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)

13. Chapter 13

"Thanks for cleaning the pot."

Ty Lee simply smiled at Katara, not having any kind of boasts to make for the simple chore she had completed; she had made them a decent breakfast, and she was obliged to help out around the camp somehow, seeing that they were all living together.

"Don't mention it." she assured her, before glancing around, "Are we going to do anything this morning?"

"Wait for Azula to get back from meeting with her guards." Sokka noted, "And then maybe train. I don't know." he guessed, the acrobat trying to keep a straight face; Azula wanted to leave as soon as possible, and from the indifference in Sokka's voice, it suggested that she hadn't told him that she didn't want him to come along yet.

"Well, do you want to spar me?" she asked, jumping onto her hands and standing on them, "I need somebody to work on my chi-blocking with, anyway."

"You kicked my butt yesterday." he mumbled, crossing his arms, "Why would I want to experience that again?"

"Because everyone learns from their fights, even if they lose." she suggested, before she dropped back down onto her feet, glancing at Aang and Katara, "What about you two?"

"I guess we could work on our waterbending forms." the young Avatar mumbled, "But maybe we should go actually get some supplies now. We'll probably need them if we're going to keep heading north."

"But what about the guards and Azula's whole plan?" Sokka asked him, "We aren't just going to up and leave because we can."

"I'm pretty sure even Azula would want us to keep heading north, even if she wants to do her crazy plan with the Admiral." Katara acknowledged, "Aang learning waterbending from an actual master is the first thing on our to-do list, at least that's what I think."

"No..." the Water Tribe boy mumbled, "You're right. We should just be heading north. How about you guys go shopping and I'll train with Ty Lee until Azula gets back?"

"Uh, well, actually I need to mend my sleeping roll. It's got a hole in it." Katara admitted, Aang standing up.

"Oh, that's okay, I can just go buy supplies for the journey. We just need rice, some vegetables and maybe some other dry food, right?"

"Uh, yep." the Water Tribe girl gave him an affirmative nod.

He glanced around, "Where'd she put the money, anyway?" he mumbled, Sokka gesturing toward his tent.

"In our tent. Just don't spend too much. We're still a week away from the North Pole at best, and that's if we don't have any more of these breaks." he warned, Aang nodding.

"Of course. So just enough more food to last us a week?" he asked, the Water Tribesman shrugging his shoulders.

"Uh, yeah." he gave his approval, though it sounded rather indifferent, "Katara, how much food do you think we'll need?"

"Two bags of rice for the five of us should be enough, plus whatever vegetables you can find." she simply told him, the twelve year old giving a curt nod before he paced over to Sokka and Azula's tent.

"So," the Water Tribe warrior addressed her with a serious look on his face, "You want to spar right now?"

"Of course. When else would we do it?" she questioned him; his indifferent expression suggested he wasn't opposing the proposition, and him rising to his feet told her he was ready.

"Let me just do my stretches first. I don't want to pull something."

"What are you, an old man?" his sister mocked him, the Water Tribe teen trying his best to ignore her.

"I'm just cautious, that's all. Ty Lee's really fast, and I've got to try and keep up."

"You're sure right I'm fast." she grinned, before cartwheeling away from the campfire, moving out to a more open spot for them to spar at.

When she came to a halt, she immediately sprung up and took form, the Water Tribesman following after her with a little less grace, stretching out his arms, and cracking his neck. He seemed to be suggesting just by how he moved his body that he was apathetic to their coming fight, though she could understand why; he had other things on his mind. She just hoped a little sparring might get him in a better mood.

"I'll let you take the first move." Sokka suggested, motioning with his right hand for her to approach.

"Oh, I will." she assured him; she slowly made her approach, and she could see his right hand twitching as he held it down by his waist.

She knew he'd try and throw his boomerang, and she knew exactly how to counter it, seeing that it was going to be intended to careen back around to hit her in the head. Ty Lee did not falter, and as she lunged forward, she somersaulted to Sokka's left, giving herself the space she needed to avoid being jabbed by his quick hands. When she retook her stance, he threw his boomerang around to the right, which made her guess it'd come back at her from the left. She ignored thought of it for a moment, instead leaping forward to strike his extremities. He weaved out of the way of her fist jab, but instead of trying to hit him again, she side-stepped around the Water Tribesman, who in turn reoriented himself, jabbing her right arm. Though she realised he had just paralysed it, she didn't worry, knowing that something was about to come back in to even up their fight. The boomerang flew straight into its wielder's head, as she had distracted him while it made its return approach; he grunted, stumbling forward, which allowed her to jab him in the gut and upper chest a few times, disabling his arms and winding him in the process.

"Urgh." he groaned under his breath, turning his eyes up to look at her, "Time out?"

"Maybe that'll teach you to use your hands instead of a weapon." she smirked, making him sigh as he fell down onto his behind, still trying to catch his breath.

She chuckled at his pained state, before she sat down in front of him, deciding that she'd at the very least give him some sympathy, "Don't worry, you can take as long as you like."

"If this happened in a real fight I'd be screwed." he admitted, making her grin.

"Well aren't you luck the Fire Nation Army doesn't have chi-blockers."

"I am." he mumbled, before he tried to raise his arms, "You didn't hit me that hard." he conceded, "I can already feel a little in my arms."

"Well yeah, I hit you to win, not to actually keep you down." she argued, "You'll be good to fight again, quickly enough." she suggested, the Water Tribesman nodding.

"Well, I want to get you back." he declared, making her laugh, now approving of his enthusiasm.

"I'd like to see you try." she grinned, before raising her hands, "No, really. I want to get a challenge."

"I got that when you told me you wanted to spar." he conceded, before sighing, "Well, I guess I'll- uh- just sit here until my arms work."

"Maybe we can talk."

"About what?" he asked her, sounding a little confused by her question, "No offence, but I don't think we have much in common."

"We have Azula and chi-blocking. Which of those would you like to talk about?" she simply drilled down the possible topics they could have a decent conversation about.

"How about my girlfriend, seeing that she isn't here to shut you up if I ask an unusual question." he decided, pursing his lips upward, "Tell me something funny that she's done. From back when you two were kids."

"Hmph." Ty Lee scrunched her lips up, trying to think what was an amusing story to give him, "Well, there was this one time when Mai and I came over to the palace to hang out. This was when we were nine, I think." she mumbled, trying to recall exactly when it had happened, "And we were playing around with Zuko... or maybe he was forced to play with us. He wasn't very happy about it, that was sure."

He snickered, "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. She and Zuko never really got along."

"Uh, yeah." she noted, finding that to be a rather sad truth of the matter; she didn't have the best relationship with her identical sisters, but they still cared and looked out for each other.

However, with Zuko and Azula, their relationship seemed to have always been tense, and it had only gotten so much worse since Zuko took the throne. One wanted the other in prison, and the other probably wished the other were dead.

"So, Azula had Mai stand with an apple on her head, and the goal was to knock it off." she explained, gesturing to the top of her head, "She showed us how to do it by walking a little away, turning around..." she explained as she imitated what Azula had done that day, before she imitated the motion of sending a bolt of flames out of her hand, "And shot a fireball at the apple. Instead of knocking it off of her head, instead, the apple caught alight."

"Ah, well, she mustn't have liked that." Sokka noted, not amused by the story, at least not yet.

"Well, she panicked a little, but what made her scream was Zuko charging at her to try and get the apple off her head. He ran into her and threw both of them into the fountain behind them. It was adorable, and they got so embarrassed about it." she giggled, "You should have seen the looks on their faces."

"Oh, I'm sure they were. Azula must really love humiliating people, because she sure does it to me a lot."

"That's just Azula being Azula." she assured him, "Plus, you insult her back, don't you? Zuko'd just run off and sob about it."

"Ah, yeah, you're right about that part." he raised his chin haughtily, before he tried to move his arms, successfully getting a little more movement with them; he was able to get his right hand to scratch the back of his head, which she was sure hurt at that moment, "So, again?"

"I'm ready when you are." she simply told him, standing back up and taking a few steps away.

"I'm ready to knock you over." he declared confidently, making her chuckle; he was as cocky as Azula at times, which made her realise why they were so perfect for each other- always ready to make something a competition, "Best of three?" he asked her, the acrobat opening her arms up.

"Well, that's assuming you can beat me once." she noted, the Water Tribesman rising back up to his feet, cracking his knuckles, though a little flimsily.

"I can." he assured her, making the acrobat laugh; he probably could beat her, but prodding him to get him more enthusiastic for the duel was the best way to ensure it was an equal fight.

"Okay, go ahead then." she gestured for him to approach, "Don't be shy." she added, making him sigh before he retook a fighting stance.

She paced forward, ready to jab him with the same speed she had before; without his boomerang, she didn't have to worry about anything but his hands. Sokka weaved to the left of her first jab, aiming first to strike her left leg, which she was able to block with her arm, oriented to ensure he didn't block her chi paths. She then thrust her right arm across to jab at his shoulder. The Water Tribesman simply leaned back, falling down onto his back, much to her surprise; she expected that he would be vulnerable after that move, but instead when she moved to jab his extremities, he kicked her in the gut; it wasn't hard enough to wind her, but she was forced to leap over him, somersaulting as she landed behind his head. He turned around sweeping his legs in motion, to strike her feet, forcing Ty Lee onto her behind.

"Ow." she grunted, before narrowing her eyes at him, "Did you just try to kick my butt?" she questioned him, hoping such an inappropriate suggestion would get him off focus.

He grimaced with disgust, jumping away from her and retaking his stance, "Of course not." he refused her idea, before gesturing for her to get up; instead of chi-blocking her while she was down, he did the honourable thing and gave her an opportunity to fight back- she probably wouldn't have done the same, but then again, she was far more into getting her opponents down as quickly as possible.

Ty Lee rose back up to a low stance, and readied herself for his next barrage of jabs; instead, he remained steady, waiting for her next move. She raised a brow, unsure whether he was just waiting, or if he actually had a plan in mind. She ignored that thought for a moment, leaping up to her feet, immediately sending a kick to strike him in the chest; though she was fast, he was able to raised one arm and block her foot, directing it past his shoulder.

"Close, but not fast enough." he advised her, making her narrow her eyes.

"I'm the chi-blocking master." she argued, retracting her leg before she kicked down, stubbing his toes; though his boots stopped her from actually hurting him, it was a sufficient distraction to give her enough time to thrust her arm forward and jab him in the right arm.

Without his dominant arm, she thought he'd probably lose at once, but instead, he swept his left leg out, tripping her over as she moved her stance; she stumbled forward and he moved to jab her once more. She grasped his left hand, and she smirked, realising that without his right hand to jab her with, he was stuck.

"Ah, what did I say?" she asked him, the Water Tribe warrior smirking.

"Actually... I don't just chi-block. What was it that Suki said... use your enemies strength against them?" he mumbled, which she ignored, moving her left arm forward to jab his chest and disable him.

instead of landing a blow right in his abdomen, she ended up slipping as his leg twisted under her left foot. She slammed face first into his chest, and a moment later, she felt a few jabs into her side, and she groaned with frustration as she realised her whole right side was paralysed.

He pushed her off of him with his left hand, Ty Lee struggling to stay on both feet, "I see you've got a few tricks up your sleeve."

"You weren't trying to grope me there, were you?' he asked her, the acrobat raising her left hand up.

"No, of course not. I swear on my honour as Azula's friend I wouldn't dare."

"Oh, so you're saying if you weren't, you would?" he raised a finger to his chin in thought; she turned away, embarrassed by what she was suggesting- maybe he was right, though she hadn't attempted to do anything of the sort.

"I wouldn't." she stressed, "Did you think that was groping?" she raised a brow, realising she had really only touched his chest, which was clearly covered by clothes.

"Well, I don't know. Azula's the only one who gropes me." he admitted; a few moments later, Katara's head peered out her tent, and she had a look of disgust on her face.

"You know I can hear you two, right?" she growled, Sokka turning to face her with a grimace.

"Uh... sorry, I guess." he mumbled, "Please don't mention to her that I said that."

"I won't." she assured him, "Just don't talk about that kind of stuff. It weirds me out." she mumbled with an uneasy look on her face, before her head moved back into the tent.

"Sorry about that." he turned to Ty Lee, obviously realising how weird the conversation had gotten, "So, best of three?" he asked her once more, making her nod.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt." she conceded, shaking her left arm to try and get it to move, only getting a sluggish movement from her shoulder area, "Just give me a bit."

"My arm isn't going yet either." he explained, trying to move his left arm also, "Well, got any more funny stories?"

"I mean, there was this one time Azula tried to cartwheel and firebend at the same time." she reminisced, finding that specific memory to be rather amusing; the Princess would do absurd things when she was bored, and inadvertently setting herself on fire was one of them.

"Oh, I guess that didn't end well." he mumbled, the acrobat smirking.

"Well, she could do it." she conceded, "Fire just happens to rise, so she set her robes on fire."

"And then did she get thrown into a fountain?" he presumed, the acrobat shaking her head.

"Azula got a little freaked out, but she was able to put out the flames with her own bending." she clarified, the Water Tribesman almost making a pout.

"Aw, I thought she was going to make a fool of herself." he admitted, making her giggle.

"Well, she did. She was so embarrassed about it that she demanded I never speak of it."

"But you just did." he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Ah, she won't really care about it that much. Azula's probably embarrassed you in worse ways than that."

"Yeah, she's set my pants on fire before when we were sparring. I had to sit on the snow to get rid of the flames, which... wasn't fun, considering that a few villagers, including my sister, were watching at the time." he noted, making her snicker; she could definitely see that happening in the thick of a spar with Azula.

"Yep! That happened!" Katara shouted out to reassure her that he wasn't making the story up.

Sokka rolled his eyes, "I don't need your input, Katara." he grumbled, before he tried to move his left arm again, getting a little better movement.

"So, could you give me some more juicy details." she asked him, the Water Tribesman looking at her suspiciously.

"That's an unsafe thing for you to ask me." he warned her, "Azula won't like it if I do."

"I know, so don't tell me anything too weird. Just anything that might have happened to you that is... cute! Happy! I don't know, I just wanna know something!"

"Oh fine." he mumbled, before raising his left hand to his chin, "Well, the first time Azula saw me without my clothes wasn't because she... you know." he mumbled, not wanting to mention anything indecent aloud, making the acrobat grin.

"Oh, I've got to hear this. What happened?"

"This was when we were stuck in that forest. I wanted to go wash myself, so I found a bit of a stream deep enough to do so, and told her to stay away while I cleaned myself." he explained, Ty Lee scratching her chin.

"And she didn't stay away?"

"Well, she did for a while, but I must have taken too long, because she showed up, and I was still cleaning myself. I don't know how long she was ogling me for... but I got a fright when I turned around." he admitted, "And then I fell into the stream."

"Ahaha!" she laughed at him, before raising a hand, still curious as to what had happened, "So, she was really ogling you?"

"Yeah." he nodded, "It was kind of creepy at the time." he mumbled, "But I guess in hindsight she must have found me attractive." he noted, a smug grin appearing on his face.

"Well, she wouldn't be wrong. The first thing I thought when I saw you was 'cutie'." she acknowledged, making the Water Tribesman blush, obviously embarrassed by the suggestion; she had made her thoughts known when she first met him, but she had tried to avoid mentioning it, knowing that it might annoy Azula.

"Oh, yeah, you and all your sisters were trying to hit on me." he reminded himself of that happening, "I'm not going to lie, that was pretty weird."

"We all have the same taste in men." she argued, "Which is really annoying honestly. You try and find a boyfriend and it turns out one of your six sisters has already snatched him."

"Well, that sucks." he acknowledged, before trying to move his arm again, "I think I'm ready to go again."

She immediately retook her fighting stance, gesturing with her left hand for him to attack, "Come on then. I want to see how fast you can get."

"Uh... okay." he nodded, almost sounding a little nervous; he didn't think he could beat her in that area, but he accepted the dare nonetheless.

Sokka charged at her, and looked poised to jab her; Ty Lee weaved out of the way, moving into a form where she could reach in and jab his gut as he came by. Instead of trying to jab her, as she had first expected, the Water Tribesman instead put his left leg out, moving to trip her over. However, her own stance was a little better placed than his kick was strong, and he was forced to roll to the ground as he lost his footing entirely.

She wanted to laugh at his blunder, but she was impressed that she had tricked him into thinking he was going to attack her head on. She then moved to jab at his legs, hoping to paralyse them before he could move into form again; he flicked dirt up with the tips of his boots, forcing Ty Lee to close her eyes for a moment. She grit her teeth, realising that it gave him the opportunity to move in an unpredictable fashion; to save herself, she stepped back in hoping that he wasn't as fast as she was. When she opened her eyes, she realised she couldn't see Sokka, but she felt his fingers jab the right side of her waist, making her right leg weaken somewhat.

She was relieved that it wasn't fully paralysed, and used the opportunity to whack him right in the head with her elbow as he had moved himself just a little too close to her arm. He grunted with pain as he stumbled away, giving her the chance to reorient her stance. Though her leg wasn't moving as well as it ought to, she was still able to ready herself for whatever he might throw her way. Ty Lee dodged the next jab Sokka attempted, trying to hit her right shoulder. She weaved to the side, and felt her leg slip, though she maintained her balance and raised her arms to block the next attempt he made to jab at her extremities. She then thrust both her hands forward, her finger tips hitting the chi-paths along his upper arms, leaving them paralysed; she smirked, realising her near victory, though she found herself falling to the ground as Sokka tripped her left leg, leaving her without the support to hold herself up. She blocked the fall with her hands while he stood above her, his arms paralysed.

"Okay... I surrender." he conceded the spar, "I can't exactly chi-block with my feet."

"That's actually possible." she claimed, the Water Tribesman's brows rising up as he considered the possibilities.

"Huh, well... I don't think I'd be very good at it. I'm always wearing thick boots to make sure my feet don't get hurt." he acknowledged, before turning around, "Maybe I should go find Azula now."

"Don't worry, she'll be back soon." she assured him, just not wanting Sokka to speak to the Princess before she had figured out what she wanted to do; that could make for an awkward situation or a fight very quickly, especially if he opposed her chosen path, "I can tell you more funny things about her."

"So could I." he noted, though he didn't sound amused when he said it; he was obviously becoming more cautious, or perhaps nervous, seeing that Azula wasn't at the camp, and had been gone for a good while, since she had an early breakfast before going off to see her guards, "This one time, we pretended to be married."

"Wait, was this before you were together, or after?" she asked, the Water Tribesman smirking.

"Before. That's when I became peasant farmer Wang Fire, and she became the doting wife Zaira. It was actually hilarious, but she really tried to ignore the fact that she had pretended to be my wife. It's a bit weirder, considering that we did end up kissing for the first time like two days later."

"Oh..." her lips opened up to reveal her wide grin, "That's adorable! So maybe you weren't playing pretend." she elbowed Sokka, whose cheeks flushed red.

"Uh... yeah, maybe." he acknowledged with a quiet voice.

Ty Lee turned away, realising that by not telling Sokka what Azula wanted to do, she was going to hurt him in the long run. She didn't want to hurt either of them, but she knew that Azula would be better to deal with him than she would be, even if she knew and clearly understood the Princess's reasoning. She didn't want to put her boyfriend in harm's way, and she knew he would be up in arms about it.

"I'm sure she really loves you." she mumbled, the Water Tribe teen's eyes widening as he realised what she had just said.

"Uh..." he mumbled, unsure what to say, before looking out into the nearby woods, idle in thought.

"Yeah, she does."

---

Carrying a bag full of rice and vegetables over his shoulder, Aang groaned with frustration, wishing he'd asked one of the others to join him on his shopping trip. He had gotten everything they needed, a price that he found to be reasonable, though that wasn't considering the burden of carrying the food all the way back to camp. He strode down the path, nervously smiling at the villagers he walked by, who all eyed him with suspicion; at least it wasn't suspicion of him being the Avatar, but it was still suspicion. He hadn't done anything wrong, though his attire didn't seem to be to their liking. He wondered if Azula's claim that he looked like he belonged to some kind of youth gang was true; it would explain why everyone looked at him weirdly. He thought momentarily it might have been about his hair, but he was sure that it couldn't have been that; back in the colonial village, nobody seemed to notice him, so he was sure that it had something to do with his outward appearance of a Fire Nation boy. He made his way back through the village, aiming to leave as quickly as he could, not wanting the peering eyes on him; he was about to reach the edge of the village, where he'd turn into the woods, but he was alerted by a voice calling out behind him.

"Aang." he heard a monotone, unenthused voice; one which could only belong to Princess Azula, who was never eager enough to shout.

He turned around and saw her walking up toward him, obviously having come back from meeting with her guards, "Oh, hi Az-" he began to greet her, before he cut himself off, remembering that he still ought to avoid mentioning her name, "Zaira."

"Are you struggling with the shopping?" she asked him, the Avatar raising a brow; if she was really offering to help him, she had to be in a good mood.

"Uh, I am." he nodded, "Did you want to help?"

"I thought I might be of use." she simply acknowledged it, not wanting to call it 'helping', even if that was exactly what she was doing; he offered her one of the bags he had, and she slung it over her shoulder.

The Princess idly looked up the hill, before turning her eyes back in the direction of their campsite, "So, who sent you shopping?"

"Nobody. I just decided it was a good idea." he explained himself; he knew that they needed food, and seeing that everyone else seemed to be tired, he put it upon himself to go get them what they needed.

"Well, good job." she commended him simply, her words still making him smile, even if she wasn't sounding too enthusiastic.

"So, what are we doing today?" he asked her, the Avatar furrowing a brow, "Are you going to train with your guards or something?"

"I'm going to leave." she told him, rather bluntly; Aang's jaw dropped, unsure what to say- he knew that she would eventually be going with her guards to go 'deal with' Zhao, but he didn't realise it would be so soon.

"Like... right now?" he asked her, the Princess turning her eyes toward the woods as they approached them.

"Not right now." she conceded, "But I will be leaving today. Ty Lee and I both, seeing that she demanded she come along."

"What about Sokka?" he asked her, knowing that as her boyfriend, he'd probably like to go along with her.

"I need him to stay and lead you and Katara to the North Pole. To keep you both safe." she explained, before turning her eyes toward him, with a stern expression; she seemed really serious, and that told Aang to not say a word, "Do you understand?"

He nodded, unsure why she needed him to acknowledge it, before he furrowed a brow, wondering what Sokka thought of being split up, "Have you talked about it?"

"Not yet." she admitted, "And I want it to stay that way."

That explained to him exactly why she was being so serious; she wanted to talk to Sokka herself about it rather than have him mention it.

"You are going to tell him... and not just run away, are you?"

"Why would I-" she began to question him, before her eyes widened; she knew his story, and the fact that was the one mistake Aang had made- the mistake that may have inadvertently led to The Hundred Year War, "I don't want to do that."

"Good." he nodded, grimacing as he turned away, trying to imagine what Monk Gyatso's reaction had been to his departure, "You should always say goodbye."

"Y-yeah..." she mumbled, obviously uneased by his mentioning of such a specific, painful event in his life, even only indirectly, "Sokka needs to know, but from me. So I can explain."

"I'm guessing he might argue. He loves to argue with you." he noted, though he considered that the coming argument would be something non-trivial; Azula was going to go and deal with some dangerous people, all in hopes that she could get the army she lost.

"Oh, he sure does." she sighed, "Sokka's not going to be happy about this."

"I'm sure he'll get it. We need him." he admitted, the Princess chuckling.

"You do." she nodded, before her expression straightened, "I also need to make sure he's safe. He'll be safe with you and Katara."

"What about you and Ty Lee... are you going to be safe?" he asked her, feeling a little nervous by the suggestion that she was willfully putting herself in danger.

"As safe as we can be." she noted, "Don't worry about us. I wouldn't do this if I didn't think I could succeed."

"But what if you don't?" he asked her, the Princess clenching her left fist, which was the only hand he could see, the other obscured by the bag she was holding.

"Then Sokka will force you to get on Appa to come find me." she acknowledged, the Avatar nodding along.

He knew that Sokka reacted badly when Azula put herself in danger by going into the Fire Nation campsite, disguised as a soldier, so when she went away for potentially weeks, then it made sense that he'd jump at the first chance to try and 'save' her.

"Yeah, he would do that." he agreed with her idea, his eyes turning ahead, looking into the woods, toward their camp, which wasn't visible yet, "Do you want me and Katara to get out of the camp while you talk with him."

"Uh, yeah." she nodded, before turning away, as if she were embarrassed, "That'd be helpful, actually."

"Well, we were going to go train our waterbending for a bit. Practice the forms on the scroll." he added, the Princess nodding along.

"That's good. You do need to work on your waterbending. That'll make it easier for you to pick it up when you learn from a master at the North Pole." she noted, before turning her eyes toward him, "Just don't get too into it, otherwise Katara's going to get all competitive or jealous, if you're better than her."

"How do you know?" he asked her, the Princess sighing as she moved her shoulder around to lessen the strain on her shoulder.

"I didn't learn firebending alone." she admitted; Aang guessed she was referring to Zuko, who must have begun learning his bending alongside her, and seeing that she was the prodigy, he must have been the jealous one.

Competition between siblings was something he could tell to sometimes get bad, as seen from Katara and Sokka's many spats, but he knew that with Azula and her brother, it had to be far worse.

"But yeah..." he mumbled, hoping to draw the topic away from that, knowing that her brother was a touchy issue, "I think I'm getting the hang of waterbending."

"You're good." she simply nodded, "But innate skill is not all you need to master an element. You need somebody to train you."

"Well, I hope Katara's as good as you think she will be once she's trained. I'm sure she'll be a good master." he admitted with a bright smile, truly hoping that was what would be the eventuality.

He would prefer to learn from her than some grumpy old men, as he'd already had to deal with enough of those back in the temple, so he'd want to steer clear of them. That was one of the reasons why he wanted Toph to be his earthbending master; someone young, in tune with their element, and with the added bonus of a sense of humour. He knew that Katara mightn't have been as well-humoured as Toph, but she was far better than the old grumpy men at the Southern Air Temple. Nobody could beat Monk Gyatso, of course, but then again, nobody was him but him; he grimaced slightly at the reminder that he was the last airbender, the last person who remembered what life was like at the Air Temples. The teachings of all the passed Air Nomads lived on in him, and he just hoped that he could ensure some continuity within his culture; Aang couldn't bear the thought of being the last Air Nomad ever.

"Aang, did something happen?" Azula asked him, waving her hand in front of his face, the young Avatar shaking his head.

"Uh, no. I'm fine. Perfectly fine." he assured her, not wanting her to worry about him; she obviously had more important things to be concerned about, given what she was about to do.

"Will you be fine for a few weeks while I'm gone?" she asked him, the Air Nomad raising his brows as he heard her time-frame.

"A few weeks? I didn't know you'd be that long." he admitted, the Princess turning away, considering his words.

"It's not that long a time. We're just lucky we're quite close to Zhao's base of operations, otherwise Ty Lee and I might have spent a few weeks simply walking." she admitted with a humoured voice.

"Huh, that would have sucked." he noted, "Not as bad as walking through that forest, though." he acknowledged her story, the Princess sighing as she was reminded of those events.

"That was a real pain." she mumbled, "Both the walking and Sokka." she clarified, making him snicker.

"He wasn't that bad, was he?"

"Sokka can get on my nerves very quickly if he's the only person I'm able to communicate with for days on end. The boat was a little better, given that we were focused on getting to the South Pole and not on trying to not kill each other." she conceded, making Aang grimace; the idea of them trying to kill each other, perhaps out of fear, was actually quite disturbing.

"You weren't going to betray him, were you?"

"In the end, no. At first, I didn't trust him, and I knew I could beat him in a one-on-one fight. Eventually, I realised he didn't really want to capture me, and really just wanted to get home, though... his priorities got switched up." she conceded, looking down toward the campsite, which was now in view.

"Well, I guess you're glad that happened now." he guessed, knowing that without Sokka's choice to remain with her when she went to Ba Sing Se, they wouldn't have fallen in love; Aang liked the idea of their romance, even if it wasn't as pretty in real life as he sometimes thought it might be.

It gave him hope, not just for his own future, but for that of the world; if two people from such different backgrounds could like each other, then perhaps the nations of the world could find peace with each other, even after all the fighting that had occurred.

"I am." she admitted, more quietly than he expected her to; he didn't press the point, just giving her an affirmative smile as they made their way back into the campsite, where he could see Katara sitting by the campfire, waiting for them.

"Oh." she almost gasped, "Azula helped you out." she observed, "Did you get everything?"

"Rice and vegetables. It wasn't a very big list." he noted, making her hold back a laugh.

"Okay, good point." she conceded, before she turned to face Azula, "Thanks for helping out. Did everything go well with your guards?"

"It went fine." the Princess responded with a cold, serious tone, before she glanced around, "Where's Sokka? He didn't go looking for me, did he?"

"He's back in your tent." she gestured over to it, the other girl giving a curt nod as she laid the bag of food down by the embers of what had been their campfire, next to Katara.

"Uh..." the Princess mumbled, glancing toward both of them, "Enjoy your waterbending training." she awkwardly farewelled them, Aang turning to smile at the Water Tribe girl, remembering that was what they were going to do.

"Oh yeah." he mumbled, "Are we going to go?"

She nodded at him, making a warm smile, "I've been looking forward to it." she admitted, rising up to her feet, "I'll go get the scroll."

She turned around and quickly climbed into the tent, fumbling around for a few moments before her upper body came out, with the scroll in her right hand, "Got it." she confirmed, turning to gesture to the nearby stream, "Do we want to go down a little further. I think there was more water down that way." she admitted, the young Air Nomad simply smiling in return.

"Whatever you think. You're the one more in tune with water." he assured her that she was the one with the right to make the decision; even if their waterbending skills were comparable, she was the one who had always had an innate connection to her element, and thus had a better idea of how to use it.

"Huh, I guess I am." he mumbled softly, before she began to pace toward the stream, Aang immediately moving to follow behind her; he glanced around as they moved out of the camp, realising that Ty Lee wasn't up and about, "Where'd Ty Lee go?"

"She said she had to do something." she clarified, before she furrowed a brow, "I realise that's really vague when I say it out loud, but that is what she said."

"Maybe it's a secret." he joked, the Water Tribe girl rolling her eyes.

"A secret what? Birthday party?" she asked, Aang shrugging his shoulders, deciding he'd avoid mentioning the Princess and her friend's intention to leave with the guards.

"I don't know, maybe. I don't know when anybody's birthdays are." he acknowledged, the Water Tribe girl narrowing her eyes.

"Well, Sokka's and Azula's have both already passed. He made a really big deal about hers when it came around, because he didn't know what Fire Nation people do for birthdays." she explained, the Air Nomad nodding along; he didn't know much himself when it came to that topic.

He didn't really celebrate his birthday back when he was living in the Air Temples; the monks had said something about humility, and a simple acknowledgement of a year's passing. Monk Gyatso would still make him a custard tart anyway, though he had to promise not to tell the other monks, as he might get in trouble for giving him gifts.

"Ah, okay." he mumbled, "What about your birthday?"

"Not for another month, I think. I usually can tell when my birthday is by the length of the day in my village, not by when it actually... is." she explained, making Aang furrow a brow in thought.

He had forgotten how unusual it was at the South Pole, where for months at a time, the place could be shrouded in darkness, or during their summers, where the sun wouldn't go down. He hadn't witnessed the midnight sun before, but Sokka and Katara both had mixed opinions of it; they both said it was beautiful, but both had mentioned that it was not good for anyone's mind, as it made their sleep patterns go crazy.

"Well then." he mumbled, "Just tell me when it is. I might get something for you." he acknowledged, making her giggle.

"You don't need to do that, Aang. Don't worry. It's not that big of a deal." he patted him on the shoulder, before turning her eyes toward the stream that lay ahead of them, "So, if we continue along downhill, I think the slope flattens out a little, and the stream gets wider." she explained, the young Avatar giving her an affirmative smile before following down after her, along the path that led along the river.

As they made their way along the stream, he glanced around at the woodland around them, taking note of the sound of animals chirping and scampering around; the idea of being in nature while bending made him happy, knowing that it was a more soothing, calm environment to be in rather than a bland place like a courtyard or an open field, where one might ordinarily train their bending. As Katara said there would be, the hill slope flattened out, and the stream became wider, giving them a nice flat area where they could bend from the stream and test out their forms.

"Ah, this is nice." he pursed his lips into a smile, appreciating the sight, "So, are we just going to start right away?"

"Yep." she nodded, striding over toward the edge of the water, placing the scroll down on a rock nearby, before she turned to face the stream itself.

She took a deep breath, trying to get herself in sync with her element; Aang decided to step up and join her, knowing that they were meant to be training together, and not him just looking at her do so. He reached his arms forward, and felt out for the flow of the stream; he could feel the water, moving all at once, downhill in a soft, calm motion. Any irregularities were drowned out by the mass of the water all moving at once; whether this was to tell him anything about the element, he couldn't be sure, but just took a few breaths in and out, making sure the water was moving in sync with his breathing. Aang turned to face Katara, thinking what form they ought to try first.

"How about we just go with a water whip first?" he asked her, the Water Tribe girl smiling, reaching forward as she took another deep breath, moving into the stance they had learned to take.

He did the same, and turned his eyes over to the stream, reaching out with his left hand; he could feel the water moving, and with his grasp, he slowed it somewhat. He then scooped up some of the liquid, which flowed right into his grasp; it rose up out of the stream, and he could see her doing the same beside him, her own amorphous blob of water appearing out of the flow. He pulled the water back toward himself by moving his right hand close to his torso, the water moving in sync; he then drew it around himself, coiling around almost like a snake, before he reached out with his left hand, flicking the string of water at a nearby tree, which shook a little when it was whacked by the tip of the water whip. He heard some birds squawking nearby, and cringed, realising that he had disturbed the local environment.

"Sorry." he apologised to the creatures, feeling like he had to, even if they couldn't understand him.

"What are you apologising for?" Katara asked him as she let go of the water she had been using, letting it flow back into the stream.

"Oh, nothing." he assured her, "Just scared some birds, that's all."

She blinked at him, wide eyed for a few moments, before she snickered, "Wait, that's what you were apologising for?"

"Uh, yeah." he mumbled, scratching the back of his scalp nervously, hoping that he hadn't just made a fool of himself.

"That's... considerate of you." she noted, making a small smile, before she turned back around to gesture to the scroll, "Maybe we should try something a little more complex than a water whip."

She unfurled the scroll, and gestured to the form that looked similar to the water whip, though it involved dividing a mass of water in half and throwing it at the enemy, first with their foot via a kick and then by with their hands; it reminded him somewhat of the barrages that he'd see earthbenders and firebenders use, though obviously a lot more flowing, like he expected any waterbending form would be.

"Ah, yeah." he scratched his chin, "We can do that."

Both of them stepped back, giving each other the space they required, before they both reached out to the water, getting themselves ready to follow the form. Aang pulled out a large blob of water, and pulled it up toward himself, taking the initial form he saw, where he raised his right foot up, tensing for just a moment, as he waited for Katara to move in sync, before they both thrust their legs out, splitting the water, kicking one half of it out in a disc shaped blast. He moved his right leg back down, pulling the other part of the blob around and behind him with his arms, before he followed the set, dropping his left leg down so he crouched with his right leg facing out toward the stream. Finally, he released the now strung out blob of water, which formed a shape similar to the water whip he had used only a few moments earlier. He then raised his right leg up, letting the water flow out in motion, flinging it out toward a tree across the stream, which shook, like the last one he had hit. Katara did the same moves, and turned to smile at him, glad that they had got the move down well on their first try, even if it had been a little slower than what was intended.

"That was pretty good." she admitted, before her eyes narrowed, giving her a devious look, "But can we go faster?"

"How much faster?" he asked her, the Water Tribe girl raising her chin up haughtily, momentarily reminding him of Azula; he didn't dare mention that, knowing that was a quick way to anger her.

"Oh, fast enough to scare the crap out of the others when we spar them again." she argued, Aang nodding along, thinking that was a good incentive to practice the form.

"That'll be funny." he agreed to her proposition, "But you know what would be funnier?" he asked her, grasping out toward the stream, which she didn't notice as she looked toward him.

"What?" she narrowed her eyes at him, her tone not sounding suspicious.

The Avatar immediately pulled the water out, and moving it around himself to try and hit her with a quickly formed water whip; she caught on fast enough, and pulled out her own mass of water, creating a water shield in front of her, her steady hands holding back the water whip as he tried to knock her over. His trick hadn't worked, and the fact that she didn't disperse her defences suggested she might actually want to continue. Aang gulped with fear as her shield lowered somewhat, revealing her confident smirk; it had Azula written all over it, and not in the good way.

"Oh, you're on."

---

Sokka took a deep breath as he stretched his arms out, trying to get himself comfortable in his sleeping roll; not that he usually wanted to sleep in the morning, he just found himself a little tired after his experience with Azula. She had been surprisingly enthusiastic after she got back from meeting with her guards, and he felt a little curious why. Maybe she was just in the mood; he couldn't be sure, but he was glad she had been. Turning to face her, he saw the Princess idly staring up toward the top of their tent, and he smiled at her, only having one thought in mind to express.

"I love you." he simply told her, kissing her on the cheek, before he lay himself back down.

"I love you too." she responded, with a rather quiet voice; he raised a brow, a little confused why she would feel embarrassed to say it when it was only them in the tent.

He yawned, stretching out a little more before he rolled over, wanting to get a little rest for the moment; he'd need to recuperate before he did anything else for the day, and that probably included getting himself some lunch. He reached out toward his bag, opening it up just to check that his pig-cow jerky was still there; when he saw that it was, he smiled, relieved that he had it for quick eating. He considered that he probably ought to get out of the sleeping roll before he tried to eat some, knowing that the Princess wouldn't stand crumbs in the bed.

He felt some rustling in the sleeping roll, and realised that his companion must have decided to get up out of bed. Sokka then glanced up to look at her, taking note that she had already covered herself up, putting her bindings and shirt back on over her chest; said shirt was still somewhat revealing, showing her midriff, though he was sure that was just his Water Tribe modesty and not because she was trying to lead him on with her attire. Azula was too serious to do something like that, even if she might have wanted to; she had her image to worry about, even if with him, despite the intimacy they shared. She looked down at him, and he smiled at her; her expression remained surprisingly neutral, and given the circumstances, that was surprising. Of any time of the day, he'd expect at that point she'd be in a good mood.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her, the Princess turning her head away, as if she were ashamed to look at his bare chest; that obviously wasn't the case, even if she tried to act like it.

"No." she retorted, her voice tense, "Everything's fine, Sokka."

Her tone contradicted with the words she uttered, and Sokka pulled himself up from the sleeping roll, sure something had gone wrong.

"Did I do something bad?" he asked, afraid that at the worst, he'd been an unpleasing partner; he genuinely thought they had a good time together, but everything about the look on her face, the way she hunched her shoulders slightly, suggested the complete opposite.

"You didn't." she assured him, though her tone was not reassuring in the slightest; she turned back to face him, her eyes almost sad, "You're too good for me, Sokka."

"What-" he began to question, before he shook his head, knowing that he ought to take a more conciliatory angle; something was wrong, and even if it wasn't his fault, he had to do something about it, "What happened?"

She turned her head away, and he looked down to see her clench her fist, "It's not what happened. It's what is happening." she clarified, Sokka leaning up toward her, reaching his hand over to her shoulder, unsure what to say.

"What... what is?" he asked, his nervousness rising by the second; the tone with which she spoke suggested that she felt regretful about something, or at the very least, pained by it.

"I'm leaving." she told him, Sokka's eyes widening with fear; those were the two words he never wanted to hear her say, but there he was, thinking the best of their relationship after making love to her, and moments later, his hopes shattered.

"Wh-what?" he repeated himself, unable to form a real question; he didn't want to ask, even if he wanted to know- he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Not forever." she reassured him, turning to face him with as serious a face she could muster, "And this isn't because I don't love you or anything like that. I do." she reassured him, the Water Tribesman making a sigh of relief, realising that the worst hadn't eventuated; he was still worried by what she was saying- that she was leaving.

"But... you said, you said you're leaving." he spoke his thoughts aloud, "Where are you going?"

"To get my army back." she told him, the Water Tribesman's eyes widening; he didn't understand why she said she was leaving, because he had a very simple solution to what she was saying.

"Well, then I'm coming with you." he declared, feeling a sense of confidence return to his voice, before it was tempered by her hand touching his sternum, pushing him back slightly as she stared into his eyes.

"No, Sokka. You're not." she told him, before she sighed, her eyes turning away, as if she were ashamed; he thought that would be a reasonable emotional response- he didn't want her to leave, and she probably didn't want to leave him, even if she was set on doing so.

"B-but," he mumbled, reaching his hand toward her, "why? Why can't I go with you?"

"Because I need you here. With Aang and Katara. Be the big brother you're supposed to be." she told him, cringing slightly as she clenched her fist, tapping it onto his chest as she looked away, "A better one than mine."

"I know Zuko's a shithead, but what does he have to do with this?" he asked her, the Princess trying to hold back a laugh, obviously finding his comment funny; he knew she would- humour was his speciality, that and throwing boomerangs.

"Nothing really." she admitted, taking a deep breath before looking him in the eye, "I wish you could come with me, but I can't risk it."

"I'm not that reckless." he argued, the Princess's expression shifting from one of anguish to one of fear, and when Azula was afraid, she used her angry face, unlike any normal person.

"But Zhao is." she argued, narrowing her eyes at him, before she tapped her fingers onto his sternum, "If things went the wrong way, he wouldn't relent to have you killed. You're a Water Tribesman, so to him you are nothing but a savage- something to be disposed of." she told him with a stern voice; she couldn't be lying- there was no reason to.

"Azula." he mumbled her name softly, not knowing what he ought to say, "I want to help. I can help." he tried to explain, the Princess turning her head away.

"You can help by staying with Aang and Katara. I know you don't want to, but that's what is better for the both of us." she told him, as if she knew better; even if she did, he still knew he had to help her- that was his duty.

"No." he refused, "No it isn't. I should be by your side, just like I was in Yu Dao. I mightn't have been able to save you from Zuko then, but if need be, I'll do it now." he declared, the Princess's eyes widening, though not with shock, but with a growing anger; she pushed him on the chest, more forcefully this time, throwing him down onto the sleeping roll.

"Don't you dare do that to me." she demanded, "You will not lay down your life for me. I never asked you to do that." she told him with a growing voice, before she pointed at him, to stress the point, "Never."

"I can't let you just go." he argued, the Princess sighing as she turned around, moving to exit the tent.

"I won't be alone." she told him, as if that were to make it any better; Ty Lee going with her didn't make it any better, it just made her a hypocrite- she was her friend, and she'd be putting her in danger, but for some reason she couldn't do the same for him.

"Why can she go? She's your friend. You care for her. Why put her in danger but not me?" he questioned her, the Princess turning back to face him, her eyes dropping tears, something that was so rare that it made his jaw drop.

"Because I love you, Sokka. Are you really that thick in the head?" she told him before she turned around, "That's why I can't let you get hurt. That would make me a moron and a weakling."

"That wouldn't make you stupid, that would make you brave." he told her, the Princess stepping out of the tent, Sokka reaching forward, hoping she'd turn back to face him, but she did not, letting the canvas fall back into place, leaving him alone in the tent.

He pulled his pants up, knowing that he had to go after her, before he clambered over to the openings in the canvas, glancing out to see Azula standing by the campfire, which had already gone out, breakfast already a distant memory. He strode toward her, reaching his arm forward to try and hold her shoulder, the Princess instead turned to face him, raising a hand in front of him.

"You really should have put some clothes on Sokka." she chided him, before sighing, realising that she couldn't escape his questions, "I know you think you're right, and I think I'm right, and we can't agree on this." she conceded, before narrowing her eyes at him, "But what can we agree on?"

"That neither of us should do stupid things." Sokka concluded, the Princess chuckling, crossing her arms.

"That's true." she admitted, before raising a brow, "But is my plan stupid? Do you think I should go to Zhao and try and get my forces back?"

He looked down, knowing that her question was harder than it appeared to be; he could simply respond no, but he knew that wouldn't be a truthful answer. Azula was right to want to remain what was hers, and she wanted to do so in a way that would remove the threat of Zhao simultaneously, instead of trying her luck in recruiting a new army. It made sense, and it would cut away needless work that they might have otherwise needed to.

"You need to do it." he admitted, as much as he didn't want to, "You need to get your army, and you need to stop him."

"I do." she smiled at him, appreciative that they could agree on that, at least, "I know you don't want to be stuck with Aang and Katara, because I'm a far better travelling companion, but it is how it is." she crossed her arms; her way of joking about it made the situation marginally better, but not by much.

"You are." he agreed, before sighing, "I can't change your mind?"

"I want you to be safe, Sokka. This isn't about wanting to do everything by myself; I know when I need help- that's why I'm getting this army to begin with." she explained, before she looked down, seemingly saddened by the turn of events.

"It's... it's okay, Azula." he assured her, stepping closer, "You're the toughest, smartest girl I know- you'll be alright." he conceded, "I just want to be by your side. To make sure you're safe."

"I will be." she assured him, before she reached forward, hugging him, at first softly, before she tightened her grip, "Thank you, Sokka." she told him with a quiet, genuinely happy sounding voice, "And I'm sorry."

"For hugging me?" he asked her, amused that she'd get flustered about that of all things.

"No, for this." she admitted; he was confused by what she was referring to, until he felt a number of articulate jabs up his back.

His knees buckled beneath him, and his eyes widened as he realised what exactly had just occurred, "Ty Lee!" he called out her name, trying to turn his head to look toward the acrobat, who had a guilty look on her face, "I thought we bonded this morning."

"I'm sorry." she conceded, the Water Tribesman slumping down, Azula slowing his descent, letting him sit, and then lie down on the ground, unable to move any part of his body below his neck.

He looked up at his girlfriend, not knowing what to say; if he was paralysed, he couldn't exactly stop her any more, "A- Why?" he asked her, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"This is easier than arguing with you." she simply admitted to him, "I wish this wasn't how it had to be done, Sokka, but you're a stubborn man." she conceded, turning her eyes up to her friend, "Have you got your bags?"

"I'm all ready to go." she assured her, Sokka gulping with unease, realising that they were about to leave the camp already- she was already about to leave him behind.

"Please." he mumbled, before trying, despite the fact he knew he couldn't, to raise his hand up toward her; Azula knelt by his side, coming down toward him instead, her eyes showing him that she felt at the very least uneased by her own actions, "I don't want you to go without me."

"This is just how it is, Sokka. You'll be safe, and I'll be calm, knowing that." she assured him, placing her hand on his shoulder, pulling him up slightly from the ground, "If you have to, beat the shit out of some of those northern morons." she suggested, "If your sister doesn't have a master by the time I reach you, I'll be very disappointed. And I bet your Gran-Gran will be too."

"I can't disappoint Gran-Gran." he conceded, somewhat jokingly, despite the fact he certainly did want to honour his grandmother somehow, and what she had been through; that quickly moved from his mind, reminding himself of the situation he was in.

He looked up at her, not knowing how to persuade her otherwise, "Azula, please, just... let me go with you. I'm capable of defending myself." he declared defiantly, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"It seems not." she tapped his paralysed arm, chiding him for his preemptive judgement; Ty Lee had snuck up on him, when he thought he'd been having an intimate moment.

"Sneak attacks never count." he declared with a snarl, a momentary expression of his frustration.

"Oh, so then you won't count this." she narrowed her eyes, before leaning in and kissing him on the lips; he felt his anger subside, and momentarily felt a bit of sympathy for her perspective- she loved him, and she loved him enough that she was willing to do anything to protect him, just as he was to her. Even separating each other, as much anguish as it brought to him; he wondered what she was feeling at that moment, but realised he already knew. There had been a reason for her kiss, a reason for their love-making. It had all been to show that she did love him, despite what she was doing, to assure herself that she was a good girlfriend.

"Azula." he whispered her name as she moved away from him, rising back up to her feet, "You know, you're a bit of an arsehole."

"Thanks, Sokka." she rolled her eyes.

"But you're a great girlfriend... even if I don't agree with what you're doing." he conceded, the Princess nodding.

"I once told you that I wanted you to argue against me, and once again, you've proven your determination." she conceded, "That's what I like about you Sokka. That indomitable will." she gestured down toward him, her serious, but warm eyes giving him more hope than he thought they might, "Use it, and when we are together again, we will rule the world together."

"Oh, that's a good dream." he conceded with a momentary smile on his lips, the Princess scoffing.

"It's not a dream. It's my- no, it's our destiny." she declared, before turning her heels, striding over to their tent; he glanced toward her, watching as she spent a few moments collecting her bags, which only consisted of a change of clothes and a few small supplies.

She looked back his way, and then back over behind him, presumably toward Ty Lee, "How long does your chi-blocking last?"

"I hit him pretty hard, so he'll be like that for a few more minutes." she clarified, Sokka's eyes widening; he really didn't have a chance to stop her, even if he didn't want to.

He just wanted to be by her side, but now he understood, that wasn't a realistic outcome; she was as set in her ways as the day he met her, just set on a very different thing.

She looked back at him, and after a few moments of looking at him in his pitiful state, she sighed, "I will be back."

"You mean you'll be at the North Pole?" he asked her, the Princess chuckling.

"Precisely." she confirmed, before she gestured for Ty Lee to follow her, "Come on, the guards are waiting for us already back in the village."

"I know, Zula, you already told me." she assured her, striding past Sokka, momentarily looking down at him "I'll make sure she doesn't do anything too crazy." she gave him the most reasonable of assurances, Sokka sighing, jutting his head back to look up to the tree canopy above him.

"Good luck." he mumbled in defeat, knowing that he had no chance to stop them.

"Just don't wallow there." Azula gave him an off-hand warning, "That'd be pitiful."

"You can clearly see that I'm lying here paralysed. What's not pitiful about that?" he quipped in return.

"That you're there against your will." the acrobat added with a skip in her feet, pacing over toward Azula; he wasn't looking at them any more, but their footsteps were noticeable enough.

"Yeah, yeah." he grumbled, before raising his head up to look at them, "No need to make fun of the savage."

"I didn't intend to." Azula conceded, before gesturing toward him with a wave, "We have to go now. Don't scream too loud for Aang and Katara, or you might scare the villagers."

"Oh, I'll keep that in mind." he sarcastically remarked, not really caring if they came around at that point; Appa would scare them off if they tried anything, so he didn't feel in any way afraid of a bunch of random Earth Kingdom peasants.

His eyes locked with Azula's for a moment, and he wanted to say something; no words could come out of his mouth. He didn't want to scream at her in anger, not any more; that would be as pointless as trying to move. Her blank, stoic expression wavered for a moment, her eyes widening, as if she knew what he was thinking- she turned around after that and was on her way, Ty Lee making her way in tow.

He waited for a few moments for them to get out of sight, before he even tried to move; none of his limbs worked, and even if he had some sense in his arms and legs, it wasn't very helpful when he couldn't move them around. He sighed, realising that after all of those months training in chi-blocking, he'd never really expected to be struck down by it. Of course there was always the rare possibility that whoever ended up chasing after them, either for Azula's bounty or for the 'honour' of capturing the Avatar; he didn't expect however, for the very ability he'd worked so hard to master to be used against him, by Azula of all people. Sokka sighed, and groaned, knowing that he should have seen it coming; he knew from the start that Ty Lee was loyal to Azula, almost scarily so.

"Guys?" he asked out, hoping that by some turn of luck, that Katara and Aang had returned from their waterbending training.

When he realised that they weren't there, he did not give up; Sokka wasn't one to just sit back in defeat. He needed to get their attention, to get himself a chance, even if he only had a minute one, to stop Azula from leaving; he didn't know what he could say, but at the very least, he hoped he could get Aang and Katara to argue in his favour. He turned his head around, trying to find something to get their attention with; it wasn't like he had a way to communicate with them through any method other than screaming, and as his girlfriend suggested, that was probably a bad idea. Looking toward Appa, he took note of the massive beast; despite his strength, he probably couldn't be of much help in getting the others' attention, assuming that he could understand any commands Sokka could give out. His eyes then darted to the sound of pattering footsteps; Momo, he deduced, and he whistled out to the lemur, who appeared out of the nearby brush, approaching him with a curious look on his face.

"Momo!" he called out to his little friend, with as quiet a voice he could make; trying to not shout was his problem- he didn't want to scare him off, "Can you go to Aang for me?" he asked the flying-lemur, who chittered, before approaching Sokka, nudging at his numb arm; maybe he wanted him to get him some food, which seemed to be something that the two of them always had in mind.

"Oh, you're hungry? I'll get you food, but you've got to get Aang. Or Katara. Preferably both of them. Please, buddy." he tried to persuade the lemur, if he could even attempt to do such a thing.

He seemed to understand his words well enough, and jumped up into the air, gliding along down the river; whether he was looking for food or for Aang and Katara, he'd likely bump into them if they were still practising their waterbending. He knew that probably got far away enough to not disturb them, and that turned out to be a problem now that the enjoyable part of the morning had dissipated into thin air. As Momo glid away, he grit his teeth, hoping for the best, before he rested his head back down, sighing; he heard Appa grumbling nearby, and his eyes darted upward, looking behind him, toward the sky-bison, who sat in the distance.

"How are you, Appa?" he asked of his giant, furry friend, who like Momo, obviously couldn't respond verbally, but it was better to talk to somebody than just lie there in shame.

The sky-bison idly looked his way, and didn't make much of a response, turning around and taking a bite out of a nearby bush; Sokka sighed, knowing that he had nobody to talk to. He turned his gaze over toward his tent, and was reminded of the fact that he'd be sleeping alone, for the first time in months. It was a chilling idea, and he didn't know how to feel; angry or sad, afraid or annoyed. Azula had done something he hadn't expected of her, though in hindsight, he wasn't surprised; she was always so confident in herself, and even though that confidence had been weakened by the turn of events in Yu Dao, she was still Azula, the Princess who was set on becoming the Fire Lord. Though, her choice had had nothing to do with her becoming the Fire Lord; it had to do with him, and how she felt about him. Sokka smiled at the thought, at the very fact that she loved him; that was the only good thing of her actions- they were showing that she cared enough about him to do things against his will, for his own good.

She was a smart woman, and he knew that, and even if he did disagree with her, he could understand her logic; it was bad logic, but he knew that her decision was reasonable. He wouldn't have wanted Katara to come along with him to fight the Fire Nation, even if she was a great waterbender at the time, which she wasn't; he couldn't bear that thought, and neither could his father. He remembered when his father told him he couldn't come with him and the warriors left all those years ago. That was before the comet, before they returned home, disheartened by their defeat; they hadn't lost many men or ships, but the war, it was over with the fall of Ba Sing Se. Sokka had foolishly thought he ought to go with them, just as he had thought he should go with Azula; of course, it was a different situation, but he could see the parallels. His father loved him, just like any good father should, and he didn't want Sokka to be in danger for his own sake; it was the same with Azula- she couldn't tolerate the danger of him losing his life, in the case of the worst possible scenario with Zhao.

"But Dad didn't tie me up or anything like that." he mumbled to himself, knowing there was a difference in the reactions; Sokka might have ended up forcing himself along with Azula, and that was obviously why she had chosen for Ty Lee to chi-block him.

He sighed with frustration, knowing that his own stubborn personality had led to the turn of events; even if she hadn't told him about her intentions until that moment in the tent, she obviously predicted how he'd react; Azula was the one with the brains in their relationship, in the end.

"Why'd I have to be the idiot?"

---

"Momo, what's wrong?"

Katara turned around, realising that Aang had stopped practising the water shield form, and she was confused why; Momo just appeared out of the blue, but that didn't seem to be a reason to stop their practice. He knelt over by the flying lemur, who chittered, his high pitch vocalisations making Aang raise a brow in interest, before he turned to Katara.

"I think he wants to show us something." he deduced, the Water Tribe girl placing her hands on her hips, raising a brow skeptically to that claim.

"How can you be sure? Maybe he's just hungry."

"He'd probably go annoy somebody else if he wanted food. The food's at the camp, remember?" he rhetorically asked her.

She crossed her arms, not appreciating that she was being made out as ignorant or stupid, "I knew that." she grumbled, before Aang stepped a little closer, his eyes showing a sense of unease.

"Momo might be trying to tell us something important. You never know." he admitted, the Water Tribe girl sighing, disappointed that they had to stop their training then and there.

She walked over to the scroll, and waved it in the air a few times to make sure it wasn't wet; ruining it would ruin her day, in all honesty- even if she had already learned the forms it showed her, she didn't feel like she had mastered them to the degree she wanted to. Rolling it up, she turned around to face her friend, who was looking at Momo; the flying lemur had already begun to glide uphill, back in the direction of the camp.

"Let's just see what he wants." Aang suggested, "If it's nothing, we can go right back to practising."

"Yeah, and then Sokka'll ask for lunch and we'll be stuck doing that instead." she guessed, knowing that somebody, whether it was her brother or not, asking for food, usually stopped them from doing whatever else they needed to do during the day.

"Don't worry." Aang raised a hand, "Sokka got that jerky yesterday. There'll be no more interruptions. I promise." he gave her a reassuring smile before he began to pace up the hill, following after their flying-lemur.

Begrudgingly, Katara made her way after him, and slowly drudged up the hill, immediately realising that her practice had worn her out a lot; she thought that perhaps she needed to eat something for lunch, a thought that she immediately banished from her mind- she would not be a hypocrite, even if her tired arms and legs told her do be one. Slowly making her way back toward the camp, she glanced up the hill, just checking to see if any villagers had come by; Aang's bandana wasn't on at the moment, which meant it was rather dangerous for him to be walking around, especially considering their campsite was right near a path. Her attention was quickly drawn away from that thought by Aang shouting out, his voice filled with fear.

"Sokka! What are you doing there?!" he called out to her brother; striding a little closer to the campsite, she saw what Aang had- Sokka was lying on the ground, right near the campfire, as if he had been knocked out cold, except, the fact that his perked up head told her he was certainly conscious.

"It took you two long enough! I've been lying here for nearly five minutes." he growled with frustration, the young Avatar racing over to him.

"What happened to you?" he asked him, the Water Tribe teen sighing as he dropped his head back.

"Ty Lee happened." he spoke with a frustrated tone, his eyes darting over to his sister, "They're gone."

"You mean Azula and Ty Lee." she concluded, her brother moving his head in a way that might be called a nod, if one was paralysed from the neck down.

"So, she chi-blocked you?" he asked, the Water Tribesman groaning.

"What does it fucking look like?" he almost shouted, before taking a deep, audible breath, "I"m sorry for getting angry... but she did this to me so I couldn't stop them."

"Oh no." Aang gasped, turning back to face Katara with a fearful look on his face, "I think stuffed up."

"Did you know what they were going to do?" Sokka growled, trying his best to raise his right arm, with not much success; he did move it a little, before it flopped back down onto the dirt.

"I knew Azula wanted to leave, and that she was going to talk with you about it. I didn't know she'd have Ty Lee chi-block you.' He clarified, Katara looking at him with concern; she didn't understand why he didn't say anything.

"Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you think that was a little bit important?"

"Well, I thought she was going to sort it out with Sokka, then they'd say goodbye, and go off with Azula's guards." he admitted, before pouting, "I guess I was wrong."

"Yeah, no shit." Sokka grumbled, turning to face Katara, "Can you help me up, Katara?"

"Of course." she nodded, striding over to stand behind him, kneeling over to grasp him by the shoulders, which she pulled up, allowing him to sit upright.

"Ah, that's better." he mumbled, before glancing around, "I guess they're long gone now."

"You said five minutes." Aang noted, "They can't have got that far."

"I don't want to cause a scene in the middle of a village." he admitted, before he looked down at his numb, paralysed legs, "And I can't walk."

"What are you going to do then?" she asked him, his eyes turning up to the sky above them, barely visible through the canopy.

"Go to the North Pole." he mumbled, Aang's eyes widening.

"Wait, right now?" he asked, the Water Tribesman nodding.

"Yep." he confirmed, "That's what she told me to do... so fuck it. I'll do it. I'll get there, and you two are going to learn waterbending."

"And what if they refuse me?" Katara asked him, genuinely wanting to know what he intended

Her brother's eyes narrowed in determination, showing her that he wanted her to learn waterbending as much as she did herself, "I'll kick their arses. I bet they haven't seen a chi-blocker with a boomerang before."

"That'd be pretty funny." Aang conceded, his humoured tone and expression shifting to a more nervous one quite quickly, "I'm sorry, Sokka."

"You couldn't have known what thye were going to do. If I were you, I would have thought the same thing." he acknowledged, obviously not wanting him to feel guilty about something outside his control, "Azula likes arguing with me more than she does fighting."

"Are you sure about that, Sokka?" She prodded her brother, who rolled his eyes.

"Okay, maybe she likes a bit of both." he conceded, "But the point is, I didn't think she'd have me chi-blocked. I thought she'd shout me down until I gave up."

"What did she say to you... after you got chi-blocked?" Aang asked, the Water Tribe warrior sighing.

"She told me what I needed to do, why she was doing what she was doing... then we made out and I called her an arsehole."

"Sounds about right." Katara chuckled, before she turned to Aang, "Maybe we should pack the bags." her eyes darting back to Sokka, "If that's what you want."

"Yes, it is." he admitted, "I shouldn't waste your time by forcing either of you to go chase Azula down. She'd probably beat you both up as a warning and then tell you to go to the North Pole."

"Yeah, I don't want to fight her." the young Avatar mumbled, "Packing up sounds much better."

Katara offered her brother a hand, "Do you want to try and stand?"

"Sounds like a bad idea." he mumbled, before turning his eyes up to meet her own, "I'll try it."

He slowly raised his right arm, with a bit of a struggle, allowing her to grasp his hand; she then, slowly but surely, pulled him up by the arm, allowing Sokka to pull his legs into place, having regained a small amount of movement. Once he was up, she placed her left arm around his shoulder, helping him stay upright.

"Are you any better?"

"Well, I can definitely feel my toes now, so... yeah." he mumbled, his expression not looking in any way happy; he had no reason to be, given the circumstances.

Bit by bit, he began to try and move his arms and legs, slowly putting his right leg forward, planting his foot down, before doing the same with his left. He was trembling, and obviously didn't have much of his balance back yet, but he could stand. Her brother's eyes turned toward her, and he let out a small smile.

"At least I can stand." he mumbled, before turning to face his tent, "I've got to pack this all up."

"Don't worry about that." she assured him, "You should just get your arms and legs working again, and then you can think about packing."

"I'll start on our tent, Katara." Aang spoke up, before turning to face the Water Tribe teen, "Sorry, again."

"Stop apologising." he demanded of the Avatar, his voice surprisingly stern, before licking his lips, "Though if you could get me some jerky, that'd get me in a better mood."

Katara snickered at her brother's only request, knowing that it was so predictable of him to ask for food, "Of course." she agreed with his request, "Let's walk over to Appa. He'll be better to rest on than dirt." she suggested, making her brother's eyes widen.

"Huh, that's true. Take me to the fluff monster at once." he told her with a serious, commanding voice; she rolled her eyes, considering to let him drop down on his butt just for saying that, but knew that was a bad idea, given the context.

"Okay, let's just take it nice and slow." she warned him, allowing Sokka to take another step, reorienting himself slightly as he turned around to face Appa, "Is chi-blocking usually this... effective?"

"I hope mine is, but I haven't stuck around long enough to find out. It works against Azula when we spar, but I don't try to hit her hard." he explained, Katara nodding along.

"Well, let's just hope that next time, you're the one chi-blocking and not getting chi-blocked." she considered, watching Sokka's legs as he took another step, looking like his balance had improved somewhat.

"That's all I can ask for at this point." he spoke with a quiet, disheartened voice, before his expression brightened, "At least I'll get to rest on you, buddy." he spoke up to Appa, who turned his massive head in their direction as he continued his slow approach.

She heard chittering to her side, and took note of Momo, who was following beside them, looking intently at Sokka, who glanced back down toward the flying-lemur with a suspicious glare, "I don't have any food on me, Momo."

"I've got the jerky, Sokka." Aang spoke up, walking toward them with the small bag of jerky that Sokka had bought the day prior; the Water Tribesman weakly raised his right arm and took it into his hand, before he took a bite out of the bit of jerky that was exposed at the bag's opening.

"Hmmm... good." he mumbled as he chewed, "Jerky can fix almost any problem... I think." he admitted, making his sister roll her eyes.

"Yeah, maybe for you." she conceded, before continuing to help him along over to Appa.

When they reached the sky-bison's side, she helped her brother rest on the sky bison's leg, which was covered in fur and thus quite a good cushion, in her own experience; he smiled as he leaned back into the fur, turning his head to look toward Appa's face, "You're really comfortable, Appa."

"He sure is." she agreed with him, "Now, I'll let you sit here, and Aang and I will deal with all the packing. Once you can move properly, you can help out."

He gave her a curt nod, and with that, Katara turned her heels striding over toward her and Aang's tent; when she got there, she saw her friend pulling out his own sleeping roll, having already folded it up. He turned his eyes to her and gestured inside.

"I think it's just your sleeping roll and then we can pack up the tent." he noted, the Water Tribe girl stepping past him, parting the tent open, before she knelt down, taking note of her bedding, which was just as she had left it after finishing her sewing earlier that morning.

She crawled in, grasping the end of the sleeping roll furthest from the tent opening, and pulled it back, wrapping it up as she went, allowing her to take the bindings which sat next to it and tie it up. Once that was taken care off, she pulled the sleeping roll out of the tent, placing it beside Aang's, who she turned to, wanting to discuss what had just happened.

"So... uh, Sokka's not in that bad a mood." he concluded, Katara cringing, knowing that her brother was just covering up whatever anguish he felt over his girlfriend's departure.

"Oh, he is. The fact he's decided to agree with what she told him to do, without any questions, tells me he's not feeling good about this. He'd normally have a fit about something like this." she concluded, the young Avatar's expression shifting to one of unease.

"Should we be worried then?" he asked her, Katara glancing back in the direction of her brother, who was stroking Appa's fur as he idly leaned into it.

"We should be cautious. He could blow up at any moment." she admitted, the Avatar's eyes narrowing at her.

"Does he ever get really angry?"

"Sometimes." she acknowledged, "Usually it's about petty stuff."

"Like sitting in pee?" he joked, reminding her of that specific story; she tried to hold back her own laughter, seeing her brother turn their way, looking unsurprisingly suspicious of them.

"Yeah, like that." she confirmed before straightening her lips, and dropping the volume of her voice, "This isn't petty, though. This is serious."

He simply nodded at her words, before gesturing to the tent; they did need to pack up if they wanted to get flying anytime soon, "I guess we won't be doing that practice anymore."

"Yeah." she mumbled, disappointed that was the case, though she had no intention to complain; given the situation, she was willing to give up her feeble wants to ensure her brother didn't feel like absolute crap.

She strode over to the side of the tent, and knelt over, taking out the bone pins, one by one, before she pulled the canvas up, exposing the interior of the tent, as well as it's frame. Aang quickly did the other side, flicking up the canvas, allowing her to grab it all and take it off; she then folded the canvas up, placing it down by the sleeping rolls. Then taking the pegs she had in front of her, she placed them in the bag that had been sitting inside of the tent, her friend doing the same, before he tightened said bag closed and threw it to the side, out of their way. She then took the top pole of the frame, while Aang took down the two crossing supports, placing them all down together by the front of what had been the tent. Finally, she pulled up the mat that was laid over the dirt, shaking it a few times to clean it, before she rolled that up too. The tent was dealt with as quickly as it could have been and now, all they needed to do was pack it onto Appa's saddle; she could see that Sokka and Azula's tent remained up, but they'd get around to that later.

She picked up her sleeping roll, and heaved it over her shoulder; striding over toward Appa, she once more caught her brother's attention, and he pulled himself up, showing that he could stand once again.

"I can start on my tent." he acknowledged, Katara giving him an affirmative nod.

"Okay, but could you help us take our tent parts up onto the saddle first?" she asked him, her brother giving her an affirmative by striding right toward it, surprising Aang with the pace of his strides as he walked past.

"Oh, so you're good?" he asked him, the Water tribe warrior raising a hand; that didn't really give the best answer, in her opinion, but he gave them the fact- he was capable of helping, so he would.

Aang turned to face her, making a cringed face, realising that mightn't have been the best question to ask, before he approached Appa, tossing his sleeping roll up with the assistance of his airbending. She did the same without, and was understandably less successful, though she was able to get it onto the saddle at least, though not where she wanted it. She knew that could be dealt with later, and decided to turn back around and get some of the tent parts instead. Making her way back to the former site of her tent, she picked up the canvas, noting that Sokka had already taken the bags of bone pegs and the frame pieces. She slung the canvas roll over her shoulder and paced back over to Appa, tossing it up on top of the saddle. Her brother looked at her idly, scratching his chin.

"Huh, good throwing arm." he observed, Katara looking at him with confusion.

"Uh, thanks, I guess." she acknowledged, before pursing her lips, "Must be from all the snowballs I've thrown at your head."

"I thought you used waterbending to do that." he mumbled, the Water Tribe girl snickering.

She really wasn't a very good waterbender for a long time, and had only really gotten a hang of the most basic concepts by the time she was Aang's age. It was rather embarrassing, considering that Aang himself was already an airbending master at the age of twelve, while she barely had a hang of waterbending at all when she was sixteen. Though she'd drastically improved in the last two weeks, that wasn't indicative of how she'd end up once she got the training she needed.

"I didn't actually. I've just got a good throwing arm." she declared, before she gestured toward him, "Give me your boomerang, I'll show you."

"No, no. Mister Boomerang stays with me." he declared defiantly, "You stay with the magic water."

She twitched an eyebrow at that specific insult to her bending, but she dismissed it, knowing that her brother wasn't being serious, unlike in the past, where he had been genuinely dismissive of bending. She didn't blame him, in hindsight, as she came to realise how much of an effect their mother's death had had on him; he really just hated firebenders, and once he fell in love with one, it became a lot harder to hate on it.

"I will, and I'll master it." she declared, her brother clapping his hands in approval.

"You will." he agreed, before he turned to Aang, who was bringing over the last part of the tent, the mat, "That's it? So, uh, could you two help me with my tent?"

"Seeing Azula's not here, I really don't have an argument not to." she conceded, knowing that Azula refusing to do work, or rather, her brother doing it without any care that she wasn't was something that irked her greatly.

"You really are mothering our group." he conceded, "But I'm the oldest, and since Azula isn't here, that makes me the boss."

"What about Aang? He's the Avatar." she gestured to their friend, who raised his own hands up, shaking his head in refusal to that offer.

"I agree with Sokka. I'm only twelve. He should be the boss, if we need one." he conceded, the Water Tribe girl shaking her head, not liking that she'd been immediately outvoted.

She did know her brother probably ought to be the one leading them, even if she didn't want him to have undisputed authority; she could certainly dispute it with a snowball to the head, though.

"Let's just do the tent." the Avatar spoke up, pacing toward it; Sokka and Katara followed after, and the two of them immediately began by unhooking the pegs from the ground, before they flicked the canvas off.

When it was taken off, she moved to block her nose, noting that the tent was especially pungent of body odour, "Sokka, I think this thing needs to be cleaned." she admitted, her brother's eyes widening, before he turned away, looking embarrassed.

"Oh, sorry about that." he mumbled, sounding nervous; it only took her a few more moments to realise what he was so embarrassed about, and felt even more disgusted by the fact that she was now packing up his tent.

"Eww... Sokka..." she grumbled, looking away from the tent with distaste.

"What's wrong?" Aang asked her, the Water Tribe warrior speaking up first.

"It's better if you don't know." he diverted the topic immediately, before he knelt over, rolling up the sleeping roll, "I'll pack this up. Could you guys take the canvas and frame back over to the saddle?" he requested of them, Katara trying to make a straight face as she turned back to face him.

She rolled up the canvas, trying to ignore what she understood had happened there; she then took the rolled up canvas into hand, carrying it back over to Appa's saddle, which she tossed it onto, before glancing back over toward the ashes of their campfire, beside which sat their bag of cookery. She strode over to said bag, picked it up and took it to back toward the sky-bison, realising that it had to be the last thing they had to put up, beside Sokka's things, most of which, including his weapons and Fire Nation armour, still were on the saddle, never having taken them off to begin with. She realised it would be harder to throw the cookery bag up, and decided instead to climb up via Appa's tail, trudging up with some struggle. The fur was easy to grab onto, however, so she used it as a handle to help herself up. Once she was on board, she placed the bag down, and took note of all the things that lay strewn over the saddle; she sighed, knowing that she ought to organise them before doing anything else.

She was no clean freak, but if she wanted to lie down on the saddle when they were flying, she'd need some space. She took the tent frame pieces and pushed them up to the back of the saddle, before stacking the rolled up canvas and mat on top of them. Then she took her own bags, as well as the sleeping rolls, and placed them alongside, forming a kind of cushion at the back of the tent. She lay back on it momentarily, and realised it would be a good place to sit once they were up in the air, allowing her to glance up and look at the clouds in comfort. Glancing back down from the saddle, she saw Aang approaching with Sokka's tent pieces, and he threw them up, allowing her to catch them; she nodded, appreciating his swift use of airbending, before she put the frame pieces with the other ones. Aang launched himself up onto the saddle, landing down beside her.

"So, that's it." he concluded, the Water Tribe girl nodding.

"Yep. It is." she confirmed, turning her eyes toward Sokka, "I really hope we can improve his mood somehow. I don't want Sokka to end up all gruff for the whole time Azula's away."

"Maybe you can make him tell the story of his adventure with Azula. He'd probably enjoy that, wouldn't he?"

"I mean I don't want to hear it for the thousandth time, but you do make a good point." she conceded, before she waved over to Sokka, who was still approaching the saddle with the sleeping roll and mat slung over his shoulder; the parts of his tent that stank horribly, for a reason she didn't want to discuss.

He threw the two rolls up, and Aang grasped them both, putting them back in position; he then glanced back around their now desolate campsite, "I guess that's it." he mumbled, before he turned around, "Could you give me a hand, Aang?"

The young Avatar leaned over the side of the saddle, grasping his outreached hand, allowing him to climb up Appa's side and sit himself down on the saddle. He stretched his arms out before resting himself back on the saddle, making a relieved face.

"Well, my body works again." he noted, before glancing up to look into his sister's eyes, "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh." Aang's eyes brightened up, putting on a smile for Sokka, "I thought you could tell me the story."

"You want a longer version than the one Azula gave you?" he asked him, the Avatar nodding along.

"Well, yes. I want to hear how you saw it all." he clarified, the Water Tribe warrior's face turning to a genuine smile.

"Oh, okay." he nodded, leaning up from his back, "Are you going to get us moving first?"

"Yes." Aang simply responded, jumping up to his feet and into the air, landing down on the front end of the saddle, picking up Appa's reins, "Come on, buddy. We'll fly until sunset, and maybe we can find a place for you to get a wash. How about that?"

The sky-bison made a positive groan, his friend giggling as he patted him on the head, "Momo! We're going, get up here!" he called out to their flying-lemur, who made a chittering noise as he raced across their former campsite, before he glided up onto the saddle, landing beside Sokka.

"I still don't have-" he began, before he realised that he was holding his jerky in his right hand, "My jerky." he narrowed his eyes, pulling the bag closer to his chest, refusing to give him even a crumb, "Go eat some of the food Aang got."

Momo made a cooing noise, and Katara gestured for him to come closer, "Momo, I'll give you some food." she assured him, "Just not too much. You're not very big." she reasoned, reaching behind her into the bag of food that Aang had bought earlier that morning; she pulled out a peach, knowing that it was his favourite, and gave it to him, the flying-lemur barely holding back his excitement as he chowed down into it.

"Okay then, let's get flying. Appa, yip-yip!" Aang called on Appa, who roared, before they began to rise up into the air; he reoriented his sky-bison, making sure that they didn't ram into any trees as they made their way up and out of the clearing, flying above the tree-tops.

Katara glanced out, looking at the massive expanse of the woodland around them, which she couldn't really see when she walking around on the ground, also taking note of the village and its small size in comparison; Appa swept around, moving first to the east, toward the morning sun, before reorienting and heading straight north. Sokka leaned over the saddle with a saddened look on his face, obviously wanting to see if he could spot out Azula; she looked down as well, though they quickly climbed in altitude, so it became hard to see people when they were from a decent distance. She could see a few villagers walking about, though they obviously didn't notice Appa or just thought he was a cloud. Nobody stopped what they were doing, and that relieved her; she glanced back toward Sokka, who just sighed.

"It's okay, Sokka. I'm sure they'll be alright." she placed a hand on her brother's shoulder; he turned away and made an audible, exasperated breath.

"Where did you want me to start, Aang?" he asked the young Avatar, who glanced back his way with an idle look on his face; Aang had obviously had the right idea, as he had jumped at the opportunity to talk about something other than the fact Azula and Ty Lee had just left them.

"Uh, I guess when you left the Southern Water Tribe." he gave his idea, making Sokka chuckle.

"Shit." he mumbled, "That was nearly a year ago now. I think... yeah, nearly." he acknowledged, before turning back around lying himself down on the saddle, "Are you sure we're heading north?"

"The sun's to the right, so, that's north?" he gestured ahead of them, the Water Tribe teen scratching his chin.

"Uh, technically, yes." he acknowledged, "But we might not be heading truly north. That's where we want to go if we're heading to the North Pole."

"Okay, well, I guess we can check with the map later... I'm sure we won't lose too much time." he acknowledged, Sokka crossing his arms, raising a brow skeptically at him.

"Says the person who made us waste, what, a week going to Kyoshi Island, only to have the Fire Nation attack it."

"Hey, that's a little harsh, Sokka." Katara narrowed her eyes at her brother, knowing that even if he was feeling crap, he didn't need to take it out on Aang.

"No, no, he's right. I stuffed up then." the Air Nomad agreed, his eyes darting down, grasping his bandana and looking at it, "Being the Avatar gets all the wrong attention sometimes."

"Yeah, well, lucky for us, these disguises work." Katara acknowledged, "They'll come in handy." she smiled, her brother raising a finger to his chin.

"Yeah, we'll need disguises when we get to Ba Sing Se. I have a feeling the Dai Li don't like me very much after I humiliated Long Feng."

"That's a part of the story I want to hear." Aang beamed at him, to which he raised a finger.

"Now, now, Mister Airbender, don't go too fast. You're getting the proper story this time. The whole deal."

"Even the romance?"

"Uh, yeah, even the romance." he gave an affirmative nod, "Not that there was much of that to begin with... mostly just Azula screaming at me for being stupid and me screaming at her for being an inconsiderate bigot."

"Yeah, that's Azula." she crossed her arms, Sokka raising a hand toward her, in warning.

"Katara, I don't want any funny business, this is my story." he warned her, "I really want to give him the full experience."

"The whole day you spent telling me this was not worth it in hindsight... other than preparing for Jet. Jet's a dick."

"Yeah, I think we can all agree on that." Aang nodded, before scratching at his scruffy black locks, "So, you left like a year ago?"

"Yep, it was already toward the winter night at the South Pole then. We left because we knew the Southern Raiders would have more of a challenge spotting our ships in the dark while we made our way toward the Earth Kingdom." he explained, glancing over the side of the saddle once more, "But we got over there without a hitch. Then we had to look for some targets. Some Earth Kingdom rebels were willing to give us some Fire Navy targets."

"So, kinda like with Bumi and his rebels?" the Avatar asked, to which he gave an affirmative smirk.

"Pretty much. We aimed for ships moving to supply the Fire Nation's various bases along the south coast. We took out maybe three or four convoy groups in the span of a month; no casualties or anything, just disabling their ships."

"Ah, okay. That's nice to hear." he admitted, the Water Tribesman nodding.

"Well, they weren't Southern Raiders, so we were less inclined to kill them." he conceded; it wasn't because he didn't hate them- it was that he didn't hate them as much as the other guys.

"I wonder what they're doing to them right now." Katara raised a brow, "Giving them that well deserved beating. Freeing some slaves." she guessed, her brother smiling.

"I wish I was there to help out." he acknowledged, "But we've got something more important to do."

"Uh, yeah." Aang nodded, before leaning closer, "Back to the story."

"So... uh, we fought against the Fire Nation for a few months, made sure to give them a lot of trouble. We didn't lose a single fight because we knew how to choose them." he raised a finger before sighing, "But, our luck ran out."

"Jeong Jeong?" Aang asked, obviously having heard the 'culprit' that had started the entire chaotic mess of events that was Azula and Sokka's adventure.

"Never met the guy, but Dad did. He said the offer we got was going to be good; we would kidnap an important Fire Nation delegate, and then take them to him." he explained, Aang's expression immediately faltering.

"So, you had no idea it'd be Azula?"

"I had no idea who Azula was." he admitted honestly, "She gave me shit because I didn't, when I showed up in the hallway with some other warriors to go capture her."

He narrowed his eyes, "And then she knocked you out?"

"Uh..." he scratched the back of his scalp, "Yeah, but not for long. I got back up and helped the warriors out." he clarified, before smirking, "Then I pulled the best trick ever. Bato and some others had set some explosives off inside the ship, and it started to sink."

"Don't forget the bit where you got stuck on a sinking ship, on purpose." Katara spoke up, her brother shooting her a glare.

"I had a good reason. To stop Azula." he raised a finger, "She might have started setting all the warriors on fire if she'd had the chance."

"I can definitely see that." she agreed, before her brother cleared his throat loudly, indicating for her to be quiet.

"Azula had returned to the deck, and distracted her with a little fight. she beat me again, but she went off as soon as she realised we were going under. Tried to set our ships alive- I'm pretty sure the rain-storm stopped her from doing that."

"How'd you get out of that?" he raised a brow, the Water tribe warrior smirking.

"Took a closed crate and used it as a liferaft. It actually worked pretty well." he admitted, "Though, according to Dad, I almost crushed someone's head when I was throwing down crates."

"Of course you did." Katara rolled her eyes, actually having forgotten that specific part; Sokka had learned it in hindsight, after all, and she wasn't that attentive when he gave the story a dozen more times.

"Hey, hey, I didn't know about it. I was trying not to drown." he argued, before turning abc to face Aang, "Then I swam toward the shore until I passed out. I woke up there the next morning, and then I went inland, looking for some water to purify. Since I had the crate, I used it like a big pot."

"Huh, that's pretty smart." the Avatar conceded, making Sokka smirk appreciatively.

"Why, thank you, Aang. I thought it was pretty smart too." he acknowledged his comment before he scratched his chin, "I sat there while I was boiling the water, waiting for it to get hot enough, and then suddenly, Azula shows up, ragged and dishevelled, demanding that I give her my water."

"And you didn't?" he asked her, his skepticism well founded; Sokka refused to share his jerky with Momo, so it made sense that he wouldn't dare share his water when he was hungry and thirst-ridden after being shipwrecked.

"Of course not. That was my water." he raised his chin, "But I realised that sharing is caring." he declared, such a proverbial outcome making Aang beam with hope.

"So being nice really can work to make the bad guys like you?"

"Uh, kinda." he made a cringed expression, "But it worked for me, and she fell for my 'peasant charms'."

"She didn't actually say that, did she?" Katara raised a brow, her brother turning away with a flushed red face.

"No, she said it in a lot less clean way than that." he admitted, making her giggle; though she didn't want to embarrass him, she thought it was kind of sweet that they were able to act so intimately when all she really saw herself was the bickering between them.

"Oh, okay, don't tell me. I don't want to get the oogies." she admitted, making Aang raise a brow.

"Oogies?" he asked her, obviously confused by her use of such a novel word.

"Sokka's word, not mine. When you see people acting all lovey and it makes you feel uncomfortable." she explained, her brother nodding.

"Yep, that's what it is." he agreed, before furrowing a brow, "Now, where were we?"

"You shared the water with her." Aang spoke up, the Water Tribe warrior chuckling.

"Yes, I did. Then we went off and hunted a little hog; I learned that Azula is not the best at hunting, though she has pretty good aim." he explained, before grimacing, realising that mentioning the killing of animals would make their vegetarian friend uncomfortable, "Sorry about that. I know you don't like hunting." he admitted, the young Air Nomad immediately shaking his head.

"No, no, it's okay." he smiled at him, "Go on." he raised a hand toward him, "I want to find out about the stuff in Ba Sing Se." he explained his intentions, making Sokka chuckle.

"Oh yeah, we'll get to that." he confirmed, before raising a finger, "But first, I need to tell you how annoying it was those first few days."

"Azula didn't try to attack you again, did she?" he asked him, the Water Tribesman shaking his head.

"No." he told him with a quiet voice, "She didn't try and fight me again... not until Ba Sing Se, actually."

"Why did that happen?"

"Because I didn't want her to command the army to attack a bunch of angry commoners in the Lower Ring." he admitted, the Avatar grimacing.

"Azula's... changed." he acknowledged what they were all thinking; the Princess was a very different person to the one Sokka met, at least in terms of her outlook on the world.

The Water Tribe teen turned away from his sister, who was looking at him sympathetically; she hadn't changed enough to give up her desires to be the Fire Lord, or to destroy all her enemies. That was what had driven her to leave and go meet with her former subordinate. He sighed, before looking back in the direction of the village.

"Yeah, she has."

---

Azula had quickly reminded herself why she hated walking so much; after spending more than a month flying around on a sky-bison without much need for it, she came to realise that it was just as bad as she remembered, if not worse. That did not deter her, however, from her goal; she was to reach Zhao's base of operations, regain his trust and loyalty, and when the time was right, take him to the North Pole to give him what he always wanted. She at least had the company of Ty Lee, who kept asking her questions about her time with Sokka, back when they had spent their first few months together, crossing the Earth Kingdom, first to stop the Dai Li's conspiracy, and then to stop her brother. She obviously just wanted to learn all the ins and outs of their relationship, which made her feel uncomfortable; not because she didn't trust her, but because she didn't want to discuss such matters after what she had done.

Sokka might not trust her again, after what she had done at the camp; she didn't want to have him chi-blocked to begin with, but she realised that it was better than a heated argument, or worse, Sokka forcing himself to join them. She knew he'd be safer with Aang and Katara, but he wouldn't agree with her; he loved her too much, something she never thought she'd have to process with, but that was the fact of the matter. It made her chest flutter at the thought of what he thought of her, and she thought of him. That love had changed her, more than any kind of wisdom could; her brother needed to learn to understand himself, to become the traitor he did, but she needed something else entirely, something she had lacked. She still despised her mother with all her heart, for what she had done to her, and in seeing Sokka and Katara's relationship with Hakoda, or their one with Kanna, she had come to understand how horrible her own parents were. She knew that at least Ozai had tried, in his own misconstrued fashion, but he had- her mother had failed, and for that, she had a son and a daughter who despised each other.

She knew that he still had the opportunity to become better, better than what her mother had thought her to be. Azula realised that perhaps she could attain the same kind of peace her brother must have, after all those years of angst and self-pity; the old Azula was still there, and she did not know whether she should wield her as a weapon or vanquish her to history. She could be vicious, conniving and merciless, but she did not know if she would be happy doing so; once she had not cared for happiness, but once she had tasted it, truly tasted it, she did not want to lose it. She had deprived herself of some by forcing Sokka away, in exchange for some pittance of relief, to stave away her fears; the same fears that powered her firebending. That might have seemed illogical to the old Azula, but the new Azula did not care for such thoughts; she needed to fight, but she knew there had to be a better, stronger way to wield her flames.

"Zula... are you sad?" she heard Ty Lee address her, the Princess's eyes widening at the suggestion.

"Sorry, what?" she looked at her with utter confusion; she certainly didn't think she was sad- she felt guilt, but that was a very different emotion for her, even if it looked similar outwardly.

"Sad." she repeated herself, "Like, are you down in the dumps?" she asked Azula, who just shrugged her shoulders, not really having a good response to such a question.

"I'm not." she refuted her claim, which even if it were a question, she was still clearly assuming that the Princess was saddened by their situation.

"Really? Because I know when you're not happy."

"Why should I be happy? We've been walking all afternoon and my legs are so sore I feel like I've been beaten up by the Dai Li all over again." she groaned, not remembering that experience very fondly; even if she had won the fight against Long Feng and captured him, she had been hurt from the battle, and it took her a few days to fully recover, even if her movement wasn't inhibited.

"Okay, you have a point." the acrobat conceded, before she narrowed her eyes at her, "But I mean, that bright aura you had isn't so bright anymore."

"Well, I don't think it will be until we get to this base and sort out my former subordinates." she explained, Ty Lee sighing, before she glanced backward, eyeing the guards who were trailing behind them, all idly chatting amongst themselves.

Azula observed that they talked a lot more now, given that most of the formality that had been in place while she had been Crown Princess had been dispensed with. Of course, it would return as soon as they got to Zhao, but that would take them a few days of walking, which she was certain she would not enjoy.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Sokka." Ty Lee apologised for what had to be the tenth time that day; she kept on doing it because Azula was still in a crappy mood because of it.

It wasn't her fault, the Princess had brought it upon herself by pulling Sokka into a sense of security and shattering it all at once, all for her own selfish desires.

"That wasn't on you." she stressed, "I made a decision, and I have to stand by it." she told her, acknowledging the fact of the matter; even if she did stand by her decision that did not mean she didn't feel guilt over it.

What they had shared together in that tent was necessary, at least in her own eyes; she needed to assure him, through something more powerful than words, that she cared. She knew he wouldn't understand, or more so, agree with her plan to leave him behind, so she had to improvise; in hindsight, she regretted it, and wished that she could have just talked it out with him to begin with. He wanted to feel loved, and she had used that to her advantage, to satisfy her own desire for that same feeling.

"I mean, it was a tough decision. If you hadn't recruited me, you probably would have just taken Sokka along with you, right?"

She sighed, realising that her friend did have a point; only with the added assurance of having Ty Lee by her side could she comfortably split away from Sokka. Though she trusted her guards, she did not have the same kind of personal trust with them; their loyalty had been given rather than earned, though she might say that she did eventually earn said respect through her actions over the course of their last few months together.

"You're right, but that doesn't change the situation. I wanted to keep him safe, away from Zhao, and now he is." she concluded, before glancing ahead, looking up toward the hill they had to cross, "This journey is necessary, and it is better that he remains with his sister and Aang. They need him just as much as I do."

"Not in the same way, though." Ty Lee conceded, "You love him, Zula, I know you do. I think you did the right thing, and I think Sokka will understand too. He didn't seem that angry back when we left."

"I don't think he saw much use in it. There was no way to physically stop me from leaving, or to force himself to join us." she admitted; she'd shattered his hope, and that was what made her feel more guilty- she didn't just refuse him, she removed his chance to have a choice in the matter.

"So you feel bad for forcing him away?" Ty Lee guessed, the Princess narrowing her eyes.

"It was something I had to do, but I didn't want to." she admitted honestly, "That is the case with a lot of the things you have to do in life. It just happened to be that another person was involved in this thing."

"Not just any person, the love of your life." she proclaimed, the Princess rolling her eyes at her exaggerated framing of the matter.

"I wouldn't go that far."

"But he is. You love him." she argued in return, making Azula take a deep breath; she didn't want to flat out admit it to her, but without doing so, she couldn't tell her friend the truth.

"Even if I do, there's other people, things that I love. He's not the centre of the universe, even if he'd like to think he is."

"So, you love me?"

"I-" she began, before cutting herself off, unsure how to phrase it a way that wasn't corny or awkward, "I do. You're my best friend. I trust you. I'd trust you with anything, and above anyone, even Sokka." she told her the blunt, honest truth, and it made her friend gasp.

"That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me!" she exclaimed, reaching in and hugging her, "I can't believe you said that!"

"Yeah, me too." she rolled her eyes, not feeling very happy that she did; she didn't want to seem all lovey-dovey and caring.

She might care, but she didn't want her friend to think of her like that; she was dutiful, honourable and righteous in what she did, and she took that approach to her relationships as well. She just hoped that Sokka saw that she was trying to do the right thing- the honourable thing, and not because of some absurd thing like her not loving him. She loved him, and she just hoped that he knew that; she was pretty sure he did, by the way he looked at her, but Azula, despite what she once claimed, was not really a people person. Being a good liar and listener didn't give her all the wisdom in the world; it just meant that people were slow to trust her and thought her to be arrogant. Perhaps she was arrogant, but she didn't think her ego was based in some false sense of superiority, like Zhao, who she knew to be one of the most cocky and vain people. He thought that fate was on his side, when Azula on the other hand, understood the brutal truth; the world didn't care if you lived or died, and she had to fight to survive, just like any other person. Luck may have come her way at some points, but just as often she had been shoved into the mud- sometimes literally.

"Fate didn't lead us here Ty Lee." she narrowed her eyes, "I did. I am in control of my own destiny, now more than ever."

Her friend's eyes widened, and she became noticeably more nervous, "This isn't just about Sokka, is it?"

"As much as he'd like to think he's the centre of the universe, he's not." she smirked, making her friend giggle, before she straightened her expression, seemingly by force; she knew as well as her what was coming- maybe not tomorrow, or the day after that, but eventually, Azula would have to face down her brother again, "I will be the Fire Lord. That is the only eventuality that will bring me the peace I desire."

"For yourself... or for the world?"

"Both, actually." she raised a brow, realising that there was a poetic parallel between her own circumstances and that of the world; it had been thrown into chaos by Zuko and her uncle, just as her own life had been, even if it wasn't their choice to sink her Royal Barge back in the Eastern Sea, "I want to have the life I deserve, the one I earned by serving my nation... the one I will earn by pacifying the Earth Kingdom and bringing balance to the four nations."

"I want that for you too." she made a small smile, before she looked away, "But, have you ever thought about it."

"About being-" she began, before her friend raised a hand to cut her off; that was rather forward of her, but she understood as soon as she faced her again- the fear in her eyes, it wasn't for herself, or for Azula- it was for somebody else.

"What about Mai? And Zuko too." she dared to utter his name, the Princess tensing up at the mention, but keeping a straight face, still wanting to hear what Ty Lee had to say, "They don't deserve to suffer just because your Dad was a... well, he was a dick."

"Is a dick." she clarified, "He's still alive in prison... and I don't think that lowly of him, even if he's in my way." she admitted, before turning her eyes away, not wanting to go any further; Zuko had nearly killed her, and she was not willing to forgive that, even if he forfeited the throne to her upon coming to his senses and realising she was the far more competent of the two.

"Zuko doesn't deserve to... die. Or whatever you intend for him... I know it can't be very nice."

"I intended to exile him, actually. Keep him away, just as father had. Of course, I'd let him live in the Fire Nation... I'm not that cruel." she explained her ideas on the matter, knowing that she couldn't have him just sitting around in the palace.

"What about Mai? Would you force her to go with him?"

"She's not a prisoner, and she won't be one when I'm the Fire Lord. She doesn't deserve to be punished for his actions." she admitted, "If she so desired, she could join him. They are getting married, after all."

"I can't believe it." her friend's jaw dropped, being reminded of that specific fact, "Maybe you'll have a niece or nephew soon enough." she guessed, making Azula grimace.

"The thought of being an aunt disturbs me." she admitted honestly, "I have no idea how to deal with children."

"Well, you wouldn't be dealing with them. It'd be their kid." Ty Lee acknowledged, before furrowing a brow, "Are you going to have kids?"

"It hasn't crossed my mind, honestly." she told her the blunt truth; she loved Sokka, but she hadn't begun to think of actually starting a family- she couldn't trust herself with children anyway, for reasons she didn't want to have to explain to either her friend or Sokka, "That's in far future for me, if ever."

Ty Lee pouted slightly, before she sighed, "But... Zula, are they going to be safe?"

"Mai and my brother?" she asked, the acrobat giving her a curt nod, "Probably not. There's some people looking to have my brother overthrown and killed. Now, I honestly believe if he can beat me in a duel he can stop any assassins that come his way."

Her friend's eyes shimmered, and she looked down, putting her hands together, "That's... kinda reassuring." she admitted, "But they're not really that safe."

"Plus he's got Uncle, who despite being an old fatty, is definitely the most skilled firebender alive; if Zuko learned all those damn techniques he used against me from him, nobody will ever stand a chance against Iroh." she added, before turning to face her, "I wouldn't worry about them. If somebody that's not my father can kill them, I'd be very concerned about that person taking over the Fire Nation."

"Oh." she mumbled, "That wouldn't be good."

"Precisely." she agreed with her, before turning her eyes ahead, "Is that all you had to ask me about?"

"Uh, yeah." she nodded, "I don't want to worry about Mai... but I can't help it. If Zuko's soldiers are willing to shoot flaming boulders right at you, I'm pretty sure whoever's loyal to your father is willing to do much worse to both of them."

"If you're so worried about her, why don't you go and kidnap her away from Zuko. That would quite easily solve the problem." she offhandedly suggested, thinking that would be an effective way to remove the target of their friend's head.

"Ahaha, very funny, Azula." she sarcastically quipped, which made her wince; that was the kind of response she'd expect from her boyfriend, and thinking of him made her feelings of disdain for Zuko be replaced with those of guilt for leaving Sokka how she had, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." she assured her, "I just don't want to do anything like that."

The Princess made an exasperated sigh, "I know." she simply told her, before turning her eyes up ahead, "I think I need to go speak with the Captain about our travel arrangements." she fabricated an excuse, knowing that she ought to give herself some time to think about what Ty Lee and her had discussed.

"Of course, Zula." she nodded, "I'll just stay here. I need some time to... uh- clear my head."

"I understand that feeling." she agreed, making a small smile, able to see that her friend understood her own unease, which pleased her.

She wasn't pleased, however, by all the thoughts she was having; they made her feel like she had no control, because that was the fact of the matter. She couldn't really choose to love or hate, she just did. Her guilt for Sokka and her hatred toward her brother were two sides of the same coin, in a way; they were both intense feelings, based on her own actions- her failures. She did not hate Zuko for killing their father, because he never did such a thing, but rather because he had dared to stop her, to make a fool of her and make her feel like the weak one. Sokka made her feel weak, but in a completely different way; in a way that made her feel good, and at home, even if she would never dare to say it out loud. She increased the pace of her strides, walking past a number of her guards, who all stepped out of her way, cautiously, as any loyal guard would; they did not want to earn her ire, and she did not want to be angry at them either- that was a waste of energy, energy that could be better spent doing things that actually led to a positive outcome. When she approached the Captain, or as everyone liked to call him now, Renshu, she made an effort to straighten her expression, and act like the Princess she wanted to be.

"Captain, I'd like to have a little chat." she spoke as casually as she could, not wanting to make him worry that she actually was going to chide him or something, "About our travel plans, that is."

He blinked a few times before smiling, giving her an affirmative that he was ready to discuss such matters, "Of course, your highness. What are your concerns?"

"I know that we will be walking for the next few days, but unlike yourself, I am unfamiliar with the terrain and the local threats. Could you give me a run down of exactly what is around this area?"

"Earth Kingdom rebels, though most of them stay in the hills, away from any Fire Nation occupied areas." he explained, before narrowing his eyes, "There's also bandits, who unlike their politically motivated brethren, don't have qualms with running into and sacking villages. I haven't encountered any in the past month, but there was a serious raid earlier in the year. We had to defend the village against this ragtag band, and they had some serious numbers."

"So, these bandits are still around?" she asked, the Captain grimacing before giving her an affirmative nod.

"They are. We may encounter them, but I'm sure if we keep our campfires to a minimum and stay on these less travelled paths, we won't have an issue." he conceded, before raising a brow, "Did you want to know about anything else?"

"Villages?" she gestured toward him, "Fuchang has not given me the best impression of Earth Kingdom villages." she added, the Captain grimacing.

"I apologise once more for not making sure you reached the lifeboat back on the Royal Barge, Princess." he bowed down, still feeling guilty over something he really didn't have much control over; the Water Tribe warriors were the ones who sunk their ship, and it was her ego that got her thrown into the water, in the end.

"There's no need, Captain, honestly. That's the past. You aren't responsible for every single thing that happens to me." she assured him, the Captain turning his eyes away.

"I thought that was my role. To protect you. That's what our oaths were- to protect the Royal Family of the Fire Nation, or more specifically, you, your highness." he turned back to face her, the Princess waving her hand.

"Stop fussing yourself over it. Now that's an order." she stressed, before clearing her throat, "Villages?" she repeated her question, the Captain looking as if he was about to face-palm; he'd completely ignored the question.

"My apologises." he conceded his mistake, "There is one village between here and Zhao's base of operations, and his forces don't occupy it, preferring to leave it to its own devices, ostensibly to prevent Earth Kingdom rebels from rousing the populace against him."

"That actually makes sense." her eyes widened, "I can't believe I just complimented him." she turned away, feeling ashamed to actually concede Zhao could come up with a decent strategy- not fucking over the local population worked its charm.

"Oh, it happens to the best of us." he agreed with her, holding back a laugh, "The village is small, but it should be able to resupply us. They're not that hostile to Fire Nation visitors, given their circumstances- they don't want to aggravate Zhao into sacking them."

"A delicate balance." she acknowledged, "That's what I feel we will have with the Earth Kingdom once this is all over."

"You mean the war?"

"Yes. It's going to end, once Aang masters the elements and brings everyone to the table... or demolishes them into the ground with the Avatar State." she admitted, finding it to be quite a possible endgame; the Avatar was the most powerful bender in the world, though this was only certain when they had access to the Avatar State- if Aang needed to fight, she was sure, that with her guidance, he would.

"Demolishing who, exactly?" the Captain asked her with an understandably nervous tone.

"Seeing that the Earth Kingdom doesn't exist at the moment, I'd say either my brother or father's supporters." she acknowledged, narrowing her eyes, remembering her conversation with Ty Lee, "I have a feeling my brother may not be in power for much longer."

"Nobody would seriously consider facing him or the Dragon of the West." Renshu declared, the confidence in his voice not misplaced.

It would be very foolish to face off either of them, even if her brother was only barely comparable to herself- she could fight off a whole unit of firebending soldiers, so she was pretty sure that her brother could do the same, and her uncle, far more.

"You're right." she agreed, "But it's not just about strength. If they intend to do what I believe they will, then the rebels will do whatever it takes to remove him from power. They could not stand for their empire falling all because of my brother's desires for a better world."

"You actually think that's what he wants?" he almost scoffed, "This is the boy who nearly killed you."

"I know he did." she acknowledged, "But even idiots have good intentions... I mean, he wanted to right the wrongs of our father, and our father's father. But he's foolish. He thinks that just because he can beat the Fire Lord he's the most powerful man in the world." she smugly declared, knowing it to be true; if she'd been in his situation, she might have thought the same of herself, "He stood before me in Yu Dao, and defeated the most prodigious firebender in a generation, but that was because of my own ignorance, not because of his strength. Sooner or later, his arrogance will come and bite him back, just as Zhao's will."

"Well, it's not really Zhao's arrogance coming for him. It's you." he corrected her, the Princess chuckling, agreeing with him fully; it was her that would be the weapon of fate against the Admiral, if she dared to call herself that.

He had endangered her life, and the life of the people of Yu Dao, all for his own desires for revenge; Azula wanted revenge against her brother, as badly, if not more so than the Admiral, but unlike him, she wouldn't sacrifice others to achieve it, at least not to such a stupidly violent and pointless degree. The Crown Princess of the Fire Nation wanted her throne, not to see the land strewn with dead citizens fighting each other all in the name of whomever they thought to be the one true Fire Lord.

"That's true, Captain." she declared with a smirk, cocking her chin up, "There is no greater price than one's dignity and pride, and I intend to take that from Zhao in its entirety, even more than my brother did when he scarred him."

"That's something to look forward to after all this time." the Captain made an appreciative smile, "And somebody had to put the bastard in his place eventually. I'm just glad it's you."

"Well, I'm setting the trap." she corrected him, "For all we know, Sokka might come around and give him a good beating just for sport."

"That sounds like something the savage would do." he conceded, "He really doesn't like arrogant, powerful men."

"That's why I'm glad he never met my father." she noted, turning her eyes away, "That potential meeting would have gone very... very badly."

"Well, speaking of them, I never found out what happened to Long Feng."

"Perhaps my brother took him into custody." she raised a finger to her chin, "Did Zhao take my ship?"

"Uh, I believe so, your highness." he nodded, the Peincess narrowing her eyes with frustration.

"I just hope he didn't let the bastard escape. I have a feeling that slithery earthbender will come for us soon enough."

"I don't mean to be forward, but I don't think Zhao's that stupid, your highness." he admitted, with a surprising amount of caution; he obviously didn't think complimenting the Admiral was a good idea, and she agreed- he didn't deserve their praise.

"He must be stupid if he's squandered all his power. The very fact he didn't even win at Yu Dao proves that he's as useful a burning ship."

"Good to send at the enemy, and don't expect him to come back?" he asked, trying to hold back a laugh, the Princess raising her chin up.

"That is what he is." she confirmed, before turning her eyes back toward Ty Lee, "Well then, I believe that we have an understanding. We'll be travelling till sundown, correct?"

"We could continue afterwards, but it would be dangerous to deprive the men of sleep. A tired firebender is no use in a battle, much less than a dazed one who just got forced out of bed." he admitted, the Princess nodding along.

"I agree." she smirked, remembering how she had actually dealt with the battling fleets quite well, despite having just woken up, "I'll return back to the centre, but if anything comes up, don't refrain to send out a fireball to scare the men. That'll keep them in line and make sure they're ready to fight."

"Of course, your highness." he bowed to her in respect, before she turned her heels, heading back toward her friend, knowing that she might want to clear things up with her.

Striding down toward Ty Lee, she noticed that she was idly chatting with one of the guards, though her expression brightened as she saw Azula approach; she had to be one of the only people who was always happy to see her- there was almost no exception to such a claim, even back when Azula had been a far less considerate friend. She constantly reminded her of what she was once like, which made Azula cringe at the thought of what she used to think, of both herself and the world. She had been ignorant at best, and viciously apathetic at the worst; of course, that was mostly due to her father's teachings and not because she actually came to said conclusions about the world herself. She hadn't ever had the opportunity to consider things, and once she had, her worldview unravelled itself like a poorly sewn parka. That brought her mind to the rather sweet memory of Kanna complimenting her sewing skills, much to the ire of Katara; that memory was enough to stave off her thoughts about her own flaws, knowing that at the very least, she was good at a few things.

"Hi, Zula. Did your talk with the Captain go well?" she asked, the Princess giving her friend an affirmative nod.

"It did." she confirmed, not a lie, much to her relief, "We will be fine, I believe. If bandits come at us in the middle of night, I will at the very least be mentally prepared." she conceded, making her friend grimace.

"Bandits?" she asked, turning her eyes around to the woods that surrounded the path they were taking, "Are we really going to run into them?"

"If we're cautious. Limit things like campfires to give off our location, we should be fine."

"Well, that's good to hear." she smiled at her, "Did you think about the whole... situation?"

"Yes." she admitted, before turning around, making her way now alongside her friend as they began to walk along behind the other guards, "I do hate my brother, but I understand his actions. I assure you, I will try not to harm either him or Mai, but believe me when I say, he will put up a fight.

"That's Zuko's whole thing, isn't it?"

"Struggling until he can't struggle any longer or win." she spoke what her friend must have thought, "My brother doesn't know when to reanalyse the situation."

"You did, though." Ty Lee observed, "You decided to do this, and made sure to do it without the danger of getting Sokka in trouble."

"Yes." she agreed with her, "We need to do this carefully. I can trust you to remain quiet when necessary." she acknowledged, Ty Lee imitating the motion of tying a bandana around her mouth, before she silently nodded, "As long as Zhao trusts us, we should be fine."

"And what if he's smarter than we think."

"There's one thing I can rely on. Him underestimating his opponents." she admitted, knowing herself to never fall to such a mistake again, after what Zuko had done to her, "He thinks I'm merely a Princess with a guard, but he lacks one thing I do have."

"A claim to the throne?" she asked her, forcing Azula to hold back a laugh.

"Well, yes, that." she nodded, before raising a finger, "The thing he really doesn't have is much wit or charisma. He can kiss others feet, but he treats his underlings like dirt. If I show them the respect they ought to be receiving, as well as showing them my own plans, which are probably more reasonable than his own, they will step to my side when push comes to shove."

"You really think they'll trust you that much? No offence, Azula, but you were kinda dead for a few months." she admitted, the Princess wincing momentarily, knowing that her friend had a point; then she remembered the graffiti she'd witnessed in the town when she'd been investigating with Aang- it showed her that she was more than just a Princess.

"That's even better. I'm just like Aang. A symbol for people to get behind, one that they thought was gone, but now returned."

"Wow, the Fire Nation's really lucky. You were only gone for eight months and not a hundred years."