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)

6. Chapter 6

Holding one hand on her cheek, Katara rested her elbow down on Appa's saddle, glancing out toward the seemingly endless body of water before them. She hadn't realised how massive the ocean was until she travelled across it on a sky-bison, though according to Sokka, the parts of sea they had gone across were pretty small stretches interspersed with islands, and that the biggest areas of open water were still to come. They had spent an entire night sleeping on Appa's saddle, flying over sea when they went to bed and still flying over it when they woke up. She knew that it would still be a while until they got to the Earth Kingdom, but in the meantime, Aang was searching for the place where he had once rode the giant koi fish. Her brother said they were probably going in the right direction, but even if they did miss it, they had been heading in the right direction to reach the city of Omashu, or as Azula had called it, New Ozai. She yawned, realising that without doing much physical activity outside of picking wild berries, fruits and nuts when they camped out, she was always feeling tired. She turned around, seeing Sokka dozing off beside Azula, who was idling lying down, glancing up at the sky above them. The Princess felt a little self-conscious when she realised that the Water Tribe girl had looked at her, and turned her eyes downward, taking note of her boyfriend, who was snoring lightly as he slept.

"Always taking every opportunity to sleep." she simply commented on his behaviour, before glancing toward Katara, "I'm guessing you are as bored as I am."

"Hmph, yeah, you could say that. I've already mended Sokka's pants after he tore them. I really don't have much to do right now." she admitted, making the Princess cringe slightly.

"I should have been the one to mend them... or I should have forced him to do it. You shouldn't have to mend your brother's pants when he's the one going out tearing them." she admitted, making the Water Tribe girl smile ever so slightly as the kindness that Azula was offering, despite her annoyed tone.

"Thanks." she simply nodded toward Azula, who turned her eyes away, almost as if she didn't want her appreciation; it made sense that she didn't think it was necessary, seeing that she probably thought she was doing her job as a girlfriend, which was something that didn't need to be praised, "I still need something to do, though."

"How about meditation?" the other girl suggested nonchalantly, "Calmness and determination come hand in hand." she told her, making Katara chuckle; the idea that peace of mind was what allowed Azula to be as tough as she was seemed a little absurd, if not misguided, in her eyes.

"There's no need for meditation!" Aang piped up, earning both of their attention as they looked toward him, "We're nearly there!"

"That's what you said an hour ago." the Princess snidely remarked, the young Air Nomad shaking his head.

"No, no, look!" he pointed ahead of them, the two girl's tilting their heads over the edge of the saddle to see that they were approaching an island.

"Is this the island?" the Water Tribe girl asked, wanting to be sure that they hadn't just landed on another of the numerous islands dotting the Southern Sea.

"This is it. I'm sure." he smiled at her confidently, "Just wait and see. I'll be riding the elephant koi soon enough!"

"I'm sure you will be." Azula remarked in a dry voice, "Just remember that Katara can't waterbend properly, so if you end up falling off, you're going to have to get yourself out." she warned, making the aforementioned Water Tribe teen raise a brow with offence.

"I can waterbend." she snarled at her, before her expression softened, knowing that Azula, no matter how snarky, was accurate in her judgement, "Just... not as well as I'd like."

"Don't worry. My airbending makes swimming easier." he assured them, "I'm actually pretty good at it."

"That's a bold claim to make, young Avatar." Azula mockingly deferred to him, Aang raising his head up high.

"You'll all see it." he argued, before narrowing his eyes, "Maybe not Sokka, though, he might sleep through that too."

At that moment, as if it were because he was referenced, her brother's eyelids fluttered open, "Huh... what did you say? Something about me?"

"Well, you're awake now." Aang grinned at him, before gesturing toward the island which was quickly approaching, "I'm about to ride the giant koi fish!"

Sokka yawned before shrugging his shoulders, "Okay, you do that." he simply acknowledged his decision before raising a finger, "But, uh, as long as we can find some food afterwards, I'll be happy." he admitted, before glancing toward Momo, who was resting on the saddle nearby, "And a certain someone doesn't get to eating it all."

"Momo isn't eating it all. It's a group effort between you two." Katara joked, making Azula snicker, appreciative of her humour.

"Too true." she agreed, before she rose up from her seated position on the saddle, "Now, are we going to camp out on this island, Aang?" she asked of him, the young Avatar, scratching at his chin.

"Huh, I don't think I ever stayed here... but we should be fine." he acknowledged, before he turned his attention to guiding Appa as they drew nearer to the island.

"I just hope that there's something nice for me to eat here. We can't eat the giant koi fish, can we?" Sokka asked of the Avatar, who looked both confused and concerned by such a question.

"Uh... I don't think that's a good idea, and what did the elephant koi ever do to you?"

"Nothing. I just bet they'd be tasty. So big you could feed a village with the meat." he suggested, Katara raising a brow with interest.

"Hmph, we could use some fish like that at our village. Then we wouldn't have to catch all the little fish, only one big one." she acknowledged, before she glanced back toward the island, "But Aang's right, we best leave them alone. I doubt any of..." she began to speak, before glancing at Azula for a moment, "us want to hunt them."

"Enough about hunting! Let's ride some elephant koi!" Aang raised his voice as he made Appa dip down on a harsh again, sending them down toward the island, which they were now flying above; it wasn't the biggest island she had seen on their journey so far, but it was expansive, and she could spot out some smokestacks in the distance, telling her that there were people living on it.

As they neared the ground, the young Air Nomad pulled the reins up, settling his sky-bison down by the beach, which he looked at with an intent grin, "This is definitely it." he assured them, before jumping off of the saddle with the assistance of his airbending.

Katara turned around, glancing towards the water, which seemed rather calm; if it weren't for the slight chill in the air, she'd say it might be nice to swim in it. That calmness was shattered a few moments later as the aforementioned giant fish jumped out of the water, landing back in with a massive splash. Her jaw dropped with utter amazement; even though it was some distance away, she could already tell that the fish was massive.

"Wow! That really is giant!" she acknowledged, Aang turning back up to face her and the others.

"Now, I get to ride it! Katara, you've got to watch me!" he told her, the Water Tribe teen nodding before he began to disrobe, taking his layered tunic off before taking off his pants and boots, leaving himself bare in only his underwear.

She thought that he might have been at the very least a little self-conscious, but the Avatar proudly strutted off toward the water, jumping into it without a care in the world. He then began to swim toward the koi fish, Katara dismounting from the saddle to stand by the shoreline, watching Aang intently as he approached the giant fish; she widened her eyes as she watched him dive down, suddenly disappearing before he rose out of the water again, now on the back of an elephant koi. It dove back into the water, before appearing once again a few moments later; Katara beamed with excitement, seeing how he was able to do it in the first place. She watched as he rode along on the koi fish's back, waving out toward them, laughing giddily, although she could only see the wide-mouthed expression on his voice, and couldn't hear his voice.

"Whooh!" she waved back, giving him a little encouragement; she momentarily glanced back toward Azula and Sokka, who both were rather disinterested, though the Princess was at least watching as Aang continued ride the koi fish, jumping into and out of the water again and again.

She glanced beside her to see Momo jumping up and down, chuckling slightly before turning back to face her brother and his girlfriend, "You've got to admit, it's pretty cool."

"It's not like he's doing anything. The fish is doing all the work." her brother simply gestured toward Aang, who continued to ride the elephant koi; in the corner of her eye, she noticed Appa trying to munch on a fallen branch.

"Appa! What are you doing!" she called to the sky-bison whose eyes darted to her momentarily before he continued trying to chew on the branch.

Azula glanced over her shoulder to take note of the sky-bison, "Hmph, I don't think he should be eating that."

"Even if Aang says you have five stomaches, you can't just eat sticks!" she declared, racing over to the sky-bison, grabbing the end of the branch he was trying to eat, "There's probably some grass nearby for you to eat. How about that instead of this?" she suggested to Appa, who grunted gruffly before exhaling, turning his head around as he let go of the tree branch.

Once she got the stick free, she watched as the flying bison heeded her suggestion, moving around to gnaw at some grass nearby, cropping up around the base of a tree. The forest that lined the shoreline was quite desolate, with little grass, but there was enough for their giant companion to eat before they took flight once again. She guessed, from what her brother had already deduced, that they were only a day away from the Earth Kingdom, which was a relief to consider, knowing that the sooner they got there, the sooner they would be able to find the rebels Bato had spoken of.

"There's something in the water!" she heard her brother call out, Katara raising a brow with interest.

"What?" she mumbled, before pacing back towards the shore, where both Azula and Sokka were standing with grimaces, "What's wrong?"

"He's going to get himself eaten by whatever just ate that koi fish." the Princess gestured out toward a dark shadow in the water, before her boyfriend shouted out, with a far more panicked look on his face.

"Aang! Get out!" he called on the young Avatar, Katara stepping forward, fearing the worst; she hadn't seen the creature that they were speaking of, but if the shadow in the water was anything to indicate its dimensions, she knew that their friend would be in danger, even if were a great bender.

"Get back!" she screamed out, waving out to him to try and get his attention; when he glanced their way, he waved back at them, not realising what danger he was in.

A moment later the koi fish was pulled from underneath him, throwing the young Air Nomad into the water, much to Katara's fear, "Aang!" she called out his name, before stepping forward, thinking that maybe she could try her best to waterbend; if she could help him in any way, she would do so.

Azula grasped her shoulder, looking at her with a serious face, "Don't put yourself in danger." she chided her, before gesturing over toward Aang, "He's an airbender, a master of evasion. He'll get away from whatever's in the water."

She tensed up before nodding, glancing back out toward Aang, taking note of a massive fin that was emerging out of the water; the young Avatar screamed out as soon as he saw it, racing along the surface of the water with the assistance of his bending, which was both amazing, as well as terrifying to watch, seeing the massive creature that loomed behind him.

"Waaaaaaah!" Aang screamed out at the top of his, racing right toward them.

Azula suddenly grabbed Sokka by the shoulder, throwing him down to the ground, inadvertently allowing her brother to narrowly dodge the agile airbender as he reached the shore, nearly flying straight into a tree behind them, when he came to a halt, he skid backward, pulling a lot of dust into the air, before whacking his back into the tree behind him.

Katara ran back toward Aang, who was looking rather bewildered after his experience, standing up to go and grab his tunic and pants, which were lying nearby, "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah... I- I have no idea what that was." he mumbled, before he pulled his pants up, taking his tunic and pulling it over his head.

Sokka stepped closer with a shaken expression, "I don't think we want to stay around here and find out. Time to get back into the sky." he gestured toward Appa, before suddenly, Katara took note of shadows above them, her eyes darting up to see a number of warriors clad in green jumping down to land around them, wielding golden fans. She stepped back, moving back to back with her brother and Aang, who was now completely dressed.

"Oh, come on!" her brother growled with frustration, immediately pulling out his fan as he took a defensive stance.

Aang tried to airbend at the attackers, but found his hands grappled, before he was thrown back out of the circle by one of the women; Katara tried to put her hands up to defend herself, but was grabbed by the shoulders, before her hood was pulled over her head. She then found herself thrown to the ground, grunting before she tried to pull her hood back off, only to find her arms grabbed, and from the feel of her wrists tightening together, bound.

"Let go of me!" she growled, before she suddenly heard a grunting noise above her, and then the sound of a girl crying out.

"Get your hands off my boyfriend!" she heard Azula shout out, and the following sounds were a mixture of grunts and what she guessed were jabs; she didn't hear anything that suggested that she was bending, and before long, she heard her brother's signature move, chi-blocking, doing its work.

"I can't move- I can't more my arms!" she heard one of their attackers cry out.

"That's what you get for sneak attacking us. Sneak attacks never count!" she heard her brother quip confidently; Katara struggled to get her arms free from the binds they were put in, but was able to get her hood off of her head, allowing her to see the fight that was unfolding around her.

Sokka was holding off three of the enemy warriors at a time, while his girlfriend wasn't in her field of view, she could hear footsteps behind her; the Water Tribe girl instinctively dropped down, watching with awe as Azula front-flipped over her, before kicking one of the enemies in the chest; she then teamed up with her brother grabbing the fans of one of their enemies, using it to deflect their attacks as they tried to subdue the two of them.

"Stop fighting!" she heard Aang's voice cry out, the young Avatar landing up in one of the trees above them, having already gotten himself free, "I'm the Avatar. We're not here to attack your island." he assured them, the attackers looking up at him with awe.

"Th-that's airbending." one of them mumbled, another pointing up at him.

"He can't be lying. No one should be able to airbend except the Avatar!" she piped up, before Sokka and Azula both loosened their stances, glancing back down at Katara, who was still on the ground with her hands bound behind her back.

"Are you alright, Katara?" her brother asked her, the Water tribe girl shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm fine." she told them, "Except for the fact I can't get up." she conceded, making the Princess snicker, before she approached her, ready to untie her binds.

One of the enemies stepping in between her and Katara, "Just wait a minute. What are you doing on Kyoshi Island? Where has the Avatar been for a hundred years?"

"He wanted to ride the giant koi fish, and he was frozen." the Princess answered her question with a terse, slightly agitated voice, "Now, please get out of my way. I'd like to make sure my friend is out of those binds you put on her." she told her, before tilting her head to look down at the Water Tribe girl, "I'm sure you'd agree."

"Yes please." she nodded with an uneasy smile, the girl who was standing in front of her turning around and glancing down at her; her eyes were suspicious, although not necessarily of Katara- perhaps she had realised that Azula was a Fire Nation, even if she hadn't used her firebending.

Once she reached her, the Princess leaned over and untied the bindings on her wrists, allowing her to climb back up to her feet, slightly pained from the fact she had been forced into to the ground almost face-first, "Are you in a helpful mood today?" she quipped, making the Fire Nation girl snicker.

"I protect my allies." she assured her, as if to try and devalue any sentiment of friendship the two of them might have had.

When she glanced around, now realising that the fighting had come to a sudden halt, all of them, their group and the green-wearing female warriors all looked at each other, "Well, this is awkward." Sokka simply broke the silence, "Did you guys have a village or something we could go to?"

One of the warriors, the same one that had stood between Azula and her, glared her brother down, "And why would you like to know that?"

"Uh... I want to buy some food. We have money, and... I'm hungry." he simply admitted, the warriors looking amongst each other before the same girl nodded.

"We would have to check with our village headman. He doesn't like outsiders coming into our village, or our island. We don't want spies." she explained, the Water Tribe girl glancing at her Fire Nation 'ally' with some unease; if they were on to Azula, she was unsure if she could stop them from trying to arrest her or worse.

"We're not spies." Aang assured her as he dropped down to the ground, "We're just here... well, I'm here to ride the elephant koi. Now that I've done that, we can be on our way." he assured them, "Unless, Sokka really wants food that bad."

"Something that isn't nuts or wildberries would be nice for a change." he stressed, making Katara roll her eyes; of all the things her brother could be concerned about after they nearly got captured was if he could get food out of their new not-enemies.

"Come with us." the warrior told them, before she narrowed her eyes at them for a moment, "Our village is just up this slope." she explained, before turning her heels, her fellow warriors moving along, a few of them limping, probably because of Sokka's chi-blocking.

The Water Tribe girl glanced to her friends for a moment, Aang giving an uneasy smile in return to the girl's offer, following after them cautiously; Katara didn't relent to follow after the young Avatar, knowing that it would be better for them all to stay together. Sokka didn't relent to follow their former opponents, obviously under the pretenses of getting some breakfast, but Azula was far more uneasy about going with. She stood by the treeline for a few moments, Katara glancing back her way and gesturing for her to follow; it took Momo climbing up onto her shoulder to force her to begin following, making a sigh to voice her frustration with their situation. She obviously didn't want to walk into a situation where her identity as the former Crown Princess of the Fire Nation might be exposed, especially they were now in the Earth Kingdom, where people were far more likely to despise her for actions she had played no part in.

She turned her eyes ahead, glancing at the warriors, who led them in along a track toward a village, which she could see was demarcated by a large wooden statue; upon closer inspection she realised that the statue had the same appearance as that of the warriors. Perhaps they were imitating the likeness of a person in their attire, though she couldn't be certain. When they approached what looked like the village the warrior had spoken of, one that consisted of a few wooden houses all lined up along a single street, she saw a number of villagers walking out to greet them; they were wearing blue, like Water Tribesmen did, although she could tell from their complexion that they were Earth Kingdom people, not from the Water Tribe, with paler skin and darker hair than them.

"Suki, who are these people?" she heard one of the villagers call out to a warrior, distinguished by his older age and unusual hairstyle, with a mass of hair on top of his head tied up, making it sprout out of his head like some kind of plant.

"Oyaji." the same girl who had spoken to them earlier, who she had realised was 'Suki', spoke to the elder, "We have found someone." she explained rather simply, before gesturing toward Aang, "The Avatar."

"Th-the Avatar? That's preposterous. The Avatar disappeared a hundred years ago." he narrowed his eyes with a disbelieving tone.

"That's me." the aforementioned Avatar stepped forward, pointing his thumb toward his chest, "Nice to meet you, I'm Aang."

"If you're really the Avatar, then show me that your can airbend." the older man demanded, crossing his arms with a stern look in his eyes.

Aang grinned giddily, "Wait, you want to see a trick?" he asked him rhetorically, pulling some marbles out of his pocket, "Check this out!" he exclaimed, before spinning the marbles around in between his two open palms, making them move so fast they looked like a solid circle; she realised that the precision to achieve such a bending technique must have been proof that he wasn't just any airbender, but a master of the art, even if he was using it for something rather unproductive.

"By the spirits... you really are the Avatar!" Oyaji exclaimed with utter amazement, "The Avatar... has returned!" he raised his hands up into the air, the villagers behind him cheering with glee; Katara wondered for a moment if everyone would be so happy to see Aang, who was actually surprised by how happy the people were to see him.

"Wow..." he mumbled to himself, before turning to face her with a grin, "Was my trick really that good?"

"It was a pretty cool trick." she assured him, patting him on the shoulder.

"You know what's a cooler trick?" Azula raised her voice, her boyfriend raising a finger.

"Now is not the time to get cocky... now is the time to ask for food." he argued, the Princess looking at her boyfriend with a disbelieving face.

"Urgh... you're never going to change, are you?"

"Not where it counts." he grinned, before raising a hand, "Mister Oyaji!"

The village leader glanced back toward her brother with a surprised face, "Uh, yes?"

"Yes, I'd like to ask if you have a market or something like that. I want to buy some food for myself... uh, and my friends." he explained himself, the elder chuckling at him.

"Oh, you don't need to do that. We will throw a feast in celebration of your return. I would only assume you would want to be well fed if you are travelling to master the elements, young Avatar." he turned to Aang, who bowed respectfully to Oyaji.

"Thank you, your generosity is really appreciated." he smiled at him with humility, before he glanced up toward the statue that stood before me, "So that's Avatar Kyoshi?"

"Avatar Kyoshi? You know another name... wait wasn't that the name of the island." Sokka scratched at his chin, the young Avatar nodding.

"Yep! They must have named this island after her. She was the Avatar before the last one. An Earth Kingdom Avatar." he explained, before glancing toward the warriors who had attacked them, "And those girls, they dress like her."

"Yes, we do." Suki stepped forward, catching their attention, "It is our greatest honour to her name for her service to our island. She trained the first of our warriors, hundreds of years ago, and now we wear our make-up and armour in her image."

"So you're like the Kyoshi... warriors." Sokka concluded, the girl snickering at his comment.

"Yes, the Kyoshi Warriors. That's our name." she clarified, making him raise a brow with surprise.

"Huh, that was easier to guess than I thought. Sorry for beating you all up back there."

"I had the situation under control." the warrior narrowed her eyes at him, making Azula snort.

"Under control? He was about to chi-block all of your girls and then you would have been our prisoners." she retorted, making the other girl glare back at her.

"You're acting awfully rude for someone who was just offered the hospitality of our village." she concluded with a slight snarl, to which she simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm just stating the facts as I see them." she argued, Katara pointing toward her with an accusing finger, not wanting the Princess to take her argument any further.

"Just shut up. You know where this will go. It's not happening." she demanded, making her chuckle.

"Ahaha, you think I want to fight this girl?" she gestured to Suki, before pursing her lips upward, "No, your brother is a far more worthy sparring partner for me." she simply dismissed her unstated argument, making Katara's jaw drop; if Azula was trying to get Suki to fight her, she was doing a good job.

Oyaji stepped over toward the warrior, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Now, Suki, don't do anything brash. They are our guests... even if that one is as rancid-tongued as a snake."

Azula raised a brow at his rather insulting description of her, but she didn't try to argue as the leader of the Kyoshi warriors walked away, up the street. The villagers were already crowding around Aang, and Katara forced herself to step back, not wanting to get swarmed by them.

"Wow, wow! I can do more tricks if you like!" the young Air Nomad assured them, Katara glancing back toward her brother.

"A little too eager?" she asked him, to which he simply nodded.

"I have a feeling we'll be here a little longer than a feast."

---

Sokka licked his lips, realising that the feast they had been given was more than he had been hoping for; he expected to get maybe some roast meat, some fish, and maybe even a little rice. Instead they were given something that he could only compare to a dessert, but for breakfast, instead of after dinner. He'd only had desert when he was staying at the Governor's Palace in Ba Sing Se, and the food he was enjoying at that moment was far better, though perhaps it was the pure quantity of dessert for him to enjoy that had him salivating.

He turned to his girlfriend with a giddy grin, "This is delicious... you've got to try it."

Azula glanced back at him with a rather snide glare, "Fine. But I'm not getting used to this."

"What do you mean... you're a Pr-" Aang began before Sokka raised a finger hush him; even if he was enamoured by the meal he was eating, he did not forget the fact that it was his responsibility as a boyfriend to keep his girlfriend safe, and in this case, it was from their own hosts.

"Don't mention the p-word here." he placed his finger over the young Avatar's lips, "Do you know what they'd do to her?"

"Uh... not really." he admitted, Katara grimacing slightly as she turned from the dessert she was eating.

"It's not actually what they'd do to her, but what she'd do to them." she clarified, making Sokka chuckle; Azula had nothing to fear from a bunch of nonbending fighters, rather they should be the ones to fear her.

"That's right." he agreed, "But we shouldn't worry about that." he told them, his expression brightening as he gestured down to the table below them, "We should worry about how we're going to eat all of this."

"You mean, how you're going to eat all of it." the Princess corrected him, the Water Tribe warrior grinning giddily before he took another bite; he simply shrugged his shoulders, conceding that she was right- he was going to eat as much as he liked, and if that ended up being all the food on the table, so be it.

"Maybe we should give you a fake name or something like that." Aang piped up with an idea, Sokka's lips widening into a smug grin as he glanced back toward his girlfriend.

"A yes, Zaira Junior." he joked, earning a glare from the Princess, who didn't appreciate his reference to the first time they had used pseudonyms, "No, but seriously, how about Saila. That sounds less F- you know what." he clarified, the Princess shrugging her shoulders.

"Yeah, that's fine." she conceded, "As long as you call me by my proper name in private, then we'll have no problem."

"What would the issue be?" he raised a brow, confused why she'd be annoyed about him trying to ensure her safety.

"I prefer the dignity of being called by my actual name, thank you very much." she glared at him, before taking a bite from one of the deserts, her glare faltering as she tasted the meal.

"It is good, right?" he beamed at her, the Princess crossing her arms and turning away from him, obviously annoyed by the fact that he was right.

"What's the whole Zaira thing about anyway?" Aang raised a brow, Sokka realising that she hadn't detailed that specific part of their story.

"The last time we were in the Earth Kingdom, that's the name she used to try and disguise her identity. I don't know if you've realised, but she's kind of a big deal." Sokka explained the backstory rather succinctly, before taking another dessert into his hands.

He found it to be more interesting than talking about things that happened six months prior; said memories were so far away that the memories were a grayish haze that only seemed to feature a few quips from Azula and an uncomfortable bed in a barn.

"That explains why everyone keeps recognising her." Katara acknowledged, "Blue fire is really rare, isn't it?"

"For all I know, I'm the only one who can make it." Azula conceded, "Which I realise is more of a curse than a blessing at this point."

"Can't you make it... uh... not blue?" the young Avatar questioned, making her narrow her eyes at him with tightly held back anger.

"My f- my abilities are powered by my emotions... primarily my drive, and my anger. Without those I can't bend, so I don't have much of a choice in the matter."

"Wait- did you say can't bend?" Katara questioned her with surprise, Aang nodding.

"I've heard that's a thing... once the monks told us a story, that if an airbender became too attached to material things, that their bending abilities would weaken."

"Is that true?" she questioned once more, her tone somewhere between skeptical and surprised; at that moment, Sokka took another bite from one of the desserts, not overly interested in the conversation he was stuck hearing.

"I- uh- don't know, really. I thought it was just a story. I don't want to try and test that story... not having my bending, that'd be like not having Appa!" his voice rose, obviously sounding fearful of such a potential scenario.

The Water Tribe warrior then licked the sweet icing off of his fingers, before glancing around at the others, "Maybe you three can have your bending conversation and I can just eat all the desserts." he suggested, Azula grabbing him by the back, glaring at him with a serious face.

"You need to stop eating, Sokka. You're going to be sick. How about you go for a walk, and then come back? If you're still hungry, you can eat then."

"Why would I go for a walk? That just sounds like too much effort." he sighed with frustration, his girlfriend gesturing towards the door they had entered the building through.

"Because you want to remain at peak fitness. You said it yourself, you want to be able to protect your friends... you've got to stay in shape." she argued, making him tilt his head back as he sighed; as much as he wanted to continue eating, he knew she had a pretty good point.

"Okay, you have a point." he conceded, before cocking a smirk, "Have fun talking about your jerkbending. I'm sure you'll gain the greatest wisdom ever!" he told them with sarcastic enthusiasm, earning annoyed glares from all of them, including Aang, who was the most forgiving and kind person he knew.

He turned his heels, smugly appreciating the disdainful looks on their faces, before he made his way out of the building, still chewing on one of the desserts; he took another bite from it, enjoying the sweet taste of the chewy, sugary dessert, which seemed to be some kind of fruit pastry. He turned around at a corner, taking the staircase that led him down to the bottom floor of the building, before he walked straight out of the main doors of the building, walking past a few villagers who were cleaning up the floor. They took little notice of him, seeing that he wasn't the Avatar, simply one of his companions, and a nonbender at that.

Once he walked outside, he squinted for a few moments as his eyes readjusted to the midday sun, before he glanced around for a few moments, wondering where he ought to walk. He decided that he didn't really care where he went, and just began walking down the main street of the village, taking note of a massing group of young girls who were standing below a window into the room where they had been eating. He concluded that they were Aang's fangirls, which made him snicker at the thought of people like that; obsessed with someone who had little care for them, not more than they did for any other ordinary person. Sokka knew the young Avatar probably wasn't that interesting, but he didn't mind that; all the attention that Aang was getting would make him nervous, so being a nobody honestly worked in his favour.

The Water Tribe teen made his way down through the village, glancing at the houses and the villagers that were standing by them; the people seemed rather idle, although he guessed that most people were taking their lunch breaks. The painters, however, were not, still working on the statue of Avatar Kyoshi, which they had begun cleaning up as soon as Aang was revealed to be the Avatar. He looked at the statue, considering for a moment how tall the past Avatar might have actually been; statues weren't necessarily life sized, so it was a little hard to tell.

"Big, serious looking lady. If Aang was as serious loooking as that, he might be able scare people without any bending." he joked to himself, before furrowing a brow, "Huh, if we made Aang scary... then we wouldn't need to fight anybody." he acknowledged, before shrugging his shoulders, "What do I know? He's a magical dude who had bend all the elements." he conceded, before turning his heels once more walking around toward the side of the village, back into the wooded areas that surrounded the village on all sides.

He made his way into the forest, feeling his stomach ache slightly, realising that Azula was right; he probably had eaten too much, and if he had eaten any more, he probably would have felt even sicker. He glanced around, taking note of all the tall trees which obscured the sun's light in such a way that the shadows formed lines across the forest floor, all running parallel to each other. He found it a little interesting, and began to step across the shadows, as if they were gaps in the ground. He knew it was a little childish, but he didn't have anything better to do, and he knew that the exercise would do him good. His leaps eventually became wide strides, and his pace increased to a solid jog as he made his way up along through the wooded area, back up the hillside on the opposite side of the houses. He remembered when he had walked through the forest in the Earth Kingdom for days on end, and was relieved that he wasn't going to have to do that again; the power of the flying bison was one that he would use to his advantage when it came to crossing the wide expanses that he might have otherwise had to trek on foot.

When he reached the top of the hill, he took note of a house that was isolated from the rest of the village, and slowed his pace as he approached it, glancing inside to realise that it was the Kyoshi Warriors, the girls that he had fought that morning. They were currently in the middle of their training, doing some sets with their fans, which intrigued him enough that he approached even closer, to the point at which they could clearly see him. When they stopped their sets, one of them gestured out toward him.

"Ah, the paralysing boy decided to show his face." she quipped, although her tone was rather disdainful; he guessed that they weren't very happy when he actually started fighting back against them.

"It's called chi-blocking." he corrected the girl, who rolled her eyes, "And, uh, sorry for this morning. I got a little carried away."

"That was actually quite impressive, I'm not going to lie." another warrior admitted, the one he remembered to be called Suki by Oyaji, crossing her arms with a genuine look of interest, "How do you do it?"

"Chi-block? Oh, it's pretty simple. You just hit somebody's vital chi paths to block the flow, and then that part of their body becomes useless; paralysed, and if they're a bender, they can't bend."

"Temporarily useless." one of the warriors quipped, "My arms are fine now." she explained, indicating that she was the one he had paralysed the arms of; she was trying to bind his arms, after all, so he had to react in kind.

"Yeah, you'd need to be able to bend inside someone's body to actually stop the chi paths permanently." he explained, "Which no one can do." he acknowledged, before furrowing a brow, "Or maybe they can. I'm unsure."

"I'd rather not try and find out." Suki quipped, before gesturing to him, "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you and your friends were having your brunch, uh- feast thing." she simply observed, the Water Tribe teen shrugging his shoulders idly.

"Eh, my girlfriend told me to walk off my meal. She said I ate too much... which given the stomach ache that's coming on right now, I'd say she was right."

"The snarky one?" she raised a brow, making Sokka snort; that was the most succinct way to describe Azula, in his eyes.

"Yes, the snarky one." he chuckled to himself, before his eyes moved up to the warriors, "Would you mind if I trained with you guys? That would help me work off the breakfast desserts I just had."

"Sure, but on one condition." Suki clarified, raising a finger, "You have to show us how to chi-block." she told him, the warrior shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah, I could do that. I wanna see how you guys nearly captured us. That was pretty impressive." he admitted; he had fought a fair few people in his time, but the closest he had actually gotten to getting captured, bar the time he was intoxicated and taking a piss outside a Ba Sing Se bar, was that morning.

Walking into the building, he grabbed his waist, pulling his parka up and over his shoulders, knowing that if he was actually going to do some training, his heavy furs would only slow him down. He placed it down to the side, stretching his arms out before he glanced toward the warriors.

"So, how long have you all been warriors for?" he asked them, just curious as what kind of experience he would be going against; he guessed that they hadn't left their island to fight in the war, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be tough opponents.

"We start training at around the age of eight. Sometimes younger, sometimes older." Suki clarified, before one of the warriors raised a fist.

"It doesn't matter how long we've been training. It's the skills that count." she piped up, before pointing toward the Water Tribe teen, "So, then... are you even a warrior?"

"Uh, yeah, of course I am." he assured her, making the group of girls look amongst themselves, snickering with amusement.

"Really, then where's your weapons?" one of them retorted, making him narrow his glare at them.

"My weapons?" he asked them, before he drew out his boomerang, "This is my boomerang, my most prized possession. My other weapons on Appa's saddle. Appa's our sky-bison- the giant fluff monster who your people are feeding."

"How does that thing even work? It kinda looks like a curved knife." one of the warriors narrowed her eyes at it, stepping closer, as if she were about to try and touch it.

"It's thrown. Not like a spear. It comes back." he clarified, making them look at him with clearly confused expressions; it seemed that nobody ever understood what a boomerang was.

"Yeah... well I bet it's not as versatile as a fan." the same warrior argued, before pulling out her own weapon, which was furled up like a folded piece of paper, opening it with the flick of her wrist, "These can be used to block and strike." she explained, before dropping her weapon down slightly, before glancing toward Suki, "So... can we beat him up yet? I'm kind of scratching for a rematch."

The leader of the group crossed her arms, glancing at him momentarily before nodding, a smug look appearing on her face, "Go ahead."

"Get back!" the warrior told her comrades, who obliged as they moved toward the edges of the room, giving her and Sokka the space to fight, "Lemme fight the boomerang boy."

"Uh... the name is Sokka." he clarified, rather embarrassed by such a nickname, even if it was better than the usual 'snow savage' he got from the Fire Nation people he knew, including his girlfriend, "And you are?"

"Amari." she clarified with a pursing of her lips, moving into a fighting stance, "Now, are you going to just stand there and let me knock you out or is this going to be a proper fight?" she quipped, prodding him into taking his own stance, with his left foot forward and right behind, his boomerang in his right hand, ready to be used in any way necessary to defeat his latest sparring partner.

"Yes. I'll go easy on you." he prodded her in return, making the warrior snarl at him slightly.

She stepped forward, looking as if she was about to try and charge at him with both her fans, but instead raised her left foot, moving her arms around in a circular motion, furling up one of her fans and throwing it right at him, Sokka forced to raise his hands to block the weapon as it nearly hit him in the head. In the motion he had covered his field of view with his arms, the Kyoshi Warrior stepped forward, closing the gap between them, striking him in the right shoulder with her other fan, making him flinch slightly, although he raised his boomerang up, swinging to clip her headband; she looked rather relieved, as she had only narrowly dodged getting her face cut by the sharp side of his boomerang. She then grabbed his right bicep, stopping him from using his arm for a moment, before she kneed him in the gut, making him gasp for air; even if he hadn't expected such a quick move, Amari probably didn't realise that he had already sent his left hand to jab at her right side. She grunted, before she began to raise her right arm, ready to hit him in head with her fan, only to realise that her arm had gone limp.

"Oh shit." she mumbled, taking his grappled arm and tossing it toward him, as if to delay the inevitable as he jabbed her in the collarbone, taking out her main chi-path, which inadvertently made it impossible for her to jump out of the way, let alone stand.

As she fell back onto the ground, he glanced down at her smugly, throwing his boomerang up into the air before grabbing it with his left hand. He pointed it down toward her before thinking of something cocky to say, but couldn't think of anything other than what she had mocked him about earlier.

"Who said I needed a weapon?" he quipped, the Kyoshi Warrior glancing back at him spitefully.

"You still had that stupid boomerang." she growled at him.

"No, no, he has a point." Suki intervened in their conversation, much to his surprise, "His chi-blocking was what he actually hit you with. He missed your face with the boomerang." she argued, making Amari glare back at the leader with frustration, huffing with frustration.

"Then how can I beat him, huh? If we fight at close-range, he can just chi-block me." she asked her, Sokka clearing his throat, realising that she had actually missed a part of his fighting style.

"I can also do it with my boomerang at a distance." he clarified that point, wanting to stress that he could chi-block from a distance, though it was usually a once-off tactic in any given fight, seeing that he only had one boomerang.

"Oh, that's just brilliant." Amari sighed, before her superior pursed her lips upward.

"Well, that 'brilliant' tactic is something we'll be able to use if Sokka's a good enough teacher." she argued, the Kyoshi Warrior smirking as she realised the potential outcome from their training.

"Oh... good point." she acknowledged, before standing up, glaring him down with a regained sense of confidence, "At some point, I'm going to beat you at your own game, boomerang boy."

"Good luck." he told her with a sarcastic tone, just to prod her once more.

She still seemed a little too cocky for someone who lost to him pretty easily; he did remember being as eager as she was when he was first wanting to become a warrior. He saw enough fights that went the wrong way, and that turned him away from thinking with that kind of mindset, where pure confidence and determination could win a fight. It was a bit hard for him to be cocky anymore, given that Azula was exponentially more arrogant than him, and unlike most people, she had the skill and strength to back it up.

"Now, how are you going to teach us?" Suki questioned him, reoriented the conversation and his mind back to what he had first intended to do when he entered their building, not to beat them up for fun.

"Well, my girlfriend, she- uh- beat me up until I learnt it." he admitted honestly, making her look at him with disbelief.

"I mean... it's a means to an end." she acknowledged the merit in the tactic, "But I'm sure the girls don't want to get beaten up countless times to learn your skill."

"Oh, no, I'm pretty sure I'll only have to beat up one of you at a time. Watching how it works is a bit more helpful than explaining it." he clarified, knowing that he had learnt chi-blocking by seeing it work in action; Long Feng was a rather humorous victory in hindsight, but it set off his training in chi-blocking, from which he was able to beat Azula with it.

Suki stepped forward, ready to volunteer herself, "Fine then, show me how it's done." she simply requested, the Water Tribe teen taking a stance, putting his boomerang back into its sheath; he didn't need, nor want to use the weapon when chi-blocking, knowing that it would be easier for the Kyoshi Warriors to see what he was doing if he used his fingers.

"So... do you know what chi-paths are?" he asked her, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors raising a brow at him.

"Uh... I mean, I have a general understanding of them. They cross over your body, like a stick-person inside you." she recalled, making him snicker, realising that he hadn't thought of it that way.

"Yeah, that's actually a good way of thinking about it. The chi-paths line up and down your limbs, torso and head. That's what A- my girlfriend told me, when she taught me it." he explained the concept, nearly slipping up by calling Azula by her name; he didn't think he was in the most travelled part of the Earth Kingdom, but that didn't mean that people wouldn't recognise her name.

"So you hit the chi paths?" she asked him, imitating the jab that he had done to Amari's torso, "To block them?"

"Not exactly. You have to hit certain points to achieve a certain effect. The most vital point is right at the back of the neck, right below someone's hairline. A soft hit will disable benders, and a harder one can make someone freeze up. There's nothing better than telling somebody who's thrown the elements around their entire life that their training is useless." he grinned at them smugly, recalling once more his memories of defeating Long Feng, the smug and arrogant leader of the Dai Li.

"Well, I'm not a bender." Suki said as a matter of fact, the Water Tribe teen raising a finger.

"But you expect to fight people who can bend, don't you?" he asked her, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors nodding in confirmation, her serious, almost cold expression telling him that she, like him, took her duties quite seriously.

"So... are you going to hit me or something?" she asked him, "That's what you said you were going to do." she reminded him, making him chuckle, before glaring at her deviously.

"Huh, I did." he acknowledged, before he sent his left hand forward to jab her in the shoulder, the Kyoshi Warrior grabbing his arm; he looked at her with surprise, realising that she was very agile when it came to fighting.

"Hmph, that was pretty good." he conceded, before raising his right hand, "but there's one thing I forgot to explain about chi-blocking." he clarified, before he jabbed himself in his bicep, "I can do it to myself."

Instead of holding a tensed fist, Suki was forced to hold up the weight of Sokka's limp arm; as he was able to ignore his left arm, leaning forward to he send his right hand into her side, right above her hip. The Kyoshi Warrior grunted as she moved back slightly, letting go of Sokka's limp arm; she limped backwards, realising that her left leg was paralysed.

"That was... an interesting technique." she conceded, "Are you always like this when you fight?"

He cocked a smug grin, "Well, more or less." he admitted, "I'm not the toughest warrior from my tribe. I use my brains to make sure I can be better than any tough warrior or bender." he grinned, even though he knew that his words were slightly inaccurate, and boasting of a claim he couldn't exactly confirm.

He knew he certainly couldn't beat a master bender of any of the elements, including his girlfriend, who he had only ever beaten through wit and trickery rather than through his fighting skills, which despite being quite versatile, were nothing compared to that which she could harness.

"That's a bold claim to make." one of the warriors quipped, "Chi-blocking's cool, but I doubt you could actually beat someone who was prepared for it."

"That's true." he agreed with the warrior, "I haven't beaten my girlfriend in a fair fight since she taught it to me because of just that."

"So, how are we going to beat you?" she quipped in return, the Water Tribe warrior retaking a fighting stance.

"You'll figure it out. That's what I did." he acknowledged, Suki retaking her stance as she cocked a smirk.

"Let's do this." she declared, the Water tribe teen grinning.

"I still want to see how you guys do all your moves." he conceded, knowing that was what he himself wanted to get out of their training; the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors smirked at him, crossing her arms as she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

"You'll figure it out."

---

Looking through the market stand, Katara picked out a few vegetables and fruits that she thought would be good for them to eat while they travelled northward; she knew that they would only be staying on Kyoshi Island for so long so she knew that she ought to begin packing their supplies as a precaution. She hadn't seen either Azula or Sokka, so she was forced to do the work herself, but she had no issue with it. Being the one responsible one in their group gave her a sense of pride that she mightn't have had otherwise; she didn't want to be the boss, but she could be happy knowing that she was able to handle things herself, even if she would prefer if she was helped out by the others more often. As she was examining an eggplant, she felt a finger tapping on her shoulder, the Water Tribe girl turning around to face Aang, who she was relieved to see. Someone to help her out, as well as somebody to talk with; she sure could get lonely mulling over things all by herself. She had no idea what her brother and his girlfriend were doing, but she started to imagine things that disgusted her.

"Uh, are you alright?" he asked her, confused by her expression, the Water Tribe teen shaking her head.

"Oh, I'm fine. Could you help me carry this back to the room?" she gestured the pot of groceries toward him, "It's a little heavy."

"Actually, I can't right now." he raised his hands up, making look at him with slight concern; he didn't seem to be doing anything, so she was unsure why he couldn't help her.

"What do you mean, 'you can't'?" she asked him with slight annoyance, the young Avatar's face brightening with enthusiasm.

"I promised the girls I'd give them a ride on Appa. Why don't you come with us? It'll be fun!" he beamed at her, the Water Tribe girl turning her attention back to filling her pot with vegetables.

"Watching you show off for a bunch of girls does not sound like fun. I'm not some little kid." she told him with slight frustration, the boy looking at her with surprise.

"Well, neither does carrying your basket." he conceded, making her raise a brow at him, now genuinely annoyed at his attitude; she was actually trying to help the whole group out while he was running around being a show off for a bunch of little girls.

"Very funny." she narrowed her eyes at him, "This basket isn't for me. It's for the whole group. We need supplies for the trip, because we are leaving Kyoshi... soon." she added at the end to stress the point; he couldn't just keep running around enjoying himself when the Southern Raiders were more than likely looking for them.

"I don't want to leave Kyoshi yet. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something I really like about this place." he raised a finger to his chin, Katara taking note of his fangirls behind him.

One of them called out, "What's taking you so long, Aangy?"

The young Air Nomad turned back to look at them, "Just a second, Koko!"

"You know, I honestly thought you were pretty humble... but you're not." she glared at him, making him look at her with surprise; he obviously hadn't expected such a harsh remark from her, but Katara was more afraid of what might happen if the Fire Nation came after him than offending the young Avatar.

"You can go play off with your fangirls if you want to, but that doesn't change the world outside this island. If the Southern Raiders come knocking before we leave, I'm not even going to say I told you so." she warned him, making the young Avatar tense up for a moment, probably thinking over what he ought to say in response.

"Uh..." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head, "I'll... go now." he told her with a dejected voice, turning around to return to his fangirls; she raised her chin up, not regretting her words, even if they had been a little harsh.

"I'm guessing you'd like some help." she heard Azula quip from behind her; of all the people she was actually relieved to see, it was her, given the fact that she was, like her, a no-nonsense kind of person.

She approached her with a slightly humoured look on her face, "I see that you're not taking to Aang's new fame well." she observed, making the Water Tribe girl narrow her eyes, immediately reminded why she didn't like talking to the Princess; her bluntness and snark were an immediate turn-off.

"Are you trying to piss me off?" she snarled, showing her teeth, the Princess shaking her head with an indifferent look.

"No, not really. I just got back from f- meditation." she nearly mentioned one of their 'banned words', as there were all working hard not to reveal her true identity, "You look like you need a break." she added, making Katara snicker.

"Oh, I guess you could say that." she acknowledged, before approaching her with the pot in hand, "Were you actually going to carry the pot?"

"If I do, you owe me a favour." she told her with a straight, dead-serious face.

The Water Tribe girl sighed with defeat, knowing that her actually trying to help, even at the behest of a favour, was better than Aang, who just shrugged her off, "Fine." she agreed to her terms, "Do I get to know what the favour is?" she raised a brow, Azula chuckling as she took the pot into her hands.

"That would ruin the surprise." she declared, "Plus, I hold my secrets close to heart."

"Secret?" she raised a brow, now really curious as to what she wanted her to do.

"That was a lie. My favour is pretty mundane, honestly." she admitted with a blank, almost disappointed expression, Katara pouting slightly.

"Oh." she murmured, before Azula turned around, "We're just taking this up to the village hall, so we can put it on Appa's saddle when the villagers are done cleaning him." she explained, the Princess not even responding to her words, just beginning to walk up the hill toward the hall.

She followed behind, and after about ten seconds of prolonged silence, she decided that she ought to make conversation, "So... uh, how was your 'meditation'?" she queried, the Fire Nation girl pursing her lips into a smirk.

"Oh, fine. I set a few trees... alight. Don't worry. I put out the fires. I'm a martial artist, not an arsonist." she explained, her voice growing quieter as she indirectly mentioned the fact she was a firebender.

"I'm pretty sure everyone in the Fire Nation Army are arsonists, A- Saila." she almost referred to her by her actual name, "It's hard to lie this much." she conceded, the Princess looking at her with a thoughtful glance.

"Hey, you could just shut up and not talk to me. That'd solve your problem in an instant." she quipped, Katara unsure whether she was just trying to incite her anger or she actually being serious.

"Okay... won't you get... I don't know, lonely?" she asked her with some unease, finding some commonality with that feeling; both at that present moment, but also all throughout her life, when her only friend was her brother, who most of the time, she was fighting with.

"I think you're deflecting your own emotions onto me." she retorted, "Are you really that stuck up about Aang and his fangirls?" she quipped in response, making the Water Tribe girl clench her fists.

"Could you..." she began, before she sighed, realising that Azula was actually right, "not?" she murmured, making the Fire Nation girl chuckle.

"Well, I'd prefer to give advice when it's needed." she simply told her, "And you seem to be in a rather bad mood, and I didn't cause it this time." she joked, although she brought up a good point; most of the times she had gotten angry since they met Aang had been caused by her, and if it had ever been caused by a person, it was her.

Katara narrowed her eyes, before nodding, knowing that the Princess had a good point, "Yeah... you're right. I just don't like him acting so..."

"Childishly?" she finished her sentence for her, the Water Tribe girl nodding.

"Yeah. I just wish he'd take his Avatar duties a little more seriously. Having a little fun is okay, but we're got a world to save."

"Well, we're not 'saving' the world." Azula corrected her, "We're bringing peace to a wartorn one. The world wouldn't end if Aang didn't do anything, but it certainly won't get any better. My brother isn't exactly going to single-handedly fix everything, even if he thinks that himself."

"You speak about Zuko like he's self-righteous and ignorant. Is he really like that?" she asked her, unsure if her friend had the most unbiased view on her brother.

"He's a selfish prick." she simply commented, with a slight snarl, "He took the throne to fulfil his own vision without really considering what he was doing. From what I can guess, he had a mental breakdown after the comet, and overthrowing my father was the thing he did to try and alleviate whatever problems he has." she explained, making Katara's eyes widen; she didn't know much about her brother, but he did sound like he had a lot of issues, no matter how much bias her only source on the Fire Lord had.

"Ah!" Azula's expression turned one of surprise, "That was very witty of you, Katara. Getting me pissed off about my idiot brother."

"That wasn't intentional." she explained herself, making Azula roll her eyes.

"At least act like you're a mastermind. That way people won't know what you'll do next." she suggested, making the Water Tribe teen raise a brow; that was unusual, though useful advice, something that seemed to be coming from the Princess more often than not as of late.

"Uh... thanks." she made an awkward smile as they approached the village hall, Azula stepping up beside Appa, who was still getting cleaned, making a few groans and grunts as the villagers brushed off twigs, dirt and shedded fur from his body.

She placed down the pot before she glanced toward the Water Tribe girl, "So, are you ready to fulfil your favour?" she pursed her lips into a smirk, Katara stepping closer, nodding as she did so; she guessed that it would involve some kind of training, which she was looking forward to, given that she wanted to improve her waterbending skills in any way possible.

"I have found the perfect spot for us to meditate, but I need to get some firewood. I need you to help me collect it." she explained, Katara narrowing her eyes before she remembered what she had told her about breathing; if she wanted to use fire to focus her breathing and improve her passive control over fire, when she must have wanted the Water Tribe girl to do the same.

"So, where are we going?" she asked her, the Princess raising a finger to her chin, looking at her smugly.

"Oh, well, you're a waterbender. I'm sure you could figure out where your element is." she suggested to her, before walking back downhill, right past her, "Follow me."

Katara wasn't an idiot, she just had little understanding of how she ought to familiarise herself with her element; unlike Azula, she hadn't been trained by actual masters who knew everything about their element. She guessed, however, that they were going to some body of water, whether that be the beach or a lake, she was unsure.

"So, do you know what Sokka is doing?" she asked the Princess, still unsure as to exactly where her brother had gone.

"He met up with me a little earlier. He said he was teaching the Kyoshi Warriors chi-blocking. So... he's being productive. Teaching is the best way to improve one's skills... that's what some wise philosopher once said. I can't recall which one."

"I thought that was just a common saying." Katara acknowledged, sure that she had heard something along the lines of what she had just said sometime prior.

"Maybe my tutors were better liars than me." Azula amused herself, before turning to glance at Katara, "I'm sure Sokka's fine, that's if he's actually as competent as I hope he is."

"If those girls beat him, he'd never get over it." she smirked, knowing her brother's sexist presuppositions about the world all too well, although she was sure they had improved, especially since he met Azula, who was what she'd call an archetypical 'strong female'.

"I doubt they'd beat him, unless they all ganged up on him, but that would be a little unfair." she argued, "Individually, they're probably a lot less skilled."

"Sounds like learning to fight as a unit is a good advantage." Katara observed, the Princess nodding with an approving smirk.

"It certainly is. That's why you ought to learn to waterbend sooner, rather than later. Your skills could be a great asset to our team." she assured her, making Katara raise a brow; she both appreciated the respect Azula gave her, but felt uneasy about how she treated her only for her utility.

Whether that was just her way of interpreting the world, or whether she actually felt no kind of friendship toward her, she couldn't tell, not yet, when she still barely knew the girl. She had spent six whole months with the girl, but even then, she was no closer to truly understanding her; her mind was more of a mystery than Aang's powers were to her, and she was pretty clueless when it came to those. The two of them made their way down the main street of the village, before they veered off to the left, making their way through the lightly wooded area between the village at the bay where they had first touched down on Kyoshi Island. She guessed well enough that they were going to meditate by the shoreline, which seemed to be a good place for her to be in sync with her element; it was certainly better than actually swimming in the presumably cold water, which she certainly didn't want to do, out of fear of getting ill. Once they reached a place with a warmer climate, she considered that might be an option, but then again, she didn't exactly want to go dancing around in a river trying to learn how to bend. She wanted to learn forms, like the ones Azula practised in front of her, but for waterbending instead of firebending; she could take some inspiration from what she had witnessed both Aang and Azula do. However, she doubted that they would key into learning the basics of martial waterbending, the kind that she would need if she wanted to help fight with her friends.

The Fire Nation girl gestured toward the beach, "We can sit out there. All we need is the firewood." she explained, before raising a hand up to her chin, "I could just bend fire in my hands, but I don't want to freak out the villagers, or worse, turn them against us by revealing that I'm a firebender." she acknowledged, the Water Tribe girl nodding; she understood the situation they were facing with her identity, and she, probably more than anyone, wanted to make sure it was kept a secret, as she prioritised the safety of their group above all else.

"I understand." she nodded, before raising a brow, remembering the 'favour' that she owed the Princess, "Were you being serious when you told me I needed to get you firewood?"

"Yes." she narrowed her eyes at Katara, "I'll wait by the beach." she simply told her, making the Water Tribe girl snarl slightly, before she, with some contempt, decided to go along with fulfilling her favour.

She didn't actually agree that she owed her anything, seeing that Azula was carrying food for all of them to eat when they were travelling, but she didn't want to gain the Princess's ire. If anything, she wanted to actually build some goodwill with her, knowing that the less they butted heads, the easier it would be for them to work together. She didn't necessarily like Azula, and she honestly thought she was a snide and mean-spirited person at times, but she had a sense of honour that she could respect; she didn't agree with it, but she could respect it all the same. Whether she was better or worse than the average Fire Nation person when it came to her morals and principles was yet to be seen in her eyes, but she certainly hoped that she was worse, knowing that if the Fire Nation was full of Azulas then they might find it hard to actually make peace. She walked over a tree trunk, picking up some twigs that had fallen off of the tree, and bundled them into her arms, continuing over to a nearby tree to pick up some larger sticks. Keeping them bundled in one hand, she grew her collection of sticks in the other, until she had a hefty bundle in her hands, taking said sticks over to the beach, where the Princess was already sitting, facing toward the water in a meditative pose. Despite her posture, she didn't seem very calm, and like always it seemed a lot of things were on her mind; given what had happened to her, and what might happen when they reached the rebels in the Earth Kingdom, she could understand why she would be feeling nervous. A lot of her plans weighed on presuppositions that couldn't be corrected until they reached their potential allies, as well figuring out exactly what happened to her own forces after her departure from Yu Dao. Katara only knew what she heard from the story, and nothing else, and from what she could tell, Azula was set on fixing her mistakes, though what the result would be in the end still eluded her.

"I got your sticks." she spoke up, the Princess turning her head to the side, her right eye glancing toward her; she gestured down behind her with a flick of her wrist.

"Put them down there. Not too close to the water, just in case you have an accident." she explained her reasoning, making Katara raise a brow in interest.

"Huh, an accident?" she mumbled, kneeling down behind the Princess to put down the sticks, piling them up before Azula turned herself around, reorienting herself so she sat perpendicular to the shoreline, right in front of the sticks.

"You know, waterbending a big splash. That might actually be a sign you're improving... so, an 'unexpected incident' might be a better way to phrase that." she conceded, "You've got to figure something out eventually, or get pissed off enough that you start bending unintentionally." she explained with a slight smirk, as if she wanted to see her get pissed off; the Water Tribe teen swore to herself that she wouldn't let her get that bit of enjoyment, so she decided to try and remain as calm as she could, which wasn't that hard, seeing that they were about to meditate.

"Okay." she nodded, sitting down across from the pile of sticks, which Azula set alight with a snap of her fingers, her blue flames starting up the little campfire, though they quickly turned orange as the fire became natural, rather than controlled by the Princess's bending, "So, you've got your fire, I've got my water. Now what?"

"We sit here, and we breathe. The more you make contact with your element, the better your passive control becomes." she simply explained, before pursing her lips upward, "For example, I could run into a burning house, if I had to, and not have to worry about bending. I would already do it subconsciously, my chi tuning into the flames and getting making them harmless to me, as if they were my own."

Katara raised a brow, "So if I jumped into the water, I could just form a sphere around myself and walk around underwater with no worry?" she asked her, the Princess chuckling.

"Exactly... although I wouldn't try that specific example, seeing that you'd probably suffocate." she added, the Water Tribe girl narrowing her eyes, not having considered that point.

It would be like closing up her sleeping roll and being unable to breathe, except she'd be underwater, so it'd be a lot harder to get fresh air; she moved the thought to the back of her mind, knowing that what was more important to think about was actually connecting with said water so she could even achieve such a feat.

"So, we just sit here, huh?" she mumbled, the Princess nodding before closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, when suddenly, the flames in front of them turned blue, the heat of the fire intensifying.

Katara momentarily glanced behind them before turning back to face her, knowing that if she continued to make her flames blue, it was more than likely that she'd be found out by some random passerby, "Uh, Azula, I know we already asked this at breakfast, but can you make your flames... not blue?" she inquired, the Princess opening her eyes, snarling at her slightly, obviously annoyed that the same topic was being brought up, once again.

"I already told you this earlier today. Emotions power my bending... I can't exactly stop my emotions and so, here we are, stuck with blue bending." she explained, Katara pouting slightly; the blue flames always seemed so intense, and angry, and even if the Princess was angry internally, she knew that couldn't have been the only emotion in her head.

"Yeah, but... there's more emotions than anger." she suggested, making the Princess scoff.

"Ah-ha-ha." she responded in a monotonous laugh, "Very funny, but I can't run my flames off humour... I'm not Sokka." she joked, the Water Tribe girl snickering slightly, trying to imagine her brother as a firebender; seeing how hot-headed and cocky he could get at times, she would say that firebending probably would suit him more than waterbending, but then again, she knew next to nothing about waterbending.

"I didn't mean humour. I meant... love." she suggested, making the Princess snort.

"That sounds like something my uncle would say... though then again, he is a master firebender, so he must be doing something right." she conceded.

"Don't dismiss it." Katara suggested, "Love can be just as strong as anger. Trust me, I find it easy to confuse the two at times." she conceded, remembering back to her thoughts about what she had wanted to do to the Southern Raiders when they returned to her village; she wanted to destroy them, and avenge her mother, and even if she was angry, she was motivated to do so because she loved her mother, and she loved her tribe.

"Huh, I mean... that's a good point actually. Love and anger are both passion. Two sides of the same coin. Anger... anger is stronger, though." she retorted her against suggestion, even though she had obviously considered it, "I know my strength, and it resides in my determination, and that determination is strengthened by my anger."

"But... you can see that's kind of stupid, right? You can use love just the same." she pleaded with the Princess, hoping that she might see that her worldview was flawed; Azula narrowed her eyes at her, before sighing, although not with defeat, but rather with frustration.

"You know, I came here to help you out, and you're just pissing me off. You're either stubborn or spiteful to my existence." she snarled her, making the Water Tribe girl's eyes widen.

"I don't hate you, Azula." she assured her, taking a deep breath, "I want you to be my friend."

"You don't want to be my friend, trust me." she retorted, making her scoff; how she could say something like that to her, even after she befriended her brother, her former enemy, and still believe they couldn't be friends was beyond her.

"Okay, okay." she sighed, realising she ought to take a different path to allow her to harness her bending with a more positive emotion, "How about I guide your meditation? I have a thought in mind."

"Oh, this is going to be brilliant." Azula sarcastically remarked, the snideness on her face ignored by Katara for the sake of achieving her ends.

"Please. Just trust me." she pleaded with the Princess, who raised her chin with annoyance before closing her eyes.

"Fine. What did you want me to think about? Setting your hair loopies on fire?" she quipped, making the other teen sigh before taking a deep breath.

"I want you to think of... what happened at Yu Dao." she took the harshest route she could think of; perspective was something that Katara needed at times to know that she was looking at things the wrong way, so she thought Azula could use some as well, "The Agni Kai, specifically. How did that make you feel?"

"I was angry with my brother. I hated him for what he did. I thought he had killed our father." she explained the fact of the matter, something that the Water tribe teen already knew.

"And then, how did you feel when you lost?" she asked her, the Princess looking down, despite the fact her eyes were closed, the flames before her dampening slightly.

"Ashamed. I had failed at the one thing I had prepared my entire life for. I couldn't face up against my coward of a brother, and I felt for the first time in my life, like I was the weakling." she explained herself, "I never want to feel that way again."

"How did you stop feeling ashamed?" she asked the Princess, who grit her teeth, opening her eyes to stare Katara down.

"I still feel ashamed." she declared, "I still hate the fact I lost, and that despite everything my father's teachings had failed me. That I was unable to do what I was taught." she explained herself, the Water Tribe girl softening her expression, realising that she had addressed the wrong part of the issue, seeing the flames rise, and the heat intensify.

"But how did you... cope?" she asked her, the Princess looking back down toward the flames, which dimmed slightly as she took a deep breath.

"I wasn't alone." she admitted, "For the first time in my life, I wasn't alone. I'm relieved I wasn't, because if I had been, I would have broken down. I would have had nowhere to go, and only spite to drive me along." she told her, before the flames actually started to flicker with bits of orange, dimming even further, the warmth becoming more like that of a natural fire.

"Sokka." she simply uttered her brother's name, "He was there."

"He is here." she corrected, before chuckling to herself, "Well, technically he's up smacking the heads of those Kyoshi Warriors, but he hasn't left me." she explained herself, "I guess we're stuck together, for better or worse."

"Definitely better, even if his complaints about food get a little too much." Katara conceded, the Princess chuckling.

"Oh, he'll never give that up. That is our burden to bear." she stated her belief on the matter, before her eyes turned up to the Water Tribe girl, "Is this what you wanted to talk about? How annoying your brother can be?"

"No." she shook her head, "That you love him." she simply corrected, "And enough that you're afraid that he might leave." she added, making the flame flicker once more, brightening before Azula narrowed her eyes at her.

"So you want me to get all gushy in front of you, and talk about how much I love him, and think he's the greatest person in the world?" she sarcastically mocked her, standing up before looking toward the water, "No chance. My relationship with Sokka is between him and I. You can keep out of it." she declared.

"I mean, that's a better reaction than what I was expecting." she conceded, thinking that the Princess was going to start screaming at her for trying to make her talk about her feelings, "Think about it this way. How do you feel when you're by his side?"

"Like I'm... not alone." she simply told her, still standing, looking down at her with suspicious eyes, "I don't know what that has to do with my blue fire."

"You're afraid." she simply concluded, "Fear and anger go together, just like love and anger. But Sokka isn't going to leave. He's attached to you by the hip at this point." she quipped, the Princess's eyes widening, as the flames of the campfire rose higher.

"Sh-shut up." she grit her teeth, "I'm not afraid. I've never been afraid in my life. Fear is for the weak!" she shouted at her, before Katara stood up to stand at her height.

"I'm not done yet." she declared, reminding her that she wanted her to listen, "You can't let that emotion control you. Let your love control you. Think of him, think of what he means to you." she declared, the Princess, clenching her fists, before the flames suddenly burst up once more, completely incinerating the sticks they had been burning, except unlike before, the flames were burning a bright gold.

"He means more than I want to teach you your stupid savage bending." she declared with a snarl, "I'm leaving. If you want to spar, I'm in the right fucking mood." she flared her teeth at her, before turning her heels, letting the fire dissipate away as she walked from the beach.

Katara tensed up, before she called out, realising that she had actually succeeded, "The fire was gold!" she shouted, the Fire Nation girl only responding pointing her finger toward her, her finger tips sparking a blue flame.

"You ought to shut up if you know what's good for you." she warned, before she made her way back into the forest, back toward the village.

The Water Tribe girl couldn't help but smile, knowing that even if she had well and truly pissed the Princess off, she had gotten what she had been looking for: her true face. It wasn't anger driving her, but fear, which made enough sense from what she knew of her past, which was very little; there was enough that she knew, from what little Sokka had told her, about her mother and her relationship with Zuko had made her realise that she feared being alone. She feared the idea that her idiot brother would die, or worse be gone from her life; she needed him, and not in the sense that he was physically helpful, but because he was emotionally there to hold her. She smiled, knowing that if there was anything she was proud of, it was the fact that Azula was, behind her confident and angry facade, a normal girl; she had been hurt, and she didn't want to be hurt again. Katara just hoped above all else that she could see that fear wasn't the thing that ought to drive her when she bent fire, but her passion for Sokka, even if that might have felt completely foreign to her. She wanted the turbulent girl to find happiness, if anything; if she couldn't make her see right from wrong, she could at the very least help find peace in her love.

---

Azula relented setting the forest around her alight, even if she knew that would dampen the rage she was feeling; she had gone out of her way to help Katara, who then proceeded to lecture her on her emotions, as if she had any idea what was going on inside her head. She had, however, kicked a fallen over tree in her rage, which made her toes ache badly; she cursed under her breath as she stumbled back toward the village, knowing that there were two things that could sooth her anger. Fighting was one of them, and the other thing she was a little too angry for; she didn't want to hurt Sokka because of his sister's actions, but she wouldn't relent to give him a consual beat-down if it made her feel any less angry.

Her anger was focused on the words she had uttered, which made her clench her fists so hard that her nails dug into her palms. 'You're afraid'- she never thought two words could make her want to scream flames up into the sky above her; it sounded like something her uncle would have told her, before her duel with Zuko. If he had, she wouldn't have relented to send a lightning bolt into her chest, knowing that such a word was so insulting to her very core that she would never have stood for it. Yet, she did- she had stood there and let Katara have her little tirade about how she ought to use love and all that, when she ought to have sent a flame-covered fist into the girl's face. The old Azula would have killed someone like Katara for saying what she did, but the new Azula, she couldn't even fight her. She couldn't find it in her to hate her; that was the problem she was faced with.

"Fuck you, Katara." she muttered under her breath, before she sent a fist into a nearby tree, which just like the kick, made her joints buckle as she grit her teeth with pain; she was unintentionally hurting herself, and that infuriated her further.

She didn't hate the Water Tribe girl, because she knew, in the end, she had to be right; she was just revealing the truth that she denied, or worse, outright ignored. She didn't want to be alone again, and she wanted Sokka by her side. She didn't want to be abandoned, not again. Being reminded of that made her so angry, because now all she could think of was all the times her mother ignored her, or chided her. Her disdainful words and praise of Zuko; all of those emotions were brought up when she thought about fear.

Azula had never feared her father, that was true, but she had feared being abandoned by him; when she thought her brother killed him, that was something that infuriated her so much, because she believed, for a time, that her traitor brother had killed her brother, taking away the only parent that ever gave her any attention or respect. By the time she fought Zuko, she had Sokka to rely on, to lean on and to love; but she didn't expect to end up in the Southern Water Tribe after that duel, she expected to be sitting on the throne, with her Water Tribe lover by her side. She knew it was a fantasy, and it would remain so until she defeated her brother. Such a thought only furthered her resolve; she needed to win, so she could both her country back, and be worthy of the love and devotion that Sokka gave to her all those months prior.

As she walked up toward the edge of the village, she tried to restrain her anger as much as possible, but found it challenging to walk around with anything less than a snarl. She tried to ignore the villagers, a few of which looked at her; the Water Tribe tunic that she was wearing marked her out as one of the Avatar's friends, and she realised she certainly didn't like the attention. She was filled with raw anger and pain, and she didn't want anyone to see that, just like how she hated the look Sokka had given her in Yu Dao, when she couldn't stand, let alone muster the energy to get angry like she currently was. She approached the hall where they had been housed by Oyaji, taking note of Appa, who was resting nearby, glancing her way as she approached; he groaned at her, the Fire Nation Princess momentarily stopping, wondering if Sokka was inside the hall. She was pretty sure he was at the Kyoshi Warriors' training house, so she decided that she wouldn't even bother; Azula stepped over toward the sky-bison, patting him around his ear, the sky-bison nuzzling her slightly.

Suddenly, she felt a hand tapping her on the shoulder, "Hey, Azula." she heard Aang pipe up, the Princess forcing her face to straighten; she didn't want to start screaming at the young Avatar because of something outside his control.

"Oh... hi, Aang." she simply turned back toward him, the boy raising a brow at her with a hopeful look on his face.

"Have you seen Katara?" he asked her, the Princess's eyebrow twitching as she held back her anger, taking a deep breath, placing her fingers on her nose-bridge.

"Why do you ask?" she responded in as calm a voice she could, her tone becoming jittery; Aang looked a little suspicious, but he didn't press the matter, simply leaning in closer.

"Because I'm gonna ride the Unagi. That big monster eel thing that tried to attack me the other day." he declared, making Azula's eyes widen; that didn't sound like a good idea at all, but she guessed that the Water Tribe girl would talk him out of it better than he would, seeing that he was seemingly infatuated with her.

"Okay, you go do that. Katara should be down by the beach... which is exactly where you're going." she added, realising that Aang questioning her was kind of redundant if he was going to end up running into the Water tribe girl anyway, "When you get there, tell her to mind her own business." she snarled slightly, letting her anger come out for a moment, before she took a deep breath, "Got it?"

"Um... yeah." Aang nodded with a look of slight unease, before he grinned, "Thanks!" he then turned his heels, running back toward his fa girls who were crowded nearby, cheering him on as he raced down the hill.

She then turned back to face Appa, who was looking toward the Avatar for a moment before his eyes darted back to her, "Yeah, he's a bit of an idiot sometimes, isn't he?" she scratched at the sky-bison's head before glancing down the path that would lead toward the Kyoshi Warrior's training house, "I've got to go. You'll make sure none of these villagers steal our things, right?"

The sky-bison groaned slightly, though whether he could actually understand her was beside the point. She simply nodded at the bison before she continued to walk toward where she believed Sokka was; she needed to talk to him, or more accurately, vent her rage. She couldn't just let it boil up inside of her, seeing that would be the easiest way for her to unintentionally reveal her firebending when she would start to involuntarily set things on fire by touching them, something which she had done by accident once when training. She quickly made sight of the house ahead of her, which stood amongst some trees, where she could hear the sounds of grunting, from what she could only guess was her boyfriend training the warriors in the art of chi-blocking.

She was quite proud of actually teaching him the technique, despite the fact she'd had no formal training in it, all of her knowledge limited to that which she gained from sparring against Ty Lee. That sense of pride she momentarily felt was overcome by the anger she still felt; Katara's words rung in her head like tinnitus, and just like said condition, frustrated her to no end. She didn't want to think about her fears, knowing that they were a weakness that she ought to destroy; she didn't, however, want to leave her relationship with Sokka because she feared it ending in the first place. That was stupid, and even she could see that, despite her own ignorance of the matter for quite some time. She wanted to avoid that more than anything at that very moment, that sense of fear overwhelming any fears she had about not regaining her title and honour, even if that was usually at the forefront of her mind. When she walked toward the doorway of the house, she made sight of two Kyoshi warriors trying to attack each other unarmed, seemingly with chi-blocking, though she neither of them looked to be paralysed yet.

Sokka's attention was immediately drawn to her, his eyes brightening upon seeing her face, "A-Saila!" he used her pseudonym, before his expression faltered, obviously being able to tell that she was pissed off, even if she was trying to hide it with a straight face.

"Ah, it's the snarky girl." one of the warriors took note of her appearance, making Sokka's eyes widen, obviously embarrassed that she had referred to her in such a manner.

"Hey, Nakata, please." he almost begged of the Kyoshi Warrior, who snickered as the Water Tribesman's attention was drawn back to his girlfriend, who stepped closer, "Do we need to talk about something?"

"Yes." she simply told him, before glancing at the Kyoshi Warriors momentarily, "You can continue your training without him, yes?"

Suki cleared her throat, nodding with a serious look in her eyes, "Of course. We learn quickly." she smirked slightly, before Azula's attention was drawn back to her boyfriend, tilting her head to gesture for him to leave the training house and follow her.

She kept her fists clenched as she walked away, Sokka following in tow, before they walked over into the nearby woods, far away enough that the Kyoshi Warriors weren't going eavesdrop on what she had to say. The Water Tribe warrior didn't need to say anything to show his concern, his eyes widened with unease, even if he hadn't said anything to suggest that he was aware of her own anger.

"Something bad happened." he simply observed, "Is it me hanging around the Kyoshi Warriors? Do you not like them?" he asked her, coming to the wrong conclusion.

She sighed, shaking her head, "No that's not it. This is... about me." she explained herself, not wanting him to think that he had done something wrong.

"Do I need to knock some heads?" he asked her, suggesting that he would beat anyone who brought harm to her, physical or otherwise; though she was flattered by the suggestion, she didn't expect him to go knock out his sister for simply lacking restraint.

"No." she shook her head, before letting her hands unfurl, her fingers moving out freely as she felt flames coiling around them, "Your sister is a fucking arrogant bitch." she declared, Sokka cringing as he edged back slightly, taking note of her flame covered hands, "I went to go and help her improve her mood after Aang annoyed her, but she went around and lectured me about my fucking emotions like I'm some damn child!" she growled with anger, the Water Tribe teen sighing.

"What did she say?" he asked her, his tone sympathetic rather than disbelieving, which was a relief.

"That I was afraid." she simply told him, raising her chin up, "Afraid of losing love." she growled, not wanting to show the fact that Katara's assumption was correct.

"W-well..." he murmured, his eyes looking at her with fear, "Are you?"

"That's beside the point, idiot!" she growled, raising her hands into the air, "She's being a disrespectful arsehole, who thinks that just because she has her principles and hope that she can shove them down my fucking throat."

Her anger subsided slightly when he placed his hands on her shoulders, "Azula, I'm not going to leave you." he assured her, already reading through what she had said; she didn't need to explain herself, he simply understood, "I know how you feel. I feel afraid sometimes about the same thing." he admitted, her flames dissipating as she felt angry at herself for having shouted at him; he felt the same, even if he didn't say it until then.

"I want to be strong, Sokka." she simply told him, before sighing, "That fear... it's a strength I can use."

"You shouldn't have to." he told her, the Princess looking at her boyfriend with unease, unsure what he would say next, "You can be in love and not afraid." he assured her, "I'm not going to abandon you. Not like them." he assured Azula, who edged forward, closing the gap between them; all she wanted was to be sure, and his words, they made her feel a fire inside that was stronger than that fear.

She kissed his lips, grasping her hands by his neck, before he gave in return, pushing forward and making a smug smile on his face, "You know, I'd like it if you were spontaneous like this more often." he admitted, the Princess raising a brow at him.

"This isn't spontaneity. This is my message to you." she simply told him, before kissing him again; the message that she would not give up on him, just like he said he would not give up on her.

She felt his touch and it made her feel like her spout of anger meant nothing; her hands grasped his shoulders, remembering the fact that he had taken her with him, and that he had not forsaken her. Her inner fire felt more intense than it had for days in that single moment, and she felt a growing need to let out her emotions. Though she wanted to continue kissing him, she knew that she couldn't hold onto him forever; there were always more things for them to do. When their embrace broke, all she could see was the giddy look on his face; she wanted to make fun of him for his expression, but relented, just appreciating it for a moment, before she pulled away.

"So, is that what you came here to do? Get angry and kiss me?" he asked her with a slightly amused tone, the Princess leaning in closer.

"No. I'd like you to come with me." she simply requested, the Water Tribesman raising a brow with interest.

"To do what, though?" he prodded Azula, who glanced over his shoulder toward the Kyoshi Warrior's training house.

"To a place where I could beat you up." she confirmed, making him look at her with surprise, his eyes darting back toward the Kyoshi Warrior's training house.

"You want to go spar in the dojo?" he asked her, making the Princess raise a brow.

"So that's what it's called?" she gave him a question in return, the Water Tribe warrior nodding before gesturing toward it with a tilt of his head.

"I'd take that as a yes." he concluded, before he narrowed his eyes at her, "For a second there I was thinking you wanted to go off somewhere in the forest so you could set me on fire."

"As much as I would like to use my bending..." she began, before remembering the golden flames she had made for a moment when she had gotten infuriated with Katara; her anger hadn't powered the flames, but rather her thoughts about Sokka, just as the Water Tribe girl had suggested, "I'd rather avoid what might come next."

"I understand." he nodded, even though he didn't know the full extent of her reasoning, before he gestured toward the dojo, "Let's go back. I'm sure you could show the Kyoshi Warriors your moves."

"Oh, I certainly could. Chi-blocking is one thing, but I wonder if they have the agility to face up against me." she raised a finger to her chin in thought; their short fight by the beach the day prior hadn't exactly been indicative of the Kyoshi Warriors abilities.

They had surrounded them and took them by surprise, in a head-to-head fight, it would be more fair, though she knew that without her bending she had a large disadvantage, despite her acrobatic and hand-to-hand fighting skills. The Kyoshi Warriors, unlike her, had probably trained their whole life to fight with what they knew, that being the odd weapons they used, fans, which seemed rather odd for even a nonbender to use. The only bending art she could see fans being useful in would be airbending; Azula was certain, however, that the warriors weren't secretly airbenders or anything of the like. As they approached the entrance of Kyoshi Warriors' dojo, she made sight of said warriors sparring each other with chi-blocking, with two of the warriors lying on the ground paralysed, the other two standing victoriously. Their leader, Suki, stood confidently with her arms crossed, her eyes darting back to them, with slight surprise seeing the Princess once more.

"Oh, is Saila joining us?" she asked, the Water Tribe teen confidently nodding.

"Yep, she's a pretty good opponent, if you ask me." he told them, the warriors looking amongst each other, those that had been paralysed glancing back their way.

"Just let my arms get a little less floppy." one of them piped up, "Then I'll be ready to go." she assured her, another warrior lifting her up.

"No, no, Sawa, you're sitting this one out." she stressed, helping the warrior limp over to the other side of the dojo, while Azula turned her attention back toward Suki.

"So, which of you want to go against me first?" she asked, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors raising her hand up.

"Do we have any volunteers?" she asked out, one of the girls cocking a smirk as she raised a finger toward the Princess.

"Can you chi-block too?" she asked her, making her chuckle; she didn't exactly know the ins and outs of it like Sokka did, but she at the very least got the principles of the technique down pat.

"Not really. That doesn't mean I can't beat you all." she stressed, making the warrior scoff at her, pulling out two fans.

"Oh, I can't wait to wipe that smug look off of your face." she declared, the Princess looking back toward her boyfriend, who seemed to be amused by the arrogance being shown.

"Yeah, good luck at that." she simply cocked a smirk, taking a repurposed firebending stance; even if she wasn't going to bend, she knew that keeping her feet steady and hands ready to strike was the best way to ensure she was ready to give the Kyoshi Warrior a proper fight.

She had her left foot and hand forward, ready to move forward at a moment's notice and strike with her right. The Kyoshi Warrior stared her down slightly, taking a similar stance, though it was a lot tighter than hers, with her fans raised up close to her face, ready to block any attack from the Princess. Azula decided to make the first move, by sending her right fist forward to feign a punch to the warrior's legs, only to swing upward in an upper-cut motion; instead of striking her chin like she had hoped she would, she only hit her fan, which she held over her chest to block her fist right in its path. The Kyoshi Warrior then retracted the fan in her left hand, jabbing it forward at Azula's chest in hoping to paralyse; she was forced to lean back, deciding to fall right onto her back, landing on her back.

She only had a few moments to react, watching as the warrior readying herself above her. The Princess quickly placed her hands behind her back, allowing herself to orient her legs into the air, kicking the Kyoshi Warrior in the hand as she moved to chi block her. She grunted with pain, grasping at her hand with a clearly annoyed face, although she quickly returned to the offensive, lunging forward as she aimed to jab her in the gut. Azula rolled out of the way quickly enough, making her opponent unintentionally fall to the ground. When she got up, she decided she would be fair and didn't attack the Kyoshi Warrior, stepping back as she readied herself for whatever strike would come next.

When she had returned to her feet, she could see the aggrieved snarl on the girl's face, which quickly turned to one of determination as she readied her fans once more, charging at the Princess. She sidestepped the first blow the Kyoshi Warrior attempted on her side, sending her own knee into the warrior's gut. She cocked a smirk, though it faltered as she felt the weight of her left arm suddenly grow; she realised that it was paralysed, though that didn't stop her from continuing her fight. With her right hand still functional, she used it to jab her opponent in the side of the head, making her flinch back for a moment. As Azula glanced at her limp arm, she snarled slightly, realising that she had actually got her.

She then turned her attention back to the Kyoshi Warrior who moved to strike her in the gut with her right fan, the Princess grasping her wrist to stop her from hitting her. That only stopped her opponent for a few seconds, who aimed her other fan, now retracted, right at her left shoulder. Azula, not having anything better in mind, flung her left arm up at the shoulder, flicking her limp up in the way of her fan. To her luck, the paralysis numbed what otherwise would have been a painful jab to her arm; the warrior's expression became more fearful as she saw her opponent's tact. Her fear didn't stop her from wringing her arm free, aiming to strike Azula in the chin; she missed, the Princess leaning backward as she sent her right leg out, tripping the warrior off as she had attempted to lunge forward. She used her hand to break the warrior's fall by holding her arm up at her neck; she glanced into her eyes, not saying a word, simply letting the fact of her victory soak in.

"Okay, I yield." she conceded the fight, making Azula smirk, seeing Sokka smile back at her with approval.

"That was actually pretty impressive." one of the warriors observed, "I thought she would have lost after her arm got paralysed."

"Why, I do put a lot of effort into making sure I'm a skilled hand-to-hand fighter." she declared, Suki raising a brow as she stepped forward.

"Do you have a preferred weapon?" she asked her, the Princess raising a brow; her firebending was her weapon of choice, though she knew what weapon she'd like if she had to choose an actual one.

"Daggers." she admitted, "I know how to use them decently, seeing that I stole some off of my friend when I was younger. She's really into throwing knives." she explained, knowing that Mai was the only reason she knew next to anything about using a blade; she was always a lot better than Azula was at it, though that was by virtue of the fact that she had her firebending, and not because she couldn't pick it up as a skill.

"Ah-ha, she sure is." Sokka mumbled, obviously thinking back to the time Mai had pinned him to a wall with little effort.

"Now, who wants to fight me next?" she asked the group, her boyfriend standing forward, as she had already told him that she wanted to spar.

"Well, you said. Let's go." he cocked a smirk, the Princess taking a stance; seeing that she couldn't use her bending, their fight would be relatively even, even though Sokka was unarmed.

He took a rather casual stand, obviously guessing that she would be making the first move; Suki stepped forward, looking at them both with confusion, "Don't you guys need some weapons. Or are you going to have a fist fight?" she asked them, Sokka cocking a smirk.

"Weapons aren't necessary." he suggested, "They've been teaching me how to dodge." he told his girlfriend, who chuckled.

"Ah, so now you're Aang without the airbending. Brilliant." she mocked him, the Water Tribe warrior stepping forward.

Although she was prepared to throw a punch at him, Sokka ended up making the first move, flinging his right leg forward in a kick, which barely missed her torso; she grasped his foot, ready to twist his ankle around and force him to the ground. Once she grappled it, he stared her down for a moment, before he pulled the same trick she had a few minutes earlier, falling down onto his backside; she hadn't anticipated the move and was dragged forward slightly by his foot moving through the air, but once it was free, it jammed into her gut, making her stumble back as she gasped for air.

"Oh, you'll pay for that." she grit her teeth at him, kicking him right in his left shin, Sokka grunting with pain as he pulled himself back, trying to return to his feet.

She aimed another kick at him, this time at his head; he narrowly dodged the attack, before jabbing her in the thigh with his fingertips, paralysing her right leg. Though she lost movement in her leg, she was still able to get out of the way of his next attack, limping backward as he rose back to his feet. He stood confidently, making a gesture with his fingers, suggesting that she attack.

"Come on, I'm right here." he prodded the Princess, who clenched her fists; she was prepared to wind him and force him to surrender.

Azula knew that attempting to use chi-blocking might end a lot worse for her, seeing that she had little to no practice with the skill. She limped forward, gritting her teeth as she realised it would be a lot harder to go on the offensive when she couldn't walk properly. Instead of giving her another chance to strike, Sokka jabbed forward, aiming to paralyse her arms; she weaved out of the way of his hand, punching him in the forearm, which despite the fact it didn't achieve the same effect as chi-blocking, it sure hurt him, the Water Tribe teen crying out before she swept her left leg forward, tripping him before sending a fist into his gut; she did finally make contact, and grinned, feeling that her victory was certain. She had forgotten about her lack of balance due to her chi-blocked leg, and was flung down with him as he fell toward the floor, out of breath. She grunted with pain as she felt his weight on top of him; it was a few moments later that the giggles from the Kyoshi Warriors indicated to her how much of an embarrassing position they were in. Azula's eyes darted up to Sokka's, glaring at him with contempt as he struggled to climb off of her.

"Get off me." she snarled, the Water Tribe teen gulping with fear, before he rolled to her left, landing on his back as he still struggled to breathe.

"Looks like you're both down for the count." Suki quipped, the Princess narrowing her eyes with determination; she wasn't done until she yielded, and Sokka falling on top of her wasn't going to cause that.

"N-no, I'm not." she snarled, placing her hands underneath her to pull her up to a seated position; she looked at her right leg, trying to move it, and found that she was unable to get any movement in her knee or below.

She pulled her left leg up toward her torso, hoping to use it to push herself back up to both her feet, but fell back when she tried to put all of her weight on her left side. Sokka snickered at her as she tried once more to pull herself back up, the Water Tribe warrior already climbing back to his feet.

"Azula, you can't stand. How can you expect to fight?" he asked her, the Princess narrowing her eyes at him; he knew all too well in a proper fight that she would not have given up, as she could just as easily throw a fireball at his head from the ground.

"Oh..." she glared at him, before she sighed, "You've won this time, savage."

"There's no need to get angry... again." he assured her, making Azula chuckle; she had gone to Sokka to get rid of her anger, which she did, only to replace it with frustration of another kind.

He offered her a hand to help her up, the Princess begrudgingly accepting it, knowing that it was more embarrassing to continue fumbling around on the dojo floor than to concede defeat, "Thanks for that." she admitted, making Suki raise a brow with interest.

"You're thanking him for winning?" she asked her, obviously dumbfounded by the suggestion that she could be completely fine with losing after the anger she had just shown.

"No, I'm thanking him for letting me take out my anger. Nothing clears the mind like a good spar." she cocked a smirk as Sokka placed an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, do you want lunch or something? I'm kinda hungry." he suggested to her, Azula smirking with approval.

"Oh, well, as long as I don't have to walk." she suggested, making him raise a brow.

"Wait, you want me to carry you all the way back to the hall?"

"Well, you can do it, can't you?" she asked him, inciting a sense of cockiness that was rare to see on his face.

"Well, I have been working out. I should be strong enough." he declared, Azula noting the Kyoshi Warriors rolling their eyes at his words; she snickered slightly, making her boyfriend look at her with offence.

"What, you don't think I could do it?" he quipped, the Princess grinning back at him.

"No, I think you could. You better." she warned him, the Water Tribe warrior nodding as he grabbed her by the waist, holding her up in his arms.

"Remember when you hated this?" he asked her, the Princess sighing; remembering that night in Yu Dao only made her feel shame, but she felt a sense of happiness, knowing that Sokka had done all he could to save her, and more importantly, succeeded.

"Oh, don't remind me, if you know what's good for you." she jokingly chided him, though he acted as if her threat was wholly serious.

"Yep, I'll shut up now." he assured her, making the Kyoshi Warriors, who had been watching the entire situation unfold, break down laughing, one of them looking like they were struggling to breathe because of said laughter.

She glanced around, taking note of the village headman, Oyaji, racing toward them with a fearful expression, "Girls! Firebenders have landed on our shores!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Azula groaned, letting her head fall back as she tried once more to move her leg; she was frustrated to find that her movement was constrained, although at the very least her knee joint was actually functional.

"Oyaji, we're on it." she heard Suki assure the headman, stepping forward with her warriors, who were all armed and ready; she looked their way, glancing toward Sokka specifically, "We could use your help. If you can kick our butts, then you can kick theirs too."

"We will." he declared confidently, before the warriors raced forward, back toward the village.

Oyaji followed after them with a clearly exasperated and nervous look on his face; the Southern Raiders, or someone friendly with them, were there to capture Aang, and would likely destroy his village in the process. Azula looked up to her boyfriend, sighing as she realised that she had found herself in the worst possible situation; unable to use her bending without being seen as an enemy, all while she was momentarily unable to walk.

"This has to be the worst timing ever."

---

Coughing water out of his mouth, Aang tried to gain a sense of his surroundings; he knew that riding the Unagi had been a bad idea, if not extreme idea, and in the end, he had given up on trying, knowing that he wanted to mend his relationship with Katara, who he had angered by being too self-centered and, as she succinctly put it, 'a jerk'. He realised that as soon as he glanced around at his surroundings, that she had gotten him out of the water

"Katara, don't ride Unagi. Not fun." he murmured as he opened his eyes, glancing up toward the Water Tribe girl with relief, but her face gave a very different emotion.

"Aang, the Fire Nation, they're here." she told him, making Aang tense up; he had been fooling around, all while he gave their enemies the chance to hunt them down, "We have to go stop them. Before they burn down the village... or worse."

He could tell from the look in her eye that she was thinking about what had happened to her mother, which made him feel even worse; bringing that upon the people of Kyoshi Island chilled him to the bone. He pulled himself up, despite the fact he felt pained being thrown about by the Unagi; Katara grasped him by the arm, helping him up, before she gestured above them.

"They're marching by." she whispered, the young Avatar hunching his back slightly as he leaned out from the rocks they were standing on, looking out in the direction toward the village.

"We need to get them away from here." he simply concluded, "Do you think they'll chase after us?" he asked her, the Water Tribe teen grimacing at the sight of the Southern Raiders marching toward the village in file.

"I hope so." she murmured, "You don't have your staff, or your clothes." she noted, making Aang chuckle with embarrassment, gesturing back toward the beach where he had his things where sitting.

"We'll have to be quick, but I think you could work on a distraction." he admitted, before gesturing to the sea water beside them, "How about splashing them?"

She raised a brow at him, before glancing to the bay beside them with a nervous expression, "I guess I could." he turned her face to a smile, showing confidence in her abilities; he gave her a thumbs up, and she took a deep breath, before she closed her eyes.

"Uh... why are you closing your eyes?" he asked her, the Water Tribe girl simply responding in a calm voice.

"I am remembering." she simply uttered, moving her hands in the same motion that the waves lapped up against the shore, before she grit her teeth, grasping her hand out as she thrust it around, like she was throwing a punch; surprisingly enough, the move actually worked, and the water flew up beside them, dousing the Southern Raiders, catching their attention.

"Waterbender!" one of them shouted out, before Katara looked at him with a grimace.

"Uh, we've got their attention. Now what?" she asked him nervously, the young Avatar raising a finger.

"Now, I run!" he simply told her, his voice rising to a shout as he used his airbending to propel himself forward, racing along the rocks, catching the attention of the Southern Raiders, who had turned around to attack his Water Tribe friend.

While he raced away, she continued to use her bending to distract them, throwing up another wave of water to knock them off their feet, all while he dashed toward the beach, making sight of the small pile of clothes he had, which were sitting by his staff. He ducked under what he sensed to be a fire blast from behind, which struck a tree ahead of him; he thrust his hands forward, sending a gust of wind to put the fire out, before he turned his attention back to his things. He dodged another fireball that was sent his way, before using his airbending to levitate his glider staff into his hand. He spun it around to deflect the next fireball that came his way, before aiming said staff forward, funnelling a strong wind gust through it, which struck down a few Southern Raiders who were still trying to hit him.

Aang then turned his attention back to his clothes, grabbing his pants and stepping into their holes, pulling them up his legs as quickly as he could; he still had to turn around and block another fireball, sending it back the other way with his airbending. He then grasped his tunic, pulling it over his head and arms, letting it fall down and cover his torso fully; he then returned his staff into his hand with his bending, levitating it back into the air, before he opened the glider up. Glancing back toward Katara, he made a short run-up before launching himself into the air; he could see that his friend was struggling and that made his resolve stronger. He used his airbending to fly as fast as he could, quickly landing down on the path that the Southern Raiders had been taking, and knocking three of them over simply by the wind-gust his landing caused.

"I'm back!" he called on the enemy soldiers, catching their attention, blocking their attacks as they attempted to send streams of fire at him with his staff, cutting through their attacks and making their attacks dissipate out into the air.

He then spun around, and was able to send a few off of their feet with a whipping coil of air that came off of the end of his staff, before he jumped up into the air, conjuring an air scooter underneath him, and instead of landing on it, used the ball of air as a battering ram against the Southern Raiders who were still in some semblance of a formation; it was lit hitting over a tower made of coins, and they all were knocked back, though a few of them were outright knocked unconscious by the swift moving ball of air.

He glanced back toward Katara, who looked relieved as she climbed up over the rocks, onto the path beside him, "Do you need me to- uh- splash them again?"

"No, we need to get past them and save the village." he declared, the Water Tribe girl pursing her lips with confidence.

"Let's get past them, then." she raised her right arm up, once again grasping toward the body of water that laid beside them.

Together, they moved forward, Aang spinning his staff around to great a powerful wind gust, all while Katara bent the water beside them, arching it over and then into his wind, causing the water to batter at them like an intense rainstorm. He let up his spinning for a moment, and all the air she was bending moved forward at once, the mass of water splashing them off their feet. He counted at least two dozen Southern Raiders off their feet, but their attacks didn't seem to be doing much but delaying them. He knew that he had to move forward, and so he did; using his staff to bend back any firebenders that approached them, he moved along the path, with Katara standing by his side, ready to bend more seawater, if need be. Once they had seemingly pushed away all of the firebenders, either knocking them out or to the side, Aang glanced back to his friend, knowing that they had to hurry.

"Come on, let's go!" he called on her, using his airbending to speed up his approach toward the village.

He could already hear the sound of fighting from near the beach, and he just hoped that the Kyoshi Warriors were able to handle the Southern Raiders; he realised that Sokka and Azula would be there to protect the village, but he was unsure if they could beat them all. He honestly had no idea how many Southern Raiders were on the island; he had counted around thirty approaching the village, and he knew that he had only delayed them. He had no idea how many more were already attacking the village as they searched for him.

When the Avatar made sight of the statue of Avatar Kyoshi, he knew that he was getting close, and glanced behind him to see that Katara was running behind as fast as she could. Turning his eyes toward the village, he counted even more Southern Raiders, who were being barely held off by the combined efforts of the Warriors and his friends. Buildings were already smoking or outright on fire from the stray fire balls that seemed to be flying out with every attack the firebenders made.

"Looking for me?!" he called on the Southern Raiders, a number of which turned his way; the more distracting he was for them, the more of a chance the Kyoshi Warriors would have to beat them.

"The Avatar!" one of them called out, pointing toward him with a snarl, "Get him!"

When five Southern Raiders ran at him, he spun his staff around, sending two seperate wind gusts at his attackers, the two blasts throwing them off of their feet. He then ducked under a fire ball that was aimed at his head, he glanced back toward Katara, knowing that protecting the villagers was their main objective at that very moment.

"Go, make sure the villagers are safe!" she told her, the Water Tribe girl's eyes narrowing with determination as she ran off to the side to avoid the Southern Raiders; to make sure they didn't follow her, he charged forward, throwing his staff around to whip the firebenders off of their feet.

Looking at them all lying on the ground around him made Aang chuckle, knowing that he was able to beat them all, despite the fact they were all clearly trained adults. He was the Avatar, but he hadn't even mastered the elements; he guessed that nobody really did know how to counter airbending, which gave him a sense of calm and resolve that he mightn't have otherwise felt as he fought the Southern Raiders off.

"Get 'em, Aang!" he heard Sokka cheer him on, the young Avatar gritting his teeth as he charged up a ball of air in his hands, which began to rotate at an insanely fast speed; he was thankful that he had practiced his marble trick so much, because it made it a lot easier for him to articulate his bending in such a manner.

He then threw the ball of air around him, knocking the Southern Raiders back, throwing some of them into each other; he then dispersed the ball, letting the air rip out, which threw everyone back, including himself. Aang smirked as he then threw his staff down to make a cutting blade of air, which pushed the Southern Raiders apart into two halves, making it easier for his allies to fight them. He began to race down the parting, hoping to join Sokka and Azula in fighting off the firebenders, but found himself stopped in his tracks when multiple fire-streams were sent at him from behind; he had sensed the heat and jumped up in reflex, back-flipping over the attacks, swinging his staff as he spun around mid-air, striking his attackers back. When he landed on his feet, he almost gasped as he realised that the enemies he had 'beaten' a minute or two earlier had now returned in strength, and were surrounding him, all of them taking firebending stances.

"Aw, come on." he grumbled, unsure how he would knock them all down.

He wished at that moment that he already knew how to firebend, something that he wouldn't be able to do for some time; that was due to the traditional order of learning the elements, being air, water, earth and then fire. Even if the element of fire was seemingly the most destructive, he knew that being able to use it would have meant he could have easily beaten the Southern Raiders by that point. When they all punched toward him, sending blindly bright orange streams of fire at him, he spun his staff around, ready to disperse the fire as best he could; he wasn't expecting the fire to suddenly turn blue and spiral upward above him, forming something he could only describe to be like a tornado made of flames, beautifully painted the colour of water he'd seen at a Fire Nation beach. It took him a moment to realise, but what he was seeing was Azula's bending, in all its glory; she could bend the fire streams of two dozen firebenders at once- the feat in of itself made his jaw drop. He knew she was strong, but what he was seeing, it was unlike anything he had ever seen before; it made his own bending feats, that which had gotten him his tattoos, the youngest of an airbender in recorded history, pale in the flames dissipated, he turned back toward where the Princess must have been standing, seeing her glaring his way with grit teeth, and both her arms out in front of her.

"I've had enough of this." she declared, before sending a stream of bright blue flames at the Southern Raiders surrounding him, who were flung to the ground as her fire seared their armour; Aang turned around, using his airbending to knock down those who she hadn't reached, or couldn't, seeing that he was standing in the middle of the circle they had formed.

He was able to then charge at them, using his staff to shoot them back with the powerful wind gusts it could conjure; he created an air scooter beneath him, sitting on it as he spun around, bending a coiling gust of wind, which threw the remaining Southern Raiders off of their feet. When the dust and flames had cleared, he sighed with relief, seeing that the invaders had been defeated and the village saved; he glanced back toward Azula, smiling with appreciation of her efforts, but her expression was more so concerned, and he immediately understood why. She had just shown her bending, making herself out to clearly be a firebender.

"You're kidding me..." he heard one of the Kyoshi Warriors gasp, jaw open wide, before Suki stepped forward.

"She's a firebender!" she pointed accusingly at Azula, who leaned her head back as she sighed with frustration.

"She just saved your village." Sokka retorted, making her look at him with anger, although it was more restrained than it was a few moments prior.

"You are a Fire Nation spy, just like we guessed." one of the other warriors pointed accusingly at her.

"Sokka, I feel like we've been here before." she raised her voice, her boyfriend stepping forward past the Kyoshi Warriors, who were obviously quite tense after seeing the revelation.

"Yes, I don't fondly remember being chased out of a village by an angry mob who threw stones at us, after they found out you were a firebender." he admitted, glancing back toward the Kyoshi Warriors, "I just hope you're more polite than those guys."

"That's not just any firebender... that's the Crown Princess!" he heard Oyaji's voice rise up, "There's only one person refuted to bend blue fire, and that's her- Princess Azula." he stepped forward amongst the growing crowd of villagers, where he could see Katara, who was looking absolutely terrified.

"The Princess?" he heard one of them mumble, "Didn't she die?"

"No, I didn't fucking die!" Azula raised her voice, gesturing to herself, "I'm right here!" she snarled, her face clearly showing her offence to such a rumour.

"Why is a Fire Nation Princess helping the Avatar?" Suki accused them, stepping closer with her fan out.

"Uh... because she broke me out of an iceberg." Aang clarified, "Without her, I wouldn't be back. I'd still be frozen." he explained, making the villagers look amongst themselves.

"Leave." the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors gestured to the sky-bison at the top of the hill, "Leave our island, and don't come back."

"But- we didn't want this to happen." Aang tried to argue, even if he knew that they ought to leave.

"It doesn't matter, Avatar." Oyaji shook his head, "We'll have to... dispose of these men, and you'll need to leave. Right now. There might be more of them." he explained, the young Avatar grimacing as he glanced down to the unconscious Southern Raiders, realising the fate he had sealed for them.

"O-okay." he mumbled, nodding with some relent, before he looked up to Azula, who was glancing his way with a serious expression.

"Come on, he's right. We need to leave." she stressed, gesturing for him to follow.

The young Avatar followed her, his eyes looking at the villagers, whose expressions were clearly showing the change of emotion; they felt betrayed by his friendship with Azula, a girl who had probably just saved his life. He didn't want to feel regret for that, knowing that, despite her rough edges, she wasn't a bad person; she wasn't going around like the Southern Raiders, who tried to enslave people. He knew that the villagers and the Kyoshi Warriors had good reason to mistrust her, but they had all seen what she did; she saved him, and she saved them- she was a hero, and it saddened him that they couldn't see it. They were then joined by Sokka, and then Katara, the four of them walking up toward Appa, who was already approaching him, groaning with a nervousness that he could understand; he wanted to get away, and Aang did too. He used his airbending to launch himself up onto his friend's neck, patting him as he grabbed the reins.

"Yeah, buddy, we need to go." he simply told his sky-bison, before he heard Momo chittering behind him; the flying lemur looked back at the villagers, just like he did, and quickly enough, his other friends were climbing up onto the saddle.

"Uh, so the koi fish are done." Sokka observed something that was so far from Aang's mind that it actually brought him guilt to think about it; he had brought the Southern Raiders to Kyoshi Island, something that Katara had warned him about, and he had chosen to ignore.

"We should have never come here." he admitted with a sigh, looking down at the villagers, "I was being childish, and I didn't think about what would happen if I stayed here."

She looked at him with a saddened face, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You- we saved them. We beat the bad guys. It's okay, Aang." she tried to reassure him, only making Aang's eyes move down with shame; he had been so selfish and self-centered, and because of that, he hadn't taken her advice.

"No, no it's not." he admitted, "This is my fault."

"Well, technically, I pissed them off." Azula clarified, accepting that without her intervention, the villagers might have been a bit more amicable to them as they left.

"I need to make up for the hundred years I was gone." he admitted, glancing back toward the villagers, taking note of the suspicious glares of the Kyoshi Warriors, "We need to stop this."

"We'll do it together." Sokka added, leaning closer with a warm smile; Aang looked back at his friends, giving them all a smile, which they gave in return, bar Azula, who refrained from making any kind of pleased look.

"Yeah, together."