, it's jet black steel form sitting amongst a massing of ice-pillars. He guessed that the wreck had been caused by Southern Waterbenders, when there was a lot more than just his sister; the thought of their resistance, and how terribly it had failed, was saddening to Sokka. He held no great love for bending, knowing that if his sister wasn't born a waterbender, their mother would likely be alive; he blamed bending in and of itself, not his sister for merely existing. Firebenders killing waterbenders, or at least who they thought were waterbenders, attempting to exterminate a population that had until their attacks, held no ill will toward them. Sokka honestly thought that even if the Fire Nation was disgustingly evil, if it hadn't been for the Southern Raider's attacks, it was unlikely that any of their warriors would have the guts to face their seemingly insurmountable enemy. Whether the Fire Nation as a whole was their enemy anymore was up for debate as well, given that Azula was clearly an ally and friend of their tribe, even if many saw her as a dangerous ash-maker and wanted her gone, his sister included.

"What's that?" Aang gestured down to the wreck as they flew past it, Katara sighing with a grimace.

"A reminder." she simply responded, the young Avatar looking back her way with slight concern, Azula clearing her throat, deciding to give him an answer even if the two Water Tribe teens weren't feeling in the mood to talk about it.

"A Southern Raider vessel. It has to be a few decades old, from back when there was still more waterbenders here." she admitted, "The Fire Nation was never unbeatable, you know. They still aren't."

"Is that why you think I can... restore balance?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling, before she created a few small flames over her fingertips, letting them dance around in her hand.

"I don't think that. I know that. You're the Avatar. If anyone can stop a bunch of stupid people for killing each other for whatever reason, it's you."

"Not everyone who fights in the war is stupid, Azula." Katara argued, her brother making a cringed expression.

"Well, it depends, actually." he stated his own opinion, "I will admit it was pretty stupid for the warriors to attack Azula's Royal Barge when we did, but that was a set-up of sorts. You should only fight fights you expect to win; that's not saying the Earth Kingdom should just give up, but more so, they should only fight the Fire Nation if they can actually beat them." he backed up his girlfriend's argument, agreeing with her presume; war was stupid, fighting was stupid, and it only made sense when you could clearly see a path to victory.

"That's a good strategy." Aang admitted, "Air Nomads follow a kinda similar idea. Avoiding conflict is how airbending works. You use it to make sure your opponents can't fight you."

"If only you could airbend all of the Fire Nation renegades into the sea. That'd save us a lot of effort." the Princess joked in return, making him look at her with confusion.

"Uh... okay." he mumbled, "That's an idea. Don't know if it'd work." he admitted, "They won't just give up, will they?"

"No, they won't." Sokka added, "They're not going to stop until they reclaim what they think is theirs, the world."

"I just hope there's no singular leader to all those rebels, it would make it a lot harder for us to stop them otherwise, seeing that they could actually try and overthrow my brother and possibly succeed." Azula admitted with an uneasy face, the flames on her fingertips fading away into the wind.

"But don't you want to be Fire Lord yourself?" Katara raised a brow, "Shouldn't you want them to beat him?"

"No. Because I want everyone to win. And when I mean everyone, I mean the Four Nations, not any person in particular." she argued, "My brother losing his throne only makes it harder to get the Fire Nation in line. You think the whole army is just going to stop fighting because Aang starts showing them how he could give them a beatdown with the four elements?"

"I couldn't do that anyway." the young Air Nomad added, "I only know airbending at the moment."

"I know that. But even if you had mastered all the elements, a united Fire Nation set on conquering the Earth Kingdom would be unstoppable, especially if there's no single leader. You could beat a general and he'd be replaced by another one. The war would never end."

"It's already gone on for a hundred years. We don't need another hundred." Katara agreed with her, "That's why we need to figure out how to make everyone... not want to throw rocks and fireballs at each other."

"Simple. Just make sure Aang is friends with both people running each of the nations. We've already got one in the making, so all we need to do is find another." Sokka argued, making his sister look at him with confusion.

"Where is the Earth King, anyway?" she asked, making the Princess raise a brow.

"Our prisoner was rather nonspecific with that matter. Long Feng said he was alive and kicking, but where he and his lackeys went, we have no idea." she admitted, before glancing Sokka's way, "You think we could defeat the Dai Li again and actually put someone competent in charge of Ba Sing Se?"

"Like yourself?" the Water Tribe girl quipped.

Azula rolled her eyes, refusing to look back at her, "The Dai Li is more untrustworthy than a band of street urchins. It would be better if someone more competent and noble ran that city."

"So... like the Earth King?" Aang asked, Sokka narrowing his eyes in thought.

"Why would we even bother?" he asked them, "What's the point of defeating the Dai Li anyway. If they already have control of the city, then if we leave them be, that's one part of the world not to worry about."

"Where did the Sokka go that wanted to help the 'poor little peasants' of Ba Sing Se?" his girlfriend asked him mockingly, although he could see under that jest that she was actually concerned that he had changed his outlook on the city so drastically.

"I don't know if there's a point. Getting rid of the Dai Li would require so much military power and knowledge of the city that I'm unsure it's even possible. The only way you could get rid of them is the same way Jet wanted to get rid of the Fire Nation."

"Oh, so... revolution it is?" she smirked at him, Katara and Aang both looking at each other with concern.

"Letting the people take down the corrupt and cruel rulers, you'd be setting the city into absolute chaos. That wouldn't help them much- it'd just replace one kind of evil with another."

"Ba Sing Se has always been a bad place. There's a reason the monks told us to not go there." Aang suggested, "I don't know what it's like now, but it could have gotten a lot worse."

"It probably is worse. I doubt that my allies would have held onto the city for very long, and their new overlords would be no kinder than the Fire Nation." Azula admitted with a cold and stern voice, indicating that she no longer felt pride for her actions in Ba Sing Se, but rather regret for not having done enough to actually try and stop the Dai Li.

"Let's talk about something different. How about... uh- what cool things I can show you along the way!" Aang piped up, making the other three look at each other with confusion.

"The cool things?" Katara sked with a confused voice, the young Air Nomad jumping around and sitting on the saddle in front of them.

He pointed to the bags at the end of the saddle, "Azula, could you pull out the scroll I have just behind there."

She looked at him with slight confusion for a moment before turning herself around, leaning over to pull out a large scroll, "This one?"

"Yep!" Aang beamed, before he was thrown the scroll rather casually, which to Sokka seemed a little dangerous, considering that they were flying in the air.

Unfurling the scroll he laid it down on the saddle between them, revealing it to be a map of the world, "We should go..." he began before pointing at three points on the map, "Here, here, and here."

Two of the given locations were in the Earth Kingdom, while one was in the former Air Nomad territories, Sokka leaning closer with interest, "What's so cool about those places?"

"Well, right here," he pointed over to the coast of the Earth Kingdom, "we'll ride the hopping llamas. And then over here," he pointed to the location in Air Nomad territory, the closest to their current location, "we'll ride the giant koi fish." he declared, before pointing at another location in the Earth Kingdom, "Then here, that's where we'll ride the hog monkeys!" he declared, making Sokka look over to his sister with concern, "They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!"

"That sounds fun and all, but don't we need to get to the North Pole?" Katara asked him.

"We're not in a rush, are we? Plus, are you ever going to go and ride a hog monkey otherwise?" he grinned at the group, Azula groaning as she facepalmed, expressing the same response as Sokka, who sighed as he leaned back on the saddle; they were going to have a long trip to the North Pole, and not because of the distance, it seemed.

---

Looking up at the bright full moon that sat in the sky above them, Azula sighed as she tried to rest her eyes; she was feeling uneasy, knowing that despite Aang's bright and happy intentions to go around having fun, they would soon be facing the Southern Raiders, who they would need to distract, lest they send more ships for the South Pole. She was sure that the young Avatar would oppose being needlessly violent, and she would have to argue when the time came that they were there for a shock factor; whoever they might end up hurting, it was just to make the Southern Raiders want to hunt them down, not because they wanted to go out of their way to make their lives a living hell. Well, at least Azula didn't; she was unsure about Sokka and Katara, the former of which had his arm wrapped around her waist as they lay in their sleeping roll on top of Appa's saddle.

She heard the Water Tribe boy grunt beside her before shuffling himself around; that was followed by the expected question, "Are you finding it hard to get to sleep as well?"

"Not due to any help on your behalf. You could help by moving around a little less." she chided him, the Water Tribe boy shrugging his shoulders, which she could only tell because he whacked her with his left shoulder, "That's exactly what I'm talking about."

"That was on purpose." he told her with a whisper, before pulling himself up out of the sleeping roll, shivering slightly before sighing, "Well, it's not much better outside. Instead of being uncomfortably hot, now I'm uncomfortably cold."

"Oh, stop complaining." she rolled her eyes, pulling herself up, before raising her left hand up, setting it alight with blue flames; he flinched back slightly, but as his eyes adapted to the light, he appreciated the warmth that her bending radiated.

"Ooh... that's a little better, actually." he smiled at her, his expression now clear in the light of her flames; she sighed before looking up toward the moon, unsure what to say, if anything.

"I can tell something's on your mind." he simply stated, making her tilt her head slightly toward him.

"Genius." she sarcastically addressed him, "What's next, you'll tell me that I'm objectively the most attractive woman in the world."

"I mean, I could say that, but I don't actually have the evidence to say that it's objective." he clarified, making her chuckle.

"Oh, you have a way with words." she joked, the Water Tribe teen crossing his arms.

"I can speak well enough." he told her, "I thought you appreciated my arguing."

"Oh, I do, but I wasn't talking about arguing." she clarified, making him pout slightly.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, most attractive woman in the world." he entitled her, making her shake her head.

"Don't say that now. I know you don't believe that." she turned her head away from him; he grasped her wrist, just below where the flames were coming out of her palm, her eyes turning back to face his own.

"You are." he assured her, "But you're also pretty smart. I'd actually say the intelligence is your most attractive feature." he clarified, making her cock a smirk, moving her flame covered palm closer to his face.

"Oh, you only get away with that because I know I'm a genius."

"Well, you are. I mean, relative to life-experienced you have to be the smartest person around. Imagine how wise you'll be when you get old. You'll be like a sage-guru-elder, and you'll be able to tell everyone the best way to deal with their enemies." he suggested to her with a grin.

"I can see that." she pursed her lips upward, knowing that if there was anything she'd have to become very knowledgeable at by the time she was an old woman, it would be dealing with opponents of any kind.

Sokka leaned himself back, looking up at the sky above them, the stars obscured by the light of the full moon, "You know, I'm really proud of you."

She chuckled at his words, "Proud of me? What, about saving the Avatar from his icy imprisonment, despite it being against my best interests?" she questioned, unsure exactly what he was proud of.

"Not that exactly. You've been able to move past your... well, pretty stupid Fire Nation black-and-white world-view." he admitted with an tense voice, obviously not wanting to offend her.

"You've done the same. I doubt you would call a firebender an ash-maker anymore." she quipped, certain that he had moved past his own absolute view of the Fire Nation as evil, Earth Kingdom as good and his people as saviours to them all; it was rather stupid to think of such a small and relatively insignificant nation as being of any importance in turning the tide in a century of war, but then again, she intended to make sure the Southern Water Tribe did just that, as long as it ended up working in both her favour and theirs.

"If they're not my enemy, that is." he raised a finger, "It's not like I trust the Fire Nation as a whole. I don't really know what your brother intends to do, other than the wishy-washy stuff he said in Yu Dao." he admitted, making her snicker; she knew her brother was an idealist, but how much of an act he'd be putting on to appease the masses, she was unsure of.

"The Fire Nation isn't going to be trying to destroy your tribe any longer, once the Southern Raiders are dealt with, that is." she stressed, "And I'll do that whether my brother likes it or not."

"What, do you think he actually wants them on his side?" he asked her with a disbelieving tone.

"No. I think he'd like their ships. We could steal them, but I feel it would be fairer to let your tribe destroy them all. Maybe even scrapping the metal for rebuilding your tribe."

"That's actually a good idea. I'll tell Dad the next time we meet. We'll need all the resources we can find if we want to make our tribe as rich as the Fire Nation." he suggested, making her raise a brow at his use of the words 'we' and 'our'.

"We as in you and me?" he asked her, the Water Tribe teen grinning at him.

"Of course. You're probably the only person I know who actually knows anything about running a country, so I think you'd have a pretty good idea on how to help us rebuild." he declared, the Princess smiling at him momentarily, before straightening her lips; she didn't want to seem too happy, knowing that there was too much to feel unhappy about.

Part of her wanted to smile, and wanted to rejoice, because she could actually do what she had always wanted to, lead, and in an indirect fashion, rule; she could be the great leader that was adored by a nation that might have otherwise despised her, but for another part of her, that was never enough. That nagging voice at the back of her head was always telling her that she wasn't good enough, and that she needed to take down Zuko, lest her nation fall into ruin under his rule; that voice was part of her, and she knew that it was the closest thing to a conscience she had, and unlike what most people would describe as a conscience, it was in no way a positive influence on her life at that current moment. Azula had been caring for her boyfriend, befriending his tribe, helping the Avatar, all with no consideration for what that little voice would say. It told her to frown, because Zuko sat where she should rightfully do so- it told her that Aang would only get in the way of her plans- it told her that Sokka would do the same, whether he loved her or not.

"I want to make sure the Fire Nation is mine, first. Before I can help the Southern Water Tribe, before I can make the world a better place, I need to be Fire Lord." she simply concluded, the Water Tribe boy looking up at her, although his expression was unclear.

"Being Fire Lord doesn't have to be the ultimate end for everything you think about in Fire Lord. You're more than a crown, than a silly throne made of fire." he suggested, making her snort; she didn't want to laugh, but it was funny, and not because anything Sokka said was actually of a humorous nature, but because he was right, "Uh... that wasn't a joke."

"No. I know it wasn't." she admitted, before looking out off the edge Appa's saddle, looking down at the water below them, "The world won't end if I'm not FIre Lord, but the Fire Nation will suffer if I can't make sure it takes the right path. Look at the chaos that has ravaged the world; we've barely seen it, but the Southern Raiders prove a point. My brother lacks the tenacity to control his subjects, to unify our nation."

"I can see where you're coming from... but uh- how do I put this... how do you know some would have revolted against you just like some have against your brother... if you had won the throne, that is?" he asked her a hypothetical question, but an intriguing one nonetheless.

"I would have maintained the image of my father. Of impermeable strength. If I showed the same weakness my brother had by declaring his bold policies without the support of the military, I would be beset with those revolts, or worse, assassination attempts." she told him her own idea of what might have been, "I would have taken apart the command structure. Stopped these wannabe warlords in their tracks. Dismantled clearly hate inciting organisations like the Rough Rhinos and the Southern Raiders. Invest in rebuilding the ravaged part of the Earth Kingdom, and slowly giving self-government, until people forget that the Fire Nation ever even ruled their country, all while no one challenges my rule."

"That would have been sweet, except for the fact that the Earth Kingdom has more rebel fighters waiting to beat the Fire Nation back to their islands than there are fish in the sea." he told her a rather hyperbolic comparison.

"I know that. You can't win everyone over, but if enough people believe in something enough, they call it a society. Those rebels don't have to be part of that society for it to succeed." she suggested, making him chuckle.

"Huh, I guess you have a good point there." he admitted before furrowing a brow, "But obviously, that's not where this is all going."

"Of course not. Earth Kingdom rebels are probably the only people I could say would have a shred of common interest with me at this point. The Fire Nation renegades want power to themselves, Zuko wants me in prison, and the Dai Li, well they probably want me dead after what happened in Ba Sing Se." she admitted, knowing that as unnerving as it was to say it out loud, she was really only left with Earth Kingdom rebels, who if they could muster the will to trust her, would be able to help her get what she wanted, that being, the colonies.

"What about your 'supporters'?" he asked her, the Princess shrugging her shoulders.

"If they still support me, then perhaps, but I doubt that they'd be able to deal with enemies on all sides, and remain united after all this time." she stated what she believed to be the most likely outcome, as pessimistic as it was.

The was only as powerful and uniting a figure as people believed her to be, and she was certain that what had transpired in Yu Dao had changed some minds, and not just Shinu's, who had probably turned as soon as he saw Liang's battleship.

"Well then... I guess we shouldn't worry about it until we get there. The Northern Earth Kingdom is a while away." he suggested, making the Princess sigh, knowing that he was right, again; she shouldn't worry about something that would be impossible to judge without actually learning what had transpired in that area since she disappeared.

"We just have to worry about Aang not doing anything stupid and getting us caught by those in the Fire Nation that might want him in chains."

"Do you think your brother will send people after Aang?" he asked Azula, whose eyes narrowed in thought; just because he gave up his quest to find the Avatar didn't mean that he wasn't a threat to his reign, especially given that he still continued to control a large portion of the Earth Kingdom via the colonies, which he had obviously taken control of in the wake of his victory against her.

"Maybe." she admitted, "But I don't know for sure. Who knows, maybe he'll try and go all buddy-buddy with him and try and use him to defeat his opposition."

"I doubt Aang will agree to that." he argued, perhaps only for the sake of trying to assure her that hope wasn't lost for her, even if she was genuinely starting to dread the possibility of never being able to take the throne.

"Uncle is a convincing man, may I remind you." she raised a finger, knowing the power that her uncle held with his words; of course, he never fooled her, but she was under no presupposition that someone young and naive like Aang couldn't fall to his proverbs and talk of destiny.

"I doubt he could convince a pacifist to fight in a war for the side that has been trying to conquer the world." he quipped in return, although the implications of his words were far more reassuring than arguments they tended to have; Sokka was reassuring her, and she wanted to curse herself for her own weakness in needing him to do so.

"Thanks." she simply told him, sighing as she lay back down in the sleeping roll, the Water Tribe teen following, "I know you're a lot smarter than you let on. That'a a good tactic to fool your enemies."

"I guess it is. Not intentional, though." he snickered to himself before laying himself down right beside her, looking into her eyes, although his face was barely distinguishable in the moonlight.

"Not everyone is what they seem to be..." she mumbled a proverb she had once heard, knowing that it seemed to both categorise herself and her boyfriend; he seemed like a fool, and an arrogant one at that to her at times, but he proved his true nature to be determined and more intelligent than most the people she'd ever met.

Azula however, found herself to be a kind of walking contradiction; she did not give off a false aura of stupidity or ignorance, but rather of calm determination, or indifference at times, acting confident and cocky when it was required of her. She didn't feel however, that this confidence was a reflection of her true feelings; ever since she had been in that shipwreck with Sokka, she had come to second guess her own identity. She knew that she was Princess Azula, the heir of Fire Lord Ozai, the rightful Fire Lord, no matter if he was rotting in prison or in a grave. What she didn't know, is whether this other version of herself she had crafted, carefully molded, to make herself as righteous, fair and above all else honourable in more than just the skewed sense her father had told her to be, was actually the real Azula, who had stepped out of the shadows to show her face. She was the girl who loved Sokka, who could love him, despite his flaws and his origin, and the girl who could see the good in a culture that others would dismiss as barbaric, unrefined and weak; she wanted to kiss him at that very moment, to assure him that he was right, and that she was wrong for concerning herself with things that were currently out of her control.

She let that urge overcome her, and grasped him by the cheek, startling the Water Tribe teen, who had almost dozed off, "Uh? Is some-" he began to question, before she let the space between their lips close; she held that embrace for as long as she wanted, letting him grasp her tresses and hold her tightly.

She didn't want to lose his love, and even if that voice in her head, that 'conscience', told her she was weak for deriving meaning from something as futile as it, and that she should focus on her dream to become the ruler that she was born to be. She didn't need that dream at that moment, seeing that her other great dream was right in front of her. Azula realised after years upon years of thinking that ruthlessness and victory were the only way she could achieve respect, love and adoration, when in fact, being merciful, considerate and compromising had gained her something she mightn't have otherwise received.

"Uh... well, that was nice." Sokka made an awkward smile, before looking at her face, his hand touching her cheekbones, "Were you crying?"

"Of course not." she denied his suggestion; she mightn't have cried, but she felt a sense of pain that she had tried to ignore.

It was a longing that she had always had, but she didn't want to consider it; that she wanted love, on a personal level, and she feared that she would never have it. Her brother ignored her at best, while her mother thought she was a monster, corrupted by their father. He didn't exactly love her, not in the way she guessed a parent was meant to; like how Hakoda loved Sokka and Katara, like how her uncle loved Zuko. He wanted everything of her; he wanted her to be the greatest Princess in history, and she tried her hardest to fulfil that image. In the end, she only made herself into the kind of person people only feared; the boy beside her was the one who proved to her that there was another way, even if that way seemed foreign, unwieldy and stupendous at times.

"Are you... are you okay? I can feel it. You're colder than usual... and I mean that literally." he touched her wrist, glancing at the flames that she still had in her hand; they had weakened to barely nothing, and it wasn't due to her being tired, but a lack of concentration as focus.

She looked into the flames for a moment, and narrowed her eyes, noticing that the flames weren't a deep blue anymore, but flickering with bits of both blue, gold and orange; the variety of colours concerned her and she let go of the fire, letting it dissipate into the air, leaving her and Sokka in the darkness, once more.

"Oh, we're in the dark again. I thought we were trying to stay warm?" he asked her, suggesting that she turn the flames back on; she shook her head, unsure if she could even see her, before pulling herself back down into the sleeping roll.

Grasping him by the head, she pulled him closer and hugged him, letting their body heat to keep them warm while the sleeping roll remained open, instead of getting too hot. She realised that they could have avoided their conversation and instead got the sleep she needed; Azula knew that her thoughts had gone awry, to a place she didn't want to go.

"I want to sleep. I can keep us both warm." she simply told him, the Water Tribe teen pulling his head closer to her own, kissing her cheek before he rolled around, letting her hold his back and grasp onto his chest lightly.

The Princess of the Fire Nation did not want to become someone who was weak and without purpose; she wanted to achieve her destiny, but it seemed that she was making it hard for herself by second-guessing her own idea of who she was. Weak flames, orange flames, they were a sign that she was like her brother; that she wasn't strong enough for the throne, she couldn't accept that, but even then, she could accept the embrace of the boy beside her, and hope that she would be able to find purpose through him and his momentary spouts of wisdom, however rare she deemed them to be.

"You're warmer." he commented, making her sigh with relief, glad that she was no longer having her odd thoughts, but simply focused on the present; keeping her complaining boyfriend warm and getting as much sleep as she could.

"Thank for the commentary, idiot."

---

Holding the reins of his sky-bison tightly, Aang locked his eyes onto what seemed to be exactly what they had been looking for; a Fire Nation vessel, which he only guessed it could be, being made of steel, with a sharp almost sword-like appearance, as well as a tall mast with red windows. His new friends were looking out from the saddle the same way he was, and the looks on their faces suggested that it was indeed a Southern Raiders ship; Azula, however, looked relatively indifferent, but the fact that her eyes were focused on the ship told him enough.

"Yep, that's a Southern Raider ship." Sokka confirmed, before glancing to their left, "And we're pretty far off from the South Pole now. Maybe they're scouting for Water Tribe ships."

"Wouldn't have Bato come this way on an Earth Kingdom boat?" Katara asked her brother, who nodded, his eyes filling with dread.

"He did. That ship must have travelled back north, right this way... I hope they didn't get captured, or worse." he mumbled, before turning to face Azula, "So, are we going to go spook them or what?"

"We will." she confirmed, before she pulled her parka off, revealing her Water Tribe tunic that she had been wearing underneath, "Let's get ready to give some Southern Raiders a beating." before she turned her eyes to Aang for a moment, "But a non-fatal beating." she clarified.

"I won't hurt anyone bad. Airbending isn't for... murder, or anything like that." he assured her, picking up his staff from behind him, "Are we going to land?" he asked them, Katara raising a brow with thought.

"No, I'll land Appa. There's something better you can do." she argued, making him raise a brow.

"Uh... you want me to do something? But all I can do is airbend." he clarified, knowing that there was nothing overly impressive he could do as of yet, seeing that he had only mastered one of the elements.

"You'll only need airbending." she argued, before pointing at the ship, "You can use your glider to fly around, gain their attention, and then, while they're distracted, we'll fly Appa down.

"Are you sure you want to? You haven't tried the reins yet." he asked her, concerned she mightn't actually know how to fly the sky-bison.

"It looks simple enough." she shrugged her shoulders, Aang turning to pat his friend on the neck.

"Now, now buddy, can you let Katara take the reins. She won't do anything bad, I promise." he told his sky-bison, who made a positive groan in response, "Great!" he grinned, before jumping up onto the saddle, gesturing to the reins, "Go ahead and have a try."

"I don't think this was the best time to let any of us try and fly Appa." Sokka admitted with a rather uneasy, paranoid glance around, looking down at the water below.

"Don't worry, he won't go upside down or anything." he assured him, the Water Tribe boy looking at his girlfriend with unease, before Katara took hold of the reins, leading Appa higher up into the sky as they approached the Southern Raiders ship.

"The clouds aren't very good cover." Azula concluded, before she turned to face Aang, "Well, you better jump."

"Like right now?" he asked, the Princess looking at him with an exasperated expression.

"Yes. Right now." she pointed briskly down toward the water.

"A-alright." he nodded, standing up before opening his glider, "Wish me luck."

He stepped up onto the edge of the saddle, before he took a deep breath; he usually wouldn't feel uneasy about flying, but he was about to go and fight some people on his own accord; he felt conflicted about his actions, but he knew that his friends couldn't be lying- the Southern Raiders were horrible people that needed to be taught a lesson. Then he did it, as simple as it was, grasping the two top wooden , as he jumped down, going into freefall; he used his airbending to lift the air underneath the glider, allowing him to fly in the direction he sought to, that being right toward the Southern Raider vessel. As he got closer, he was able to make out a few crew members on the deck, who turned their heads to look at the airbender who was fast approaching them; they moved out of the way as Aang flew down, airbending to slow his descent before dropping onto his two feet, looking at the crewmen with interest. He didn't know exactly how they'd react, but the first words they spoke were indicative of what was to come.

"A-airbender..." one of them gasped, another pointing at him accusingly.

"Th-that's the Avatar! He's a kid, but that has to be him!" he declared, the young Air Nomad grinning at them as he readied his staff in hand.

"Yeah, that's me!" he pointed at himself with a giddy smile, making the men look at him with confusion.

"This makes no sense." one of them mumbled, clearly in disbelief that he was on the deck of their ship.

"You know protocol. The Avatar is an enemy of our nation!" one of them declared, taking a firebending stance.

"Oh, am I? Enemy of Fire Lord Zuko enemy of the Fire Nation... or enemy of you enemy of the Fire Nation?" he asked in clarification, genuinely curious as to whether Azula's brother saw him as an enemy.

"What kind of question is that?" one of them asked him with confusion, before the last one barked at them all.

"Stop fumbling like an idiot! We have to catch him!" he declared, the Avatar using his staff to bend a gust that swirled around them, knocking all of the men off of their feet.

"If you can." he joked, before opening his glider and jumping into the air.

As soon as the men got to their feet, they began to bend streams of fire at him, but they were far too slow, and he was able to fly up above them, circling around the ship as he eyed the bridge; Azula had mentioned something about disabling the ship, and he knew enough about boats that the bridge, which was up the top, was where someone steered it from. He turned his glider around, aiming to land on the balcony that jutted out of the steel superstructure he could see peering up out of the ship, which he swore looked pretty much like a sword; he didn't know if that was something the Fire Nation did on purpose, but he thought it would be pretty funny if they did, seeing that actual swords probably would sink in water, and not be very useful in that case. When he landed on the balcony, he glanced into the ship itself, seeing a man by the wheel, looking utterly shocked by his appearance.

"Hi." he addressed him, before spinning his staff around, sending a gust of air into the man, throwing him back into the wall behind him; Aang cringed at the sound of him whacking into the wall, and the groaning that followed, "Oh... sorry." he apologised, before looking at the steering wheel, unsure what to do with it.

He approached it and considered his options; he could turn the ship in a certain direction, but he realised there wasn't much for him to aim for. If he sent it south, they'd go toward the South Pole, and that wasn't good for the people there; on the contrary, if he sent it in any other direction, it would probably just take them closer to whatever place the ship would have to dock at eventually... seeing that sailors needed food and other basic human requirements, like any other person. The other option was to send the ship in a spiral turn, which would both waste whatever fuel the ship ran on, as well as disorient everyone on board. After some rather unfortunate experiences with his glider, Aang knew that nobody, not even the most disciplined airbender, could handle too much spinning. He grabbed the wheel and spun it to his right, which began to make the ship careen in that direction, looking out onto the balcony as he watched the clouds move around the horizon at an impressive velocity. He shook his head, trying to ignore the motion before he noticed the men on the deck had disappeared; they must have gone searching for Aang, who decided to walk out onto the balcony to see where his friends were. He heard the roaring of Appa from behind him, and then watched as his furry friend flew right above his head, quickly moving down onto the deck. Aang followed after, jumping off the balcony and gliding down to the deck, landing beside the sky-bison, off the top of which came his friends, who looked at him with surprise.

"Why'd you make the ship start spinning?" Sokka asked him with a curious voice.

"Uh, make them all motion sick." he gave the best answer he could think of, making Azula snicker.

"I've been in Fire Nation ships enough times in my life to know you'd have to be turning pretty harshly to make anyone on one of these sick." she admitted, before taking a fighting stance, looking out across the deck, "Now, Katara, did you want to try that trick once more. Aang might be able to help, actually."

"What trick?" the young Avatar raised a brow with interest, "Are you going to get the ship stuck with ice?" he asked them, making both girls raise their eyebrows with surprise.

"You know, that's actually a pretty good idea. I just don't know how to do that properly... yet." she raised a finger, Aang nodding; after all, that was the whole reason she had justified coming with him, so she could learn how to use her waterbending.

"We need to block the steam in the engine. It builds up pressure until it explodes. It means that they'll be stuck dead in the water."

"Seeing that I can't bend, I'll uh... stay here and make sure no one tries to capture your sky-bison." Sokka suggested, the other three nodding with agreement.

"Good idea." he smiled at the Water Tribe boy, appreciative that he had considered the welfare of Appa, "Now, let's go make an engine explode!" Aang raised a hand into the air, before charging down the staircase he could see in the centre of the deck.

Once he reached the hallway below, he spotted three crewmen, who turned around in shock upon seeing him; they both took firebending stances, and in return, he readied his staff, spinning it around with the assistance of his airbending to disperse the fireballs they sent his way. He then smacked the staff down onto the deck sending a concentrated blast of wind right at the firebenders, knocking them off their feet. Azula and Katara both ran past him, both of them unarmed, charging at the three men, one of which quickly got back to his feet and sent a kick of flames toward the Water Tribe girl; the Princess simply stood in front of her, spinning her hands around to disperse the attack, making their opponents eyes widen with fear.

"She's a firebender!" one of them pointed at her, Aang stepping forward, sending a ball of air that he conjured in his hands right at them, knocking two of them into the walls, while the only one remaining standing broke into a mad dash away from them.

"Help!" he called out, before he found himself hit in the calves by two jabs of fire; the downed Southern Raiders looked up at the three of them with concern, ignoring their comrade who fell down face-first on the floor.

"Wh-who are you?" they asked them, Aang stepping forward to take the spotlight.

"Did you miss what I said before?" he pointed at them, "I'm the Avatar!" making the two men look at each other with amusement.

"A kid. He's a kid." one of them mumbled.

"A kid who can kick your butts!" he declared confidently, slashing his staff through the air to send a blast of wind at them, knocking them down to the floor harshly.

Before he had even caught up to the pair, Katara and Azula knocked out the firebenders with jabs to the head, before they all continued down the hallway, making their way toward the door at the end, which from what he saw as he glided around the ship, was where the engine room ought to be. His assumption was proved correct as he pushed the doors open with his airbending, knocking down some oddly dressed crewmen who wore only a shoulder pad and pants, along with a mask that covered their faces. He was able to knock them back with his airbending, before Azula charged in, making quickly executed jabs that sent fireballs into their chests, knocking each of them into a pipe or the walls, knocking them all out cold. He was amazed with the speed at which she could fight, thinking that ought to learn a few things from her, not just the firebending that he knew he would have to master in becoming the Avatar.

"Uh... good work." he gave her a thumbs up, the Princess pulling her bangs out of her face before turning to face him with a slightly annoyed expression.

"I've already done this before." he admitted, before turning to face the Water Tribe girl, "Now, you know what to do. Just concentrate, I'll take care of anyone that comes our way."

Aang turned around, looking at all the pipes that went up toward the ceiling, as well as the large water boilers that burned some kind of fuel, though he couldn't tell; he didn't know the first thing about big ships like the one he was on, only knowing that they were a lot more complicated than the kind that used sails. The Water Tribe girl grasped him by the shoulder, "Aang, I need you to try and hold the air in that big pipe," she pointed to a large pipe in the centre of the room, "if we hold the air, it'll make the pipes explode. We just need a little time." she explained, the young Air Nomad nodding.

"Yeah." he confirmed that he understood what she said before turning to focus on the large pipe raising his hands up, grasping out with his bending to hold the air in place, "Just hold the air." he mumbled, before smiling, feeling pretty confident in what he had to do, "That's easy."

Focusing on the pipe in front of him, he pulled the air he could feel with his bending downward, feeling the pressure build up underneath his hands; he found it harder to push the air down the more he tried, but he didn't relent. He both wanted to impress Katara, but also show that he had what it took to be the Avatar; the monks were right in some ways, but he knew that he could be a strong Avatar without giving up his childhood, as little of one that he had left. A twelve-year-old probably shouldn't be concerning themselves with taking down a ship of a bunch of people he had never met before, but that is exactly what he was doing. It sounded absurd when he thought over it, but he knew that it was right; what Katara and Azula both told him showed him the fact of the matter. Even if the whole Fire Nation wasn't evil, the Southern Raiders surely were, as their whole existence was supposedly to destroy the waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe, a truly despicable goal, in his eyes.

As he felt the pressure ease underneath him, he thought for a moment that he had overcome the power of the engine, "I- I think I've got it." he told Katara, glancing at her and realising that she was helping him by bending the steam at the same time; he felt quite embarrassed to have said what he had, turning his eyes back toward the pipe and focusing on keeping the air back.

He could hear the sound of valves popping around them, his eyes darting about as he noticed that all the pipes in the room had begun to rumble, and suddenly, smoke began to come out of the furnaces, filling the room; he coughed as he accidentally inhaled the disgusting fumes, glancing at Katara with a grimace.

"I- uh- I think it worked. Maybe we should-" he began to try and ask her before coughing once more; she pulled her hand over her mouth, before turning to face him, addressing him in a muffled voice.

"You go. I can keep holding the steam back." she told him, pointing out toward the doorway, where Azula was last standing; he noticed that she had disappeared, and let go of his hold of the air, which caused a sudden vacuum to fill the room as the smoke was funnelled back into the furnaces, making Aang's eyes widen with shock.

"Th-that was a lot of smoke." he admitted, hearing Katara grunt as her hands began to shake, holding the steam in place, "A-are you okay?" he asked her, the Water Tribe girl forcing a nod.

"I'm fine." she told him in a terse voice, before she pointed with her left hand behind them, "Go help Azula! I can get it ready to blow."

He followed her command without question, although he hesitated to leave for a moment; he didn't want to annoy her, but he certainly didn't want her putting herself in danger.

He made his way down the hallway, where his eyes widened, seeing Azula fighting off at least a dozen Southern Raiders; she had already knocked out at least half a dozen of them, and was struggling to hold off all of their firebending attacks. Seeing the struggling and pained look on her face, he set himself into action, using his staff to send a gust of air right at one of the nearby men, throwing him into the wall and knocking him out; the Princess turned his way, with her expression changing to one of annoyance.

"What are you doing?!" she questioned him, before throwing her arms backward, sending a cutting arc of flames at the Southern Raiders behind her, "You're meant to be sabotaging the engine!"

"I was, but it made the whole room filled with smoke. Katara's got it." he told her, even if he doubted the Water Tribe girl did have everything under control; he was trying to assure Azula, not accurately portray the situation to her.

"Whatever." she narrowed her eyes at him before taking a stance, "Let's take care of these guys before we have to bolt... the engine is going to explode, after all."

He stepped up beside her and used his staff to bend the air in the hallway, knocking two men who were approaching them into the wall, making them grunt with pain as they found their faces thrust into the cold metal walls; they both were still conscious, however, and moved into form sending kicks of flames at them in synchronisation. While Aang used his staff to knock the flames away, the Princess used her hands, bending the flames into nothingness, before creating her own to fire back at them in return, sending a bright blue bolt at one, hitting him square in the chest, making his comrade gulp with fear as he stepped back; the other Southern Raiders behind them also looked on with fear, all of them moving back slightly, out of fear that they might be next to be taken down by Azula's bending.

"Come on!" she turned to the Southern Raiders, "Come and get me!" she prodded them, three of them sending streams of fire at her at once; she leaned back, falling down to dodge the attack, which Aang was able to stop with his staff, twirling it around as he sent the flames out in all directions around himself.

The air heating up around him made him feel uncomfortable, but he continued to focus on stopping their attack, punching with his right fist to send a concentrated gust of air at the firebenders, successfully striking one off his feet. Azula rose back to her feet, kicking her left foot out at one of their opponents, throwing him to the ground. The Southern Raiders who remained behind those they knocked out moved forward to attack in their place, forming a wall of flames, which they sent down the hallway toward them; looking at the blinding rush of orange fire made Aang tense up, readying his staff to somehow deflect the attack that was coming right toward them.

"Enough!" Azula shouted out with an anger he hadn't expected out of her, given her previously cool demeanour; she put her hand out in front of her, literally stopping the wall of flames with her palm, making it grind to a halt as it began to turn blue, the distinctive colour of her own flames, "I've had enough of this." she grumbled, thrusting her arm out to send the wall of flames back the way it came.

He heard the Southern Raiders scream out with horror as the flames encroached upon them, and when they finally dispersed, he could see a number of them lying on the ground, their armour singed and faces burned by the attack. One of them tried to return his feet, raising a hand up, which he filled with flames, as if he was about to make a final stand against the pair. He didn't get a chance, when the Princess simply sent a fireball right at his head, striking his chin and knocking him down to the ground. The rest of his comrades didn't make much of an effort, and simply groaned in pain; Azula turned to face him, cocking a smirk, before Aang heard the sound of steam ringing out of a pipe behind them.

Both of them looked at each other, before the Princess turned around, "Katara." she mumbled their friend's name, sounding ever so slightly concerned.

After hearing another burst, Aang raced forward, using his airbending to speed up his approach; he bent open the doors of the engine room, seeing Katara standing by the pipe still, her hands shaking as she grit her teeth with frustration.

"Come on! It's nearly there!" she declared, as if there was something more for her to do; he could see clearly by the state of the pipes, that it was only a matter of time before something bad happened.

Aang grasped her by the shoulder, trying to shake her out of her determined trace, "Katara! It's about to blow, you've done enough." he assured her, the Water Tribe girl taking a short but audible breath before she clenched her fists.

The steam that was coming out of the burst pipes lowered in volume, indicating that she had stopped pushing the steam down, before suddenly, she raised her arms up, letting the steam move backward. The pull of the vacuum through the torn pipes was strong, and Aang watched as the pipes began to crack from the pressure; he grasped her by the hand, pulling her along as fast as he could without her tripping over. He wanted to get them out of the room as quickly as possible, and used his airbending to force the doors shut behind them as soon as they were out of there; Azula turned her heels as soon as they caught up to her, the three of them running down the hallway past the incapacitated Southern Raiders, making their way toward the stairs they had taken to enter the ship. He heard an explosion behind them, before the doors burst open, sending smoke and steam into the hallway. He sent a blast of air backwards to keep the smoke and steam at bay, only for a moment as they climbed the stairs and made their way outside. As he let go of the barrier of air he had created, he looked around the deck, seeing that there was at least ten unconscious southern raider, as well Sokka, standing in the middle of the deck, bearing a club with his tunic covered in black spots; he had been beaten up, he was sure of it, but by the look of the Southern Raiders, he had still certainly won the fight. Instead of looking at them, his eyes were focused up at what remained of the chimney of the ship, which had been torn apart by the explosion that followed Katara's build up of steam.

"Okay... that's a little more than I expected." he mumbled, before he turned their way, "You guys did that?" he asked them with a tone of disbelief, Aang gesturing to his sister.

"Uh, it was Katara who did that, actually." he clarified, before turning to face the other two, "So, are we going to get out of here now, or was there something else we needed to blow up?"

"No, there wasn't." Azula confirmed, before she glanced at her boyfriend, "Good job, Sokka." she congratulated him, then gesturing toward Appa, "Can you get yourself up, or will Aang have to use his airbending on you?"

He groaned with frustration, before shaking his head, "No, I'm fine." he assured her, raising his head as he raised a brow.

Aang looked behind him, taking note of a Southern Raider stepping out of the bridge, taking a firebending stance; without even having looked at him, Sokka pulled his boomerang, the odd looking weapon he always had by his side, off of his back, his expression becoming uncannily serious. He spun around as he tossed it outward in an arc, seemingly out into the water, which seemed pretty stupid to him at that very moment; the young Avatar realised his actual intention as the weapon instead careened around, striking the Southern Raider in his head, knocking him out and flinging him to the deck.

"Urgh." he sighed with annoyance, before beginning to walk back toward the bridge, going to retrieve his weapon.

Katara looked at her brother with a bemused smile, crossing her arms as she looked at him limp over to pick up his boomerang, "Show off."

"What, could you do anything like that?" Azula quipped, making the Water Tribe girl hunch her shoulders, looking embarrassed.

"She did blow up the engine... again, according to what you said." the young Air Nomad argued in her favour, making Katara cock a smug grin.

"Exactly. I might not be able to throw weapons with precision, but I can use my bending to... hold stuff down."

"Amazing." the Princess sarcastically remarked, before stepping forward, gesturing toward Sokka, "Hurry up idiot! Do you want to get captured?"

"Of course not!" he shouted at her in return, jogging as fast as he could toward them, before he jumped up onto Appa's leg, rather impressively, given how sore his body looked.

As he climbed up onto the sky-bison's saddle, he stood up, looking down at them triumphantly, "I didn't need anybody's help! See! I'm r-really... uh..." his voice began to drawl before he rubbed his forehead, "Uh, I'm gonna lie down." he mumbled, before falling straight down on his back, making a loud thump as he hit the saddle.

"Ouch." Aang cringed at what he just saw, before turning to face Katara, "Is he going to be alright?"

"I'm pretty sure he's been through worse." she admitted with a similar grimace on his face.

Azula nodded with a rather disinterested face as she pulled herself up onto the saddle, "You're not wrong." she confirmed, making Aang realise that he must have experienced a lot of crazy fights when he had been with the Princess, if her story was just the condensed version of events.

He jumped up onto the saddle with the assistance of his airbending, before he offered Katara a hand, which she accepted gratefully with a smile; he turned to look at Sokka and Azula, the latter of which was kneeling beside the former, placing a hand on his head, which she drew away as soon as she saw Aang's eyes on her.

As soon as they were all on the saddle, he climbed over to the reins and called on his friend, "Come on Appa, let's get out of here. Yip-yip!"

The sky-bison groaned, before he whacked his tail down into the deck, taking a few steps before he jumped up into the air, flying up as Aang directed him to turn him away from the bridge; the young Avatar looked upon the clearly defeated Southern Raiders as smirked, waving a hand at them mockingly.

"Goodbye! Come and see me if you want to fight again!" he called on them jokingly, making Azula snicker behind them.

"Well, that is exactly what we wanted." she noted, before her eyes turned up to him with thought, "Now that's taken care out, where exactly are we going?"

"Oh..." he mumbled, raising a finger to his chin as Appa continued to fly away from the Southern Raiders ship.

He noted that it had stopped turning in circles by that point, due to the fact the engine had been made unusable by his friend's impressive use of waterbending. The feat wasn't impressive in the same way that Sokka beating all the Southern Raiders was, but rather in the sense that it took ingenuity and fortitude to do what she did, like the first person who tried airsurfing; he guessed they fell off their glider, far too many times to count, but they still kept trying, no matter how crazy their idea might have sounded to other airbenders. Katara was lucky, in a way, seeing that she didn't have anyone to tell her how to use her waterbending, and she could be as crazy as she liked with ir; then again, that was a curse in and of itself, as she couldn't hone her skills if there wasn't someone to show her how to.

"I think we need to find some place to rest." he admitted the obviously, looking at all of his friends, each of them exhausted, although Sokka was most obviously so; the Water Tribe boy raised his arm up, making a smile while his eyes remained shut.

"This kid's a genius, I tell you." he declared, making Aang raise a brow with confusion, unsure whether he was making fun of him or not.

"Uh... was that a joke?" he asked the others, Katara shrugging her shoulders with an equally confused face.

"Honestly, it's hard to tell."

"I'm as straight-forward and honest as an otter-penguin." he assured them, "Would they ever lie to you?"

"Sokka, penguins can't speak." his sister corrected him, the boy making an exasperated sigh.

"Urgh! Can I dream... can't I?" he asked her, making Aang scratch at his chin with thought.

"You must have... interesting dreams." Aang suggested, the Fire Nation Princess grimacing at his comment.

"Uh... I can confirm they're interesting, but not in the way you'd like them to be."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he raised a brow at her, the Fire Nation Princess glancing back toward the Southern Raiders ship, her eyes narrowing as she looked to be in deep thought about something, although she turned back to face him with a stoic, seemingly uninterested face.

"You know, it's better for all of us if I leave that story for another time."

---

"Finally, somewhere to sleep on solid ground!"

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother's clear overreaction when he climbed off of Appa's saddle; sleeping on top of a sky-bison wasn't that bad, although she could admit that the windchill made it a little worse than sleeping in a tent. She climbed down after him, carrying the tent equipment in a bag on her back, and carried it over to a flat bit of ground nearby. They had landed on a small island that was partially covered in snow and completely treeless; it seemed even more desolate than the South Pole, and that was saying something, although she guessed it probably had something to do with the lack of people and otter-penguins.

"Huh... there's nothing here." Aang mumbled, her brother raising a finger.

"That's a good thing. No people means nobody to rat us out to the Southern Raiders... or whoever's worse than them."

"In this part of the world, there's no one worse than them." Azula admitted, making the two Water Tribe siblings look at each other with the same grimace on their faces, before Katara turned her attention to unpacking the bag she had on her back.

She lifted the bag off of her shoulders and plopped it down on the ground, pulling out the canvas, unfolding it to it's full size. They had only brought two tents with them, and by virtue of their relationship, that resigned her to being in a tent with Aang, which she honestly preferred over having to bunk with her brother, who was annoying and smelly, or Azula, who she'd likely butt heads with, both figuratively and literally. She pulled out the sticks to mount the canvas on, jamming them into the ground before hammering them down with her closed fist; she didn't have anything better to do it with, and she was sure that Sokka would probably break it with his club if he tried to use that. Once she got it deep enough into the ground to keep it from falling over, she took the next stick and did the same with it, hammering it into the ground with her fist. When both sticks were in place, she laid down a mat over the ground, before pulling out the last stick, which lay over the top of the other two, which then allowed her to drape the canvas over the stick, forming the shape of a tent, which quickly flopped down as she hadn't tied the ends of the canvas to the ground. She pulled out the bone pegs she had in her bag, and took to hitting those down into the ground at each of the four corners of the tent, though she did so with her foot instead of her hand, seeing that was more practical and wouldn't leave her with a bruised hand. Slinging the small loops of tightly bound sinew that sat at each corner of the canvas over the pegs, she set the tent properly up in place, before standing up to appreciate her work.

She turned around to face Aang, who was appreciating the work she had done with a wide grin, "Wow, so that's how you set up a tent?"

"Uh, yeah." she nodded, before raising a brow with confusion, "I thought you'd know how to do it yourself, seeing that you're an Air Nomad."

"Oh, well, just because we travel around a lot doesn't mean we need tents. Most just sleep on their sky-bison's saddles, and if you need to take cover, just use a tarp." he explained, Katara nodding with surprise, interested in his idea.

It was a lot more practical to sleep on Appa if he was always on the move, though she was concerned that he might get too cold, especially in places like the island they were on. Even if it wasn't a frozen tundra like the South Pole, it was still cold outside, and as therefore she continued to wear her parka.

"So, are we going to- uh- have some dinner or something?" Aang questioned, making her narrow her eyes at him, before she chuckled, remembering his reaction to Sokka's sea prunes a few days prior; she was unsure if he would like them or not, and he tried to contain his disgust, although as she had obviously noticed it, he seemed to have failed.

"We aren't eating sea-prunes, if that's what you were worried about." she joked, before turning around to see if her brother had something in mind.

She watched as Sokka struggled to set up his own tent, making her raise a brow; he was clearly beaten up pretty badly after their fight on the ship, so Katara confused as to why Azula wasn't setting up the tent, the Princess simply sitting down in between them, pulling out the bag of food to eat from it. It made her twitch with annoyance, and she turned to Aang for a moment, realising that she ought to deal with the unfolding situation of her brother slumping over as he tried to put up a stick of all things.

"I just need to deal with something." she raised a finger, before striding over toward the Princess with a disdainful glare.

When she got close enough to her, Azula raised a brow with interest, looking up at the Water Tribe girl, "Did somebody piss you off?" she asked her bluntly, making Katara simply point over to her brother.

"Sokka got beaten up back on that ship. He shouldn't be standing up, let alone setting up a tent." she argued, before glaring down at her, "You should set it up yourself."

"Oh, so you're ordering me around now? Sokka! Your predictions were correct!" she called out to her boyfriend, who rose up from putting the pegs in the ground to look at them.

"Is Katara already trying to boss you around?" he asked her with a bemused look on his face; for someone who looked close to passing out, he seemed to be rather eager to do something he certainly shouldn't be doing.

"Are you trying to tire yourself out? Just let her set up the tent." she prodded her brother, who shrugged his shoulders before returning to what he was doing.

"See... he's fine." the Princess assured him, before taking another bite from the jerky, "He told me he wanted to do it. I'm not going to stop him."

"Are you really that ignorant?" she asked her, making the Princess snicker.

"What now that I let people do what they want, I'm suddenly bad?" That's a little hypocritical of you. I thought the Southern Water Tribe was all about everyone's personal freedom." she suggested, making the Water Tribe girl snarl.

"How can you just let him do it? You can clearly see he's injured." she argued once more, trying to press the point she had raised already.

"If he wants to set up a tent, then just let him do it." the Princess rolled her eyes, "I don't know why you're getting so set on this." she then shrugged with an indifferent look in her face before taking another bite from the jerky.

"You... you really treat him like he's your servant, don't you?" Katara accused her, already having that idea in mind when she thought about their relationship; it wasn't that Azula never did any work, but rather that she treated Sokka like he was some kind of slave, who would just do whatever he thought she wanted.

"Oh, that's kind of you to say. Do you see him cleaning my shoes, or making me dinner? We're all living like peasants, Katara!" she shouted at her, the anger in her voice growing with each second, "Let me have just a moment of spirit-damned peace."

"Guys! Come on, there's no reason to argue!" Aang piped up, walking up between the pair, "Do you really want to fight over who sets up a tent?"

"It's not about a tent." Katara grit her teeth, before pointing at the other girl accusingly, "It's about my brother, and how she treats him. He's not a manservant."

"You're right. He's my equal, and he can choose what he wants to do." Azula piped up, her own statement not contradicting the Water Tribe girl's own desire, even if it had a different implication.

"So... you both think he should be treated fairly?" he asked the pair, who both looked his way, nodding in agreement, "So, should you try and figure out a way to choose who does what? Like chores?"

"Uh... that's fine." Katara turned to face him, straightening her expression, "But Aang, that's not what I'm annoyed about. I want Azula to actually try and help him. You can see that he needs help, right?"

The young Avatar tilted his head, looking over toward Sokka, who was ignoring their argument, from the looks of it, before he turned back to face the two girls, "I mean, kind of. He's able to do it, so I don't really see the issue."

"Responsibilities." Azula voiced her opinion, "That's what our little steambender over here is getting antsy about. She wants to decide what my responsibilities are, and I... respectfully disagree. And that respectfulness is going to end if she doesn't shut her little mouth." she glared at her, Katara raising her chin, not even wanting to address her insults.

"You're not going to do anything." she simply concluded, before turning her heels, "You should think about what you're doing. Because honestly, you sound like you don't care at all." she made a final comment, the Princess responding with a cold voice.

"You're the ignorant one." she simply told her, before she rose up from the ground.

Aang scratched the back of his head, looking unsure of himself, "Uh... so are you done fighting."

"Yes." the Princess confirmed, before she turned around to face the now set-up tent behind her, "Sokka, did you want some jerky?"

"Want some jerky? You don't even need to ask!" he piped up with a surprisingly giddy tone.

Katara hunched her shoulders, looking down as she felt ever so slightly ashamed for what she had said; she had stuck to her argument, but in the end, she had proven that she was wrong. Even if she could tell Azula to do chores, she couldn't make her change her mind about how she treated Sokka. She truly hoped that she was as caring as she would want someone's partner to be, but after witnessing her cold and snarky personality, she was unsure if she truly was selfless enough to be good enough for her brother.

Aang approached her with an unsure look on his face, "Katara, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah." she lied, turning her head around and looking toward her tent, "I need to go get my stuff from Appa's saddle. Wanna help?" she asked him, deciding that if she was going to do more work, it would be better to do it with someone instead of moping around by herself.

"Uh, I can do that." his expression changed to a hopeful smile, turning around walk over toward his sky-bison, using his airbending to launch himself up onto the saddle, landing so softly that she couldn't even hear his feet hit the saddle.

She walked up toward Appa, and stood by his legs while the young Air Nomad pulled out a bag, "Uh, is this yours?" he asked her, the Water Tribe girl looking up at the bag in his hands; she could tell that it was hers, as it had embroidery patterns around its girth, which distinguished it from the more plain ones that Azula and Sokka had brought along.

"Yep." she nodded, before he leaned down to hand it over, dropping it into her hands, before she put the bag down on the ground beside her; she turned her gaze back up to the saddle, where Aang then had another bag in hand.

"Ooh, this one is heavy."

"That's the cooking equipment. Pots and knives. I can make some stew in that... if we can actually find something to make it from." she explained, grimacing as she considered the fact the island they were on seemed more desolate than the South Pole itself, although she guessed that was because at home she knew how to best utilise their limited resources, while on the small islet she knew barely anything about what people might eat.

Aang glanced around from the top of the saddle and made a similar cringed look, "Yeah, I can't even see any bushes. I could go for some berries- or custard- anything that's sweet." he mumbled to himself, making her chuckle; she would keep that in mind if she ever had to make him some food to try and find something sweet to put in it.

He then took the heavy bag in his hands, before jumping down off the saddle, softening his landing with airbending; she was still impressed by his skills, and almost involuntarily smiled at him, turning around to pick up her personal bag before taking it toward the tent. Glancing back toward the young Air Nomad, she considered what they ought to do next.

"I can cook some of the food we've got. You mentioned you were a vegetarian at our dinner. So, no seal-blubber for you?"

"Yeah, no thanks." he made an uneasy smile, before raising a brow, "Do you have anything that I can eat?"

"Well..." she trailed off, actually having to think back to what foods they had brought along,

Her father had given them enough food to eat that would last them to the Earth Kingdom, where they'd be able to buy food with the small bit of money they had; if not, she was sure that she and Sokka would be able to find something in the forests there, like the one he and Azula had been stuck in. She knew that they had jerky and blubber, which would last them a while, but there were other things she had brought along, like dried sea-weed, which was the closest thing she could call to a vegetarian jerky. That sounded good for Aang, and she immediately turned to face him with a smile, "I think I've got something. Dried seaweed. It's a little salty, but it should keep the hunger away. I'm sure once we find some bigger islands, we'll be able to find those berries you want." she suggested, to which he grinned.

"I'm looking forward to that. I'd make a fruit pie, if I had the ingredients. Maybe I can get them when I go back to the Southern Air Temple."

"Go back?" she looked at him with surprise; she knew that he was from there, and that it was on their way, but she didn't actually know whether he wanted to go, especially given what had happened to his people.

"Yeah. I need to go to this place called the sanctuary. Even if the monks aren't there, it's still important. Monk Gyatso told me that I would need to go meet someone there."

"Who's Monk Gyatso?" she asked him, making the boy grin brightly.

"The greatest airbender in the world!" he beamed at her, "He told me everything I know about airbending. He's my mentor."

"Huh, so he was your master." she asked him, thinking about what she knew about training bending, which was very limited; all she knew is that untrained novices like herself needed a master, someone who knew all the ins and outs of their bending art, to teach her.

"Kind of. He's more than that though." he admitted, "He was like... my best friend. Well, maybe second best. Appa's never not going to be my best friend." he explained with a smile, making Katara wince internally; it sounded like Monk Gytaso was the closest thing he might have had to a father, and she couldn't help but think the fate he might have suffered when the Air Nomads were destroyed by the Fire Nation.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her, looking at her with a concerned face, "Are you still annoyed about Azula?" she asked, the Water Tribe girl shaking her head.

"No, not anymore." she denied ihs presupposition, which was half a lie; she still didn't like how she had been treating Sokka, but that didn't mean that Katara wasn't more concerned about what had happened to Aang's people, and how he had lost so much, seemingly without really registering the fact of the matter.

She dropped her bag down by her tent, before turning back to face Aang, "So... you need to go to this sanctuary."

"Yeah." he nodded, before his expression became more uneasy, "I don't know who they wanted me to meet. I don't even know if they'd still be there after a hundred years."

"You never know." she raised a finger, "You're the Avatar. Maybe it's a spirit or something."

"Huh." he scratched his chin, "I never thought of it that way." he admitted, "There's supposedly spirits everywhere, but they don't go near people, because they're always harming nature."

"Is that why the Air Nomads are vegetarians, because you don't want to harm nature?" she asked him, seeing that their justification for doing so made a lot of sense, even if she knew little to nothing about the spirits and their nature.

"Yeah, that's it. Supposedly we're more spiritual than the other peoples, but I think that everyone's spiritual in their own way."

"Even people like Sokka and Azula?" she asked him, skeptical that they could possibly be clarified as spiritual; the amount of times her brother had demeaned the concept of spirits was uncountable, and she doubted that Azula believed or respected in anything of the likes, even if she acknowledged the fact Aang was the Avatar without doubt.

"Even them." he assured her, before he glanced at the bag of cooking equipment he had in his hands, "So... were we going to make something?"

"Uh..." she scratched at her chin, "I don't think we have enough ingredients to make a proper meal, honestly." she admitted, his expression becoming disappointed upon hearing that, "But, that doesn't mean we aren't eating. I'll show you the seaweed I was talking about. You might like it." she suggested, the young Avatar's infectious smile returning to his face.

"Good idea." he nodded, before putting the bag down on the ground, glancing around their newly set-up campsite, "So, where is this seaweed?"

"Oh... it's in the bag Azula was eating from." she explained herself, before she glanced over, relieved to see that she was no longer by the bag of food, "Phew..." she pulled her hair loopies away from her cheeks, before she walked over to the bag, sitting down beside it, realising that they probably should set up a campfire to stay warm while they were still awake; the sun hadn't even set yet, but she guessed that they wouldn't be doing much until they went to bed, whenever that ended up happening.

The two of them sat together while she rummaged through the bag, pulling out a few straps of dried seaweed, "Okay here it is. We don't have any seasoning or anything... so sorry in advance if it's a little bland." she admitted, knowing that if he was used to a wider variety of tastes with his meals, that he would be sorely disappointed by Water Tribe cuisine.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." he optimistically gave her a thumbs up, before he took a bite from it; he simply chewed on it for a few seconds, giving her a nod and a small smile.

"It's better than sea-prunes." he noted, making her chuckle; at least there was an improvement, even if it wasn't a large one, "A little too salty... it could use some sauce. Does the Water Tribe make sauces?" he asked her curiously.

Katara furrowed a brow, "Uh, yeah, of course we have sauces. They're mostly made out of oils and fats though, so I don't know if you'd eat them, seeing you're a vegetarian." she admitted, the Air Nomad grimacing.

"Uh... yeah." he admitted, almost sounding ashamed that they couldn't agree on food together.

She knew that her brother would be far more offended than she was by his dietary requirements, so she at least was glad that she wasn't as narrow-minded as him when it came to what she ate, even if she only had ever eaten Water Tribe food; she tried the meal she had made for Azula a few days prior, but she didn't like it, seeing that the texture was too stringy and the flavour far too spicy. As Aang continued to eat the bit of dried seaweed she gave him, Katara turned around to get some food for herself, just taking a small bit of jerky; she was hungry after her fight, but she decided that she would eat over time rather than a lot at once, knowing that she wasn't going to be running trying to waterbend or fight anytime soon.

"I'm tired." Aang admitted, making her chuckle; that was exactly what she felt, and she realised that she had exerted herself to her limit when she had destroyed the engines of two Southern Raider vessels.

"Me too." she agreed, before taking a bite from the jerky, "I- uh- don't really know what we're going to do next. I guess we need to find some place where we can get more food." she put her thoughts to words, the young Air Nomad scrunching his lips up as he mulled over what she had said.

"Huh... the Southern Air Temple isn't that far away from here, and there's a lot of islands surrounding it. There's enough food you can find in the wild that you won't have to worry about being hungry." he suggested, "Plus, then I can go to the Sanctuary and find out what the monks wanted me to know... or who they wanted me to meet." he added, Katara nodding; she knew that whatever journey he had to undergo as the Avatar, whether physical or spiritual, should be his highest priority.

"Yes, that's-" she began before he cut her off.

"But then!" he raised his hands into the air, "Then we can go find the giant koi fish! I think I know where they are. It's on some island in the Southern Sea... uh... I'd have to check the map."

"Can you read a map?" she asked him, unsure if he actually knew where he wanted to go.

"Uh..." he raised a finger to his chin, "Not really."

"Well, Sokka and Azula both know how, but I don't think they'll be able to find an island off you saying 'it has giant fish'." she admitted, knowing that getting directions to a place like that would be hard.

"Maybe if we find a village, we can ask them if they know where they are." he theorised, the Water Tribe girl nodding.

"Huh, I guess that would work. I have no idea where any villages are, though." she admitted, before glancing back to the tent where her brother and his girlfriend were, "I guess we'll have to ask them."

"Uh... please try not to argue with Azula again. It's not going to help you two bond." he tried to warn her, making Katara's eye twitch with annoyance; he was presuming that she even wanted to bond with the girl that she found to be the most arrogant and self-entitled person she had ever met.

"Who says I want to bond with her? The last time I tried that, we... found you." she admitted, realising that despite the fact their canoe had been destroyed, their fishing trip had been quite productive.

She shook her head, refocusing her mind on what actually concerned her, which was the point that she didn't want to become friends with the Fire Nation Princess who she had been forced to consider a part of her family for the better half of a year.

"I don't want to. You can't make me." she narrowed her eyes at the young Avatar, who raised his hands up.

"I'm not going to make you do that. I just think we'll all be happier if you're not so mean to each other." he suggested, Katara sighing, knowing that he was right.

"Fine... I'll make an effort. But I doubt she'll feel the same way."

"I don't think anyone can read anyone's mind. Unless you're like a really wise guru... but no one here's a really wise guru." he commented, before his face became more serious, "She might say something mean, or act angry, but isn't it what she does that counts?" he asked her, Katara's eyes widening; he had a very good point, as she had been mostly reacting to Azula's snide statements, without just taking them as simply what she wanted to say, rather than actually how she felt.

"I don't think I know her at all." she admitted, Aang snickering as he nodded along.

"She's one of the weirdest people I've met." he admitted, his eyes narrowing at her with a dead serious face.

"I'm not joking. I've met some weird people."

---

The sound of shouting outside his tent made Sokka groan with frustration; he was trying to sleep in, at least for a little while before he was forced out by Azula, but instead, it was Aang's voice, calling out from outside. His voice was muffled, so he couldn't tell exactly what he was saying, but he turned to face Azula, who had a slightly annoyed look on her face as she brushed her hair out of her face. When the tent was opened, he was just glad that he was wearing undergarments, so that the twelve-year-old boy they were travelling with didn't see him naked after they had only known each other for three days.

"Sokka, Azula! There's smoke coming right toward us." he told them, the two of them rising up properly from their sleeping roll.

"Are you being serious? Are they already onto us?" he asked the young Avatar, who nodded intently, the fear in his face visible.

"Yeah, and Katara says we won't have long until they get here." he clarified, the Water Tribe teen turning to face his girlfriend, who despite the situation, had an undoubtedly smug look on her face.

"It's all coming together now, Sokka." she assured him, "This is what we wanted. Now the Southern Raiders will try and chase us down instead of going after the villages of your tribe."

His tense expression softened upon hearing that, realising that she was right; every day that the Southern Raiders went after them was one they weren't out trying to enslave people.

"I guess that's good bad news." he noted, turning his head to face Aang, "Are you two already packing?"

"Uh, we're starting right now." he simply told him before closing the canvas, leaving them in peace, even if that peace was obviously unsettled by their urgent need to pack up camp.

He sighed as he leaned back down on the sleeping roll, "Well, there goes sleeping in."

"I wasn't going to let you do that, Sokka." his girlfriend argued, glancing back at him with a suspicious look in her eyes, "We were going to go do some training."

"After I just beat up all those Southern Raiders?" he asked her, concerned that she was trying to push him to the limit he actually thought he had already crossed; although he wasn't as sore as he had been the day prior, he was still hurting from the beating he had received, even if he had been the victor of the fight.

"Yes." she told him without a shred of doubt or mercy in her voice, "You have to keep training, otherwise, you might not win the next fight."

"Next time, I'm staying with you." he argued, crossing his arms, "Appa can fight for himself."

"According to Aang, he probably could, so I can let that slide." she admitted, before rising out of the sleeping roll, grasping her hair and pulling it up as she stretched herself up to nearly her full height; he wasn't going to ignore the good look of her behind that he got, but he quickly turned his eyes away, feeling ashamed that he did so when he ought to be packing up his tent and getting ready to leave.

"Are you getting ready or are you going to ogle me while you have the chance?" she quipped, guessing correctly that he had been leering at her.

"Urgh... finished with the latter, about to start the former." he clarified honestly, making her look at him with an impressed look.

"Quite bold of you to be so honest, Sokka." she admitted, before raising a finger, "You don't get to do that without my permission. If you do it again, I'll kick you where I know it'll hurt."

"But our future children." he grimaced, trying to reason that she shouldn't kick his groin, only for her to begin laughing.

"Children?" she asked him with a disbelieving tone, her eyes narrowing at him with suspicion "Since when were you thinking about having children?"

"Uh... I wasn't. That's not going to happen for a while. But please... don't hit me there." he tried to argue once more, just wanting to stress how much he didn't want her to hit him.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't hit you there. I actually prefer a fair fight, anyway." she admitted, "So I get to enjoy all the glory when I beat the daylight out of you." she grinned at him with ruthless intent.

Pulling himself up out of the sleeping roll, he looked at her with unease, "I won't ogle you again, I promise."

"That's a lie." she narrowed her eyes at him, the Water Tribe teen stomping his foot down.

"It's not a lie. I swear by my honour as a warrior." he tried to stress the point, only for her to snicker.

"You keep telling yourself that." she smugly raised her chin, before she turned her head around, glancing about the tent, "Where did my tunic go?" she asked, Sokka clearing his throat.

"Uh... you tossed it over there." he gestured behind him, Azula leaning back over to grasp the blue tunic that she wore underneath her parka.

It was funny to think that she was always wearing Water Tribe colours, instead of the Fire Nation reds that she was more used to, but she didn't seem to complain, probably because she had good reason not to distinguish herself with the colour of the enemy while she was staying in his village. She pulled the tunic over her head, before she took the robes that she wore over the top of them, pulling it around her shoulders. Azula turned around to face him, showing off her Water Tribe outfit, before she sparked a small ball of flames in her palm, which lit their tent dimly with a deep blue light, which was washed out by the morning sun that was already lighting the tent through the canvas.

"Checking your firebending?" he inquired, the Princess narrowing her eyes at him before she clenched her fist, snuffing out the flames.

"I must always be ready to fight, even if I'd prefer not to waste my energy on scum like the Southern Raiders."

"Ah, so we both agree. Being safe and lazy is better than being dead." he suggested, making her scoff.

"Thank you for so eloquently reminding me how you're going to die. Unlike some, who might die from illness or gross incompetence, you're going to meet your end because of your desire to find shortcuts around even the most menial of tasks." she told him with a completely serious tone, addressing the concept of death with such triviality that he almost wanted to laugh; she was right of course, as he was pretty sure that his desire to cut corners and laze about would bite him in the arse one day, although he surely hoped that biting wasn't literal.

"I wouldn't call fighting the Southern Raiders menial. It's just a fight that is avoidable, and unnecessary, at least when we can't destroy them."

"Which we will. Patience is the best friend of any great strategist." she smirked at him, the Water Tribe teen raising a brow at her.

"And I'm assuming you're counting yourself as one." he suggested, the Princess nodding before she pointed at him, her finger tip sending out a small but seemingly intense blue torch.

"Get out of bed. Patience is not a virtue when it relates to a tactical retreat." she argued, making him snicker; she could seemingly find a way to treat everything like a battle, and he could respect her for it, as crazy and obscene as it sounded.

He then stepped out of their sleeping roll, retying his loincloth as he glanced around for his other clothes, "Don't worry. I'm more afraid of you setting me on fire than I am of them doing the same." he joked, Azula puckering her lips as she glared him down.

"This is no time for jokes, Sokka. We need to leave." she warned him, the Water Tribe teen nodding, picking up his pants from beside him and stepping inside them; he pulled them up before glancing around, realising that he had the same issue as Azula.

"Uh... where are my robes?" he asked her, making her cock a smirk before she reached behind her back, throwing him a ball of fabric, which he caught with both his hands as it was aimed for his head.

"Thanks." he told her with a terse voice, before he put his robes over his torso, tying it up the waist-band he spotted by the side of their sleeping roll, "Now, all I need are my boots, and arm bands."

The Princess snapped a finger in her right hand before pointing down beside her, gesturing to the two pairs of boots that sat by the front of the tent.

"Ah, so we weren't messy with the footwear." he recalled with a chuckle, realising that they had been rather messy in dispensing their clothing the night prior.

"We're civilised around here. We don't throw our dirty shoes around the tent." she assured him, before he stepped closer to her, moving to put his shoes on, "We need to dissemble the tent quickly, but seeing that you set it up, it's only fair I pack it up."

"Ah... so Katara did get in your head." he smirked at her, the Princess frowning at him before pushing her open palm onto his sternum.

"No she didn't. Doing the same amount of work is fair, is it not?" she quipped in response, the Water Tribe teen nodding with agreement; it would be unfair if one of them did more work than the other.

"Who thought that being cold and logical could make you such a team-player?" he joking asked her, the Princess crossing her arms.

"I'm not a team-player. I'm a good leader." she clarified, making him snort.

"You're the leader? Leader of what exactly?"

"This group. I'm the most mature one, obviously." she argued, Sokka nodding.

"Fair enough. Don't let my sister hear you say that, or she'll start screaming at you again."

"I'm well aware of your sister's domineering tendencies. She isn't going to mother me, that's for sure." she narrowed her eyes at him, before she slid her boots onto her feet, Sokka doing the same.

"So... I'll do the sleeping roll and pack up our things?" he asked to clarify that was what she had wanted him to do.

"That would work." she agreed, before stepping out of their tent, pushing the canvas out of the way; when he looked outside, he gulped with fear, looking at the clearly close by smokestack from a Southern Raiders vessel.

"They must have a really fast way to communicate." he theorised, the Princess looking back his way with a straight face.

"Messenger hawks. That's how I was able to gather my army in Ba Sing Se, remember?" she questioned him, as if she was making him out to be forgetful and dimwitted, which in this case, he seemed to be the former.

"Oh." he mumbled, realising that she had forgotten about that specific part of their journey, "That makes sense. How are we going to outrun these goons if they can communicate as fast as we can fly?"

"By always moving." she told him, before she knelt over, pulling one of the bone pegs out of the ground, "And you better get moving, Sokka." she warned him.

He turned around, moving back into their tent, immediately kneeling down to begin rolling up their sleeping roll; that only took him a few seconds to do, and wrapping the leather bands around its ends only took a few seconds more. With that done, he began taking the personal belongings he and Azula had brought into the tent, which only consisted of two small bags, and pulled them over his shoulders, one on each side of his body, taking them out of the tent so he could put them on Appa's saddle. When he walked outside, he took note of Katara and Aang, who had already assembled their tent and were in the process of putting their bags onto the saddle, which Aang was able to do with ease with the power of his airbending, being able to jump up onto the saddle carrying bags like it was nothing.

When he reached the side of the sky-bison, his sister turned to face him, "See you actually got out of bed." she commented, the Water Tribe warrior sarcastically laughing off her words.

"Ah hah, yeah, I'm totally going to just sleep in while the people who have been trying to slaughter our tribe for three generations come after us." he told her with an exaggeratedly giddy tone, making her grimace at his rather blunt way of stating their situation.

He then dropped one of his bags before tossing the other up underarm onto the saddle, picking the second one up and doing the same, which actually impressed his sister.

"Huh, have you been working out or are those bags really light?" she questioned him, Sokka turning around to narrow his eyes at her; whether she was trying to be witty wasn't really in the forefront of his mind at that moment, so he just gave her a blunt answer.

"Yes and yes." he told her, before glancing back toward Aang, who was carrying the last of Katara's bags over to them.

"Oh hey, Sokka. Are you and Azula ready to go?" he asked, the Water Tribe teen shaking his head.

"Nope. Getting to that right now." he clarified, turning his heels and darting back toward the tent, hoping to help Azula dissemble the last of it.

When he got over to the tent, he took note that she had already taken out all the pegs and was in the process of pulling the canvas off. As she did it so, she glanced his way momentarily before she tilted her head in the direction of one of the sticks that held it up. He got the message without a doubt and stepped over to the stick that was held up by the other two, taking it off of its mount, before dropping it to the ground; he pulled the other two sticks out of the ground, putting them with the other one and then picking them up in a bundle. Azula handed him the sinew binds that were meant to hold them together, and quickly wrapped them around each end before he rested the bundle on his shoulder. His eyes moved down to their feet, taking note of the fur mat that they had laid below their bedding, and dropped the sticks down beside him, falling to his knees as he prepared to roll it up. His girlfriend got the hint immediately, stepping off of the mat and folding up the canvas away from him. Taking the ends of the mat into his hands, he raised it up and proceeded to shake it, trying to remove any dust he could from it; the mat was usually used to keep out the moisture from the snow, not to keep them clean. He then rolled the mat up, before raising both it and the bundle of sticks onto each of his shoulders, carrying them back toward Appa; seeing that they were heavier and harder to balance than their small bags, he was slowed down slightly, enough so that Aang approached him with a concerned look on his face.

"Did you need help with that?" he asked him, the Water Tribe boy shrugging, giving him the rolled up mat.

"Throw at up on Appa, will you?" he requested, the young Avatar complying with his request, doing just that by using his airbending to propel the mat up onto the saddle, where it scared Katara by flying in out of nowhere.

"What was that for?!" she raised a fist toward them, before her expression softened, seeing that it had been Aang, and not her brother, who had tossed it her way.

"Oh, sorry, Katara, I didn't see you there." he apologised, before Sokka approached the saddle with sticks he had bundled up, throwing it up to the saddle; Katara grasped the bundle with her hands, glancing down to her brother, before her eyes moved up to his girlfriend.

"I see you're working together now." she observed, the Water Tribe boy raising a finger toward his sister.

"I recommend you don't stir that with her. Honestly, you're going to get your hair burnt off if you keep at it." he warned her, Katara's expression shifting as she looked to be recalling a memory.

"Uh... yeah, I can see that happening, actually."

"And seeing that you can't fight with your waterbending yet, you're not going to be able to stop her if she tries." he added, before turning around, looking back at Azula, who had rolled up the the canvas and was taking that and the small bag of pegs over to Appa.

"So, we're all ready to go?" she asked the group, Aang turning to give her a thumbs up.

"Yep. Now we can get away from these guys and then I can take you somewhere they won't be able to catch us." he declared, making Sokka raise a brow with interest.

"Uh, and where would that be, exactly?"

"My home, the Southern Air Temple."

"I wouldn't recommend that." the Princess acknowledged, making Aang look at her with confusion.

"Why shouldn't I go there? I know my way around, and I'm sure there'll be a lot of wild fruits and stuff growing there, so we don't need to worry about food." he assured them, the Water Tribe boy pursing his lips upward.

'More food sounds like a good reason to go, in my opinion." he placed a hand on his chest, his girlfriend shooting him an annoyed glare.

"I don't know if you're going to like what you find there." she admitted, the young Avatar's eyes widening, before he turned up to look at Katara; he remained silent for a few moments, glancing back at the Princess.

"There's someone I need to meet." he explained, making Sokka raise a brow.

"Who?" he asked him bluntly, unsure if he was trying to go see someone that obviously wouldn't be around, seeing what happened to his people.

"I don't know for sure. But I know I have to meet this person on my journey to become the Avatar."

"But you're already the Avatar." he raised a hand toward him, narrowing his eyes at him with confusion.

"No, I think he means in mastering the elements, or connecting with the previous Avatars, his past lives." Azula clarified, before she looked at him, "I guess you're right. I don't think what happened a hundred years ago will change the fact you need to realise your potential."

"Yeah, that's kinda what the monks said." he admitted with an uneasy voice, "But I'm pretty sure they wanted me to meet this person so I could stop Sozin."

"Even if you can't change what happened, you can still try to end the conflict, make a new era of peace. That's what you're meant to do, right?" Katara asked him, Aang tensing up for a moment before nodding, before he jumped up onto Appa's neck, grasping the reins of the saddle.

"Let's go. These guys want to chase us? Let's let them chase us." he smirked, Sokka hoping that his confidence in Appa wasn't misplaced.

The Water Tribe warrior jumped up to climb onto the saddle, grasping the edge and using as much strength as he could muster to pull himself up; his sister grasped his right hand, helping him up, before he sighed with relief, glancing back at his girlfriend momentarily.

"Are you going to climb up or what?" he asked her, the Princess cocking a smirk.

"No." she refused, before sending two jets of blue fire out of her hands, propelling her back onto the saddle; he rolled out of the way to avoid getting kicked in the head, before he glanced back at her with slight frustration.

"You didn't need to aim for me." he growled at Azula, who shrugged indifferently before she fell over, forced down onto the saddle by Appa beginning to speed up; within a few seconds they were already in the air, and Sokka grasped onto the edge of the saddle, fearing that he might fall off.

Once they were high enough, he was able to spot the Southern Raiders vessel in the distance, and sighed as he saw it speed away, or more accurately, as they sped away from it; Appa truly was a mighty beast, and his flying was more impressive than any ship, no matter how much coal they shoved into their engines.

"So what now?" he turned around to face the young Avatar, who held the reins of his sky-bison tightly; he looked back at Sokka with a giddy grin on his face.

"Well, if we're going to go to the Southern Air Temple, that should take... uh... well I got to the South Pole last time in about two days, so if we head in the right direction, we'll get there... tonight." he explained, the Water Tribe teen nodding.

"Okay, that's great, but where are we?" he asked, Aang giving him an uneasy grin.

"You see, I don't really know." he admitted, before he raised a finger, "But Katara said you know how to read maps. Could you give me the directions I need?" he asked, the Water Tribe teen sighing.

"Yeah, I guess I could do that." he agreed, before turning around to take note of the sun's position in the sky.

He knew it was early morning, and the sun was to their right, although it was still obviously facing to their north, seeing that the sun was always low in the sky in their part of the world; from all that, he concluded they were heading in a north-north easterly direction.

"Where's your map?" he asked, Katara's eyes widening, before she turned around to rummage through the bags at the end of the saddle.

"It should be..." she trailed off, before she pulled a scroll out, which moved with the wind after she unfurled it; his sister placed the map down in front of them, showing them a relatively detailed map of the world.

He pointed down to where he knew their village to be located, at least approximately, "So in the afternoon of the day before yesterday, we left from here, right?" he asked the group, almost rhetorically, getting a nod from both Aang and Azula, "And then we travelled overnight across the sea, to the north." he explained, before gesturing down to the large tracts of water that lay between the former Air Nomad territories and his village, "We're somewhere in here, but I'd guess that because of the direction that we were moving in, we'd be just south of all these islands." he admitted, before raising a brow, looking toward the young Avatar, "How well do you know your homeland?"

"Uh, pretty well. Why are you asking?" he questioned in return, Sokka gesturing his finger across the islands that lay directly to the north of their assumed position.

"You should be able to figure out exactly which island we're at once we reach one, and then give me directions from there to your home, right?"

"Uh..." he scratched at his chin, before nodding, "Yeah, I could do that."

"Good. If Appa keeps heading north, we're bound to bump into one of these islands."

"So, what do we do until then?" his sister asked him, making the Water Tribe teen chuckle as he leaned himself back on the saddle.

"Enjoy the fact that we're making the Southern Raiders fruitlessly chase us when they have no chance of catching up." he declared, Katara pursing her lips upward before she looked back toward the smokestack in the distance.

"I can do that." she admitted, glancing back toward the young Avatar, "So, is there somewhere we'll be able to camp out at the Southern Air Temple?"

"There's probably some rooms to spare." he conceded, making Sokka gulp with fear; his eyes moved meet those of Azula, who shared a similar, slightly unnerved expression.

He didn't know what Aang was exactly expecting when he arrived at the Southern Air Temple, but both of them knew that he wouldn't enjoy what he'd find. Azula, probably more than anyone, knew what had happened all those years ago, and he could tell that even if she didn't feel regret for what her ancestor did, she certainly understood how that might make Aang feel. Losing all his people, that was something incomparable to any of their losses, but after she had lost her title, her supporters and any sense of royalty, she probably had an inkling of what he might feel to see his home to be completely abandoned and desolate after a hundred years of silence.

He wondered for a moment whether her brother had gone there during his journey to hunt down the Avatar, and then thought back to how Azula had felt about finding him, after all the time Zuko had spent, fruitlessly searching for Aang. It seemed that fate was playing with the two siblings, but Sokka certainly didn't want the end result to be anything like what happened in Yu Dao; he knew that peace would come eventually, both to the world, and to the Fire Nation Royal Family, but he knew, that before any of that could happen, the Avatar would have to make his mark on the world. And Sokka was pretty sure that the mark he would create with his return was incomparable to anything else that had happened in the past hundred years. Knowing that he was part of what would become history made him feel ill, and that sick feeling only became worse when he remembered the last time he had been of any importance to world affairs. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice; Sokka of the Southern Water tribe was going to make sure he was on the side of victory, by any means necessary.