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)

8. Chapter 8

Looking at his friend, Aang was genuinely shocked by how well built he was, and also by the fact that he had challenged him to a duel; Bumi claimed that he wanted to test out his bending, but it seemed to be a little more than a test. After getting a massive boulder thrown his way, Aang didn't exactly feel sure his friend, who was never the most straightforward type, was holding back. He didn't dare question him, and he honestly found their ad hoc spar to be quite enjoyable, other than the fact he was forced to dodge boulders three times his size. Bumi was already a good bender when they were both twelve, and he wasn't surprised he became such a great one, though he was certainly amazed that he could still bend like it was nothing, despite his age.

"Come on, Aang! I know you can do more than dodge and weave." he demanded of him, pulling a few smaller boulders out of the ground beneath him, before he threw them at the young Avatar, one by one.

Though he dodged the first few, he realised he would have to fight back, and decided to use his airbending to shatter the boulders, before bending the air around him into a shield. The dust he picked up from destroying Bumi's attacks actually made the sphere around him almost opaque, which Aang used to his advantage. Funnelling the dust into a tornado-like form, he sent it toward his friend, obscuring his field of vision entirely; he used that moment of blindness as well as he could, conjuring a disc of air, somewhat like a flattened air scooter, propelling it out from his feet, right into the dust cloud, where he had last seen the King of Omashu.

"Smart move, too bad I saw it coming!" Bumi called out, before he bent the dust out of the air, hammering it down onto the ground, revealing himself and his bending form; he then thrust his two hands forward, pointing his fingers toward Aang, which created a fast moving rupture in the ground, pushing up spikes of rock in the process.

As said spikes grew nearer to the young Air Nomad, he grit his teeth, unsure how he was going to respond; he knew he could dodge, but his friend had already told him that it was an insufficient tactic to beat him with. Bumi was right, and knowing that, Aang decided he'd beat earth with earth, even if he couldn't earthbend. As the spikes were about to strike him, he swung his staff sharply, a wedge shaped air blast cutting clean through one of the spikes, which was flung up into the air by his attack. He then reeled his staff back as he jumped out of the way of the spikes, firing the one he had in front of him right back at Bumi at an incredible speed. The King of Omashu simply raised a wall of earth in front of him to block the spike, which exploded on impact; the young Avatar sighed, realising his plan hadn't worked- if he had had more spikes perhaps he would have stood a chance. He then used Aang's own tactic against him, shooting out small cylinders of earth from his wall, right toward the Avatar; he was able to duck under said attack, using his staff to send the stone cylinders off course, veering away as they hit the wall behind him.

"Come out Bumi!" he prodded his friend, who was still using his wall of earth for cover; when he revealed himself, he had the same giddy grin on his face.

"Okay, here I am..." he raised his arms up, not motioning to bend any earth, before slamming his palms together.

Aang's eyes widened as he glanced to his sides, watching as the walls were ripped apart and thrown toward him. The Avatar decided, given that he couldn't dodge the attack, to use his airbending to hold it back; he knew that earth was more sturdy than air, but with enough concentration, he was sure he could at least stop the debris from crushing him- not that Bumi would actually crush him, but if it were a real fight that would have been a possibility. He raised his staff up into the air before he hammered it down into the ground vertically, creating a powerful blast of wind that he was able to maintain by spinning his staff around. The blast pushed at the rocks, preventing them from moving any closer to Aang, who struggled to hold them off, glancing back toward Bumi, whose expression did not disguise his approval of his strength. He grit his teeth, stopping the motion of his staff as he slammed it down once more, forcing the rocks that had been aimed toward him into the ground with it, shattering them in the process.

"I am impressed, Aang. You have a great heart." he admitted to his friend, approaching him with a giddy grin, "Sorry for nearly crushing you back there."

"Nah, I know you wouldn't actually do that." he stressed before raising a brow, "So other than sparring, was there anything you wanted to do? Give me wisdom from your long life?"

"Oh, I could give you wisdom, sure. But I think in fighting you, I understand you have the mind to figure things out yourself." he admitted, before snorting with amusement, "Using your enemy's strength against them, that the mindset of a waterbender, and I believe you showed that today with that little spike trick."

"It didn't really do much." he mumbled, noting that even if it was a good idea, Bumi was able to dispense of it pretty quickly.

"That's nonsense, Aang. I'm a master earthbender, and you're an Avatar who can only bend one element." he placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure once you are able to master all four elements, you'll be far greater than me." he suggested, the young Avatar beaming at his friend.

"Really?!" he exclaimed, becoming slightly self-conscious of his near shout of amazement.

"You will." he nodded at him, "But it will take time and effort. You're still twelve, so I'm sure you've got some time, and as long as you remain focused on becoming a master of all four elements, it'll come naturally to you." he suggested, Aang tilting his head slightly, thinking about how different the other elements were to air.

"I hope you can show me more of your moves when I'm ready to learn." he admitted, his friend chuckling, offering him a hand to shake.

"Oh, I'm ready to spar for real one day." he grinned at him, the young Avatar making the same gleeful expression; one day he would be as great as Bumi was, and that was something that made his heart rise in his chest.

Suddenly the doors of the chamber they were in were opened up, revealing a few rebel soldiers, who looked slightly exasperated; Bumi turned around to face them as they approached, "Your majesty, we've had... an altercation."

"Oh, with the Fire Nation?" he asked, the soldiers nodding, the leading one stepping closer to the king.

"Yes, my king. We captured a scout, and he is ready to be interrogated." he explained, Bumi stepping closer to him with an intrigued look.

"Is the Blind Bandit ready to interrogate?" he asked them, the soldiers shaking their heads.

"Uh, no sir. She's in the training hall." one explained, before the KIng of Omashu gestured to the door which they had come through.

"Go get her then, you can't have an interrogation while you're blind... to the truth." he raised a finger to stress his point, making Aang snort, while the rebel fighters remained deadly silent; Bumi's sense of humour never failed to get him, even if the others were too stern and serious to have a laugh.

"Of course, your majesty. We'll retrieve her at once." the leading soldier assured him, before the group paced out of the room, which would be better called a cavern, and a haphazard one at that, after all the damage Bumi's bending had caused.

The king looked at his friend with a more serious expression than he had held before, "So, I'll have to do my duties as the king and protector of his city." he explained, before leaning closer, "Are you ready to do yours?"

"I will make sure no harm comes to your city, Bumi." he assured him, bowing in respect, before he raised a brow, taking note that his friend was still walking around with nothing his loose pants and leather arm bands, "Are you going to get dressed, or are people okay with you walking around shirtless?"

"Oh, good point." he chuckled, "It's better to show off my strength when it's necessary. That way the enemy won't expect it." he suggested, Aang nodding.

"That's a good idea. I should probably do the same. If the Fire Nation underestimates me, then I'll be able to trick them! They'll think they've trapped me, when I'm really in charge."

"Exactly!" Bumi grinned at him, "Great minds think alike." he told him with a wink, the two of them laughing as they approached the door, his friend retrieving his royal robes, which he pulled back over his shoulders, obscuring his intimidating form from sight.

As they walked through the doorway, Aang glanced down the hall, walking back the way they had come in the first place, back toward Bumi's throne room, which was the entrance to all compartments of his expansive underground palace.

"Now, I trust you can put on your best serious face for the interrogation, Aang." his friend suggested, the young Air Nomad making as stern an expression he could.

"Of course." he responded with as gruff a voice he could muster, "I'm Avatar Aang, and I will not let anyone threaten New Omashu."

"Good, good." the king nodded along intently, "Now, you have to remain as calm as possible. People are most afraid when they don't know what will come next."

"Uh-huh." he agreed with him, "I was pretty afraid when your rebels caught us, because I had no idea what they might do to us."

"And this Fire Nation soldier, no matter where they're from, is going to be afraid of the Avatar. They'll expect what they've learnt at their schools, which I'm sure isn't going to be the best painting of your character." he conceded, the Avatar grimacing slightly as he imagined what the Fire Nation actually thought of him.

"They might think I'm the crazy one for wanting balance. That's how confused the Fire Nation is right now." he noted, remembering all the weird things Azula had said, or more so, the presumptions she made, despite being a very smart person herself; with Fire Nation people who had known nothing but the war and unquestioning loyalty to the Fire Lord, he guessed that they would be even more confused and narrow-minded.

As they entered the throne room, Bumi approached his throne at the end of the room, and flicked his hand up to make Aang a seat, "Come, we can sit here and wait for Toph and this scout."

He nodded, sitting down on the seat he had made for him, then turning his eyes toward the main doors into the throne room, "I wonder what they were looking for."

"The Governor doesn't want me or my supporters around." Bumi concluded, "They're not all stupid, even if a lot of them are crazy." he conceded, before snorting, "And this is coming from me."

"You're not crazy." Aang assured his friend, "You've just opened your minds to the possibilities. That's what you said."

"Huh, yeah, I sure did." he winked at him, "The Fire Nation is pretty open to the possibility of me trying to retake my city, which I'm not going to bother doing until the right moment."

"When will that be?" he asked his friend, unsure exactly when he intended to make his move.

"When the Fire Nation gives it to us, or they try to attack us." he conceded, narrowing his glare in thought, "Fire Lord Zuko is planning to withdraw the newer colonies, but he probably doesn't want to immediately. The soldiers might turn against him, and that will be more enemies for us all to fight. Ozai loyalists are around us on all sides, and I know they want us gone. They think we're as useless as the dirt we bend."

"Dirt isn't useless though." Aang argued, making his friend chuckle.

"Well, it isn't, that's just how they'd see it." he noted, "The Fire Nation... and the world all need peace, we just need to achieve it without destroying each other."

"Hate just leads to more hate." he mumbled something he had heard the monks tell him before, "Revenge is the same. We need balance, not to beat the Fire Nation."

"That's right, Aang... though, you'll have to fight some Fire Nation people to make sure they stop fighting each other."

"So, you'll have to fight too... if you want to make sure they don't hurt your people." he concluded, Bumi nodding with a slight grimace.

"Of course. But I won't fight if I don't need to. Needlessly wasting time and energy is something no good leader should have to do."

The young Avatar glanced back toward the entrance of the throne room, wondering when the prisoner would arrive; his thoughts were followed by an answer, which happened to be about two seconds later, the doors swinging wide open as a Fire Nation soldier was dragged into the room, although his head was covered by a sack, obscuring his sight. As he was taken toward Bumi, he squirmed and grunted, the muffled sounds he made indicating that they had gagged him, which disturbed Aang slightly; even if the man was a Fire Nation soldier, the idea of being blinded and gagged was terrifying. When the soldiers dragging him along got close enough, they bent a chair out of the ground, forcing him down onto it, making him yelp with pain as his head hit the stone backrest. A moment later, the sack was removed from the soldier's face, and the Avatar felt even worse; the man before him was barely a man- he guessed he was the same age as Sokka, if not younger. He didn't seem like the idea he had built up in his head about Fire Nation soldiers after witnessing the Southern Raiders; he was a teenager, and a scared one at that.

When the gag was removed from his mouth, he cried out with fear, "Please! Please, I don't wanna die!"

"Who said anything about dying?" Bumi snorted, rather amused by what he must have seen as an overreaction; Aang didn't agree with that assumption, but he didn't question his friend as he stood up from his throne, "Do you know where you are, young man?"

"U-uh..." the soldier mumbled, looking like he was about to have a nervous breakdown, "N-New Omashu? The rebel city the General wanted us to find." he explained himself, the rebel soldiers who had been binding him glancing his way with interest, obviously wanting to know exactly what he was talking about; it was their livelihoods at stake after all.

"What General? What are you ash-makers up to?" one of them growled at him, hammering down his fist on the stone-bound wrist of the captured Fire Nation scout.

"Argh!" he cried out in pain, "I- Please! I don't know anything!"

"Everyone knows something." Bumi simply responded furrowing a brow as he gestured toward his head, "Unless these men have hit you in the head a little too hard."

"We treated him delicately, your highness." the same rebel soldier stressed, the King of Omashu pulling at his goatee in thought.

"Well, he is alive, after all. You should be happy, it's not usual that my men are so merciful."

"Y-you didn't kill my friends? Did you?!" the prisoner cried out with fear.

"No, you're the only one we got. Your 'friends' just ran away like a bunch of cowards." the other soldier told him mockingly, as if to suggest that his friends abandoned him to save themselves.

"Th-they'll come for me. For you." he tried to bargain with them, Bumi rolling his eyes.

"You already said you were looking for us." he reminded him, "They'll come here if we're not careful... and by we I mean you." he gestured to the soldiers, whose heads rose up with slight fear.

"We did not mean to be reckless, your majesty. We simply took the opportunity when it arose." the soldier tried to reason, Bumi raising his hand.

"Of course you did. That's how we work around here. Now, leave me with the prisoner. The real interrogation hasn't begun yet." he told them with a serious look; the pair bowed before turning their heels, making their way toward the doors, which they shut behind themselves.

His words visibly frightened the prisoner, who probably thought he was about to be tortured with earthbending or something along the lines; his friend wasn't cruel like that, so he was just going to use Toph's earth sense to work around whatever lies the prisoner gave them.

"Aang, did you have any questions to ask the prisoner? You're going to want to understand your enemy before you have to truly face them, if that's what it comes to." Bumi suggested to the young Avatar, who grimaced slightly, after seeing what he had; he didn't want to scare the teenager before him, who probably was misguided into joining the Fire Nation army.

Remembering back to the things Azula had spoken of, or how she spoke of the other nations and her experiences, he understood that the Fire Nation, or better phrased, its citizens, were all taught lies about the rest of the world from a young age. They were fed those lies to the point where they believed they ought to rule the world, and everyone else in it was below them; the Princess didn't prescribe to that world-view, not anymore, but other people, like the teen before him, certainly did.

"Where are you from?" he simply asked him, not knowing if the prisoner was going to lie.

"U-um..." he mumbled, his eyes darting around as he tried to move his head, "I'm, uh, from Hizumi." he explained, before looking down, "I shouldn't have said that. I..." he began to mumble, his words becoming incongruent to Aang's ears.

The young Avatar stood up, not fearing the well-restrained prisoner before him, "I'm not here to interrogate you." he clarified, looking at him with a small smile, "I just want to understand who you are."

"Don't play mind tricks with me!" he grit his teeth at Aang, showing anger instead of fear, "It won't work!"

"I'm not tricking you." he assured him, "I just want to know how you got here."

"H-how I got here? What kind of stupid ques-" he began to grumble at Aang, who shook his head, raising a finger.

"No, not like right now. I mean, how did you become a soldier?" he clarified his question, the prisoner still looking at him with a tense glare, though it was less suspicious and more confused.

"I joined up, like any good patriotic son or daughter of Fire Nation should." he simply explained himself, "To make sure these dirt eaters don't have a chance to destroy us."

"The Earth Kingdom isn't going to destroy the Fire Nation." Aang retorted, thinking his suggestion was completely absurd, though in hindsight, he considered that maybe the prisoner thought his words were absurd by his change in expression.

"No, they won't." he cocked a smirk, "But if they had the chance, they would."

"That's not what the Earth Kingdom wants." Bumi clarified, looking at the prisoner with a bemused eye, before he took a bite out of an aqua-coloured crystal; he offered a crystal to Aang with a smile, "Jennamite. Did you want some?"

"Uh... no thanks." he raised his hand up to politely refuse, "So, you think the Earth Kingdom wants to destroy the Fire Nation... why?" he simply asked the prisoner, wanting to see inside the mentality that he held toward the other nations.

"Because they're peasants. Savages. They conspire to destroy us! Just like the Water Tribe savages!" he exclaimed, the Avatar rolling his eyes; his words were simply confusing, rather than enlightening him on the mind of the Fire Nation.

"I'm seriously confused, Bumi." he admitted to his friend, "This guy really believes all this stuff."

"The Fire Nation is run on these delusions, Aang. That's what a hundred years of straight crazy does to a place." he explained it simply, the young Avatar trying not to laugh.

He was right though, the ideas that the prisoner was espousing were completely crazy and inane, and that made him wonder what Azula was like before she met Sokka. The idea that she could have been even worse disturbed him, but also gave him hope; if she could come to understand the world as she had, then the prisoner before him, and the Fire Nation as a whole could do so too.

"Did somebody call..." he heard Toph's voice behind the door shouting out, before they swung open wildly, revealing the earthbender with her hands on her hips and a giddy grin, "the Blind Bandit?"

"Ah, good, you're here." Bumi smiled, "I want you to meet our new prisoner... oh, we didn't even ask for a name."

"I could probably get that out of him if you like." she suggested as she cracked her knuckles, before suddenly stopping, "That'd just take a lot of tries though."

"Good point." the king nodded, before gesturing to the prisoner, "Go ahead, he's all yours." he directed, Aang stepping back slightly as Toph moved to stand in front of the prisoner, pointing at him accusingly.

"So, what'd you do, huh?" she questioned, the prisoner looking at her with slight confusion.

"What?" he asked her with a quiet voice; she responded by using her bending to force his stone chair closer, his face only a few inches from her pointing fingers.

"Do I have to ask again, punk?" she asked with a more serious voice than before, the prisoner grimacing with fear.

"N-no, no!" he assured her, obviously thinking she was going to do something horrible to him; as he didn't know Toph that well, he was unsure what lengths she would go to interrogate him, "I was scouting! Your people captured me." he told her with a panicked voice, the earthbender nodding with a small smirk.

"Okay, that was definitely not a lie." she conceded, before she turned around to face Aang and Bumi, "Were there some specific questions you wanted answered?"

"Yes, what they were intending to do." the king simply told her, before he scratched at his beard, "He already said something about wanting to find our city, and I doubt that was a lie."

"You were looking for this place?" she turned to face the prisoner, who grimaced with fear, trying to turn his head away from her glare, which was amusing to Aang, given the fact she was blind.

"Y-yes!" he told her, "We were."

"Were... or are still?" she furthered her questioning, the teens eyes glancing back toward the king, before they moved down.

"Still." he mumbled softly, "Hopefully my sacrifice wasn't in vain."

"Oh, your sacrifice wasn't a sacrifice." she clarified, "A sacrifice would involve the Fire Nation benefiting by getting away, but instead, you'll lead me right to them." she smirked, making the prisoner grit his teeth.

"I'd never do that! I'm loyal to my nation! I'd never betray it to the likes of you, dirt-muncher!" he shouted her down, the Blind Bandit cocking a smirk as she got rid of his chair, throwing him down to the ground; in the moment he found himself free of his stone binds, he looked around with fear, before he found his arms bound to the ground.

"Call me dirt-muncher one more time and the only thing outside of the dirt will be your head... because I have a sense of humour. The next interrogator might have suffocated you." she warned, the prisoner trembling with fear, closing his eyes.

"I won't!" he cried out with fear, before he looked back at her with a more serious expression, as serious a one he could muster, "But I'd never tell you where my people are. That'd be dishonouring my oath to protect my nation, my fellow soldiers, and everything that is ours."

"You don't have to." she simply told him, "Where'd you come from? Omashu?" she asked him, the prisoner not responding, though she cocked her head up, considering what she felt with her bending, "He's not from Omashu." she noted, "So, then where did you come from? North... south... east... west?" she asked out cardinal directions, the prisoner still looking up at her with fear, remaining speechless.

"This'd go along a lot quicker if you just told me, y'know?" she prodded him, crossing her arms, "So, I think it's north. How long did it take you to get here?" she asked him, the prisoner narrowing his eyes at her, "Come on... a day? Two days?"

"I'm not saying anything." he growled, Toph shaking her head with frustration.

"I don't think you get it. As long as you can hear me, you will respond to my questions, even if you don't speak." she simply told him, the prisoner's eyes filling with fear.

"How?" he mumbled, making her cock a smirk.

"He has no idea, really?" she glanced back toward Aang and Bumi, who both nodded.

"We didn't say anything." the young Avatar assured her, "He really doesn't get it."

"Oh, what a fool." she mumbled, before looking back down at him, "So, less than two days..." she furthered her thoughts, still trying to narrow down where they came from, "Well then, did you come by foot?" she asked him as she leaned down over him, "Maybe on one of those big, angry things."

"A komodo rhino?" Aang asked, remembering that the Fire Nation used such steeds, although he hadn't witnessed them being used in warfare, only to carry carts when he had travelled there before the war.

"Yeah, one of those." Toph snapped her finger at him, before pointing it down toward the prisoner, "I'd take your reaction as a yes. So that's what... over on the other side of the mountains. I'd bet they're in one of the valleys, camping out." she concluded, before glanced back toward the Avatar and her superior,

"That's it. A camp to the north of here, maybe a two day march, a little quicker if you use earthbending." he explained, Aang raising a brow in thought.

"I could get there in a few hours on Appa." he suggested, the earthbender pouting slightly.

"Sky-bisons are fast. I wish we had something like that... on the ground. I never want to fly in my life."

"Flying's great." he retorted, before the subject of her interrogation gasped with fear.

"W-w-wait a second! You're the Avatar!" he cried out, "How are you here?"

"Uh... by my flying bison." he simply explained himself, before stepping closer to the clearly shocked prisoner, "How did you not realise I was the Avatar?"

"I never learned what an Air Nomad looked like. I'd heard rumours... but you're really alive." he mumbled, with a mixture of awe and fear in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm alive, and I'm here to make sure you people don't get anywhere near New Omashu." he declared with a confident tone, before glancing over toward Toph, and then to Bumi, "Did you want us to take care of your Fire Nation issue?"

"You're not getting all the fun Twinkletoes." she crossed her arms, before cocking a grin, "We'll help you give these guys a good beatdown."

"Twinkletoes?" he asked her with confusion, unsure where such a nickname even came from.

"You're light on your toes, I can barely sense you. Twinkletoes." she explained the nickname briefly, before turning back to Bumi, who snickered at hearing the nickname.

"That's a good one."

---

Putting the last of her supplies into the bag before her, Toph sensed around her room, wondering what else she might need; she was just about ready to go and fight the Fire Nation, once again. She had done it a number of times before, and that was even before she had joined King Bumi's rebel army; fearing a bunch of people that she could easily sink into the ground was something that seemed absurd to her, so she didn't. Fighting was something that only brought excitement to her otherwise mundane life; she knew being a rebel fighter was something far more enjoyable than staying at her old home. Gaoling was boring, other than the Earth Rumble, which was postponed indefinitely after the Fire Nation occupied the town, so she had to find something fun to do with her life, away from her controlling parents, who only wanted her to sit at home while they panicked over the fact their wealth and power meant next to nothing when the Fire Nation could just seize it.

She pulled her bag over her shoulder, not thinking there was anything else she needed; all she had with her was a sleeping roll, some preserved food and a few spark rocks, knowing that she'd prefer to be by a warm fire when going through the mountains. Inside of a mountain, where New Omashu was, tended to stay around the same temperature throughout the day, but the outside world didn't have that benefit, especially on the windy slopes of mountains which she'd have to climb while heading toward the Fire Nation encampment the prisoner had indirectly told them about. She didn't for a second doubt her abilities, and neither did Bumi, who immediately approved of her suggestion to go after the Fire Nation before they had a chance to find their city. At least the soldiers in Old Omashu were afraid enough of them to not try and attack their city, but the renegades were dead set on wiping them out, from what she could tell. They didn't get prisoners very often, given the nature of earthbending; it was a powerful element, but seeing that rock was quite heavy, it was more often than not their opponents either got away or were crushed.

When she turned around to head out the door, she sensed that there was someone waiting outside of it, which intrigued her; she didn't have much friends, only comrades whom she fought with in the field, who were friendly enough, though they didn't exactly get on with a snarky fourteen year old girl. Pacing over, Toph used her earthbending to pull the door open, allowing whoever was outside to see her; she guessed they would address her, and thus, give away their identity.

"Hi, uh, Toph, was it?" she heard the person ask her, Toph recognising their voice as belonging to one of the Freedom Fighters, Jet, who she had encountered a little earlier than day; she knew of them prior to that, but she wasn't friends with them, as she found them to be a little too cliquey for her taste.

"What are you doing at my apartment?" she simply asked him, the teenager tensing up slightly before he gestured down the tunnel.

"Uh, Katara was asking about where you were... we're going to go fight the Fire Nation together." he explained himself, to which she simply stood forward pointing at him with a suspicious finger; even if he hadn't lied to her, she found it a little odd that he had showed up at her place out of the blue.

"Why'd you come here instead of her?" she asked him, the Freedom Fighter scratching the back of his head.

"Uh, she went off to find her brother... and his girlfriend, I think." he explained himself, "So she told me to find you, to make sure you were coming along."

"Of course I am. I was the one who got the information out of the Fire Nation scout some guys captured this morning." she pointed her thumb at her chest, "Why are you coming? You're just a scrawny non-bender. I doubt you'd be able to take on some actual Fire Nation soldiers."

"I can fight." he defiantly declared, his heartbeat getting a little faster, "It's not like you've seen me fight." he crossed his arms, making her snicker with amusement; she was riling him up, and he had given her good bait.

"Okay, two things. One: I can't see." she gestured to her eyes, before pointing toward him, "And two: I could sense you and your gang sparring with Katara earlier. All show, not enough push." she critiqued him, Jet crossing his arms as he turned his head away; she couldn't exactly read his facial movements, but she guessed he was trying to visibly express his annoyance.

"Okay... fine." he simply grumbled, before he pointed down the hallway, "Wanna head back to the training area? That's where everybody's mustering." he suggested, Toph raising a brow at him before nodding.

"Yep." she simply responded, "That's where I was going." she explained, before beginning to walk down the tunnel, the Freedom Fighter walking slightly ahead of her; as she guessed, he began to speak to her, obviously not wanting a good few minutes of awkward silence before they arrived at their destination.

"So, uh, you can sense everything with your feet?" he asked her, sounding a little uncertain of said fact; when she considered it, she noted that she couldn't sense everything, but as long as she was on solid ground, she was able to sense almost everything, irrespective of distance, though most things were drowned out by noise over longer distances.

"Most things." she clarified, "I can't see everything, especially when whatever's beneath my feet isn't made of earth." she admitted, the Freedom Fighter remaining silent for a few moments before he spoke once again.

"That's an interesting ability." he admitted, "Is that how you're able to knock out everyone else really quickly?"

"That's exactly why. As long as somebody's feet on the ground, I can beat them." she declared confidently, making the boy beside her snicker with amusement.

"I'd like to see that for real." he acknowledged, Toph cracking her knuckles before smirking.

"Oh, if you stick around me, you'll see it happen quickly enough." she declared, before she considered the skills of the boy beside her, "So what can you do other than swing those weird swords around?"

"Strategise, sneak around, and lead." he declared with as confident a tone as she had spoken of her bending; the boy before her was quite cocky, not unlike herself, though his heartbeat suggested he felt no doubt in his words.

"Sound pretty sure of yourself." she observed, "Are you the leader of your gang?"

"Uh... I guess you could call me that." he acknowledged with little uncertainty in his voice, "That's what I've been doing for a long time now."

"So you like to boss people around... fair, I do too, but I'm not really into forcing everyone to kiss my feet, I'd like them to choose that option." she grinned at him, the boy only responding with a snort.

"Really? I mean, you could challenge everyone to fights. That'd probably go in your favour. I've seen what you can do to other earthbenders... I'm sure the Fire Nation wouldn't stand a chance against you."

"They don't." she told him as a matter of fact, "Where did you and your gang even come from, anyway? You're... relatively new." she observed, remembering that the Freedom Fighters had only shown up about three months prior, while she had been living in New Omashu and fighting for their cause for more than a year.

"Ba Sing Se." he clarified, "We weren't from there originally. Moved there two years ago, just before the Fire Nation conquered it." he explained, his heartbeat rising, "We wanted to try and help the people there rise up against them, but... it didn't turn out the way I'd hoped."

"I mean... that whole city's a mess." she admitted, going off what she knew of the place; she had visited a few times with her parents before the Earth Kingdom fell, and all she thought of the place was its tight rules and rather extreme class distinctions.

"I know." he agreed, "But then Sokka happened." he admitted, making her raise a brow; she knew that he knew the Water Tribe teen, but she didn't actually know what had transpired, nor what had led to him 'giving him death threats', as Katara had phrased it.

"Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about." she admitted, "You guys were talking about it earlier, but I was only there to hear the funny part."

"He was working for the Fire Nation." he clarified, making he snort with amusement.

"Seriously? That guy? Why would he even do that?"

"To save his own skin, supposedly." he explained, before narrowing his eyes, "Supposedly he was shipwrecked with the Fire Nation Princess, and then she recruited him."

"Wait, the dead one?" she raised a brow, remembering rumours about the current Fire Lord having killed his sister; those were just rumours, but she had still heard a few things about her going missing or being presumed dead, so she was surprised to hear that Sokka, who was with the Avatar, had anything to do with her.

"I'm unsure if she's dead." he admitted his own opinion, "But yeah, her." he clarified, "Bato, Sokka, and the other Water Tribe warriors were going to capture her, but they got shipwrecked. That was months ago now, but I'm pretty sure Sokka went off with her after we all met up."

"Did you ever meet this Princess?" she asked, the Freedom Fighter shaking his head.

"Nope." he admitted, "Never wanted to. Sounded like a manipulative arsehole to me. I'm just glad the Fire Lord we're having to deal with isn't as bad as I guess she would have been."

Toph furrowed a brow for a moment, thinking back what she knew about the Avatar and his friends, and still felt completely dumbstruck how there could be some kind of association between the former Crown Princess of the Fire Nation and the Avatar, all through one guy, who didn't seem exceptional in any way. She knew she was missing something, but without going anything short of interrogating Aang and his friends, she was unsure whether she'd find that link anytime soon.

"So, where were you before Ba Sing Se then? Running around trying to fight the Fire Nation?"

"I used to live in a forest." he explained simply, making her raise a brow.

"Like... in the trees?" she asked, unsure exactly how living in a forest would work.

"Yeah, in the trees. We stole from and fought the Fire Nation for years. There were a lot more of us back then. Most left when we were forced out."

"Did they burn down your forest?" Toph guessed, the Freedom Fighter shaking his head, his heartbeat growing faster by the second.

"No. They hunted us down. We had to run away, and Ba Sing Se was where we ended up." he explained, Toph raising a brow as she considered his words; she was unsure what they could have done personally to be hunted down by the Fire Nation, seeing that there weren't that many of them to begin with.

"What'd you do for that to happen?" she asked him, the boy's heartbeat getting even more erratic.

"I can't talk about it." he simply explained, "We did things."

"We're doing things right now. Fighting the Fire Nation is our job." she simply told him, the boy's unease still showing, even if he was tensing his strides; still trying to act cocky and tough even if he was obviously worried about something.

"It wasn't like that." he told her with a darker tone, before clearing his throat, "Why are you here then? Did you have to run away from the Fire Nation as well?"

"Yeah." she lied, knowing that even if she had been fleeing the Fire Nation at some points, she left Gaoling because of her parents and their controlling behaviours, not because of the Fire Nation occupation, "The Fire Nation occupied my hometown- things changed. I had to leave." she explained more truthfully, even if she was being vague; she didn't want to outright lie to the boy before her, even if she didn't feel comfortable discussing her own reasons.

"Yeah... that is what happens." Jet acknowledged, his heartbeat rising once again; whatever had happened to him, to make him into the Freedom Fighter that stood beside her, she knew that it must have been traumatic, probably a lot worse than any controlling parents could ever be, "So, how far away is this Fire Nation camp?"

"Two days, I think." she admitted, before she pursed her lips upward, remembering that unlike the Fire Nation soldiers who came to find them, she had the ability to dig through a mountain to save time, if need be, "But I bet if we have enough earthbenders, we'll be able to dig ourselves a path and get there quicker."

"Huh, that sounds a lot better than climbing some mountains." he conceded with a tone of relief, "You ready to kick some ash-maker arse?"

"Of course." she grinned, "But we won't get any action for a while, which is a good thing. If these guys were camped right nearby, I'd be a lot more worried about them attacking."

"What about Old Omashu? You think the real Fire Nation's going to try anything?"

"They haven't attacked us since the new Fire Lord got in power. I think they'll stay behind their walls and hope we don't come for them."

"We're gonna." he declared confidently, "One day, the Earth Kingdom will be free from their grimy hands, and we'll be safe."

"That's the idea." she nodded, before furrowing her brow, considering what they had already done so far.

She didn't know the plans that King Bumi had, but that was rather because she had never bothered to ask him, only knowing the principle that the rebels had organised to fend off Fire Nation forces; ever since the Fire Nation shat itself into a thousand pieces, they hadn't fought the Fire Nation proper. That was the part ruled by Fire Lord Zuko, who to the best of her knowledge, was an eighteen year old running an entire country, who supposedly wanted peace; despite those claims, she had never heard or seen anything to suggest that he was anywhere near close to achieving it. As they turned around the next corner, they arrived at the training area, where she could already sense a number of people waiting, recognising the heart beats of Katara and Aang distinctively, noticing them standing by Jet's Freedom Fighters.

"Jet, you're back!" she heard the voice of the girl she remembered to be called Smellerbee.

"And Toph's here too." Aang acknowledged her, before he stepped closer toward her, "I'm happy that you're coming along." he explained, the earthbender cocking a smirk.

"I wouldn't miss the chance to kick some firebender butts." she assured him, cracking her knuckles, "Where's Sokka and his girlfriend- uh- Saila, that was her name, right?" she asked, actually still unsure whether it was her name, seeing that everyone seemed to be lying when referring to her.

"Uh, they'll be around soon enough. I went to the apartment before to find them, but all I got was a shout." the young Air Nomad explained to her, making her raise a brow with thought.

"Huh, so an angry shout?" she prodded him, the young Avatar making a confused mumble for a few moments before he responded properly.

"Uh, yeah. I guess it was angry." he admitted, sounding rather confused as to whether that had been the case, "I'm sure they'll be here. I don't want to go off without them."

"So, what's the big plan, Twinkletoes?" she asked him, hearing a snicker out of Katara after she heard his nickname.

"Urgh..." he groaned, obviously embarrassed, which only set it in stone; she'd refer to him by that moniker until she could think of an even funnier one, "We're going to scout out this base on Appa, because he'll be able to get there quicker. I can give you the details, so then you won't go running over with no idea."

"How considerate." she quipped sarcastically, "So, is it going to be just you?" he asked, the Avatar shaking his head.

"No, I'm pretty sure Sokka and Saila can help me." he clarified, before his voice grew more confident, "Actually, I think there's something that'll really help us. Katara, remember that extra bag Sokka brought along?"

"You mean the... oh..." the Water Tribe girl mumbled with realisation, "We've got something that'll help a lot with scouting out that camp."

"What is it?" Jet stepped closer, his voice sounding his curiosity on the matter, "A way to help you sneak around? Like smoke bombs or something?" he guessed, the Water Tribe girl shaking her head.

"No, no, we have a disguise. A Fire Nation disguise, actually." she clarified, making Toph chuckle.

"So you want to trick the Fire Nation into thinking one of us is a Fire Nation soldier?" she asked, Katara giving her a resolute nod.

"Exactly. Sokka's done it before, actually." she explained, making Toph grin, now curious about another story that the Water Tribe teen might be able to tell her.

"Okay, that's another story I've gotta hear." she grinned, only receiving raised hands in response, which was disappointing to say the least.

"Uh... maybe another time." she refused, before the young Avatar beside her spoke up.

"So, your earthbending senses, what's their range?"

"It goes on indefinitely, but it becomes harder to distinguish smaller things over distances." she clarified, before raising a finger to her chin, "I don't know how far it goes, because I've only really ever used it on my immediate surroundings."

"Could you just attack the Fire Nation from afar without getting yourself in danger?"

"What'd be the fun in that?" she quipped in response with a smirk, knowing that even if he had a good point, she wouldn't ignore the chance to have a good fight.

"She does have a good point." Smellerbee piped up, cracking her knuckles as she made an aggressive looking stance, "Beating ash-maker butts is our whole deal."

"Well, we've got to actually find the firebenders to beat first." Katara noted, the Avatar clearing his throat, jabbing his staff into the ground beside him.

"We're going to beat them... that means we're going to make them run away, not... well, you know." he clarified, Jet stepping closer, his heartbeat rising once more; Toph was pretty sure the Air Nomad's pacifism was something that conflicted with his own worldview, even before he began to grumble.

"Well, what else do you expect us to do? The Fire Nation is relentless. They'll destroy everyone and everything unless we put an end to them." he argued with a clearly aggrieved tone.

Aang's own heartbeat rose up with the Freedom Fighter's tone, suggesting that, despite the fact the boy who was getting annoyed with him was a non-bender, he was getting nervous and worried; she was amused by this, but also a little concerned, given that the Avatar of all people shouldn't be afraid of a mere teenager with swords.

"Well... uh... we can scare them away." he suggested, the Freedom Fighter stepping even closer to the Avatar.

"How are-" he began to question, before somebody spoke over him from behind Toph, who had to realign her seismic sense to figure out who had just shown up.

"It's quite simple, actually." she heard Saila speak up, the earthbender turning around to face her and Sokka, who had both arrived in the mustering area, "We trick them into a false sense of security, and then... when the perfect moment arises, we strike hard, without any mercy." she hammered her hand into her palm, her voice exuding confidence that she didn't think was possible; she also took note that she wasn't lying when she spoke, which she remembered for future reference, considering the whole fake name issue.

Sensing around her, she noticed that the heartbeats of both Aang and Katara grew faster, but also Jet's, though she didn't know why; she guessed that maybe he was impressed with her speech, or more amusingly, found her attractive, something Toph couldn't verify, given the fact she was blind.

"Uh... so you must be Saila." Jet addressed her, the girl nodding, her heartbeat remaining steady.

"That's me." she simply responded, her heartbeat remaining steady, making Toph raise a brow with confusion; if she wasn't lying about her name, then she had no idea why the others had gotten so nervous about the topic back when they first met.

"Oh, you missed the Aang's great idea." Katara piped up, catching the new arrivals' attention, "We can use that disguise you have to scout out the Fire Nation camp when we get to it."

"So that's what we're doing?" Sokka noted, his voice sounding rather annoyed by the news, "Aang, you were pretty vague when you said 'we're having a meeting in the training hall'." he acknowledged, making Toph raise a brow with surprise, realising how out of the blue Saila's advice had been.

"Wow, so you just gave us that quick strategy without knowing what was going on?" she asked her with as restrained a voice as possible; Toph didn't want to give off the fact she was in awe of her, without even having seen her fight, which was a first for her.

"Precisely." she told her with an undoubtedly smug tone, which she didn't consider to be very arrogant given that she had just proved her wit by her prior comments, "We're going to attack some Fire Nation forces. Fire Lord Fire Nation, or Stupid Fire Nation?" she asked her, making Toph snicker, finding her comparative names of the two factions to be quite judgemental.

"Uh... 'Stupid Fire Nation'." she clarified, before grinning, "But I think the whole Fire Nation's stupid to begin with. Maybe you should come up with a better name."

The confident girl's heartbeat picked up pace, suggesting that she was unnerved by her words, though Toph didn't get why, just appreciating the fact she could make her feel such a way after her cocky entrance.

"Yeah, so, that means we're going to be fighting an under-supplied force. They probably aren't going to be much better than literal bandits." she suggested, before chuckling, "That's even easier than I thought."

"Oh, do you have any more quick strategies to offer up?" she asked, genuinely wanting to hear if she had anything else in mind.

"Not at the moment, we'll have to wait and see." she excused herself, before she turned to face her boyfriend, "Sokka, so, which one of us is getting into disguise?"

"Which one? The armour fits me, remember?" he quipped in response to her question, making her cross her arms, her ever slightly increased heartbeat telling Toph that she wasn't happy with his attitude.

"That doesn't mean you're a better actor than me." she retorted in kind, Jet stepping closer to the pair, intervening in their argument.

"Sorry, I'm confused. What are you going to do?"

"Trick these Fire Nation forces into dooming themselves." Saila quipped in return, "I'm sure that with a little trickery, they could fall nicely into a little earthbending trap laid by our friend here."

"And the other two dozen earthbending soldiers that'll be coming along with us." Toph clarified, wanting to assure her that even if she was a great earthbender, she did have a lot of back-up.

"Oh, that's even better." the other girl's voice turned almost giddy, "Well then, are we going to go do said trickery?"

"Uh... well, we need to wait for everyone to get here so we can make a plan." Aang clarified, "That's what Bumi said we were doing."

"Okay, so who's running this operation?" Saila questioned with a terse tone, suggesting she wanted to get things done as quickly as possible; that was something Toph could agree with, which made her smile.

"Yung." she clarified, "He's the go-to guy for this kind of stuff." she added, before gesturing over toward him, having distinguished his heartbeat out from the rest in the room, "He's over there if you want to talk to him about your strategies."

"I'll do just that." she assured Toph, before grabbing her boyfriend by the arm, "Come on, Sokka, we have some strategising to do."

"My third favourite thing!" he beamed brightly, making Toph roll her eyes; he was a little too lovey-dovey with her for her own taste, but that might have been because his girlfriend was so serious in contrast.

She glanced back over toward Katara, curious as to whether his attitude was always so giddy when he wasn't sleep deprived, "Is your brother usually that happy?"

"No, not really. He's usually a lot more cynical, though that's just as annoying." she conceded, before suddenly, her heartbeat sped up, "Oh, Sokka..." she mumbled his name, though Toph wasn't able to understand why she had gotten so quiet.

"So, uh, I don't think we've met properly." Aang cleared his throat, Toph taking a few moments to realise he was referring to Jet; the Freedom Fighter turned his way before responding, with a cocky voice, as she had expected.

"I'm Jet, the leader of the Freedom Fighters... and you're the Avatar."

"You can just call me Aang." he told him with a giddy voice, "Are you friends with Toph?"

"Uh, no, we just met today." he clarified, before he glanced her way, "You can be in this place and not know a lot of people."

"Yeah, I never had the... uh, privilege of meeting these interestingly clothed people." she suggested with a grin, making the Freedom Fighters groan, turning amongst themselves; Jet stepped closer to her, his voice now suspicious.

"How can you even tell our clothes are... weird." his voice softened at the last bit, obviously a little embarrassed to admit that his own attire was odd.

"They're not that weird." Katara piped up, "I think they're unique and cool." she suggested, the largest member of the group stepping over and patting her on the shoulder.

"Oh, that's kind of you Katara. We put a lot of effort into our clothes." he told her with a bright and happy tone, which given his deep voice, was rather amusing for Toph to hear.

"I wouldn't say the same about you." Jet spoke up, "Your clothes are pretty... drab. It's just two tunics on top of each other."

"Yep." she cocked a smirk, "It's comfortable, and I don't care what you think because I'm blind!"

"I mean, comfy clothes are the best kind of clothes." Aang agreed with her, before he turned to address the Freedom fighters, "You guys look like you've been through a lot of fighting with that armour." he suggested with a point, Smellerbee raising her fist into the air.

"Yeah, we have. Nobody messes with us without getting beat." she told him with a confident tone, though it was more threatening than cocky, unlike the leader of the group.

"Well, well, if you think you're all so experienced, how about you try and fight me?" Toph suggested, making the heartbeats of the Freedom Fighters grow a lot faster than they were before; they were afraid of her, and with good reason.

"Uh... I don't know if we could beat you." Smellerbee admitted, her nervous voice a stark contrast to her previously confident one.

"We could try, though." Jet admitted, before raising his hand into the air, "Everybody move back. We're gonna spar!" he shouted out, catching the attention of a few other rebels who were standing around, who as requested, moved back as the Freedom Fighters got into form; Aang and Katara stepped off to the side, both of their heartbeats suggesting that they were nervous about what was about to go down.

"Oh, this is gonna be hilarious." she mumbled to herself, unable to hold back a grin; she straightened her expression as well as she could, pointing toward her opponents, "Are you ready to face the might of the Blind Bandit?"

"Bring it!" Smellerbee demanded, drawing out two weapons from her belt; Toph could sense that they were daggers, and she could sense a few more on her body.

Instead of waiting for her opponents to move, she decided that she'd first scare them a little, seeing that she didn't want to simply sink her opponents into the ground and be done with the fight. Raising her left hand up, she deformed the ground underneath Longshot, making him jump up and out of the way, all while she moved her hand along, throwing a few of them off their feet as the ground became misshapen below them. Smellerbee and Jet both raced at her as soon as she moved her hand across, Toph, throwing up a wall just as they were about to reach her; the sound of them running face-first into solid rock made her cackle.

"Ow!" Jet grunted, before Toph bent the wall forward, pushing the pair back to where they started.

Sensing to her left, she took note of Longshot drawing out an arrow and aiming it at her; at the moment he released the arrow from his grip, she raised her left hand, creating a pillar which caught said arrow. She sensed another two Freedom Fighters coming at her in the most odd fashion, with one on the shoulders of the other; Toph simply aimed a few pillars to knock the larger one off his feet, but suddenly, she could no longer sense the smaller one. Instinctively, she guessed he was about to jump on her and formed a shield of rock around herself. Sensing his feet collide with her makeshift armour, she chuckled, impressed by the boy's drive. When she released the armour, she sent the rocks at him, using them to ensnare the boy, who cried out with fear.

"Ah! I'm trapped!" he called out, his high-pitched voice indicating that he was a lot younger than the other Freedom Fighters she was facing.

She sensed to her left, feeling once again Longshot drawing out an arrow; she flicked her left hand upward, throwing him off of his feet and onto his back. Though she wanted to laugh, she was immediately forced to draw her attention back to Smellerbee and Jet, who were racing right toward her; before she could use her bending to trip them, they jumped into the air, obviously guessing what move she was going to make. She reformed her rock armour, this time letting it fit more tightly to her body, blocking the daggers and swords that came her way, though the hooks at the end of Jet's swords were able to rip off the rocks on her arms. Though his more made her own heartbeat grow faster, she didn't relent to keep her own moves going, taking a form where she moved her hands up and then together, creating a few pillars on either side of herself, and using them to knock her opponents back. They grunted audibly, indicating that her moves were working, before she continued by thrusting her left foot forward, creating a wave through the ground which threw the two of them backward. She sensed the biggest member of the group throwing down a hammer at her, Toph's fist forming a pillar beside her which caught the end of her opponent's weapon.

"Too slow!" she grinned, before using her right hand to create another pillar which struck the Freedom Fighter square in the gut.

She then dropped her hand, flattening out all the debris she had created with her earthbending, taking note that Longshot and Smellerbee were both about to attack her at the same time; she clenched her right fist, creating a pillar, before firing it at Smellerbee, knocking her off her feet, right into the archer, who was about to fire an arrow at her. He was quick enough that he still succeeded, but even then, Toph had already reformed her earthen armour to protect herself.

She shrugged off the arrow, which pierced her rock covered shoulder, before she grinned, "Anybody going to hit me?" she quipped, before she heard Jet call out to her, his heartbeat suggesting that he was hyped up for the fight.

"I am." he declared with a determined voice, charging at her with his hook swords; before she could create a pillar to strike him down, the Freedom Fighter jumped on the one she created to hit Smellerbee a few moments, momentarily masking his position.

Instead of cowering, she formed three pillars at her feet, firing them up diagonally into the air; she heard the sound of feet landing, and then sensed Jet, who seemed to have, from the sound his swords made, destroyed the rock she sent his way. She then grasped his left foot with her bending, dragging it into the ground; even with his foot ensnared, he was still able to lunge forward, striking her shoulder with his sword, breaking the rock covering her face and chest. She grit her teeth, knowing she had to end their fight then and there. Using her still covered hand, she grasped one of his swords; he tried to hit her with the other one, but because she had deduced where it was coming from, Toph simply bent a pillar right in front of her, striking the sword out of his hand.

"Crap." Jet mumbled, before he struck down by another pillar, this time clipping his chest; as he fell down to the ground, Toph grinned at her defeated opponents, sensing that even if they were recovering, none of them seemed willing to fight her.

"I would call that a conclusive victory for the Blind Bandit." she declared, sensing Aang clapping behind her.

"That was awesome, Toph!" he grinned at her, "When I learn earthbending, you've gotta show me how you do all those awesome moves."

She turned his way with a smirk, realising how she could interpret his words as a suggestion they ought to spar one day, something that she was already looking forward to.

"Be careful what you wish for."

---

Striding down the tunnels of New Omashu, Sokka felt like he was in a pretty good mood; he knew it might have had something to do with what he had been doing before being interrupted by Aang, who had informed he and Azula of the intention of the rebels to attack a group of Fire Nation soldiers. It was only when he had spoken to Yung, the leader of the fighting force, that he found out their opponents had been seeking out New Omashu, and were not, in fact, loyal to Zuko, but rather in opposition to him. He thought that this might have aggravated his girlfriend, who wanted to gather her own allies against her brother, but instead, she seemed to be fine with it; though he couldn't understand her thought process exactly, he guessed that it might have had something to do with the priorities she held. Earning the trust of King Bumi, and indirectly, the Earth Kingdom itself, was something she needed over a few soldiers who wanted to destroy the city he was currently walking through.

"So, you seemed eager to talk about fighting the Fire Nation with Yung." he observed, catching his girlfriend's attention, her eyes having, until that moment, been focused ahead of them.

She seemed to be momentarily startled by his words, but her expression straightened as she began to speak, "I know what I need to do, Sokka." she simply told him, "Even if I'd prefer to use these rebels for my own desires, I know this is the right decision."

"To defend the Earth Kingdom?" he asked her, confused as to what aspect of her action she actually considered to be righteous.

"No. To ensure that the Avatar is respected and feared by the world." she declared confidently, her eyes momentarily glancing back to Aang, who was chatting away with Katara not too far behind them, "He is a weapon- not just in the sense that he can glow and destroy things like some kind of god, but because he is an icon. The Avatar has been gone for a hundred years, and he has shown up right in time to establish peace."

"Is everyone really going to be that afraid of him?" he asked her, skeptical that Aang, a twelve-year-old airbender who was a self-declared pacifist, could inspire fear into the Fire Nation.

"Eventually... yes." she raised her chin up, her eyes shimmering with dread, "You saw what he did at the Southern Air Temple. If Katara hadn't calmed him down, he could have destroyed the whole place."

"You don't expect him to go like that all the time, do you?" he asked her with an uneasy voice, thinking about what might happen the next time his abilities were activated.

"I'm guessing his Avatar abilities are activated when he's in mortal danger or extreme distress; fighting a whole division of Fire Nation soldiers is sure going to get him in mortal danger." she raised a finger, speaking as quietly as she could, not wanting to alert the young Air Nomad himself; he was more than capable of taking care of himself, but that didn't mean they would be safe going to fight the Fire Nation.

Sokka turned his eyes forward, thinking about what they were actually intending to do, "Are you sure we're going to be able to control... it?"

"The Avatar spirit is powerful, but... it has a purpose; there's a reason every person born the Avatar does their 'duties', and I'm guessing it has something to do with that spirit." she admitted, sounding rather unsure of herself; neither of them knew enough about what Aang could do, and why he could do it, to really make any judgement on the matter.

"Let's just hope it's as well-intended as Aang... otherwise we might have a bit of a problem on our hands." he conceded, before his eyes turned ahead of them once more, taking note that they had once again reached their apartment, "Let's go get our things, and then we can get going."

"That's the idea." the Princess agreed with him, before raising a brow, "We cleaned up, right?"

"Uh, yeah. I didn't just leave my clothes all over the floor... did you?" he asked her, Azula shaking her head, before she chuckled.

"Sokka, I do everything perfectly. Did you forget that?" she quipped, making him rub the back of his scalp awkwardly, thinking about all the things he knew about her, both intriguing and mundane.

"No. I'm... uh- knowledgeable on your habits." he noted, before pursing his lips upward, "You are very clean." he took note of one of her many virtues, which despite what his sister might have thought, greatly outweighed her more undesirable traits.

"And you're not. We complement each other in the worst ways, sometimes." she admitted with a humoured tone, Sokka wincing at her insult, even if he knew it was truthful.

"I try my best." he argued, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"The only thing organised about you is your schedule." she retorted, before scrunching her lips, "Which is... exceptionally organised."

"Yeah, who calculated how long it ought to take us to get to the North Pole? Me." he grinned, gesturing to his sternum with his thumb.

He remembered back to how proud of himself he had been when looking over the maps and comparing it with their actual travel times to calculate how long it would take to reach the North Pole, their ultimate destination.

"And just how many days behind schedule are we now?" she asked him, the Water Tribe teen raising his right hand as he counted on his fingers the days they had spent not travelling.

"About four days. Kyoshi Island... that didn't help us... at all." he conceded, his eyes dropping down as he thought back to their flight of disgrace from the island, and the eyes of all the villagers on them, suspicious of, if not despising them, all for associating with Azula.

"I know." she narrowed her eyes as they approached the doorway, the Princess stepping forward to open it up, pushing the door inward to reveal their apartment; the whole room was lit up dimly by a few candles, a number of which were lying on the floor, around where their bed was.

"Uh... maybe we should move those." he gestured to the candles, Azula nodding, raising her left hand to cover her flushed red cheeks, obviously thinking back to what they had been doing.

"Of course, we can't have you-know-who barraging us with questions." she suggested, referring obviously to his sister, as Aang was clearly too young to understand the things they did together.

He wasn't at the age where he could make fun of them, which Katara certainly was, something that his girlfriend understandably feared. He paced into the room, scooping up two candles in his hands, taking them over to the nearby table, while Azula grabbed a few more, snuffing out the flames in the process. As the other two paced into the room, they looked at them with slight confusion.

The young Avatar gestured to the candles as they picked them up, "We're not going to bring candles with us, are we?"

"No." Azula assured him, "We're just cleaning up before we leave." she told him truthfully, ignoring the fact of why there were candles all around their bed in the first place.

Sokka picked up another two candles, placing them over on the kitchen bench where Katara had made them breakfast earlier that morning; he glanced around the room, thinking what he might need for their short trip. Other than food, which was obvious enough, he considered what other supplies he might need; seeing that they were going to be assaulting a Fire Nation camp, and not a fortress of some kind, he guessed that things like climbing rope and hooks wouldn't be necessary, and that potential challenges that he might face could be just as easily dealt with by his bender allies. Azula's firebending along with the strength of a good dozen or more earthbenders would be something he could rely on, even if he didn't exactly know or trust the latter. He paced over to his own bag, checking what was inside it; it only had a few bits of food wrapped up at the bottom, as well his parka, which given the weather outside, wasn't something he needed at that very moment.

"Have you got everything you need?" Aang asked him, the Water Tribe teen nodding.

"Yep. I just need to grab my weapons." he clarified, kneeling over to reach under the bed, where he had thrown his weapons after returning back to the room with Azula; he pulled out his club and machete, taking the former and slinging it over his back, while sliding the latter into his belt.

He then grabbed his sheathed boomerang, which was sitting on the small stone table beside the bed, before he slung it over his back, letting it hang beside his club. Turning to face the others, who were all ready, from what he could tell, he smiled, confident that they could immediately set off on Appa's back.

"Now the lazy one's ready, we can all go." Azula mocked him, before gesturing toward the door, pacing toward it, quickly followed by Aang and Katara, who had quickly gotten their own things ready.

Sokka rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's comment before following the rest of his friends out the door, blowing out the last of the candles as he did so, leaving the room shrouded in darkness. As he stepped out of the doorway, he pulled the door shut, before he increased his pace to follow after the others, who were already walking on down toward Appa. He paced past Aang and Katara, who weren't surprised that he was heading right back to walk beside his girlfriend, who looked at him, almost snidely as he reached her.

"Attached at the hip, are we?" she quipped, the Water Tribesman keeping up his smile; though he did spend a lot of time with her, he didn't do so because he felt obligated to, but because he genuinely enjoyed being around her, mockery and all.

"Hey, I just enjoy your company." he argued, the Princess scrunching her lips up, before she made a small smile, silently appreciating his words.

"And I bet you like dinner more." she retorted, Sokka unable to hold back a snort of amusement.

"Closer to the truth than most your insults, I'll give you that." he conceded, knowing that he really did love a good dinner, "Starvation is a scary thing."

"It's like you've ever starved." she suggested, the Water Tribe teen narrowing his eyes in thought.

"Well, I've never starved... but those long summers while the warriors were out fighting the Fire Nation, we got pretty hungry... having to store most of our fish and seal meat for the winter night." he admitted, not remembering that time very fondly; it was hard and lonely, something that seemed to be the opposite of his current experiences, even if he was wilfully endangering himself on a daily basis.

"Is that why you're always scratching for more food?" she guessed, the Water Tribe teen raising a brow to her intriguing query.

"It's an instinct at this point." he acknowledged, realising that most of his instincts were based in his natural fears that resulted from the challenges he experienced at the South Pole.

"The most annoying instinct in the world, I say." she grinned at him, the Water Tribe teen narrowing his eyes at her, thinking of an insult to throw in return.

"Oh, like trying to set me on fire when I wake you up?" he asked her in return, the Princess looking back at him with a smug grin.

"That's only annoying if you're too slow to dodge." she retorted, forcing him into a corner; he did usually dodge her instinctive firebending, and sometimes, he would even chi-block her in return, just to make sure she didn't accidentally burn their tent down, which was another fear he held, with good reason.

"I'm quick." he assured in return, before he gestured over toward Appa, who they were quickly approaching, "Are we just going get straight on his saddle?" he asked back to Aang, whose head flicked around to face his way.

"Uh, yeah. We can just sit on the saddle while he climbs up through the tunnel, unless someone carves a hole in the mountain for us."

"You're the Avatar... but I don't think the Avatar's that special." Sokka admitted, before shrugging his shoulders; he had no issue with lying back on Appa's saddle while he walked through the tunnels to the closest exit.

He was sure that the big sky-bison would be a lot happier if he could laze about outside, but it was safer for him in the mountain than outside of it, given that the Fire Nation, whether enemy or not, would not take kindly to a flying bison in their vicinity. He turned his attention back toward Appa, making his way up to his saddle, patting the sky-bison as he reached him.

"You'll get out of this cave soon enough." he assured the sky-bison, "Then we'll have fresh air."

"Something to relieve me of your stench." Azula quipped, making Sokka self-consciously sniff at his tunic.

"Do I really smell that bad?" he mumbled, realising that she was right; his clothes, and by extension, his body, smelled rank of body odour and sweat, which, did make sense, given all the physical activity he'd been up to that morning.

"Why are you even asking, Sokka?" she rolled her eyes at him, making him chuckle smugly, appreciative of her, even if she was currently chiding himself.

"Because I love to annoy you." he declared, making her raise a finger, almost impressed by his comeback.

"Shut it." she simply told him, before she threw her bag up onto Appa's saddle; she quickly scaled up onto the saddle, jumping to grab the edge of the saddle, digging her toe tips into his thick fur.

Once she reached the top, she looked down at him with an aloof expression, reaching her hand out toward him, "Come on, we don't have all day savage." she told him, the Water Tribe teen realising that he had been looking at his girlfriend longer than he ought to have.

Grasping her hand, he let her raise him up, making the same movements she had by kicking his feet softly into the sky-bison's thick outer layer of fur. After he climbed up, he pulled his bag off and placed it at the rear of the saddle, where he always put it, before lying down, waiting for Katara and Aang to get on. Suddenly, he flinched as he felt a sudden weight on his chest; his eyes darted up and he realised that Momo had jumped on him, which wasn't the worst of it, as he then proceeded to climb onto Azula's head. Though she didn't shriek, he guessed that she was pretty close to doing so; he grasped the lemur by his belly, taking him off of her head, hearing a snicker from Katara, who climbed up to see the situation unfold.

"No, Momo. Azula's hair isn't a bed." he warned the lemur, who chittered at him, before racing down the saddle, over to the front, where Aang had just landed, using his airbending to get himself into position.

"Okay, are we all ready?" he asked the group, who nodded along silently; the young Avatar gripped Appa's reins and whipped them downward, making the sky-bison groan, "Come on boy, let's get out of this cave."

As the sky-bison began to move forward, ever so slowly, Sokka glanced over to his girlfriend, who had reclined herself on the saddle, currently in the process of pulling her hair back into place in its usual top-knot. She noticed his eyes on her, the Princess raising her chin up as she tried to ignore them.

"What's so interesting about my hair?" she simply asked him, the Water Tribe warrior shrugging his shoulders.

"It's nice looking... out or tied up." he complimented her, genuinely liking her natural hair, which made her look almost like a completely different person; her near-black locks lay down to her shoulders when out, shorter than it was before she trimmed it to disguise herself, which she had done around seven months prior.

"It's better than what it used to be." she acknowledged, before grimacing slightly, "I can't believe I let you persuade me to cut my hair."

"Emphasis on the word persuade." he smirked at her, making her realise that she just said his argument to cut her hair short was good, even if she hadn't intended.

He liked the shorter cut as well, thinking it framed her face nicely, though she had her fair share of complaints, the only positive she stated was that she looked less like her mother, which was a little unusual of her to say. He guessed that her mother looked quite similar to her, which made sense, since children tend to resemble their parents; that was something he had gotten from his grandmother a number of times since he grew his hair out, seeing that he currently looked quite similar to his father.

"I wonder what Aang would look like with hair." Katara commented, intervening in their conversation and catching the attention of the young Air Nomad, who self-consciously touched his scalp.

"Shaving your head is an ancient Air Nomad tradition. Supposedly it helps with airbending." he explained, making Azula raise a brow at him skeptically.

"Really?" she asked, the Avatars shrugging his shoulders.

"Eh, I don't know. I've always been bald." he explained, making the Princess furrow a brow.

"If you wanted to disguise yourself better, you could stop shaving your hair." she suggested, the Avatar cringing at her and shaking her head.

"I don't think I need to do that." he responded, obviously determined to keep his head-hair as it was, that being non-existent.

"Your choice. But when you start getting recognised everywhere we go, I will tell you I told you so." she warned him with a smug grin, before she turned back to Sokka, "I am right." she reaffirmed her statement, to which he nodded.

"You are." he agreed, "Sooner or later, everyone's going to know what the Avatar looks like. Even if most of the people we meet are friendly, there's still a danger of running into Fire Nation people that want to..." he explained, turning to Aang with an uneasy look, "uh, get rid of you."

"Well... not yet." Aang piped up, tapping his scalp, "Until then, I'll proudly wear my tattoos."

The Princess made an exasperated breath, arching her head back with an annoyed look in her eye; she thought Aang was thinking recklessly, but she was defeated by the simplicity of the argument. She couldn't make the Avatar believe he was putting himself in danger until they were actually in danger.

"Don't worry." he assured her as he lay down beside her, "If we're the ones kicking butts, they'll just run away instead of trying to capture Aang."

"Huh, that is a good point." she conceded, smiling at him with a regained confidence, "You're in luck because we're just about to go do that."

"Uh, yeah, that's what we're doing." he noted with an awkward voice, having said what he did because he knew what they were about to do.

Even if they were stopping the Fire Nation from attacking New Omashu, the actual outcome would be scaring them and making them worry about the Avatar; it was both an effective tool against their morale, as well as distracting them from their actual intentions, that being maintaining control over the Earth Kingdom.

"What are we going to do while we wait?" he asked them, realising that he would get bored pretty quickly just sitting on Appa's saddle while it was the middle of the day.

"What, for the few hours it'll take us to the Fire Nation camp?" Katara retorted, "Are you really bored that easily, Sokka?"

"No, I just want to be... doing something. I mean, I could sleep, but night time's for sleeping." he explained his feelings on the matter, his girlfriend raising her head up.

"How about you walk with the rest of the rebels? That'd keep you distracted... aching feet, that is." she suggested as a matter of fact, making the Water tribe teen clear his throat, thinking that was far worse than lying around on Appa's saddle.

"Yeah, I think I'll just nap." he acknowledged, "All that sparring wore me out." he added, nudging her with his elbow.

She shot him a flustered glare, turning her face away from Katara's eyes, making sures she didn't realise that she was blooming red over what they did not too long before.

She cleared her throat, before whispering to him, "Do you want your hair to be on fire?" she warned him, the Water Tribe boy raising a finger in consideration of her threat.

"Don't do it in New Omashu... otherwise I don't know if they'd let us back in." he warned her, the Princess nodding along, obviously agreeing that she ought to avoid bending in the presence of those who would obviously fear and antagonise her because of it.

"You provide a compelling argument. Your scalp is spared." she conceded, before narrowing her eyes at him, "For now."

"I'm trembling with fear." he sarcastically acknowledged her threat, the Princess crossing her arms.

"You think you're the wittiest person in the world, don't you?"

"For a matter of fact, I'm probably not... but I can still annoy you, so I'm getting there!" he grinned at Azula, who rolled her eyes at him.

"You seriously are asking to get hit." Katara commented on their conversation.

"This is normal." he waved off her warning, before yawning, putting his arms behind his head, "So, what did you all get up to while we were sparring?"

"Other than finding out about the Fire Nation scout?" Aang raised a brow, before smirking, "I nearly beat Bumi in a spar!" he declared cockily, before his expression faltered, "But... he might have been going easy on me. I dunno."

"He's a hundred and fourteen, how tough could he be?" Sokka quipped in return, the Avatar looking at him with a dead-serious, wide-eyed expression.

"Very tough. He's got muscles where I didn't even think you could get muscles." he stressed, making the Water Tribe warrior raise a brow.

"Extra strong pinkie finger?" he raised said body part into the air, making Aang chuckle..

"I'm just guessing, but I'd go with yes." he noted, before he glanced over toward Katara, "What about you? You said you'd go looking for Toph."

"I did. I saw the end of a spar she was fighting, and she... well, she beat like twelve other earthbenders at the same time." she explained, shaking her head with fear, "That girl's bending is crazy. She can see with her feet, and then use it to attack her opponents without getting anywhere near them with the flick of a wrist." she explained, imitating what Sokka guessed was an earthbending form with her hands, "Oh, yeah, then I met the Freedom Fighters." she added, making Sokka raise a brow.

"Oh, yeah, how'd you like them?"

"They were less weird than what your story made them out to be." she crossed her arms, sounding annoyed with his story-telling.

"Hey, I didn't say it was completely accurate. I have to make it an enjoyable tale to listen to." he stressed, before gesturing toward her, "But seriously, were they asking about me?"

"Uh, kind of." she noted, "We told the story about when you got drunk to Toph, who found it pretty funny."

"You didn't get up to the Jet giving me a death threat part, did you?" he asked her, afraid that would have made the whole thing a whole lot more awkward, as well as bringing up Azula, who was to everyone beside Bumi, not connected to his girlfriend 'Saila', in any way whatsoever.

"Uh... briefly." she admitted, making Azula raise her head up.

"So, did that lead to talking about me... well, you know, not-Saila." she clarified, the Water Tribe girl nodding with a slight grimace.

"Uh, yeah. Toph didn't make the connection, don't worry." she assured her, before furrowing a brow, "But that doesn't mean that the Freedom Fighters won't."

"Yeah, I know." Sokka agreed with her, "I have a feeling that they'll figure it out, probably before she has to burn down this Fire Nation campsite."

Azula raised a brow at him, clearly confused by his statement, "I wasn't going to burn it down."

"Oh, I didn't mean intentionally." he raised a finger, before smiling at her, "You're just too good at firebending."

"Back-handed compliments are for Zhao, not for you, Sokka, remember that." she warned him, reminding Sokka of that specific trait that the Admiral held.

"Hmph- okay, I won't imitate Admiral Sideburns... or is it Admiral Faceburns?" he raised a finger to his chin, wondering which nickname was more suitable, given the fact that Zhao had an unmissable scar on his left eye.

"Wait, what about face-burns?" Aang raised a brow with a slight grimace, making Sokka's eyes widen, realising that Azula hadn't relayed the full story to Aang, at least when it came to the Admiral.

"Zhao, you know, the one who... uh- what did you tell him?" he asked his girlfriend, who nodded intently.

"Yes, I did." she clarified, "He's just making fun of Admiral Zhao because of the burn he has on his face, and his sideburns."

"Bushy hair on his cheeks?" the young Avatar asked in clarification, tapping the area on his face where sideburns would be if he could grow them.

"Yep." the Water Tribe warrior nodded, before his lips formed into a smug grin, "They look pretty stupid, if you ask me."

"I've seen someone with them before." he explained, before shaking his head with a grimace, "I don't know why anyone would put the effort into growing something that weird looking."

Sokka snorted with amusement, "Neither do I!" he beamed at him with his mouth wide open, slapping his own thigh to express his happiness; making fun of Zhao was something that would never get old for him, seeing that the Admiral definitely deserved all the shame that went his way.

"Uh... back to the point." Katara caught their attention, eyeing the Princess, "You really shouldn't... well, you know, go all crazy lightning and all." she suggested, making Azula snicker, obviously considering doing just what she was told not to do.

"I just might to spite you." she raised her chin up cockily, Sokka raising a finger.

"Now, don't do stupid things for the sake of pride, that's what Admiral Faceburns did, and his armada got destroyed." he reminded her, the Princess nodding with a slightly surprised look in her eye.

"You raise a good argument, Sokka... unlike your sister." she snidely noted, making Katara grasp the sides of her own head with frustration, leaning back as she sighed.

"You just wait until I can waterbend properly, then I won't give you a chance to be such an arse." she growled at her, Azula crossing her arms and nodding along, giving her one of the most genuine smiles Sokka had seen on her face.

"I look forward to it." she smiled, his sister's eyes shimmering with confusion as she looked at the other girl, her mouth slightly agape.

"You what?" she mumbled, obviously confused by her sudden approval.

"Well, if you do that, you'll be a far more useful asset to this team. I will be glad the day you can smack me in the face with a water whip. Not that I'd let you, but if you can at least try, that will be good enough." she simply explained her reasoning, which only seemed to annoy Katara, given the implicit meaning behind her words.

"So what, I'm useless because I can't fight as good as the rest of you?" she narrowed her eyes at the Princess, who shrugged her shoulders.

"I mean, you can actually make us food and know how to gather in the wilderness." she conceded, making the other girl's expressions soften; that didn't last, however, as she continued on, "Not that those skills would save us if the Fire Nation came down on us like a swarm of vulture-hawks, but that doesn't mean they're useless."

The Water Tribe girl crossed her arms, simply addressing her brother, "Your girlfriend is an arsehole, Sokka."

"Hey now, she's the one considering our strengths and weaknesses. That's not being mean... that's being smart." he suggested, before his girlfriend eyed her.

"Your lack of bending is a weakness." she noted, before smirking slightly, "But that means our enemies will underestimate you. Firebenders will attack without realising you can remove their bending with a jab, and paralyse them with a few more."

"Uh, thanks." he smiled at her, appreciative of her compliment, no matter how derisive her first few words were.

"What about me?" Aang raised his hand up, "What am I good at?"

"You're good at distracting the enemy. Your arrows are a good target, and you're faster than anyone you'll probably ever fight." she explained her thoughts, raising a finger to her chin, "I doubt you'd be very good in a head-on duel, but that's why we're making sure you can learn the elements. You can't beat the Fire Nation with just airbending."

"The elements complement each other." he mumbled with an idle glance, before his expression brightened, "But you're right. Once I master the other three elements, I'll be able to face anybody."

"Even the Fire Lord?" Sokka raised a brow, the Princess moving her finger to his mouth to hush him.

"Sokka, you dumbass, that's not who he should be worrying about. My brother's still a coward, don't you forget that."

"Then who should I be worrying about?" Aang asked her with an understandably nervous voice.

"Oh, I think you can guess. Remember who taught my brother the technique to defeat me?"

"Your... your uncle?" he mumbled, sounding unsure of himself, Azula nodding with a confident glare.

"Yes. He's the most powerful firebender alive, or at least the most powerful one you'll ever have to face."

"But he's not trying to capture or harm Aang. Why would he need to do that?" Katara quipped in return, the Princess narrowing her eyes at her.

"Peace, Katara. Peace." she simply told her, before whipping out the map that was curled up in a bag behind her; unrolling it out on the saddle, she gestured down to the Earth Kingdom, "For all we know, right now, my brother still controls the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom, which means that, if the Earth Kingdom was to reunite, he would be in control of territory they claim to be their own."

"That doesn't mean they're going to fight." Aang argued, obviously not wanting to believe it would be possible, "They couldn't after all that's happened. Why would they?"

"Now... I don't believe that my brother would intentionally restart the Hundred Year War, but he most certainly would defend the Fire Nation from attack. What if they start winning again, pushing the Earth Kingdom back? If that happens, then we'll have to pick a side- sorry, you, Aang, you'll have to pick a side, and stop the other. Trust me... I've seen what has happened to the Earth Kingdom, and they have no chance of winning if my brother is half the man my father... is." she explained further, making Sokka sigh; he knew his girlfriend was wrong, no matter how well reasoned her arguments were.

She was making conjecture to try and argue why he should be ready to fight Iroh, someone that even he couldn't stand to fight; that man, no matter what he had done in his past, was a good one, and he was the only reason Sokka wasn't rotting away in a Fire Nation prison at that very moment.

"Calm down... Saila." he referred to her by her pseudonym, something he hadn't gotten used to yet, placing a hand on her shoulder; she flinched slightly, looking at him with annoyance.

"I am calm." she retorted, "I just want him to understand what might happen."

"That won't happen." he assured her, the Princess raising a brow at him with confusion.

"Why wouldn't that happen- if everything keeps going the way it has, there's no way the Earth Kingdom won't try and retake land from my brother." she retorted, the Water Tribe teen raising a finger.

"I will raise a counter-argument." he suggested, before glancing toward Aang and Katara, "Don't worry about Iroh... or the Fire Nation at all... really, just don't. We need to make sure there's peace, and the only way to do that is to bring peace to the Earth Kingdom."

"But the Earth Kingdom is shattered." his sister told him with a sombre tone, "Even if this rebellion works, the rest of the country is still... Fire Nation, I guess."

"Not if we do the one thing we failed to properly achieve." he argued, the Princess raising a brow at him; she was obviously intrigued by whatever he had to say, and she instinctively understood that it was going to be a good idea.

"And what would that be, Sokka?" she licked her lips, before smiling at him smugly.

"Destroying the Dai Li, and bringing the Earth King back to his rightful place." he declared, before clearing his throat, "And before you ask how... we already have one army by our side, all we need is your one."

"My one?" she looked at him with surprise, before narrowing her eyes, "The army that probably doesn't exist anymore?"

"Well, I'm sure we can get some people on side... all you need is to get their attention."

"I have a very good idea of how to do that." she suggested, making Sokka raise a brow at her.

"What is it?" he asked her, with a slightly panicked voice, not knowing at all what his girlfriend intended; to reveal herself at the wrong time could be a potentially fatal mistake, no matter how great a firebender she was.

The smug look on her face, however, suggested that she was wholly confident with herself, and her intentions, something that brought a sense of calm to Sokka; he knew he could be the only person to trust and fear her actions at the same time.

"Oh, I don't want to ruin the surprise."

---

Adjusting the armour piece onto her chest, Azula grunted slightly as it was tightened; the armour was still too big for her, but they had compensated by tightening it around her waist and sides. She gasped out slightly, Sokka's eyes darted up to meet her own; he was afraid- she could already see it, so she decided to remain steadfast for him. As he placed the shoulder plates over each of her triceps, he fastened them in place, the Princess smiling approvingly at his quick handiwork; it seemed forcing him to wear the armour while they travelled together had given him some time to train in getting it on and off as quickly as possible. The last time he had worn it was the day he arrived back at his village, quickly exchanging it for Water Tribe furs, not wanting to intimidate the people of his village, who were obviously unnerved by a man wearing Fire Nation armour in their village, no matter if he was one of them. She remembered how dapper he looked in the armour, smirking slightly as she looked forward to the next time she could dress him up in it, hopefully once she had returned to a position of grace. Becoming worthy of her title would require some intimidation and a lot of hard work, work which she was willing to put in, but until then, she would just be the fugitive sister of the Fire Lord, feared by all for her reputed abilities.

"Is that all good?" Sokka asked her, the Princess rising to her feet, finding it odd to be wearing Fire Nation boots once more on unfamiliar soil.

"I miss wearing real shoes." she made a small smile, the Water Tribe teen chuckling, rolling his eyes at her rather odd comment.

"And I miss my grandmother's cooking." he added in return, before he grasped her shoulders, pushing the armour plates armour a little to make sure they were properly in place.

"Wow, you look like an actual Fire Nation soldier." Aang observed with wide eyes, before he raised a finger to his chin, "Is this what you looked like when you were Crown Princess?"

"I had cleaner hair and better armour than this." she declared, before turning her eyes to her boyfriend, "I didn't get you the fanciest kind. You would have stuck out like a sore thumb."

"Oh, I know. I preferred your goons to ignore me." he admitted honestly, Azula smirking, remembering the rather antagonistic relationship that he had held with the Captain, her most senior guard.

"You didn't try hard enough." she joked, making him sigh, obviously not happy with the circumstances he had been handed.

"It's not my fault I was stuck in the same room as the guy who tried to kill my dad." he retorted, making Katara gasp out with shock.

"Sorry, what?!" she exclaimed, Aang and Sokka both shushing her, knowing that they ought to be quiet; the Water Tribe girl snarled slightly, crossing her arms with disapproval, which only furthered the Princess's amusement.

Staying quiet was the most rational choice, given that they had landed not too far away from the Fire Nation camp. She had only gotten a brief glance of it from up in the air; it was hard to see much, given that it was the middle of the night, probably approaching dawn, if the dark blue hue on to their east was indicative of anything.

"I feel like you purposefully left that bit out of your story." the Water Tribe girl glared both her and her boyfriend down, Azula raising a finger.

"You knew who the Captain was... you just didn't know he nearly killed your father... which he wasn't going to do." she clarified the fact of the matter.

As much as she had despised the Water Tribe warriors at the time, she didn't have any intention of outright having her men murder them; perhaps put them in the galleys as punishment, but nothing like outright slaughter. Thinking she would have done that made Azula shudder slightly, realising how much she had changed, or rather, how her opinion on the Southern Water Tribe had.

"He was going to interrogate him so he could find out who had sent the warriors after me." she clarified, not easing Katara's annoyance by any measure.

"So what were you going to do with them, huh?" she growled at her, Sokka standing between both of them, raising a hand as his sister to hush her.

"Please, calm down. That was a long time ago. Do you really think Azula wants Dad dead? Or to hurt any of the warriors?"

Her eyes narrowed at the Princess for a moment before she slumped her shoulders down, "No..." she mumbled with a quiet, defeated voice, "I just think Azula ought to apologise. She did still put you in a room with a guy you thought was going to kill Dad." she stressed, the Water Tribe teen grimacing slightly, before turning his eyes to Azula.

"Don't worry, I don't need an apology. I already understand why I was put with the Captain."

"To become friends?" Aang guessed, making both Azula and her boyfriend snicker, equally amused by the proposition; they did eventually become somewhat friendly, at the very least, though there was still a lot of animosity between them the last time they saw each other.

"Well, you're not far from the truth, Aang." she acknowledged, making a small smirk at her boyfriend, "I trusted the Captain as my most senior guard to be my personal enforcer. I wanted to make sure the two of them trusted each other, as I believed that the threat, which at the time I didn't understand the scope of, would threaten all of us." she explained her thoughts on the matter, making an odd feeling come up in her stomach; she remembered what it was like to be a leader, and the desire she had to return to that position only grew stronger when she thought about her feats, "Becoming comfortable with each other worked out in the end, didn't it?" she asked Sokka with a smirk, remembering how the two of them had helped beat down the Dai Li when they had attempted to capture her.

"Oh, yeah, it did." he made a similar expression, "The look on Long Feng's face was worth being stuck in a room with Mister Serious-grumpy-pants." he joked, making her snort with amusement; if her subordinate was with her at that moment, he probably would have demanded to duel Sokka for his mockery, something she would have enjoyed to watch.

Azula stretched her arms out, checking that her armour was tightened properly, before she ran her fingers through her hair; she couldn't have one hair out of place, as even if she had been raised a commoner and fought as a foot-soldier, as being dishevelled would be a great disgrace her rank. She looked down at the small belt that crossed her waist, taking note of the glinting golden buckle; it signified the rank of the wearer, which she assumed was a Captain or Major. She didn't know exactly, as she hadn't been thinking about the ranks and uniforms of Fire Nation soldiers much for the past few months. She settled on Captain, knowing that it would be a little unusual for her to walk out, an seventeen year old girl, and claim that she was a Major, a rank she'd expect on a grizzled officer of a dozen years.

"Well, I'm ready to go." Azula simply acknowledged, Sokka glancing back her way with a glint of fear in his eye; he had no reason to fear, as she could easily take care of herself- she was going into the camp for only a short while, scouting around and asking about if she could, before returning with her intelligence.

"Good luck." he simply told her with a tense mumble, Azula nodding as he remained around an arm's distance away from her; she glanced over to Katara and Aang, who both looked down at her with serious looks on their faces, or at least, as serious as they could muster.

"We'll keep watch... and if anything bad happens, don't be afraid to shoot a massive fireball into the sky. We'll pick you up." Aang suggested with a hopeful look in his eye, the Princess narrowing her eyes at him; she was glad he knew what to do in the case of an emergency, despite the fact he was the youngest of the group.

"Thanks." she made a small smile, before instinctively straightening her expression; she knew she ought to act a little tougher in front of him, as one day, it would come upon her to train him in firebending, and she would need a dutiful and fearful pupil to do just that.

Azula shook her head, realising that she shouldn't be thinking about things like training the Avatar, but rather about the stealth operation she was about to undertake; she was unarmed, and intended to imitate a Fire Nation soldier coming back from patrol. She knew she could probably use her old fake name, Zaira without arousing suspicion, knowing that it sounded Fire Nation enough that any soldier would guess it to be a real, albeit rare, name. She turned her heels, noticing Sokka raising his hand, without a word, to wave her farewell as she walked off into the distance, weakening the flame she had been holding in her hand to light up their surroundings.

She didn't know if they were very safe where they had landed, behind a rock-formation between them and the valley in which the Fire Nation encampment was situated; it quickly came into view as she strode downhill, her eyes darting about to make sure there was no one on patrol nearby, snuffing out the flames in her right palm entirely. She took note of a few flames in the distance, indicative of a pair of soldiers on patrol, though they were far enough away that they likely wouldn't spot her; that only distracted her for a moment as she moved onward, eyeing the edge of the campsite, inside of which she could see faint light coming from inside tents, as well as most distant light, probably coming from whatever communal campfires the soldiers relied upon for warmth and to cook their meals. She straightened her back, trying to seem as normal a soldier as possible; she had tied her hair up all the way into a proper topknot instead of lining her face with bangs, which she thought might be a little too suspicious, given that her appearance was probably well known amongst those that had seen the wanted posters that Bumi had spoken of. She was slightly disappointed that she hadn't gotten to see one, wanting to see how well her likeness had been depicted; she pushed that thought to the recesses of her mind, knowing she ought to remain focused.

She glanced around at the tents she walked by, hearing the light humming of soldiers snoring; most of them would be asleep at that time of day, just before dawn, when any firebender would start waking up. That was the conventional time for soldiers to rise, anyway, which made the most sense when they had so many benders in their army. She kept her eyes focused ahead of her, taking note of the nearby like of a campfire; she guessed she could sit down and gather some intelligence from whatever soldiers were around. Azula was not the greatest conversationalist, but she knew that her skills were enough to pass by campfire talk. As she came over to the campfire, she took note of three soldiers sitting by it, all of them non-bending enlistees, from the look of their armour and the helmets they had down beside them; as soon as they saw her, they straightened themselves up, obviously assuming she was an officer.

"Uh, good morning, ma'am." one of them addressed her, the Princess keeping a stern expression as she approached the campfire itself, seating herself down across from them; she tried her hardest to ignore the flames, knowing that if her bending connected to the campfire, it would incriminate her in an instant.

"Is it really that time already?" she asked them, the soldiers nodding along.

"That's what Lung said. His firebending tells him when the sun's about to rise." one of the soldiers explained before straightening his back and coughing, obviously realising that he was being awfully informal in front of someone he assumed to be an officer, "Are you alright... uh..." he began to trail off, obviously not having an immediate grasp on her rank.

"Captain." she gave her rank, "I'm Captain Zaira." she introduced herself, the soldiers nodding along silently, "Are you all ready for tomorrow... or should I say, today?"

"Of course, ma'am." one of them nodded, "Our unit is going to set off just after sunrise. We'll have the dirt-eaters in our grasps, for sure." he told her, indicating that their unit was about to go fight earthbenders, though whether he was speaking of their fast approaching allies or some other enemy, she was unsure.

"That's the confidence I like to hear." she admitted before she hammered her fist down into her open palm, "You mustn't be afraid of what may come."

"That's a good proverb." one of the soldiers murmured, before raising a brow at her, "What are you doing up, ma'am?"

"I could ask you all the same thing." she quipped in return, before narrowing her eyes, "I'm nervous." she lied, making the soldiers look amongst each other with fearful expressions.

"Yeah... I feel like that's a common feeling these days." one of the soldiers mumbled, "I thought things were looking up... but you never know. These bastards are tricky, and the traitors, they're breathing down our necks."

"You mustn't worry about them. Only on what you can do for your country." she stressed to them, hoping that her 'advice' was believable, "Then you can put your fears aside."

"Damn... did you come out here to just give us that speech?" one of the soldiers joked, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"Of course not. I'm going to go meet with the other officers to discuss our operations for the day... once they wake up, that is." she explained, the soldiers nodding along, one of them pulling up a water skin and taking a swig out of it.

"Could you ask 'em when we're getting our next batch of supplies?" one of them piped up, sounding somewhat exasperated, "Sometimes I feel like I'm made of komodo-rhino and rice."

"It's better to be made of that than nothing." she warned him, the soldier's eyes glimmering with fear through the flames that sat between them, "I can ask about the supplies. I'm not sure I'll be much help... there's not much any of us can do."

"Raiding villages won't feed us... not that there is any around here." another soldier spoke up, his gruff, gravelly voice indicating to her that he was a veteran, or at least, more experienced than the young soldiers she was speaking with, "We need to take some territory back."

"That's a dangerous proposition." she admitted, giving her honest opinion at that moment, "The... traitors, no matter how weak-willed they are... they've got the numbers and the supplies."

"We just need to steal some of theirs instead of trying to conquer their cities. That'll be a little easier. Less sieges and more time to recover." one of them suggested, before sighing, "But there's not much hope, is there, Captain?"

Azula tensed up, thinking about his words for a moment; she knew that there was a future for the men before her, and she just hoped it would be one of peace, and not of needless fighting. As much as she wanted the civil war to end, and for her nation to be reunited, she knew that Aang would be the only one capable of fixing something of that magnitude; she didn't plan to disappear for good, and let the world think she was dead, just so her brother could sit on the throne, self-assured in his own arrogance. There was a lesson she sought to teach her brother, the same that he had, probably unintentionally, taught her; that one's strength did not lie in one's fortitude or wits, but their ability to make others believe in that strength- power, like any form of belief, lay where people saw it, not where it actually was.

"There's hope for victory." she lied, knowing the victory the men before her sought and the one she offered were not the same, "The Fire Nation will never be defeated... I am sure of it." she furthered, her words not a lie in the slightest; her intention in returning from the South Pole was not to bring an end to her country and all it had done.

She simply wanted a compromise, one that would ensure that her country could prosper once more, and allow it to be what it was always intended to be- a great, benevolent guiding force for the world. She wanted to rule her country with absolute authority, but not for her own gain, but for the service itself; she was dedicated to it, to the idea of being the perfect ruler, who treated her subjects with a tempered hand, and did not destroy and attack needlessly- one that waited for the opportunities, and seized them when they arose, without question. She wanted to be the woman Sokka saw her as, not the one she might have become without his insights and wisdom; to call her boyfriend wise amused her, but she knew it was true- he had an understanding of the world that softened her own, and made it more fair- more noble.

"You sound... sure of yourself." one of the soldiers mumbled, catching her attention; he was a younger one, probably around her own age, and with an uneasy look in his eye.

"I am." she confirmed his assumption, "One should never say something simply because they want to, but because they know it to be true." she told him with a determined, cold tone, the same she loved to use when talking down to pretty much anyone when she had still been Crown Princess.

"And how are you so sure, Captain?" he asked her, his eyes moving up, "Our friends... they get captured, they get killed, and for what? We haven't won. If anything, everything's gone to shit." he explained, before dropping his eyes, "I-I'm sorry if that was out of line."

"Oh, it was." she assured him, before raising her chin up, "But you have a point. The war isn't what any of us want. We're here to win... to end it." she told him, before she rose up to her feet, feeling that she had talked enough with the Fire Nation soldiers.

It felt almost comforting to speak to them, knowing that even if she was against them, they were still like her, even if they had had radically different upbringings and pasts; in the end, they all wanted the same fundamental thing- to serve their country. She felt a tinge of guilt, knowing that she was to fight them, but she knew that it was just like Yu Dao; even if they served the same purpose, they did not desire the same Fire Nation she did, let alone understand the futility of their efforts.

"I need to do my duties, as do all of you. I wish you luck today." she simply addressed the soldiers, who nodded along, none of them saluting her.

They probably thought she was too low-ranking to deserve a salute, despite the fact she was actually the Crown Princess; if they knew who she was, they'd probably be on their knees, begging for mercy. She paced away from their small campfire, making her way through the camp; she knew she had to find out more about their operations, something that would require something a little more dangerous than small talk. She made her way down along past a number of tents, taking note that there was still little activity within the campsite; Azula glanced forward, taking note of some larger tents, ones that she assumed housed one of two things- the animals the soldiers rode upon, or the ranking officers of the army. When she got closer, and took note that the tents weren't open, nor smelling of dung, she came to the conclusion that the tents belonged to the officers. This made her smile, though she straightened her expression, darting her eyes about as she tried to figure out where the commanding tent would be. The army had to be led by a general, or at least, that was what Aang had said the interrogated soldier had referred to as his leader; she wondered who the General was, and if they were somebody she had met before. She had gone to a few war meetings with her father over the years, and had met a few interesting characters, though she was unsure how many of them remained under her brother's command.

She took note of a larger, ornate tent set apart from the rest, which she assumed was the general's tent; Azula pursed her lips upward, slowly making her approach, not wanting to arouse much suspicion by running up to investigate it. She guessed she could sneak in if the general was asleep, and otherwise, she would be able to pretend she bore information on the Earth Kingdom forces that were about to attack them; false information, of course, as deceiving the enemy while learning about their intentions at the same time would be the most effective use of her time. As she came to approach the tent, she heard the sound of voices inside the tent, assuming that there was a discussion going on; it was too far away for her to hear anything specific, only muffled words that were no good for her.

She needed solid, undeniable intelligence if she wanted her little expedition to be worth it; she dropped her eyes downward for a moment, thinking of an excuse to use. The rebel forces actually intended to attack from the south via sneaking underground, so she knew she had to make a lie that would dissuade against that truth; Azula took a deep breath, trying to think what a panicked soldier might do when confronted with the potential of an enemy coming after them. She then began to race toward the tent, exaggeratedly panting as if she had been running for a longer period of time, before she barged into the tent, catching the attention of those inside. There were three men sitting down in a circle, on chairs, one of which was behind a desk; she assumed that was the General, and upon examining his features, she recognised him. General Zhang was his name, a well-renowned general who had taken part in her father's campaign to conquer Ba Sing Se; afterwards, had been assigned the duty of pacifying the central Earth Kingdom, which happened to be the most sparsely populated, and thus, hardest to control region of the country.

His eyes widened with surprise, looking up to her, along with his subordinates, "What is the meaning of this?" he asked her, the Princess straightening her posture, trying to speak in as panicked a tone as possible.

"G-General, the rebels! They're moving right toward us from the west! I- we just got back from our scouting mission." she explained to him, before raising her hands up, "We have to do some- uh- anything!" she exclaimed, one of the other officers standing up to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Please, ma'am, calm down." he tried to make her act like anything less than a panicked fool; that was exactly what she had intended, and she was glad that she had already earned their sympathies.

"You know what those savages will do." she grit her teeth, "We have to respond, before they try anything." she tried to advise him, knowing that an afraid soldier would be more willing to step the boundaries of rank; the General standing up from his seat.

"I thank you for bringing this intelligence to me as quickly as possible... uh... sorry, I don't know you personally." he conceded the fact he didn't know her rank, indicating for her to introduce herself; she did just that, bowing to him as a sign of respect.

"Captain Zaira, sir." she told him, before taking a deep breath, looking at the officers with a grimace, "You'll do something, right?"

"We will, Captain." the General assured her, "I think you need to sit down... maybe drink some water. We'll handle this." he stressed with an almost chiding tone; he didn't think she was a threat, or anything less than a panicked soldier, which made her feel more confident than ever.

One of the officers gestured to the canvas flaps which she had run through, "Come on, Captain." he directed her, Azula not refusing his directions; she was just glad that General Zhang hadn't actually recognised her, knowing that there was a chance he would have seen past her more pulled back hair and soldier's attire to see her true identity.

She was led out by the officer, who gestured to a nearby rock that sat nearby, about the right size to sit on, "You can sit down there, Captain." he told her, "We'll go get you a drink so you can set your thoughts straight."

"Th-thank you, sir." she bowed slightly, purposefully stammering to make herself seem more shaken.

She walked over to the rock and sat herself down, shaking her left leg as she moved herself into the most comfortable position she could; she wanted to look as nervous as possible, and it worked, as the General approached her once more, having just spoken with another officer, who raced off into the campsite.

"What happened, Captain?"

"M-my unit was attacked." she lied, thinking of the best reason why she'd be so afraid, "I got separated from the others, and I had to run when their earthbenders came after me. I nearly got buried alive, but l-luckily, I'm- uh- fast." she murmured, before looking him in the eye, "You'll make sure my friends- you'll make sure they're safe, General?"

He looked at her with a pitying glance, before his eyes darted up to the west, where she said she had come from, "How far away were you?"

"Not too far. We were- uh- just around the other side of that ridge." she explained, pointing up to the rough peaks that lined the western horizon.

"I'll send out a few units as soon as the sun rises, and we'll make sure the enemy isn't planning anything tricky." he assured her, "You don't have to worry, Captain, you're safe."

"R-r-really?" she looked up at him with wide eyes, the same kind she'd give her mother when she wanted something out of her; it felt unusual to be doing that in front of a grown man when she was nearly an adult herself, but it worked like a charm.

"Of course. We look out for each other in the army." he assured her, patting her on the shoulder, "When Major Shou comes back with that water for you, we can take you back to your tent. I just need to go... handle this situation. I can't have the men getting too worried when we were just about to set out on our advance." he admitted, giving Azula the intelligence she so sorely desired.

"We can still win, sir." she told him, making her voice a little more confident sounding that before, "They're not as smart as us, anyway."

"No, they're not. You got away, which means they've failed to keep their activities secret." he acknowledged, proving that he was just as well-knowledged as her about strategy, which wasn't surprising, given the fact he was a General, even if he wasn't as aged and wisened as some she had seen on her father's war councils, "That fatal mistake will be their undoing, Captain. I am sure of it." he assured her, Azula trying her best to hold back laughter; the irony of his words were hilarious, given the fact that everything she had just told him and his men were lies to spook them.

"Th-thank you, sir." she made a smile at him to try and cover her growing amusement; he looked down at her with sympathetic eyes, though she saw a glint of awareness.

Whether he recognised her or not was beside the point; it was unlikely he'd believe that she was Princess Azula, given the fact her location had been unknown, and even if the Southern Raiders had spread word of her return, she doubted that it would make the man before her believe that she was really herself, given the fact that the Crown Princess was known for her elegance, ruthlessness and high-standards. The Azula of old never would have disguised herself as a common soldier just to gain an edge on her enemies- perhaps to overthrow her enemies, as she had in Yu Dao, but not to simply gain intelligence.

"Just stay here, Captain. I'm sure the Major will be back soon... I will handle this new threat, and ensure that these dirt-eaters never pose a threat to us again." he declared with a smirk, showing off the confidence she'd expect of someone of his rank; he turned his heels, leaving her by her lonesome once more; her eyes darted around, making sure the Major, as Zhang had referred to him as, hadn't returned.

The tent was right in front of her, and she'd only need a minute to scan through his documents before she fled the campsite. Unlike earthbenders, the Fire Nation soldiers she might have to face couldn't very easily ensnare her, meaning that as long as she could keep moving, there was little chance she'd be captured, unlike two nights prior, where they had been easily captured by Toph and the other earthbenders, whose abilities and stealth made them far more of threat, in her own eyes. Azula rose to her feet, stepping lightly on her toe-tips as she paced quickly over to the opening in the canvas, entering the tent and pulling the canvas back in place as soon as she was inside; she glanced around the dimly lit tent for a moment, taking note of two candles sitting on General Zhang's desk. She could see a few documents on the table, and immediately walked over to them and picked them up; scanning over the titles, she noted that they were intelligence reports, giving information on the nearby occupied city of Omashu, or as titled in the document, New Ozai. She picked up the paper, rolled it up and held it in her left hand while her right continued to trace along each of the documents. She took note of another document detailing news from the Fire Nation homeland, which made sense, given the fact that the rebels opposing her brother did intend to eventually overthrow him, though she knew they'd do little while stuck in the Earth Kingdom. She guessed that someone like Zhao could provide the rebels with boats to attack the homeland, though she guessed he was off doing his own thing, and that was if he hadn't been captured and summarily executed by her brother.

She took a few more pieces of paper into her left hand and rolled them all up as tightly as she could before she darted to the rear of the tent, pulling up the canvas and climbing underneath, allowing herself to get out of the tent without being spotted; standing between the command tent and a few other tents, she darted over toward the others, seeking to take cover between them. She took note of the sound of shouting, which she guessed was from the soldiers being awoken, given the information she had just given the General and his men; she knew her lies would perhaps disadvantage her allies slightly, given that they no longer had the advantage of surprise, but rather of misdirection. The Fire Nation forces were under the presupposition that the Earth Kingdom rebels were on the ridge to the west of them, when in fact they'd be attacking from the south, likely when their enemies were just about to set off to face them. Before then, she had to escape the camp, lest she be forced to reveal her identity to them, which she knew would not go down well, given a number of them might genuinely want to serve her, if they had been given the opportunity.

When she reached the gap between the tents, she unfurled the scrolls out and began to glance down them, wanting to know what her enemies were getting up to. She sparked a flame in her right hand, forming a small torch on her index finger to light up the paper, which would have been very hard to read otherwise, given that it was barely dawn. She immediately took note of the fact that the General had a number of spies in Omashu, who were soldiers that had been split from his army when the civil war began in earnest, which she assumed was when she had been defeated in her Agni Kai. This kind of force was something she knew she could abuse at a later time, knowing that if she could turn Zhang's forces, loyalists to her father, into a full on revolt against her brother, that would give the Earth Kingdom rebels the prime opportunity to retake the city and for King Bumi to reassert his authority.

Reading further down the document, she also realised how the situation was faring further afield; there were other rebel commanders working in concert with Zhang to try and secure as much of the Earth Kingdom for themselves. Anti-Zuko forces as far away as the southern tip of the Earth Kingdom and the former Northern Air Temple were talking to each other, and she was surprised to see one name on the list that she recognised- Admiral Zhao, who was certainly alive, at least as of when the document was written. It stated his role to be the Admiral of the Northern Fleet, which was stationed on the north-western coast of the Earth Kingdom, not too far from the core Fire Nation colonies; the document further stated that he was continuing his efforts against the Northern Water Tribe, though at a far lower intensity than he had been prior to the beginning of the civil war.

"The bastard lives. I guess I'm cursed to have him around for a little longer." she mumbled to herself, knowing that Zhao was a bridge she had to cross at some point.

His intentions for the North Pole were something she couldn't ignore, not when she wanted to make peace, even with the cowardly Northern Water Tribe, who until a few years prior, hadn't experienced much more than a few Fire Nation patrols through their waters. She knew however, that his authority over a large portion of the Fire Navy as well as his general strategic skills were something that could still be utilised, especially given the fact she was in short supply of allies, at least those that she could trust to help her occupy the Fire Nation colonies and not 'liberate' them back to the Earth Kingdom.

She pulled out another document, one which detailed information from the homeland, which was surprisingly detailed; the most glaring detail that caught her eye was the one concerning her own father, the former Fire Lord Ozai. The document stated that he was in purportedly good health and had recovered from his past injuries received in his duel with Zuko; that was a sign that if her father intended to make any kind of move, he was probably going to do so soon. She didn't know if he could break out of prison, let alone escape the capital without being hunted down and properly finished off by her brother or uncle, both of which would certainly oppose him reaching to his supporters alive, despite their weak-willed and sometimes untenable views about duty and honour. She glanced further down and saw something that made her jaw drop; it sounded like a joke she might make herself, but it was really before her, jarringly sitting on a page that would have otherwise looked like a serious military document.

"Fire Lord Zuko is to wed Lady Mai in two months." she read it aloud, just to reassure herself that it wasn't a joke, before snickering, finding herself amused by such a suggestion; she knew that they were going to eventually elope, although it wasn't much of an elopement if he was the Fire Lord of all people.

She glanced further down the description of that specific bit of information, reading out something seemed a little more important in her own eyes, "The ceremonies are to be of prime importance to our allies in the homeland."

She pursed her lips into a smirk, wondering what their 'allies' intended to do; she had always thought that her brother was a hard boy to break, but she knew for certain that he could still be killed. When she thought of it, she was disappointed, knowing that if she wanted to see Zuko dead, it would be by her own hand; she wouldn't have someone steal the honour from her, though there was little she could do about it. She thought of her brother's big day being ruined by the chaos that the rebels intended to set off, and she couldn't help but giggle. It was the karma he deserved after what he did to her; to have something that was meant to be perfect and magnificent ruined.

"That will teach you, your majesty." she smirked deviously, before she rolled the pieces of paper back up; she momentarily raised her head up, checking about for soldiers that might have been roused from their slumber before looking over toward where Appa was- she had to get back, and do so without warning the enemy, "Now, I just need to get out of here without setting everything on fire." she acknowledged, before chuckling, realising how often it was that ended up being the case when it came to her fights.

"I'm always up for a challenge."

---

Waiting on Appa's saddle patiently, Katara felt nervous about what might be happening in the campsite below; she knew that Azula would do a good job at fooling the Fire Nation soldiers, but was worried that if she got found out, it might ruin their plans, and maybe even endanger their allies. She wanted to make sure, just like everyone else, that the Fire Nation forces that were looking for New Omashu never had a chance to reach it. Looking down into the dimly lit campsite, she could only hope that the darkness of dawn was enough to keep them obscured. It had been two full days since they left the city, and she knew for a fact that their allies were approaching; she and Aang had flown over not too long before to spot them out, distinguished by the few torches they held to guide them along as they travelled through the night. Her brother was peering over the saddle beside her, his own expression, barely visible, showing that he was nervous about whatever was going down in the camp.

"What if she got captured... Katara, what should we do?" he spoke up, the fear in his voice understandable.

She looked at him sympathetically, knowing that his worry was indicative of the love he held toward his girlfriend, even if he didn't usually speak about it openly to her, "We'll go break her out... though honestly, Sokka, I doubt they'd be able to."

"I mean, how could they?" Aang piped up, "You saw what she did on Kyoshi Island. She beat the Southern Raiders all by herself. These guys can't be much worse."

"There's a whole lot more of them, Aang." Sokka stressed, pointing down into the camp, "This is a whole army, and they're looking for New Omashu. I'm pretty sure somebody here's going to be able to face Azula."

"You're just being paranoid." Katara chided her brother, "Azula can kick all our butts, and all their butts, probably at the same time."

"I really should I have been the one to go use the disguise." he mumbled, playing with his fingers for a few moments before he rose up from his crouched position, moving toward the other side of the saddle, "I really..." he trailed off, the Water Tribe girl looking toward her brother with a sense of fear; his fear might get the better of him, and that wasn't going to be very helpful if they ended up getting attacked.

"Sokka." she addressed him, reaching into the bag beside her, pulling out a bit of jerky, "Just eat some jerky and sit down. We'll wait for Azula, and then we'll see how we'll deal with these Fire Nation goons."

He glanced back at the jerky, licking his lips before he forced himself to sit down again, "Bribing me, Katara... how delicious!" he grinned, taking the jerky from her hands and biting into it; his sudden positivity lasted until he swallowed his first bite, after which he glanced over toward the campsite once more, "She has to be back soon... she has to."

"Don't worry, Sokka." she assured her, placing a hand on his shoulder as she traced her eyes along the sight of the sprawling Fire Nation encampment, "She'll be back soon enough... or... well, I guess the rebels will give her a chance to get back."

"Oh..." her brother mumbled, before his eyes widened with fear, "They're not going to make a massive entrance, are they?" he questioned her with a look of dread on his face, turning to Aang as well, hoping that either of them had an answer.

She didn't have any to give her brother, not really knowing what tactics earthbenders would employ to start a fight; she had never been in a battle with them before, not counting when they had ensnared them all when they had been trying to sleep. She considered whether it would be any similar to that, but was honestly without any kind of foresight on the matter.

"I have no idea." Aang mumbled, "But if Bumi's what these guys are like... then it's going to be crazy."

"Like crazy tactics or crazy big rocks being thrown around?" the elder Water Tribe teen asked of him, the Air Nomad furrowing a brow with thought.

"Um... big rocks... but maybe they're good at strategy too. I dunno." he shrugged his shoulders, before he raised his head up, "Wait- is that Azula?" he pointed down to the campsite, gesturing to the eastern edge of it; Katara focused her eyes on it, taking note that there was a figure leaving the camp, though they weren't heading directly towards them, but rather just away from the camp.

"Maybe that's her." Sokka mumbled, before turning his eyes to the Avatar, "Maybe we should pick her up."

"I think we should stay put, Sokka." his sister suggested otherwise, "If we fly up on Appa to get her, the Fire Nation might see us. It's starting to get light out... the sun rises a lot quicker here than it does at the South Pole."

"Y-yeah... you're right." he agreed with her, grimacing slightly before he grasped his boomerang, pulling it out of its sheath, "We should be ready to go. I'm guessing the others will be here any minute."

"We are." Aang assured him, before grasping his staff off of the saddle, "We just have to wait for the... uh... whatever they're doing." he mumbled, looking uncertain as to what exactly their allies had planned; Katara knew that they were intending to strike the camp fast and overwhelm the forces as quickly as they could, as to ensure their enemies were either captured or forced to flee.

"I'm sure they'll make themselves known, Aang." Katara noted, before she turned her eyes back toward the distant figure who was almost certainly Azula; she was making her way toward the slope of the ridge they were perched on, although some distance along from their position.

She suddenly felt a slight rumbling underneath her, and for a moment she thought it might have been earthbending from a distance, though Aang chuckles suggested otherwise, "Appa? Are you hungry, buddy?" he asked the sky-bison, leaning over the edge of the saddle to look his furry friend in the eye.

Momo chittered loudly a few moments after that, his ears pointing up as he climbed up onto Sokka's back, pulling at his tunic; her brother cried out with surprise, attempting to move his arms around to pick the lemur off of his back. Though she was amused by the sight of her brother nearly squealing, she realised quickly enough that there must have been a reason behind the lemur reacting how he did. She turned her eyes over toward the campsite, taking note of fissures in the ground that were forming; she smirked, realising that was the signal she had been waiting for. Grasping her brother by the shoulder, she gestured toward the cracks in the ground as they grew bigger, spurts of dust coming out of the ground, which shook, even where they were, up on top of the ridge.

"This has to be it." her brother murmured, his expression changing to one of shock as the ground suddenly started to rise up, the fissures becoming even larger; within a few seconds, the ground began to move in a wave, almost like water, as the soil was ripped up, quickly approaching the edge of the camp.

"Okay, now would be a good time to get flying, Aang!" Sokka called on the young Avatar, who nodded, still glancing at the earthbending with awe, all of them witnessing as the camp was thrown into utter disarray, the sounds of screams and cries as the ground was ripped up from underneath the feet of those inside.

The young Air Nomad grasped the reins of the sky-bison, whipping them and calling out the signature line, "Yip! Yip!" before Appa groaned, quickly rising up into the air.

Aang steered him to make sure he flew in the direction of where Azula had been running to, all while Katara kept her eyes focused on the campsite as it was ripped up by the wave of earth; she glanced down toward the source of the attack, and took note of a line of earthbenders, backed up by non-bending soldiers in tow- the battle had only just begun, and they had every intention of winning it. Pillars of earth were formed out of the ground, and within moments, they were already being fired into the camp, destroying tents and forcing the soldiers present, who had probably until a few moments later, been soundly sleeping, to run for their lives.

"Earthbending is scarily powerful." her brother murmured, his voice nearly silenced by the wind as they flew through the air.

"I hope I can become that powerful... then we can all kick a ton of butts together." she smirked at him, Sokka's expression, which had until then been quite fearful, shifted to one of humour.

"Oh, I bet we will." he told her confidently, before his expression darkened, "There's a lot of people that Azula's going to fight."

She didn't question his words, rather drawing her attention down to the Princess herself as they approached her, still running toward them, "Hey!" she called out, her voice muffled by the distance, but still distinguished from the sound of the ground being turned into a stew of tents and soil not too far from where they were.

As soon as they reached Azula, she used her bending to blast herself up onto the saddle, looking at them with a surprised, slightly exasperated expression, "That's what they call a surprise attack?! I nearly got killed by a wave of dirt!" she grit her teeth, clearly expressing her annoyance at the circumstances.

"Did you find out anything?" Katara asked her, the Princess shooting her a spiteful glare, though she was unsure as to exactly what she'd done wrong.

"The rebels have spies everywhere, my father's definitely alive, and my brother's getting married." she explained, the expressions visibly changing from shock, to worry, and then to humour on Sokka's face.

"You're joking." he mumbled, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"I don't joke." she growled, before gesturing toward the campsite, "Now, we need to beat up these Fire Nation soldiers before they run away like a bunch of dishonourable cowards." she growled, the young Avatar who had received said command gulping with fear, abiding without question as he whipped Appa's reins once more.

They rose back up into the air as fast as they had landed, and quickly turned around to fly right toward the campsite, approaching the part of it that had not been hit by the earth wave, Aang already getting his staff ready in hand. The other three looked out toward the Earth Kingdom assault, which was led by a charge of determined earthbenders, who Katara guessed were being led by Toph; she gasped in shock as she saw another, smaller wave appear throwing soldiers down and destroying what remained of the tents in the area. As they neared the ground, the Avatar jumped up into the air, opening up his glider to fly down and deal with the threat himself; even if his fighting still was still reserved, he was more than willing to take down the Fire Nation after what he had seen them do. Katara turned to face Sokka, who looked at her with a serious expression, grasping a spear from the back of the saddle and throwing it into her hands; she caught it, tightening her grip and standing up tall, ready to fight alongside him in the battle that was growing in intensity all around them.

"Now, we win." her brother declared with a steely glare, making her instinctively think back to what their village, and the Southern Water Tribe had suffered throughout the years; what they were to do that morning, was to achieve victory against the people who desired to continue the war and the suffering that it entailed.

He glanced over to Azula, who silently nodded at him, pulling a piece of blue fabric out from one of the bags, a piece that Katara probably would have used to mend a hole in her brother's pants, and tied it around her scalp, as to distinguish herself from other Fire Nation soldiers they would be facing. She immediately jumped down from the saddle, the two Water Tribe siblings following in tow; there were a few Fire Nation soldiers racing toward them, their expressions changing to ones of confusion.

"The Water Tribe?" one of the soldiers exclaimed with confusion, "What are these snow savages doing here?!" he growled, his tone growing more annoyed; Katara pointed her spear toward him with a glare, gravely offended his words.

"Oh, you're gonna get it." she assured him, before Azula stepped forward.

"Enough posturing." she demanded, before turning her eyes to Sokka, "Take them down!" she commanded her boyfriend, who immediately threw his boomerang out, flying out past a few of the soldiers, who flinched to duck under it; he then drew out his machete, ready to deal with the soldiers the more conventional way, lest his trick fail.

When the boomerang came flying back around, it stuck one of the enemy soldiers in the neck, making the others yelp out with fear, giving the trio the opportunity to charge forward and attack them. Katara rushed at one of the soldiers, throwing her spear out to jab him in the shoulder, flinging him backward; she smirked as she was able to duck under a fireball that was thrown her way, turning around to strike the deliverer of said attack in the gut with the blunt end of her spear. Azula stepped up beside her, kicking the soldier in the head with a swift blow, before turning around and blocking a fireball that would have otherwise hit the Water Tribe girl. She smiled appreciatively at her efforts before turning around to stab one of the soldiers in the arm with her spear, making him cry out; she twisted the weapon around to further hurt him, before drawing it out, whacking him in the helmet with her pole. Though it didn't knock him out, she took advantage of his disoriented state and tripped him, which indeed knocked him out cold when he fell face first into the ground.

"Excuse me!" she heard her brother call out, Katara ducking down, her brother's club being swung out above her to hit a soldier who was aiming to tackle her.

She rose back up to her full height, kicking the soldier down when he tried to recover, before turning her attention to the growing number of Fire Nation soldiers coming their way; she grimaced, realising that it would be a challenge to take them all down, given that Azula was relenting to use her bending, probably out of fear that they might target her, being an extremely useful hostage to any Fire Nation rebels. She was relieved though to see Aang landing down between them and the approaching soldiers, spinning his staff around to create a powerful wind gust that pushed them back.

"Thanks, Aang!" Sokka grinned at him, before charging forward, throwing his boomerang once more, the weapon arcing around away from the Avatar's powerful use of airbending.

All four of them charged forward, ready to take on the enemy, who counterattacked by sending numerous fire streams their way, all standing in formation; Aang's airbending was powerful enough to hold off the attack, and Katara almost laughed when she heard the sound of one of them being hit by her brother's boomerang. Azula raced forward past the young Avatar, skidding under the fire streams to directly attack their opponents, breaking their formation, and thus giving the other three of them a chance to move in and attack.

The Water Tribe siblings charged forward together, Katara wielding her spear and Sokka his club, each of them striking at a soldier each, almost in synchronisation, before they spun around, switching opponents. She jabbed her spear into shoulder guards, struck their extremities and forced them off their feet, all while weaving around their panicked attacks, which mostly consisted of small, pitiful looking fireballs aimed at her torso. She whacked one soldier's helmet off with the blunt end of her spear, before he was knocked out cold by her brother's club hitting him in the head.

She felt the ground suddenly shaking underneath her once more, a lot more powerful than it had been over on the ridge, which made her instinctively run out of the way of what she guessed was another earthbending attack; she almost squealed as the ground was ripped up in front of her, jumping out of the way as the Fire Nation soldiers were flung off of their feet with little warning. She rolled on the ground, grunting with pain as she tried to reorient herself; Katara's eyes widened as she saw a soldier with his hands full of flames, ready to strike her. She lunged out of the way of his fire blast, and was saved by the ungraceful wall of earth that was thrown in their direction, forcing the soldier to the ground.

She readied the spear once more, not knowing where the next attack would come from; the other three were giving their opponents a quick beatdown, all while she only had her spear to deal with the fleeing enemy forces, who seemed to be still confident enough to try and fight them. She was suddenly forced off her feet by a fireball striking her in the back, making her cry out with pain as her skin was singed, the flames quickly burning through her tunic. She rolled onto her back to put out the flames, instinctively thrusting her spear forward; the head of the weapon found itself in the gut of her opponent, making him cringe with pain, his stance faltering. She realised what she had just done by stabbing him, but tried to push that thought out of her mind, drawing her weapon back as she retook a fighting stance, taking note of more soldiers coming in their direction.

With no hesitation, Sokka threw his boomerang out once more, hitting one of them square in the head, before he sprinted forward right past her, using his club to trip one of the approaching enemies over. Katara went in after her brother, using her spear to ward off their opponents as they came closer, her brother using his club to knock the Fire Nation soldiers out. Suddenly, his weapon was thrown out of his hands by a fireball, but this didn't lessen his resolve; instead he jabbed one of his opponents in the gut, not even chi-blocking them, before using them as a shield against the next fireball that came his way. The soldier cried out with pain as his chest was singed, though he was thrown forward as Katara and her brother readied themselves against three more soldiers who came their way, all non-benders.

"Come and get some!" her brother prodded them with a cocky grin, only furthering the enemies resolve as they charged in toward them.

She used her own spear to block another that came her way, forcing the weapon back before jabbing the blunt end of her own into the enemy's knee; they cried out with pain, and she didn't relent to kick him in his crotch, before blocking the next soldier's attack. He tried to stab her with his spear head, but she was able to hold it off for long enough that her brother could disable him with a few quick jabs to his torso. The enemy soldier stumbled back with fear, realising that his arms didn't work, before Katara tripped him over, making him fall back rather humorously. She and Sokka shared a laugh for a moment before their attention was drawn by a firebender, who bent a fire stream at her brother, who was flung off of his feet, groaning with pain as she was left practically defenceless against their attacker.

"Sokka!" she cried out, fearing the worst, before she grit her teeth, knowing she had to muster her own resolve; when the firebender turned to attack her, she ducked under the fireball he sent out of his palm, before she sent her spear head into the underside of his arm, ripping through his sleeve and into his actual arm.

He grit his teeth with pain, but Katara didn't give him a chance to react as she frenziedly threw her left hand out to hit him in the throat, making him cough and stumble back, unable to breathe. She knew that breathing was the source of firebending, so it wasn't very hard to use the pole of her spear to knock the firebender unconscious, now unable to defend himself. She turned back to face her brother, Katara's arms shivering, not because of the cold, but because of the fear she held as she saw him grasping at his singed tunic with a pained look on his face.

"Sokka!" she called out his name once again, her brother looking up to her with the best smile he could muster.

"Don't worry about me Katara... you gotta watch out!" his voice rose to a near scream, the Water Tribe girl ducking down, her brother's words having saved her from the fire stream that was sent her way.

As she fell on the ground beside her brother, she felt his hand grasping her own for a moment; she thought that he might have been trying to reassure her, but she glanced back at the firebender who was about to attack her again, she felt the hilt of Sokka's machete.

"Do it." he demanded of her, softly enough that it was almost as if he were begging her.

She knew exactly what he meant, and she didn't relent, knowing that protecting her brother came before any moral code she held; she wasn't Aang- she wasn't a pacifist who would die for the sake of their morals. She grit her teeth as she somersaulted backwards, dodging the next fireball that came her way, though only barely, before she lunged at the firebender who was attacking her. She grasped his left hand, which sent out another fire stream, though it was weakened by her tight grip on his wrist; before he could attack her with his right, she swung the machete down, slashing right through his wrist. Though she didn't cut off his hand or anything of the likes, it squirted out blood and freaked out her opponent; before he could try and resist she hammered the machete blade down into his thigh, making him scream out with pain.

"Argh!" he cried out, before his scream was muffled by Katara's hand grasping his face, allowing her to throw him back to the ground; though he was defeated, when she looked back to Sokka's fearful eyes, she could already tell that was not the end of it.

Her expression became panicked as she saw two other firebenders approaching, already taking forms, ready to attack her and her brother, who was at that moment trying to crawl over to retrieve his boomerang, which lay next to one of the unconscious soldiers they had already beaten. She leaned over to grasp the spear she had dropped on the ground, ready to javelin it into one of their chests if that would keep them away and keep her brother safe. She didn't know what to do at that point other than look out the other way, where she could see earthbenders fighting other remaining Fire Nation soldiers.

"Help!" she pleaded, but to no avail; she snarled slightly, knowing that she hated what she was required to do, but did it anyway.

The Fire Nation had to be defeated, she told herself, even if that required her to get her hands dirty, to save New Omashu, and every other place like it. She raced forward to meet the two firebenders, ducking under the first fireball sent her way, before she thrust the spear forward, striking one of them in the shoulder. He grunted with pain, making her expression widen with fear as she realised she hadn't made much more than a scrape across his shoulder. With no other options, she dove toward the other firebender, which allowed her to narrowly dodge his flame covered fists; her machete jammed right into his gut, making him cry out with pain- a real hit, the kind she would need to ensure the enemy was defeated. She couldn't chi-block, she couldn't waterbend properly- all she had was a machete in her hand. As she drew out the blade, she readied herself to strike him again, to either knock him out to do something worse, but didn't have the chance. At that moment, she found herself grabbed by the shoulder, pulled back, and immediately punched in the abdomen; this made her bite down on her own tongue, which in and of itself made her scream out in pain.

"Fuck you!" she cried out, not having any other word to express the pain she felt as she was thrown down to the ground.

"You're going to pay for that, savage." the soldier she had stabbed growled, his facial expressions masked by the skull-like face plate he wore on his helmet; he readied a fireball in his hand, charging it up to the point at which it lit up the area around them, forcing Katara to cover her eyes from the glare.

She feared the worst, but suddenly, the light was cut off, and she heard a thumping noise along with it; a moment later, she heard Sokka calling out mockingly to their opponents, with a cockiness she couldn't hope to match, "Eat shit, ash-maker!"

When she moved her hand away from her eyes, she saw that the injured firebender had been knocked unconscious by her brother's boomerang, which had probably struck him in the back of the neck or something of the like; that didn't, however, stop the other soldier from grasping her by the collar, filling his hand with flames as he stared her down.

"How about you eat shit?" he mockingly told her, even though her brother had been the one to mock them; as he was about to move his hand toward her, Katara's field of view was completely obscured by a flash of bright white light, and along with it, a deafening loud boom.

When the light disappeared, Katara still found that she couldn't hear a thing, other than a ringing noise in her ears, though she did see the man who was about to burn her, flung some distance away, his chest singed black and his helmet thrown off. Her eyes widened with shock, unsure what had just happened, until she turned her eyes around to see Azula, standing in what she guessed was a firebending form; she put two and two together, concluding that she must have just witnessed lightning generation, right in front of her face.

The Princess's face was cold and determined, though that expression quickly faltered as she ran over to her boyfriend's side, offering a hand to help him up, "Sokka!" she heard her call out his name, though it was hard to distinguish from the ringing noise in her ears.

"Don't worry..." she could hear her brother's voice muffled in the distance, Katara trying to get back to her feet, still pained from having been thrown around by the Fire Nation soldiers; Azula's eyes turned to her, openly showing her own fear in that moment.

"Katara, are you okay?" she asked her, sounding genuinely concerned for her, though her expression quickly shifted as she grit her teeth, sending out a fire stream right past her to strike a soldier who had been approaching her from behind.

She stiffened up with fear for a moment, before turning back to face the Fire Nation girl, "I'm alive." she simply told her, before she glanced back over to her spear, which was lying on the ground nearby the man that she presumed the Princess had just killed.

"Get my club." she heard Sokka growl, "I need to beat some more of these arseholes before I pass out."

"Stay there." Azula demanded of her boyfriend, before she took a firebending stance, "Get your spear. We're going to make sure your brother stays safe."

She looked at her weapon with a sense of regained confidence, before turning back to face the Princess, "Let's do this."

Katara didn't relent to rush forward and grasp the weapon off of the ground, looking ahead to see a few Fire Nation soldiers heading their way, although they looked more so to be fleeing; when they arrived, they saw Azula, and were obviously confused, though that didn't stop the Princess creating two fire whips in her hands, snarling at them with a rage that was hard to find with her. She was usually cold and calculating, not infuriated, wild and ready to kill.

"You're on their side?!" one of them pointed to Azula accusingly.

"Take one more step and I will fucking kill you." she declared with a snarl, before Katara tightened the grip on her spear; though she wasn't as angry as the Princess, she was certainly just as willing to protect her brother.

"Bl-blue fire!" one of them pointed to the Princess, before shaking their head, "Fuck this. She's gonna actually kill us." he simply declared, before darting in another direction, getting away from her as fast he could.

"Looks like one of you has at least half a brain." she snarled, before she threw her fire whips forward, striking one of them in the side and making them grunt with pain.

The remaining three soldiers took firebending forms to ready themselves, Katara and Azula both readying themselves for what was to come next; she glanced around, taking note of Sokka's boomerang, which lay about half-way between them and their opponents, who weren't approaching.

"This is a really stupid idea." she muttered under her breath, confusing Azula, whose expression changed to one of surprise as she darted forward to reach her brother's prized weapon before the enemy could attack her.

Her friend provided her with an ample amount of cover by sending two fire streams out toward their enemies, which Katara was able to lunge under before reaching the boomerang. She rolled on the ground for a moment as she grasped it, before tossing it right at her opponents, striking one of them in the side of their helmet, throwing them down to the ground. She then charged forward, right between Azula's two fire streams, thrusting her spear at the arms of one of the firebenders, before pulling the machete off of her belt and using it to slash up one of their arms. One sent a fireball at her head, but she was agile enough to duck under it and lunge at him, stabbing him in the leg; he cried out with pain as she tackled him, the Water Tribe girl jumping over the enemy, allowing him to serve as an ample shield against his comrade's attack. It only took a moment for Azula to then knock him out by throwing him into the air with her own powerful jets of blue fire. She grasped the boomerang off of the ground, ready to use it to incapacitate any approaching soldiers, though she realised she didn't need to as she felt a powerful wind gust pushing at her face. She turned to face the Princess, whose expression turned to one of surprise as both of them looked in the direction of the gust, witnessing Aang then rising into the air, his tattoos glowing. Katara couldn't think of anything to say, only gasping in awe of his power, and remembering that the twelve-year-old boy she thought to be so immature at times was truly one of the most powerful people alive.

"They're nothing... compared to that." she simply acknowledged the fact of the matter, Azula chuckling at her words as she looked down to Sokka, who was struggling to get back to his feet.

"And what are we?" she quipped to her boyfriend, who raised his hand into the air, clenched into a fist as he confidently declared his belief.

"We're the most kick-arse team in the world, that's what!"