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)

20. Chapter 20

Aang was sure his bandana was covering his arrow, so he didn't worry as he and Katara strode down the street, in their Fire Nation disguises, pretending like they were just ordinary Fire Nation youths. The town they were in was one they had visited a few weeks prior while searching for Azula's supporters, located on the edge of the Fire Nation colonies; the place seemed rather peaceful, and the streets were bustling with commerce, so he felt a little less nervous than he might have if he was walking down eerily empty streets. They had been flying for three days straight, only stopping to sleep, so Aang thought that taking a small break to go down into the town wouldn't hurt. They didn't have much money, so he was sure they wouldn't be buying much, if anything.

He knew taking a break might improve Katara's mood, given she'd gotten rather dour after all their flying; her expression suggested her mood was already lifted, which was a surprise, given they were in a colonial town. He knew how much she mistrusted and disliked the Fire Nation, but it seemed that perhaps that bias had faded somewhat after all the time they'd spent with Azula and Ty Lee, the former being as Fire Nation as they came. A firebender and not afraid to speak her mind, tough and willing to do what she believed in; in a few ways, she reminded him of his friend Kuzon, who he didn't know the fate of, which was a thing he was starting to notice about everyone he used to know. Other than the Air Nomads, and Bumi, he didn't know what had happened to any of his friends from his old life. He didn't want to dwell on it, knowing that he had good memories, and didn't want to tarnish them with fears that the Fire Nation might have ruined them.

He didn't want to focus on those thoughts, and instead turned his gaze back over to the Water Tribe girl, "Did you want to get some food? You know, a treat?"

"A treat for what? Sitting on Appa all day?" she asked him, not sounding convinced that she was deserving of anything for that.

"I mean, you're keeping me company. It would have been kinda boring for it to just be me, Appa and Momo." he argued, the Water Tribe girl chuckling.

"I guess it would've been. What do you want to get?" she asked, the young Air Nomad scrunching his lips up.

"I don't know. Maybe some pastries. I like pastries." he gave an idea, the Water Tribe girl nodding.

"Well, I think you're more versed when it comes to food than I am, so I'll let you choose." she decided, glancing around the street, cautiously eyeing the civilians that walked by them, "Do you think we look right?"

"We're fine, Katara." he assured her, "They worked last time, they'll work this time."

"Maybe they know that you have hair." she whispered, the young Avatar cringing slightly.

"Maybe I look really normal? Like don't I just look like any random kid?" he asked her, the Water Tribe girl shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, you don't look like what you used to." she noted, before smiling, "You know, hair suits you, Aang."

He self-consciously touched his scalp, "Wait, really? I thought it was getting messy."

"A little scruffy, but that's not too bad." she noted, before narrowing her eyes, "I don't think I could stomach changing my hair."

"Didn't Az-" he began, before stopping himself; mentioning the name of the Princess in public wouldn't be a very good idea- unlike himself, he was sure that many people knew her by her name, and not by her title, even if they associated the two together, "Didn't our friend get her hair cut by Sokka."

"Yeah." Katara nodded, "It looked a little weird, honestly. It was a lot shorter than what it is now." she noted, "I don't think she'd ever had short hair."

"What about Sokka? Has he had different hair?"

"He used to shave the sides of his head, but then he started doing his hair so he looked like Dad." she explained, Aang's eyes widening with surprise; he thought it was a little funny how Sokka's hairstyle looked very similar to Hakoda's, though it made a lot of sense, given he obviously looked up to his father, just as he had to Gyatso, "Oh, and he had a beard when he and Azula showed up at the South Pole."

"Wait, a beard?" his eyes widened, "So, like a big bushy one?"

"Not very bushy, that's probably why he cut it off." she clarified, before glancing up the street, "Where do you think they'd sell pastries?"

Aang furrowed a brow, "At a shop or the market. The market has to be down this way." he concluded, knowing that the street was leading them into the centre of the town, which he could clearly see from the edge of the town when they had landed on Appa; they'd hidden him in a nearby grove, and hopefully, nobody would come and bother him- if his sky-bison got into a fight with some firebenders, he would be seriously worried for his safety, "We better be quick. Things might go badly if somebody finds Appa."

Katara's eyes widened with surprise, obviously not having considered that possibility yet, "That wouldn't be good." she agreed, before glancing ahead, "Let's just be quick to find those pastries then."

The pair continued on down the street, forced to weave around to avoid walking into other pedestrians, but he could clearly see where they were going; the street was straight, and was leading them right into the middle of the town. He glanced around the street, not seeing any stalls yet, guessing that they were all situated in the centre of town; he remembered the town only vaguely, as they had only stopped for an afternoon to check around for information before flying off again on Appa. He was sure there was a market in the centre of town, like the other colonial towns he'd visited so far.

"What kind of pastry do you want?" Katara asked him, making him raise a brow; he didn't really know what kind of flavour they'd have- he assumed fruit and spices would be inside, but he hadn't had them in a while.

"I don't know. I think I'll just ask what's good." he suggested, the Water Tribe girl nodding.

"I'd like something sweet." she simply decided, glancing up the street, "I don't really like spicy food."

He raised a finger to his lips, hushing her, "Don't say that out loud. They'll know that you're Water Tribe then."

"I'm sure some people mustn't like spicy food." she argued in return, "It'd be a bit weird if everyone in the country had the same taste in food."

"I mean..." he raised a finger, before dropping his hand, not finding a good argument against that, "Well, you're right."

"There it is." she pointed ahead, where he could see the canvas of the market stalls, "The market."

The pair continued their way toward the market, and with it the massing of pedestrians that were walking through it; that slowed down their pace considerably, but quickly enough, they were walking past market stalls, Aang eagerly looking around for the kind of stall that would sell the food he wanted. He couldn't see any stalls that were selling pastries specifically, but could make out a few street food vendors; he was sure there'd be one, but he would have to look around a little longer to find them. When he looked toward Katara, he noticed her grimace; she straightened her face as soon as she realised he was looking at him, but that only made him feel guilty.

"Are you worried about all the people?" he asked her, and she looked away.

"I don't want us getting found out, Aang." she simply told him, quietly enough that the other market goers couldn't hear her.

He nodded, before gesturing down to their right, past a large fountain which sat in the centre of the market, "Let's go around. If we can't find anything, we can just go back to Appa." he assured her, the Water Tribe girl nodding.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." she agreed to his proposition; he knew that she didn't want to be stuck on Appa's saddle all day, but neither did she want to put them in needless danger.

Aang didn't want to put them in danger either, and he learned well after Kyoshi Island that keeping his identity secret was for the greater good. People knew he was still around, and he would be their symbol of hope, if need be, but that didn't mean that he was going to walk around the Fire Nation colonies spouting about how he could help the Fire Nation achieve peace. He'd just be riling up all the wrong kinds of people; the kind of people who supported Azula's father, specifically.

They strode on down through the market, and as he was walking along, he noted a few kids bickering in front of them, making some fuss that he didn't understand the context of; he and Katara tried to walk around them, but suddenly, he found himself nearly tripped over by a boy rushing past him. The young Air Nomad reoriented himself, just short of falling flat on his bottom, and rolled his eyes, only to realise that the boy had reached into his pocket; Aang turned around, and noticed that he had stolen his bison whistle, obviously not realising what it was.

Before he could even try and demand it back, his friend stepped forward, raising a hand up toward the boy, "I'd drop that if I was you." she warned him, the young Avatar cringing; he didn't want to get into a fight.

"This is just a whistle." the boy observed, before throwing it back to them, "Can't even snatch useful things." he dejectedly acknowledged as the Water Tribe girl grasped the whistle with her right hand, before handing it back to Aang.

"Maybe don't steal off of other kids." Aang suggested, before another kid ran past them; they didn't even get a chance to try something as he was tripped over by Katara swiftly moving a leg out, his face smacking right into the stone tiles of the street.

Aang cringed at his groan of pain, but his friend seemed a whole lot less phased by what she had done, "Seriously." Katara growled with frustration, gesturing down the street, telling the two boys to get lost, "Go annoy somebody else."8

The boy who had taken the whistle looked at her with awe, "Wow, you're cool." he noted with an impressed voice, making her smirk slightly, before she turned her heels.

"Let's go, Aang." she grasped the young Air Nomad by the shoulder, and with that, they were off again, heading through the market.

It didn't take long for him to notice a stall selling pastries, which he could see a kid eating nearby; they looked good, and he dragged his friend toward it. Her expression shifted to one of interest as she too noted their appearance, and the fresh, sweet smell they gave off. There was a small line at the stall, which was a little annoying, but he knew it wouldn't last too long.

"At least we found it." he noted, before glancing behind him, having noticed something odd in the corner of his eye; he could see a few town guards, who just looked like ordinary Fire Nation soldiers, though they somehow seemed a little less scary, though that probably had to with the lack of armour.

They were on patrol, from what he could tell, and walked right past them, Aang tensing up, trying to act like nothing was wrong with him being there. They didn't seem to look his way, but they were looking for something, it seemed; Katara grasped his hand, obviously nervous as well, and she audibly sighed with relief when they continued on through the market.

She left go of his hand, and murmured under her breath, "Maybe this is too dangerous."

"Nobody's noticed us." he assured her, "We're fine, Katara."

"It's just us." she added, glancing back around the street, "I'm better at bending than I used to be, but I can't fight... a whole town guard."

"That's not going to happen." he argued, before smiling, glancing over toward the stall, noting somebody was moving out of line, getting them closer to his goal, "We're just going to get some pastries and go back to Appa."

"They smell good." she conceded, "When was the last time you had one of these?"

"I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure Gyatso and I had some. The monks always made good ones." he explained with a smile, hoping that one day, he might be able to make pastries as they had in the temple, so he could enjoy that food again; he was sure, given his knowledge, he could probably do it, but he didn't have the time or the means at present to do so.

"Well, I guess it's nice to have something like that again." he noted, before chuckling, "I miss my Gran-Gran's cooking." she admitted, "Back at the North Pole, that was similar, but it just didn't have that same feeling."

"Huh, I see what you mean." he nodded, understanding her sentiment of missing the cooking she was used to.

He felt a little guilty, not really knowing how long they'd be spending together; he hadn't really considered how long she might be stuck away from the village she had lived in her entire life. the Water Tribe girl mightn't return to her home for some time, and he knew that wouldn't be very fair- unlike Sokka, who would probably just go wherever Azula did, Katara obviously missed the place she had come from, and would want to go back as soon as she could. At times, he wanted to go back to the Southern Air Temple, but he knew that it wasn't going to be the same as he remembered it. Maybe one day, there could be some semblance of normalcy; new Air Nomads, however they might arise, to fill the empty halls of his home.

"You must really miss your... everything." she acknowledged, grimacing slightly, obviously understanding the pain and sadness he felt over what happened to his people.

"I- yeah, I do." he nodded, before smiling, "But I've got new things to look forward to."

"What, having some blind earthbender beat your butt every day?" she asked him, making him snicker, knowing that from what he already knew of Toph's temperament, it was more than likely she'd do that to train him in his earthbending.

"I mean, she's probably going to do it." he conceded, "But, I know she'll be a good master."

"I don't know, Aang. Can you handle it?" she asked, raising a finger to her chin; her smug expression suggested that she thought he might wuss out of Toph's training, whatever it ended up being.

"I can handle it. I could handle Pakku, I can handle her." he argued, raising a fist to stress the point, before he glanced over, noting that the person at the stall was watching them; obviously with no context to their conversation, she seemed rather confused by their words, and made a cringed smile.

"Uh, did you want to buy some pastries?" she asked them, the pair nodding before they stepped closer.

"Yes, yes we do." he assured her, before glancing around at the pastries, "What flavours do you have?"

"Uh, well, I have apple, wildberry, cinnamon apple, spiced nuts and plain nuts." she explained, Aang glancing over toward Katara, who scrunched her lips up in thought.

"Uh, wildberry, I'd say." she decided, turning to face Aang, who had already decided.

"Cinnamon apple." he simply stated his choice, the woman smiling at them both.

"Just one pastry each?" she asked, the young Avatar glancing down, and saw that they were rather big, about the size of his two closed fists.

"Uh, yeah, one." he agreed to that proposition, also noting the money problem.

They really didn't have much, and Azula didn't have much to give to them other than what she could scrap together from around Zhao's office, seeing that he couldn't object to her taking it; it still wasn't much, only a few gold and silver coins, and he was in no mindset to be spending it all.

"That's eight copper pieces." she explained, the Water Tribe girl taking the requested money out of her pocket, and handing them to the woman, who smiled, before placing each of their pastries in paper bags, which she handed to them.

The pair glanced toward each other, and nodded, glad that they'd gotten what they wanted; the Water Tribe girl glanced up through the market, and furrowed a brow, "Maybe we should avoid the kids who tried to steal from us before." she suggested, the young Avatar nodding.

"Sounds like a good-" he began to explain, before he heard a loud bang, glancing toward where he heard it, looking at what seemed to be the town hall; suddenly a bright flash of light came out from the windows of the building, before they were shattered, soon to be followed by a powerful blast of shattered glass and smoke.

Aang dropped down at once, and being unprepared to bend the blast away, he was thrown down to the ground, curling up to try and keep his extremities safe from the explosion. He blinked a few times, and noticed that his ears were ringing, and though his side hurt from being tossed to the ground, he wasn't injured, from what it seemed. He glanced around and noticed that his eyes hurt, though he put that down to the smoke and dust in the air; he could see heavy smoke billowing out of the building that had exploded, and noticed debris had been flung out everywhere. Worse was that he saw Katara splayed on the ground, seemingly unconscious; his eyes widened with fear, and he noticed that there were many people on the ground and injured, not to mention the numerous stalls that had been blasted over and apart by the explosion.

"Katara!" he cried out her name, grasping her by the shoulder and shaking her; turning her head around, he noticed that there was a gash on it, and though it didn't seem too bad, there was blood coming out, and she groaned with pain, her eyes seemingly forced shut.

He wondered if he could try and heal her with waterbending, but he didn't know if he could do it; he'd never tried it, and he didn't want to do it in public. He could hear screams of fear around him, and panicked people racing about, some dazed and others outright running for their lives, probably fearing another explosion might occur. He had no idea what had happened, or why it had happened; all Aang could do was try and help his friend, so he grasped her underneath her arms, and pulled her up, hoping to get away from the building.

"Urgh, my head." she groaned with pain, the young Avatar cringing, hoping only to get her away; she moved a little, but her motions were slow and clumsy.

She reached out to her right, and he noticed that she had dropped her pastry bag; he found it a little funny that she was reaching for that, given the circumstances, but he did not laugh. Instead, he reached over and picked it up himself, before slinging his arm over her shoulder, helping her up, hoping that if they could get over to the fountain in the centre of the town square, he could try to inconspicuously heal her with the water there.

"Aang." she softly murmured his name, "Wh-what... what is going on?"

"Something exploded." he told her bluntly; that was all he knew, and glancing back to the smouldering town hall, he could only think the worst- maybe somebody had attacked it, which meant they might be in serious danger.

He continued to help her along toward the fountain, forced to move past the people who were approaching the town hall, presumably to help those others who were injured by the explosion; he could hear cries of pain, and he didn't want to look back. He wanted to help those caught up in the blast, but he couldn't do anything until he helped Katara. She was his friend, and at that very moment, helping her was what mattered.

"Urgh..." the Water Tribe girl groaned, raising her left hand to her bleeding forehead, "Blood." she mumbled, "I need to heal myself." she deduced, the young Avatar nodding.

"We're getting to the fountain, don't worry." he assured her, glancing ahead, where he noticed some town guards, armed or with their hands ready to firebend, rushing toward them; they made their way past, heading toward the town hall, and Aang grimaced, unsure what they were about to run into.

Suddenly, the ground shook underneath them, and he tightened his grip on Katara's shoulder, making sure she didn't stumble over; her eyes widened with fear, glancing backward, Aang doing the same as he looked over to the town hall, noticing that pillars of dirt and stone tiles had been thrust out of the street, striking the guards that just came past them.

"E-Earthbenders." she gasped, "It's earthbenders."

The young Avatar's eyes widened realising that she was right; earthbenders were fighting the guards, which meant he could only come to one conclusion- rebels had set off the explosion. He continued to help Katara along, moving as fast as he could with her shaky steps toward the fountain, noting the fearful looks on the faces of the commoners around them. He glanced back, and noticed that the guards were being forced away from the town hall, and toward the market; his heart was beating in his chest like a drum. He didn't want to activate the Avatar State of all things, knowing that with so many people around, it could only go terribly, even if it did stop the fighting; he took a long, deep breath as he helped his friend sit down by the edge of the fountain pool.

"Water." she murmured, before reaching her hand into the pool; Aang dropped the bags of pastries down and reached in himself.

"Let me do it. I can figure it out, Katara." he assured her, taking a small blob of water into his palm, which was covered from view by clenching his fingers over it, before placing his palm over her forehead.

Spreading the water out a bit, he was able to begin moving it around, and after taking a few breaths, he noticed that the water under his hand was glowing slightly; he assumed that meant it was working, given that was what had happened when Katara healed Pakku. The Water Tribe girl blinked a few times, and glanced back toward the town hall.

"We've gotta get out of here, Aang." she told him, "This is too dangerous."

"But what about all the injured people, we should at least try and help them. They didn't deserve this." he told her, the Water Tribe girl cringing, before she nodded, agreeing with his point.

Aang retracted his hand away, noting that the gash had closed and the blood had stopped leaking out; here was still a mark, but he was sure that the healing had worked, at least enough that his friend wasn't completely out of it. She pulled herself up, grasping the edge of the fountain, making a small smile.

"Thanks, Aang." she simply told him, before reaching over into the fountain, pulling some water up to her palm, so she too could heal people who were injured.

He was about to move to help some people; when suddenly the ground shook again, and some pillars shot out of the ground ahead of them. His eyes widened as he saw the pillars get broken up by firebending, but a few boulders flew out past the guards, one of them heading right toward him. Not knowing what else to do, he drew out the water he had already had in his hand, making it into a thin, dish-like shape, before flinging it forward, slicing the boulder in two before it could reach him or Katara. The Water Tribe girl looked at him with surprise, impressed by his waterbending; it was more a reflexive reaction than indicative of any great skill- she was definitely the more capable waterbender of the pair.

"That's a waterbender!" he heard one of the civilians call out, pointing at Aang accusingly, his eyes widening.

He didn't know what to do but try and justify himself, "I'm going to heal and help those people. Is there something wrong with that?" he asked the people who were looking at him, clearly worried for their own safety.

They looked at him nervously, and Aang wondered whether he could do anything to dissuade them from reacting with force; the Fire Nation didn't like other nations, he already knew that, and he knew that they might react poorly, even if they didn't know he was the Avatar. Surprisingly enough, they didn't try to do anything, just stepping back, letting the pair walk back over toward the injured civilians who were clearly in danger from all the fighting that was going on between the firebenders and earthbenders.

Aang immediately rushed towards a few injured civilians, with his water in hand; he wasn't trained in healing, but he knew he had the capability of doing it, like any waterbender, so he tried to do what he could. They were apprehensive to see waterbending, but when he knelt down beside an injured woman and placed his hand over the gash on her arm, her expression shifted to one of surprise; she had obviously never heard about the healing capabilities of waterbending. Aang wouldn't blame them, given he didn't know of it himself until he came to the North Pole; he put that down to not having gone to either the North or South Poles before he was frozen, and he assumed no Fire Nation people were going to understand the breadth of waterbending either. She turned to face the other injured civilians, and gave a reassuring smile.

"It actually helps." she acknowledged, before turning to face him, "Thank you." she simply nodded at the young Avatar, who shook his head.

"Don't thank me. It's the least I can do." he assured her; even if they didn't know he was the Avatar, he wasn't going to just ignore his duties- he was meant to help people, and that was something he already understood, even back when he had run away from the temple.

He turned to face the other civilians, who seemed a little less uneased after the woman's positive response, and a boy offered his hands up, which Aang noted to be covered in cuts; he gestured back, away from the town hall, knowing they ought to get away from the fighting.

"If you can walk, please, get away from the fight." he pleaded with them, and a few of them heeded, though clearly some were too injured to do a thing.

Aang spread the water over the boys hands, and it glowed, making his eyes widen with surprise; a few moments later, the cuts closed up, and he looked at them with surprise, watching as the blood was washed off by the water.

"They're fine." he gasped, the young Air Nomad nodding and gesturing back toward the fountain.

"Get yourself safe." he asked, and his request was heeded; even if he wasn't being seen for who he really was, that didn't mean that people couldn't respect his wishes, even if he was just a kid- he was a kid with abilities that could help protect innocents, and they obviously understood that.

A young man, who was limping, barely able to get off of the ground, pulled himself closer to Aang, who immediately moved to help him; grasping him by the shoulder, he helped the man move behind the remains of a stall, keeping him covered from the flames and dust that came out of the fighting between the firebenders and earthbenders. He could not see who was winning, but he didn't really care; what he wanted to do was make sure the innocents were safe. He noted that Katara was helping others get back, and to their collective luck, they seemed to be heeding her advice and accepting her help, even if they knew she was a waterbender. Some of the civilians were obviously Earth Kingdom, and thus, probably a little less disdainful towards those from the other nations, but most of them weren't; despite that, they could understand a friendly gesture when they saw one. He could only hope the whole Fire Nation could see his intentions as clearly when he and Azula tried to make peace between the nations.

"Spirits this hurts..." the man he had helped to cover groaned, and Aang cringed, immediately moving his water to the man's leg, which was already bruising; he motioned his hand up and down his shin, and the man's eyes widened, surprised by the effect of the water, "That... that actually worked." he gasped, "At least, I think it did." he noted, glancing down to his right leg, which he grasped.

"I sure hope it did." Aang made an awkward smile, before gesturing back toward the fountain, "Get as far away as you can." he told him, the man nodding.

"I will." he assured him, stumbling over toward the other market goers who had already moved as far away as they could, though many were watching intently, obviously worried about what was going on.

"Aang!" Katara cried out, and he immediately turned his gaze over toward her, and saw that two guards had grasped her by her arms.

"Hey!" he pointed at them accusingly, "We're just trying to help!"

"Get the waterbenders!" he heard a guard speak up, the young Avatar grimacing; there was a very easy way to get them off of Katara, but he was afraid to make the move.

He swallowed his fears and grasped the back of his head, taking the knot he had tied around his bandana, and untied it at once, pulling the orange piece of fabric off of his forehead, tying it around his wrist instead.

He flicked his head upward, making sure the guards could see his face; a few moments later, he got the expected reaction as one of the guards pointed his way with a fearful face,

"That's not a waterbender!" he exclaimed, "That's the Avatar!"

"That's right!" he proclaimed, before reaching over to a broken stall.

There was a wooden pole right beside him, which must have originally held up a canvas; he broke it off, and spun it around, holding it in both hands, "Come and get me." he prodded them, before tilting his head toward the fountain, "Please get the pastries. We paid for them." he gave Katara the only advice he could think of on the spot, before spinning his staff around and sending an air blast toward the guards, knocking them right off of their feet.

Katara broke free of their hold, using the momentary distraction Aang provided to her advantage; he continued to spin his staff around, bending the air around him into a funnel, which she sent out right toward the guards who had turned their attention his way, knocking them over. They groaned with pain, and at least for a moment, seemed out of it; he turned to face his friend, who had picked up their bags of pastry, and he pointed to the nearest street that went off in the direction they had came from.

"Get to Appa!" he shouted out, and she heeded his command, running as fast as she could past the civilians, who didn't try to stop her; he turned back around, and readied his staff, knowing that the guards mightn't give up so easily.

"So I assume Zuko doesn't like me much anymore." he casually commented, the guards looking at him with confused faces; he was surprised how much that unnerved them, given that he referred to the Fire Lord with no deference whatsoever- he was just Azula's brother, after all, and not somebody he saw as some unstoppable leader, "That's okay, I did kinda beat up his sailors." he conceded his own fault; he had not made it easy for the Fire Lord to want to cooperate with him when he'd intervened in a fight between his forces and Ozai's, without even picking a specific side.

The guards took firebending forms, and sent a number of fireballs his way; he used his airbending to funnel the flames around him, the closest he'd get to the amazing form he'd seen Azula use at Kyoshi Island; he reminded himself that when he got around to learning firebending, he'd need to know how she did that. He then reached out with his left hand to the fountain, and pulled some water around him, forming a thin stream, which he split up into two water whips; after all, smacking two firebenders at a time was more effective than just one. He was able to hit two of them over, but one of his water whips was broken apart, and he decided to shift the other into a water shield. It held off the fire blasts they sent his way effectively enough, and he then tossed it over to his right, splashing the entrance of the town hall, stopping whatever fires had been smoldering after the explosion. That seemed to surprise the guards, who probably hadn't gotten it through their heads that he really just was trying to help.

Spinning the pole around, he sent a cutting blast of air into the guards, throwing them right off of their feet, before he smirked, "Okay, I'll be going now." he decided, raising his hand to the civilians who looked on with surprised and confused expressions, "I hope you guys are okay." he simply acknowledged, knowing that they were the ones who had suffered at the hands of the seemingly random attack by the hands of some Earth Kingdom rebels.

He actually hadn't seen any of them yet, and he assumed that they might have used the cover of Aang's distraction to withdraw. He wouldn't blame them for doing so, but he truly wished they chose another means of resisting the Fire Nation; it was just a terrible thing to scare and injure civilians when they could try and rally support to push the Fire Nation out, if that's what they truly desired. He raced off in the direction Katara had gone and weaved under a fire stream that was sent his way; it was a lot less impressive that the ones he'd faced as of late, so he had no issue dodging it and sending another air blast back toward the creator of the attack. He immediately dashed on down the street, racing past the civilians who had come around to see what was going on; they were shocked by his presence, and moved out of his way as he sped along as fast as he could; he could see Katara down the street, noting that she was fighting off some more guards. He whistled to her, getting her attention, and she jumped out of the wya, before he conjured a funnel of air with the wooden pole, sending it right down the street; the guards didn't stand a chance, and were blasted right off of their feet, and as soon as he reached her, the pair began to sprint together down the street.

"Good job, Aang." she smiled at him, "You beat up the other guys?" she asked, the young Avatar nodding.

"I did." he assured her, "We better get to Appa quickly."

"And we were just trying to help." she grumbled, clearly disenchanted by the reaction they had received.

"At least the people aren't afraid of us; they're who we've got to persuade to accept peace, not the army." he argued, the Water Tribe girl glancing back toward the men he'd knocked over.

"Yeah, that part's Azula's job."

---

Pulling her hair up, Azula made sure that not a single strand was loose from her topknot, tying it up by the top of her head; she was trying to ignore the fact Sokka was looking at her, but she wouldn't blame him- she was pretty after all, and she was sure it wasn't just her arrogance inner-voice that thought that. She then picked up the headpiece that sat on the table beside her, and put in her hair; it's gold colour that glittered from the light of the candles in front of her, which she could see on the mirror she was eyeing herself through. The Princess put the headpiece in place, and tightened the topknot, keeping it in place, before she turned around to face her boyfriend, who had been standing there with his arms crossed, already dressed and ready to go; he was wearing his own armour, and had a bag slung over his shoulder with the basic supplies he'd need.

Remembering what they were doing made her smirk; perhaps she had always wanted it, to relive a little bit of the adventure where they had fallen for each other. That little bit of romanticism in her mind was squashed by the overwhelming desire she felt to attain her goals; the real reason they were going to travel west was to meet with her supporters, who Kori and Sneers assured her they could lead her to. She would be travelling by komodo rhino with Sokka, Ty Lee and all her guards, out through the wilderness for a number of days, though it was a shorter trip than the one her friends were taking on Appa.

"You look perfect." Sokka assured her, pre-empting any question she might have had about her appearance; she knew that she looked perfect, but having him reassure her made her almost laugh- he just knew what to say.

"Oh, and you look fine. You could have shaved, though."

"What, don't you prefer I look a little more rugged?" he prodded her, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"You look fine the way you are." she argued, the Water Tribesman raising a hand to his chest, actually flattered by her words; they weren't intended to do so, but she wasn't going to complain over his fawning face.

"Oh, thanks, Azula. I know I can count on you not to mock me when it counts." he smiled at Azula, who rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well you better not mock me in front of whoever we're going to meet."

"I wouldn't dare. I'll play tough for you, just to scare the shit out of them."

"I'm sure they know who you are, Sokka." she warned him, knowing that his intimidation game could only go so far.

"But they won't know my temperament. Given everybody's assumptions about you, they probably would think I'm some kind of hardened, murderous bodyguard cross lover."

She raised a brow at his suggestion, thinking it was a rather blunt, but astute description, "I mean, you are that."

That didn't seem to go down well with Sokka, who obviously believed otherwise, "I'm not murderous, and I think I can still crack some pretty good jokes." he argued, before tilting his head toward the door, "So, are we going?"

"I shouldn't give Ty Lee any more time to be able to flirt with my guards." she noted, making him snicker.

"What, is she really going to do that? Aren't all of them grown men?"

"Not all of them are that old, Sokka. Most of them were prodigious firebenders, chosen for their innate skills at a young age to serve their country. Some of them used to be soldiers too, but most of them aren't any older than twenty five." she clarified that point; some of them were clearly in the age range for Ty Lee's flirtations, and though she wasn't going to reprimand her for doing so, she would prefer that they kept some professional distance- she needed her guards to remain on focus, after all.

"Well, maybe that's why I can get along with them."

"You barely talk with them."

"Men don't need to talk to bond." he argued, the Princess rolling her eyes; she didn't want to discuss the relationship he held with men who most likely mistrusted or outright disliked him for most the time he was with them- of course, after Yu Dao, things were different, but they mightn't have changed that much.

She turned around, and blew out the candles on the table, before she paced on over toward the bedroom door, "Let's just get to the stables already." she told him, and with that, he followed after her, right out of the door.

Hopefully, by week's end, they would get to her supporters' base of operations, which was located just outside of the colonial city of Shengchang, which was located a far bit inland from the more trade-oriented cities on the shores of the Mo Ce Sea. Its more isolated location made her hope that her brother's forces mightn't be as numerous and prepared in the area, given it was probably less of a target, not really being necessary for her nor her father's supporters to control if they desired to block Zuko from controlling the colonies. She didn't intend to occupy the city very soon, given her rather precarious situation at that very moment; however, she did know that it would likely be her first target, as a staging ground for later expeditions to liberate the colonies from her brother's rule.

As they were about to reach the doorway at the end of the hall, her boyfriend spoke up, "You know, you don't have to act like you're not excited to get out of this place. Go out on a little trip through the wilds for old time's sake." he suggested rather assumingly with a smug look on his face, making her raise a brow; she was unsure whether he wanted her to express her emotions a little more frankly, or if he just wanted her to be excited.

"Excited?" she raised a brow, "I'm not excited to ride a komodo rhino out into the middle of nowhere." she retorted, before striding on out of the door, her boyfriend following right beside her, raising a finger up.

"But you're excited to do it with me." Sokka clarified his point, making her turn her face away, hoping she wasn't blushing; he had obviously figured out that she was feeling a little bit nostalgic about their adventure together, or perhaps, it was that he was just as nostalgic as she was.

"Shut up." she tried to deny it, "I'm pleased to know that I might have friends in the colonies willing to assist in our plans, not about going out there." she argued, "I know, for one, it's not safe, for either of us."

"Safety never stopped you, Azula." he argued, his confident face faltering as he realised the implications of his own observation, "That's actually... a bit of a problem."

"I'm working on it. My judgement is only improved when I have someone to critique my every move."

"Only the dumb ones." he argued, before making a nervous hum, "Uh... you're not dumb."

"You don't need to tell me that, Sokka. I know you're the stupid one in this relationship." she quipped in return, before scrunching her lips up, knowing she was being a bit harsher than deserved, "Relatively." she added rather softly, not actually thinking he was an idiot; he did idiotic things from time to time, and sometimes acted rather immaturely, but he was clearly a smart man, and sometimes, he was wiser than her.

Approaching the front door of the compound, the guards who were stationed there bowed toward the Princess, and opened the door for her, allowing her and her boyfriend through; she glanced back toward him, and realised he was obviously trying to think up a response to her insult.

"And you're the best firebender in the world... relatively." he quipped in return, making her roll her eyes; just when she wanted to be respectful, he threw her insults right back in her face.

"Why do you have to be right about things that piss me off?" she snapped back at him, her serious glare not phasing him one bit.

"Knowing your limits is a good thing, Azula." he assured her, the Princess pursing her lips upward.

"They're not limits, they're just areas for improvement." she argued, knowing that eventually, she would surpass even those firebenders she knew were stronger than her, such as her uncle and father.

"Wow, that's more positive than the kind of shit Katara spouts. Congratulations, you out-Katara-ed Katara."

"This has nothing to do with Katara." she retorted, before raising her hand up, warning him to be quiet as they approached the front gates of the compound, where the guards once again opened the gate for her.

"Good luck on your journey, your majesty." one of the guards saluted her, and she nodded in return to his deference.

"And to you all." she simply gave a polite courtesy, before she and her boyfriend continued to pace along, turning right to head in the direction of the stables.

She remembered what he had assumed of her attitude, and scrunched her lips up, not wanting to think herself that similar to Katara; she was always dedicated to becoming a stronger, more capable person, whether that was in regards to her firebending or any other skill she had.

"I'm always about becoming stronger, Sokka. That doesn't make me Katara." she argued in return, "And plus, I'm not going to deny her dedication. She is just as intent on becoming a powerful waterbender as I am a firebender." she noted, giving credit when it was due.

What she had seen at the North Pole hadn't been much, but it had shown her how quickly the Water tribe girl had improved, with her tenacity and drive. That kind of growth and focus reminded her of herself, and even if she had been much younger when she was at the stage Katara was at, she still found it to be inspiring, given that it showed nobody needed tutors like Lo and Li, or the watchful eye of the most powerful firebender alive just to become a master. She almost regretted her childhood, thinking how it could have been much better spent out in the world, learning as she had with Sokka, even if it was by herself. She had needed that knowledge and experience, even if she didn't realise it at the time.

"Thank you, Sokka." she simply addressed him, which seemed to come as a surprise.

"Wait, thank me?" he placed a hand on his chest, feigning surprise, "Oh, you shouldn't've."

"I'm not making fun of you. You really have opened my eyes to a lot of things." she admitted, making him smile softly at her, obviously appreciating her comments.

"That's... okay." he assured her, his voice a lot less boisterous than it had been before, "People don't deserve to live their lives following what somebody else wants of them." he added, "You're just free now, I guess."

"Oh, and how I stupidly abused that freedom." she acknowledged her mistakes once more, making him wince, though he seemed to be happy that she was honest about it, "I'm going to do things right this time, Sokka."

"With me or the colonies?" he asked, making her snicker, not having realised the two possible meanings of her words.

"Both. I like to multi-task." she decided, making her boyfriend snicker, shaking his head.

"And I assume I have to do half the work, being your 'assistant' and all."

"Oh, I would say so. You still get the credit though." she argued, smirking in thought of what her crowning as Fire Lord might be like, with Sokka standing behind her, there for her moment of glory.

She would speak of her struggles, and her growth, and what that meant for her nation, and she'd tell them of what he meant to her, even if it wasn't a lauding proclamation of love. That wasn't what was important, at least to the world; what was important was what he had taught her, and how they had grown together.

"One day, the world will see you and all you've done Sokka."

"Yeah, I'd prefer if people called me by my name instead of just calling me 'the Water Tribesman'." he admitted, making her smirk.

"Oh, of course, you'll have an easier to remember title- the Fire Consort." she clarified, making him snicker.

"Ah, that just doesn't sound right." he admitted, making her narrow her eyes, curious as to why he wouldn't like it; she assumed it had to do with his disdain for her nation and general pride as a Water Tribesman.

"Because you don't like the Fire Nation?"

"Because I'm Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. I think I'm as far from being the Fire Consort as your father is from being Earth King. I mean, it could happen, but it's just a weird thing to think about." he explained his thoughts with the oddest of comparisons, making the Princess shake her head, finding the absurdity of her father calling himself the Earth King utterly stupendous.

"My father would never accept the degrading title of Earth King, even if he rules the Earth Kingdom." she argued, before glancing ahead of them, taking note of the stables in the distance.

Sokka seemed to catch where she was looking, and a few moments later, turned back to face her, "So, you're gonna give out some orders, and then we'll leave."

"What else do you expect me to do? Run a puppet show for my guards?" she mocked him, making the Water Tribesman cackle.

"Eheheheh..." he snickered, looking down as he tried to stop himself from laughing any louder, "I promise, you won't have to do that again."

"I wasn't going to ask for your permission." she retorted, crossing her arms, "Try and act serious again, for the sake of my office as Princess. I would like to retain a shred of respect amongst my men." she argued, the Water Tribe warrior nodding, giving her a joking salute.

"Yes, your majesty. I wouldn't dare disobey your orders." he sarcastically assured her, the Princess raising a hand up toward him.

"If you make another smartarse comment, I'm going to set your hair on fire."

"If you're fast enough to do it." he argued, making a confident smirk as he placed his hands on his hips, "My chi-blocking shouldn't be underestimated, Azula."

"Don't test me, savage." she warned him, "I will not relent to beat your face into the dirt in front of all the guards." she warned him, noting their presence by the front of the stables, which was in sight.

"But don't you want them to respect me." he asked her, the Princess smirking.

"Wrong. I want them to respect me." she stated her intent, before she strode on toward the stables, her boyfriend not relenting to follow, shifting his posture slightly to try and seem a little more composed than he probably was in reality.

The Captain was the first person to address her, stepping away from the stables and gesturing inside, "Your highness, we have all the komodo rhinos ready and packed. We're still waiting on Ty Lee, I believe."

"Oh, so she isn't here." the Princess's eyes widened, before she shook her head, "I swear that girl needs to learn some scheduling sooner or later." she voiced her frustrations, before eyeing ahead, noting that Sneers and Kori seemed ready to go, with their own komodo rhino.

They had travelled to the base by foot, so they were obviously happy they had a steed to use. On the return trip, they would be taking the komodo rhino back, and the Princess assumed that her guards had figured out who would have to double up while they were travelling with the couple.

"She won't be long. I'm sure she knows the cost of disappointing your highness." Renshu added, making Sokka snicker.

"Oh, I think she does." he agreed with him, before stepping forward, "So, if we're taking that komodo rhino back with us, which of us is going to share one."

"Well, I assumed given her size that Ty Lee would be travelling on a saddle with one of us. Since it'd be unprofessional for us guards to ride with her, I thought-" he began, the Princess raising a hand up.

"Yes, I see." she acknowledged what he thought before he even uttered his idea, "Sokka, you'll ride with Ty Lee."

"Wait, what?" he grimaced, "Azula, she might- uh, well..." he trailed off, becoming suddenly flustered.

"She wouldn't dare do anything inappropriate while I'm riding alongside her." she assured him, before turning her gaze to the Captain, "Do you have a travel regime prepared?"

"Three days by komodo rhino there, and three back. We have a week's worth of food on our saddles, and some money that might be of use at Shengchang." he explained their logistics, before eyeing Sokka, "We will want to be armed and readied to fight your brother's forces. Are you armed to protect the Princess?"

"I don't need protecting." she assured him, before turning her gaze to her boyfriend, "And Sokka has everything he needs. Well, he mightn't need any weapons. Both he and Ty Lee are skilled chi-blockers."

"I understand that, your highness, but we don't know what kind of people we might face. Skilled bounty hunters might be coming for your head as we speak."

"You don't need to remind me, Captain." she tensely replied before gesturing toward the stables, "There's nothing else to talk about, so get on the rhinos. We're leaving."

"Yes, your highness." he saluted her, before striding back toward the stables, whistling out to his subordinates.

"A little annoyed, are we?" Sokka whispered to her, making the Princess groan with frustration.

"Shut up, Sokka. I just don't want to worry about danger. I have you and Ty Lee here with me to ensure those threats can be dealt with."

"'I thought that's why you have guards." he narrowed his eyes, a little confused as to why she would want them with her if the two of them provided all the support she'd need.

"The guards aren't to protect me, they're to provide support in case we actually end up fighting somebody." she clarified, "Like Earth Kingdom soldiers, or bandits. People like Bumi's rebels might be around these parts, and I assume they'll be less than amicable to our presence."

"That's true." he nodded, "I wish Aang were here to defuse any of those situations... but I guess we don't have much of a choice. We need to go see these people."

"That we do, Sokka. Time is of the essence." she stressed, before striding on over toward the stables; the Princess approached the komodo rhino that had her bags on it, which was distinguished by its more ornate armour.

Kori and Sneers looked over toward her, having been talking quietly before she approached; the Fire Nation girl stepped forward with an interested look on her face, "So, we're going to go now?" she asked, the Princess nodding.

"As soon as Ty Lee gets her act together." she clarified, "My friend is a little... well, she lacks focus."

"How long have you known her?" Kori asked her, the Princess glancing back over toward the compound, out of which she expected her friend to leave any moment.

"Since I was six years old." she answered her question, trying to remember what her friend was like back then; they were both so much younger and more naive back then, and even if she was still determined to be a great Princess when she was a little girl, she had far less of a grasp on her responsibilities and the role she would play, "She was just as tardy and carefree back then." she added, making the two of them snicker.

"She's not still asleep, is she?" Sneers asked her, the Princess raising a hand up.

"No, no, she came to breakfast." she assured him, "She's probably just distracted herself."

The Princess turned her gaze over to Sokka, who had just put his club and bag onto the saddle of his komodo rhino, and he began to approach her, "Are we going to go get her, or are we just going to wait?"

"Well, she going to be on the same komodo rhino as you, Sokka. If she doesn't get out, you can't leave." she told him bluntly, the Water Tribesman sighing.

"Urgh, why did she have to choose now of all times to be lazy?"

"I'm sure she has a reason, though I doubt it'll be very persuasive." she acknowledged, before turning her eyes to Sneers and Kori, "Was the food and lodging provided to you two sufficient?" she asked, the couple nodding.

"It's much better than camping out in the middle of nowhere." Sneers acknowledged, before turning to face his girlfriend, "You seemed happy to be in a proper bed again."

"I was." she nodded, "We've been living on the bare essentials for a while now." she admitted, eyeing the Princess, her smile telling her she was appreciative of her assistance, "You're quite generous, Azula."

"I know you two helped me in the past. It was only fair that I give back what I owe you." she explained, before turning her gaze over to her komodo rhino, "Now we'll be able to get what we all want."

"A better future for our country." Kori assumed, before her boyfriend stepped forward.

"For the world." he gave a wider proposition, which fit Azula's intentions quite well.

"Well, I think we can all agree to that." Sokka spoke up, before scratching the back of his scalp, "So maybe we can just ride over to the front of the compound. If she doesn't come out, I'll go get Ty Lee myself."

"We cannot waste any more time." Azula agreed, before striding over to her komodo rhino, "Let's go." she told them; the other three moved over to their respective komodo rhinos, and she mounted her own, grasping the reins and pulling them up, prodding the animal to begin moving.

The steed began to slowly move on out of the stables, and she noted that her guards were already moving up the path toward the second set of gates, by the palisade that surrounded the original military base. Her gaze immediately moved to the compound, where she still couldn't see Ty Lee; she was unsure where her friend had gotten off to, but she was sure that she'd come around sooner rather than later, given that she had stressed to her the schedule they were running on. Turning her eyes to her right, she saw that Sokka was already riding up alongside her, already chewing on a bit of jerky. When she narrowed her eyes at him, he grimaced slightly, obviously thinking she was judging him for his eating habits.

"I'm-" he began, before chewing rather obnoxiously, "a little hungry."

"We haven't had lunch yet. I'm not surprised, Sokka." she admitted her feelings, which seemed to dissuade his unease; despite their petty conflicts, he was still conscious of acting in a way that would be seen as dignified in her eyes, which she found to be both endearing and annoying- it was antithetical to the independent and boisterous Sokka she'd fallen for.

"Oh, so, I can just keep eating this." he observed, before continuing to do just that.

"Ty Lee is going to need a good excuse." she grumbled, making her boyfriend snicker.

"Oh, this ought to be good."

"What, you enjoy me shouting at somebody that isn't your sister?" she prodded him, the Water Tribe warrior nodding.

"Yeah, I do." he confirmed with a smirk, "Arguing is your favourite thing, right?"

"Well, it depends." she admitted, "If I'm putting people in their place, that being on their knees, then yes, I do enjoy it."

"Oh, but what about me then."

"You amuse me, Sokka." she simply told him; that was a gross oversimplification of how she viewed her relationship with him, but she would admit that his sense of humour and argumentative nature made him a good conversation partner, if only to keep her from being bored.

"I mean, I am funny. Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy." he pointed to his chest with a voice that she couldn't discern to be sarcastic or not; he might think that he ought to be respected for his deeds, and she thought that too- one day, he would be, but until then, he would remain just Sokka.

"If only you were so simple." she pursed her lips upward, making him chuckle, obviously taking her words as a compliment; she turned her eyes ahead once more toward the compound, and noted that the guards there were obviously turning their attention to something inside.

She guessed correctly when she saw Ty Lee run out a few moments later, frantically looking around to spot the Princess and her guards riding toward her; she then ran on over toward her, heaving a bag over her shoulder as she panted. She looked a little exasperated by the time she reached the Princess's komodo rhino, placing her hands firmly on her knees to try and catch a breath.

"Plea- uh..." she mumbled, taking a deep breath before looking up at her friend, "Uh, sorry for being late."

"Apology not accepted." she retorted in response, not wanting to relent in her frustrations until she got an explanation, "Get on the saddle." she pointed to Sokka's komodo rhino, making her eyes widen.

"Wait, what? I have to share with Sokka?"

"You're lucky you're coming along at all. If you wanted to be so lazy, maybe you should have remained at the circus!" she chided her, the acrobat shrinking back before letting out a nervous nod.

"S-sorry, Zula." she dropped her head down, seeming to be ashamed for her poor behaviour.

"Just get on the saddle. We need to get moving." she told her once more, the acrobat heeding her command, pacing over to Sokka's komodo rhino, upon which she slung her bag, before she climbed on top, sitting behind the Water Tribesman.

"Trust me, I'm as annoyed about this as you are." he assured her, before whacking the reins, prodding the steed forward; Azula did the same, and with that, they began riding on toward the outer gates.

The Princess sighed, before she decided to address the obvious, "Why were you so late?"

The acrobat winced slightly, before turning to face her friend, "Because... uh, nobody told me to leave." she admitted to the Princess, who let out a scoff.

"Oh!" she exclaimed sarcastically, "You're quite observant, aren't you?"

"It was an accident, Azula." she assured her, "I thought you and Sokka were going to come to my room."

"Well, I assumed you were already out here." she gave her own thoughts on the matter; she hadn't thought Ty Lee would waste her time, given how she had voiced her own boredom to her earlier that day- any excuse to do something, even if it was going to the stables to prepare to leave, was something she thought her friend might jump at, "But I assumed wrong."

"Not the first time." Sokka offhandedly added, making her narrow her eyes at her boyfriend.

"Shut it, savage." she warned him, before turning her gaze back to her friend, "That was lazy of you, Ty Lee. Next time, we mightn't even try to wait for you." she warned, crossing her arms, "What exactly were you doing while we were getting ready to leave?"

"Just some stretches and exercises." she explained, "I know I need to be ready to fight."

"We're not planning to." the Water Tribesman added, "But we just have to attract all the attention, don't we?"

"I'm an important person, Sokka. I don't blame people for wanting to capture me." she admitted, "And if they try to, we'll annihilate them."

"Oh, I'm sure you will." he nodded, before eyeing ahead toward the gates of the palisade, which seemed to have already been opened by Renshu's order; the guards were already filing through, and when Azula approached the stationed men, they immediately saluted her, which she acknowledged with a curt nod, not wanting to waste any time by thanking them for their duties.

The Princess turned her gaze back toward her boyfriend, who seemed rather annoyed by Ty Lee shuffling around on the saddle; he flicked his hand back, slapping her across the wrist.

"Stop moving around. Just sit still." he demanded of her, the acrobat grimacing.

"I can't. I've got to find a comfortable spot."

"Well, I'm sorry to say, it doesn't exist." he made a mockingly sympathetic face before he turned back ahead to steer their komodo rhino.

"Maybe if you moved forward, she'd stop complaining." Azula suggested, making her boyfriend look at her with confusion.

"But I can't, the saddle isn't big enough." he explained, the Princess rolling her eyes, before gesturing over to the saddle bag.

"Just pick out your blanket and sit on it instead, Ty Lee." she advised her, "You two need to figure these things out instead of making me do it." she chided them, before turning her own gaze ahead, noting the soldiers who watched on as they rode on through the massive encampment that surrounded the base.

The sound of shuffling suggested that her friend had heeded that advice, and a few moments later, she let out a pleased gasp, "This is more comfortable. Thanks, Azula."

"I don't need your thanks for having more than half a brain." she retorted, before whipping the reins of her komodo rhino, "I don't think I'll last the whole trip with having to listen to whatever complaints you two come up with."

"I promise I won't be any more annoying than usual." Sokka raised his hand to his chest, "I'm focused on one thing, our task. Ty Lee can grumble as much as she likes, and I won't listen."

"You'll listen when I chi block you for leaning back on me like a chair." she warned him, the Water Tribesman pulling himself forward slightly, obviously conscious she might do it at that instance.

"I wasn't going to do that." he stressed, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"Just shut it already. Just eat your jerky, Sokka, and I don't know, look at the clouds." she offered her friend an idea, who glanced up and made a small smile.

"Huh, they all look like a bunch of Appas." she made a random, out of the blue observation.

The Water Tribesman glanced upward and shook his head, "He's got a dark underbelly. That's probably why we get attacked so often."

"If we painted his belly white, do you think we could avoid getting seen?" she asked him, the Water Tribe teen scratching his chin.

"Hmph, maybe." he shrugged his shoulder, the Princess raising a finger.

"How about Katara and Aang bend the water into a cloud around us, then Appa will look just like one of those clouds?"

"That'd be easier than trying to paint his belly." Sokka conceded, before smiling at her, "You're brimming with ideas today."

"I am simply assuring you that I am intelligent, Sokka. I don't want you thinking just because of a few mistakes that I'm an idiot." she argued, knowing that after what she'd done with Zhao, he had gone reason to doubt her mind; giving him advice and suggestions that were useful would assure him that she was capable of thinking things through, which he might have assumed otherwise, given what happened.

"Oh, that's nice of you, but you don't need to do that yet." he assured her, "That's for when we go meet your fans."

"I wouldn't call them fans, Sokka. They're people who are angry with the government and prefer her." Kori corrected him, making the Water Tribesman turn back to face her with a skeptical face.

"Since when were you not a fan of Azula?"

"I mean... I am, but that doesn't mean everybody else is. She's a leader, and every revolt needs a leader."

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

---

Ty Lee was pretty sure there was nothing but luck that caused some clouds to look like things other than clouds; people, animals, everyday objects, as well as more complicated things, like the shape of the Fire Nation as she'd see it in a map. She might have once guessed, or hoped, that there was some special spirit or something that was telling her fortunes or something in the sky, but she couldn't really be so sure of that, not knowing how one would even divine such things. She'd heard of it before, which was why she had assumed such things about the odd shapes one might see from time to time when they looked into the sky.

The clouds were a good distraction, at least for a while, as she lay on the saddle of her komodo rhino, letting the day go by. She knew that she could do something else, like talk to Azula, but whenever she did that, she seemed to agitate the Princess, who obviously was a whole lot more focused on the task at hand. Their travels hadn't been troublesome so far, and she knew that though the Princess had some genuine concerns, she was probably just overthinking it. Sokka, on the other hand, just seemed to be bored out of his brains, driving the komodo rhino along with one hand while he played with his bone dagger in the other. The Water Tribesman hadn't addressed her in some time, and when his gaze turned toward her, and her own to him, she guessed that he had something to say.

"How are you doing that?" he asked the acrobat, who smirked, lifting her legs up to show off her balance; she had figured out the best spot to place her bottom, and with that, she was able to casually lie on the saddle with no worry of falling off.

"Good balance." she simply told him her means, before raising a hand, "I wouldn't try it if I were you."

"What, I have good balance." he argued, making her snicker; she doubted Sokka would want to actually try it, but any conversation was a good conversation after sitting on the saddle all morning.

"Oh, really, then can you do a handstand?" she smirked at him, sure he couldn't; the Water Tribe teen just looked at her, mouth ajar, seeming a little confused by her question.

"Why would I need to do a handstand?" he asked her, the acrobat shrugging her shoulders.

"To do a cartwheel." she stated the obvious, not relieving his confusion at all.

"Why a cartwheel?" he asked once more, now just sounding amused.

"To get away from or around your enemies?" she guessed with a cringed face, unsure if that was what Sokka might use a cartwheel for, if he were to do so.

"That's why I run." he retorted, turning around to grasp the reins of the komodo rhino, making sure to keep it steered on the path.

"Run away?" she prodded him with another question, making him raise his index finger.

"I never said run away. I'm usually running around so I don't, you know, get set on fire." he defended himself, making Azula, who was sitting just ahead of them on her own komodo rhino scoff, turning around to face the pair with a cocky face.

"That doesn't stop me, Sokka." she acknowledged, "Sounds like it's about time we sparred again." she suggested, the Water Tribesman cringing.

"I think being in the middle of nowhere is a valid excuse to not spar." Ty Lee spoke up, knowing that Sokka probably didn't want to do that once they inevitably stopped riding and went to camp.

"Uh, no, Azula would be one to argue otherwise." he explained to her, before turning to eye his girlfriend, "I'm just glad you never actually came through with your idea to spar on the fishing boat." he noted, making her scoff.

"I wasn't going to burn our ship down. I simply wanted you to sail us to some island where we could beat each other up."

"That just sounds like it would've been a waste of time and energy." he argued, before shaking his head, "We're not sparring. If we're riding until sundown, we're not going to have any time to do that."

The Princess narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend, before sighing, "You're right. We have to be hasteful." she agreed with his point, before turning her gaze ahead, "This path isn't making it much easier. Winding around forests and empty fields on komodo rhinos is a lot harder than doing so on a straight road."

"Well, if there's no road, that means nobody can come down it to attack the base." Sokka suggested, the Princess nodding.

"A price we have to pay for safety- isolation."

"I mean, you were at the South Pole for six months. You know isolation." Ty Lee argued, making her friend chuckle.

"I do not miss the cold nor the poverty." she acknowledged, the Water Tribe warrior wincing; his people obviously weren't having the best time after all the Fire Nation had done to them.

Ty Lee didn't need much details to realise they were in a situation worse than the most impoverished parts of the Fire Nation, which at the very least, didn't have to worry about some foreign invaders coming around kidnap and murder people.

"Hopefully, we won't have to see any poverty there again... or at least, a lot less." Sokka admitted, making the Fire Nation girl behind him turn her gaze away, wondering how ignorant she had been of her country's own actions.

She knew it was unfair, and she didn't think about it enough before she had met the Water Tribe teens to comprehend the travesty for what it was; the Fire Nation was at fault, and it was disturbing to think they'd done something so heinous for no real gain. Azula and her family struck her as the pragmatic types, so to hear they'd go as low to order the destruction of a nation that posed practically no threat to them made her feel a lot more confident in her friend. She was trying to set things right, and that was better than anybody who had come before her; she didn't know exactly what Zuko intended, but she was sure he had a similar view to the Princess, despite how much the two siblings conflicted.

"That's what you're here for, Sokka." the Princess responded, before her expression straightened, "Right?" she asked, not sounding so sure of herself.

"I mean... it's one of the reasons." she clarified, before turning his gaze away, seemingly embarrassed; Azula too turned her eyes away from him and Ty Lee couldn't help but snicker lightly, though only Sokka could hear her.

He glanced over toward her and scrunched his face up, telling her that he wasn't pleased about her reaction, "Stop it." he demanded of her with a harsh sounding whisper, obviously not wanting to draw his girlfriend's attention.

"I can't help that you're both so cute." she retorted, making the Water Tribesman groan, frustrated by her very observation.

"Let me live in peace." he asked of her with a frustrated, pleading voice, only for the acrobat to smirk and pat the bit of saddle between them.

"I can't get off this saddle. You've just got to tolerate me." she argued in return, the warrior's annoyed face shifting to one of dejection.

"Aw..." he groaned, turning her eyes ahead to continue directing the komodo rhino.

She chuckled at his reaction and pulled herself up to a seated position, before she leaned a little closer to him, smirking as she remembered what the couple had been talking about earlier, "So, are you going to beat her in that spar or what?"

"I already said I'm not sparring." he told her with a stern tone, telling her that he wasn't going to change his mind; that was, until Azula forced it to change, which she was sure she would.

Unlike Ty Lee, she didn't need to use her feminine wiles to get her way, especially given her intent to spar, instead of something a little more complicated; she could just as easily start shooting fireballs at her boyfriend, and he'd just have to start dodging.

"I know Zula. You're not getting out of sparring." she argued, making the Water Tribesman shake his head.

"She can't make me if I set up my tent and go to bed immediately." he argued, making the acrobat chuckle.

"Oh, we'll see about that." she smugly warned Sokka, who didn't seem to care for her warning at all; it seemed that he wasn't ready for the fireball to his head.

He shook his head, and turned his eyes ahead of them, focusing on the path they were following through the woodland; it was hard to see very far into the distance because of all the trees, and the only significant land feature she could see were a few hills ahead of them, though they were clearly some distance away. She didn't really know where they were, or where they'd be by the time they camped, but she was sure that the Princess knew what she was doing; she wouldn't be the kind of person to lead them out in the middle of nowhere with no understanding of where she was going. She knew that the guards had obviously travelled around a bit since the battle at Yu Dao, so she assumed that they were well-knowledged enough to be taking the right path; they were surrounding them, both back and front, with two guards to either side of Azula on their own komodo rhinos.

"Where are we, Azula?" she asked her friend, who glanced back toward her, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't have my map out at the moment, but I'd say we're getting close to the border."

"The border with Zuko's forces?" she asked her, guessing that was what she was referring to; the Earth Kingdom rebels weren't establishing well-defined territories and organised defences- only the Fire Nation forces had enough resources and coordination to make any kind of borders between each other.

"Well, it isn't really a border." she admitted, "There's just an area where neither side has decided to set up outposts or fortifications." she clarified, "I assume that we might come close to some of my brother's loyalists soon. We'll need to keep a low profile- no campfires, and stay away from any major roads." she explained herself, before glancing up ahead, "We have to avoid them at all costs. I only brought my guards for an emergency, not to fight an army."

"We can defend you, your highness." one of them which was riding beside her spoke up, "That is our duty."

"And you will fail if you face a hundred men on border patrol." she retorted, raising a hand, "We will not make that mistake." she stressed, before looking up ahead, "Who's on forward-scouting patrol at the moment?"

"Yi and Zheng." he clarified for her, the Princess nodding.

"Well, if they do their jobs correctly, we'll have nothing to worry about."

"And if they're overwhelmed?" Sokka spoke up, his girlfriend turning her eyes to glance at both him and Ty Lee.

"Then we will fight, and once we can, we will withdraw." she explained, before turning her eyes ahead once more, "But that won't happen, because my guards are competent."

"Maybe we should ask Kori and Sneers, seeing that they seem to be well-travelled." the acrobat suggested to her friend, who raised a brow.

"That's a good idea, Ty Lee." she agreed to her proposition, before glancing to the guard beside her, "Ride back and retrieve the couple. I assume they're just trying to enjoy some privacy." she noted, the guard nodding.

"Of course, your highness." he accepted her command, pulling on the reins of his komodo rhino, before he turned it around, so he could head back toward Kori and Sneers, who were somewhere further behind.

"This has got to be the most boring thing I've ever done." the acrobat spoke up, just wanting to voice her frustrations, even if only for a moment.

"If you'd been walking, you would complain about your legs instead." the Princess argued, making her wince; she would admit that she had a good point- it was because she was so relaxed that she was bored.

"Okay, you're right." she conceded, "But that doesn't make this not boring."

"There's only so many random conversations you can have, Ty Lee." Sokka argued, making her smirk.

"Oh, really? Well, I'll challenge you to that one." she decided, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Anything but food, because that'd just make me hungry." he argued, the acrobat nodding; she agreed with his idea, seeing that she didn't want to get herself feeling hungry while it'd still be a few hours until they had their dinner.

"Okay, Sokka, anything but food." she agreed to his proposition, before glancing ahead, wondering what she could have a conversation about with him, and if she responded, Azula, "Do you have any funny stories from when you and Azula were at the South Pole together?" she asked him, the Water Tribesman smirking; his girlfriend looked back his way, and seemed almost nervous upon hearing Ty Lee's question.

"Don't you dare say what I think you're going to say." she warned him, the Water Tribe teen raising his left hand up.

"No need to get so worried, Azula. I'm a man of my word when I say I wouldn't tell anybody about that." he assured her, making the acrobat grin, grasping him by the shoulder.

"Oh, you have to tell me." she pleaded, the Princess sparking a flame in her palm.

"He will not, and if you ask again, I will set your braid on fire."

"A very specific threat." she noted, before smirking, "It has to be a good one. Or at least... really embarrassing." she concluded, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"Sometimes you're a real pain, Ty Lee." she told her with a frustrated tone; she wouldn't press it again, if only because she knew she'd go through with her threat.

"I know." she agreed with her, before turning her eyes to Sokka, "So what story are you going to tell me, if not 'that one'?" she asked him, the Water Tribesman scrunching his lips up.

"Well, I have a few." he conceded, before smirking, "There's a funny one you might like... though I guess it was more stupid when it happened."

"Okay, I'm listening." she pursed her lips up, raising her hand toward him, "What happened?"

"So, about... a week after Azula and I showed up at the South Pole, I decided to take her away on a hunt so she could get some time away from the villagers." he explained, before chuckling, "She really didn't like having everyone giving her the cold shoulder instead of kissing her toes."

"Well, she is from the Fire Nation. Nobody from your nation likes them." she acknowledged, having figured that out easily enough from the looks they got at their short time at the North Pole, despite the fact they'd saved the moon and ocean spirits from Zhao.

"Well, that was then. Now they probably think she's great after what she did to the Southern Raiders." he noted with a smirk, before shaking his head, "Anyway, before this, Azula hadn't really figured out how to use weapons, so I decided to teach her how to use my club against a seal."

"Oh no... don't tell me you killed a baby seal, Azula." she turned her eyes to her friend, who scoffed at her suggestion.

"No, I didn't. It wasn't a baby anyway." she argued, the Water Tribesman nodding.

"It was a juvenile, not an adult, but it wasn't that small. I wanted us to get one that was actually useful to eat." she explained, the acrobat nodding.

"So what was so funny that happened? She failed?" she asked, Sokka smirked before he raised a finger.

"Well, yes, but probably not in the way you'd think." he clarified, before clearing his throat, "So, we found a seal, and I showed her how to sneak up on it, which we did. It was hiding near some kind of den, so we had to be careful not to rouse the other seals." he explained, before holding his hands up, as if he had a club in them, "Azula approached slowly, before she rushed to strike it in the head, to crack its skull and kill it at once. The thing is, the seal saw her coming, and moved out of the way; the club went flying down into the ice, and got lodged."

"Overkill, as always." Ty Lee noted, making the Princess eye her, slightly offended by her words, but not enough to voice her annoyance.

Sokka then placed a hand on his chest, "So then I, being the dashing, helpful warrior I am, threw my boomerang into the seal's head before it could bite her arm off. I scared it off, but the club was still stuck in the ice."

"So how did you get it out?" the acrobat asked him, Sokka turning his gaze over toward his girlfriend.

"Oh, well, I didn't get it out. The ice broke instead." he clarified, Azula wincing slightly.

"I didn't know that it was hollow." she argued, the warrior sighing.

"She melted the ice a little, but in trying to get the club out, a big fissure appeared; I could have jumped back, but I decided that protecting her was more important." he explained, Ty Lee cringing, imagining how scary that might have been at the time.

"How big a fissure are we talking?" she asked, the Water Tribesman pulling his hands apart, gesturing that it was bigger than his arm-span, "Okay, that's big."

"Yeah, it was. I ended up being Azula's cushion when we fell down inside. The good thing was that the fissure kept us away from the seals who were about to try and rip us apart." he noted, before making a pained face, "I'm pretty sure I broke my leg, because I couldn't walk properly for a few weeks after that."

"Oh." her eyes widened, "I thought you said this was a funny story."

"Well... I mean it was kind of funny. Azula got us stuck in a big crack, and then she had to get us out with a rope. It took a while to do, because we had to wait for those seals to get away." he continued on, before chuckling, "She climbed out, and helped me out by throwing the rope back down to me. By the time we got out, it was getting dark, though during the southern summer, it doesn't get that dark. The problem was that it was pretty hard to keep our directions when our original tracks were hard to see and we couldn't see the light from my village."

"This story just keeps getting worse." she grimaced, Sokka raising a hand up, trying to stress the opposite.

"Well, it got funnier." he admitted, the acrobat's jaw dropping.

"How could this story get funnier? It's just scary. Nearly getting eaten by seals. Falling into a fissure. Getting lost. None of that's funny. How funny could it really be?" she asked, the Water Tribesman smugly turning to face his girlfriend.

"Well, Azula, what'd you do?" he asked her, the Princess rolling her eyes.

"I'm not explaining it, Sokka." she retorted, making him chuckle.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad." he assured her, before he turned back to face Ty Lee once more, "She's just mad because-"

He was cut off by the ground shaking underneath them, and then Azula raising her hands up, covering them with flames, "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me!" she snarled, "Just a way to ruin my day." she snarled, glancing up the slight slope to their left, Ty Lee following her gaze to see some dust rising amongst the trees, along with the ground shaking underneath them- it had to be earthbenders, as she couldn't think what else could cause such a thing.

Sokka drew out his boomerang, grasping the reins of the komodo rhino they were riding, which became clearly agitated by the ground moving below it; it roared out, perhaps in fear, and raised its forelegs. The acrobat grit her teeth, and grasped Sokka by the waist to try and keep herself on the saddle; she was able to keep her balance, but the possibility of slipping off was all too real.

"Ack!" she cried out, before turning her eyes up into the woods once more, realising that a boulder was flying right toward her; she ducked underneath it, and Sokka dropped down onto the neck of the komodo rhino, which had begun moving forward, probably to try and get away from the earthbenders.

She grit her teeth, and knew that as long as she was on the saddle, she wouldn't be of much use in the fight; she lacked any ranged weapons, nor bending, which would be useful when mounted. So, when she jumped right off of the saddle, she was surprised that Sokka was so concerned.

"Ty Lee! What are you doing?!" he shouted at her, the acrobat smirking as she jumped right over a boulder that was tossed her way.

"Getting rid of that boredom." she retorted, before turning her gaze toward where she knew the earthbenders would be, "Now, where are they hiding?" she mumbled to herself, eyeing around the tree trunks, still unable to see any enemies- she assumed they were wearing dark camouflage to hide in the woods.

She decided to dash closer, keeping herself in line with the tree trunks, as they'd give her some cover from whatever rocks were thrown her way. She was forced to weave under a boulder quickly enough, and then took cover behind a tree trunk as more came her way; glancing back, she saw Azula was already in form, using her flames to shatter the boulders as they rained down upon her and her men. Sokka was moving toward Ty Lee, or rather, toward the enemy, and together, the two non-benders entered the woods, taking cover behind the trees as the earthbenders continued to pummel them. She ran into an issue when the trees in front of her were uprooted, and the enemy clearly revealed themselves; though she was glad she had a target, it wasn't very useful as she was thrown back by the soil liquifying underneath her. The Water Tribesman was able to throw his boomerang before he too was drawn back by the soil liquifying; it struck an earthbender in the head, and she was a little amused by seeing him flop back and slam into the ground. That amusement stopped as soon as the soil that was mushy solidified, and left her feet stuck in the ground.

"Aw, come on." she grumbled, before she was forced to drop down to dodge a boulder tossed at her head; she glanced to her side, and noted that Sokka had already slammed his club into the ground to break his feet free, before continuing his own approach.

She groaned, realising that she was useless if she couldn't move; she tried her hardest to move her feet out of their earthen bonds, but was unable to get them to budge, and was continuously distracted by the boulders thrown her way. She weaved around them, and dropped down nearly flat onto the ground to miss one of them, before a pillar came out of the ground in front of her, forcing her to lean back. The movement was fast enough that she actually broke her feet out of their binds, but with the added side effect of her falling flat on her back, and hit her head rather hard on the ground. She cried out in pain, but didn't wait around to try and get away from the next attack she knew would be inevitable. She spun herself around, and was poised to jump out of the way of the next attack, only to see that Sokka was already distracting the earthbenders by throwing his club around, hitting some of them quite hard. Most of them, however, were focused solely on barraging the path they had been taking, along with the guards and komodo rhinos that were on it.

Another rock was thrown toward her head, and before she could move out of the way of it, it was suddenly shattered in mid-air, which confused her, given that it didn't look like anything had hit it. She turned around, and noticed that Kori and Sneers had arrived, and the former was in what looked like an earthbending form; her eyes widened, putting two and two together- she was an earthbender and Fire Nation, which had to be one of the most surprising things she'd seen in a while. She was holding some kind of metal chain, with two balls on either end, which she began to spin around, and it accelerated to an amazingly fast speed, which she assumed to be due to rock being inside the balls. She then tossed it right up at the earthbenders, throwing two of them off of their feet, before he grasped out, drawing the weapon back with her earthbending.

"Wow, that's so coolǃ" she exclaimed, "Where'd you learn to use that?"

"Taught myself." she declared with a smirk, before turning to face her boyfriend, "Sneers, it's time to kick some butts."

"Yes, Ma'am." he jokingly saluted her, drawing out two hatchets from his belt, Ty Lee turning her gaze back up to their opponents; she didn't even know why they were being attacked in the first place, and she assumed that they'd find out soon enough when Azula interrogated them.

The three of them charged forward, the acrobat noting that Sokka was already battering up the earthbenders, though one of them had got the Water Tribesman's feet stuck in the ground; Kori reached her right hand forward, and ripped his feet from the dirt, which surprised him as he tried to keep his balance, ducking under a boulder that was thrown right at his head.

"Ack!" he cried out, before jabbing the man who attacked him in the arm, paralysing it; Ty Lee smirked, taking the slightest bit of credit for his chi-blocking skills as she raced up the hillside, ready use her own skills to stop the fighting as quickly as she could.

She leapt over a few rock pillars that a man shot out, hoping to hit her in the chest; she used it as a launching point for her first attack, jabbing her toe tips right into his gut, which winded him and blocked his chi. He stumbled back, and though he seemed a little disoriented, he didn't waste any time and he tried to earthbend once again, raising his hands to pull some rocks up to defend himself. His confident face shifted to one of fear as he realised he couldn't bend, the ground below him remaining solid and inert, and he was whacked right in the shoulder by Kori's weapon a moment later, before Ty Lee jabbed him in the head, knocking him down to the ground.

She turned around, and noticed Sokka was holding off an earthbender with his club, who had his back wide open; she smirked, and immediately moved to go chi-block him, but was stopped in her tracks, quite literally, as her feet sunk into the ground. She sighed, frustrated by the constant shifting of the environment in the favour of their enemies; Ty Lee was more than surprised, however, when she suddenly was flung up into the air, nearly reaching the lowest tree branches that sat above her. She didn't have much time to comprehend how and why she had been shot up, but she took advantage of the situation, landing right on the shoulders of the man she had intended to attack, her weight forcing him down to the ground. She smirked, before jabbing him down his back, leaving him paralysed and unable to move; she eyed Sokka, who was sitting on his behind, after nearly being fallen on top of by the man she'd dropped on.

"Uh, thanks." he made an awkward smile, before he grit his teeth, reaching for his boomerang, which was lying on the ground nearby; Ty Lee only had a moment to turn herself around before she was struck in the side by a stone pillar, which threw her away from the man she'd beaten, and into a tree.

"Ty Lee!" Sokka called out her name, his frantic face telling her that he was worried about her injuries; though her back hurt from being slammed into the tree, and her side from the stone pillar, she wasn't immobilised, unlike the very men she'd beaten.

"Hit 'em!" she pointed to the remaining earthbenders, who then faced off on a beating from both Kori and her stone balls and Sokka and his club.

The two of them were then joined by Sneers, armed with his axes, holding an earthbender off while his girlfriend incapacitated him with her weapon, all while Sokka battered men left, right and centre, before chi-blocking them at the most opportune times. The acrobat pulled herself up slowly, and as she was about to get up and join the fight, a massive bright blue fire stream flew right above her head, causing her to cringe from the heat, dropping herself down as she glanced back to see Azula with an annoyed look on her face.

"You better all stop fighting or I'll beat every single one of you up." she warned the earthbenders, before raising her hand up, gesturing the three to stop fighting; the earthbenders awkwardly looked at them, unsure whether they ought to heed Azula's command, which became a whole lot more serious when her guards strode up the hill to assist her in enforcing it.

The trees that were aflame above them suddenly stopped burning as the Princess pulled her hands down, massing the heat into her hands before channeling them into some fallen branches in front of her, making a small bonfire. She then eyed the earthbenders, and offered a hand out to her friend, who was still gasping out for air; her injuries weren't that bad, but they did hurt and she was struggling to keep her breath.

"Ty Lee." she simply addressed her, her expression, however serious, assuring her that she felt obligated to help her; the new Azula just loved to surprise her with random bouts of kindness and consideration, it seemed.

She accepted her hand, and pulled herself up, and with her friend, looked at their opponents, who were obviously weighing up whether to withdraw; the Princess raised her hand up, gesturing for her guards, who were moving to surround the earthbenders, not to attack.

"You do know who I am, right?" she asked them, the men looking amongst themselves; one of them cleared his throat, and gestured to the small, blue bonfire in front of them.

"Princess Azula, I presume." he guessed, Azula smirking before she made a small nod.

"Correct." she confirmed his suspicions, before placing her hands on her hips, "Now, I don't see myself your enemy, and given your presumptions about my people, I am willing to let this attack slide, if you would be so willing to come to my base at some point in future to convene on the discussions I believe necessary for the future of this country."

"Oh." one of the earthbenders gasped, obviously surprised by what Azula had said, before he stepped forward, "Uh, your highness, I don't mean to offend, but why should we believe you?"

"Ah, this is where Aang really comes in handy, isn't it?" Sokka dejectedly acknowledged, the Princess sighing, signalling her agreement with that point.

"I am personal friends with the Avatar. We are intending to help restore your country to some semblance of peace, along with any rebels we can find, such as yourselves."

"To restore the Earth Kingdom?"

'To restore self-governance." she corrected him, before she laughed, her tone low and clearly a little condescending, "Now, I can see, being boisterous and cocky enough to attack me, you must enjoy your self-governance. I wouldn't want any naive Earth King to take that away from you. Actually, I'd like to make sure you can extend that freedom to your fellow countrymen."

The earthbenders looked amongst themselves, and seemed like they were confused as to what she was saying; not because she didn't make any sense, but probably because it was her of all people saying it.

"Am I going delirious from dirty water, or did the damn sister of the Fire Lord just tell me she wants to help us to rebuild our country?" one of them asked their comrades, the Princess stepping forward, her foot stepping on and subsequently snuffing out the bonfire she had created.

"I am not the sister of the Fire Lord, I am the Fire Lord." she corrected him, before offering a hand out, "So, if you'd be so kind to leave me and my men alone, I would be more than willing to forget you tried to pummel us to death with boulders." she offered them, the men looking at her, almost ready to laugh, but the man who had spoken stepped forward, accepting her hand to shake.

She shook his hand, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "What a smart man. I can see you might be willing to cooperate with us for the greater good of both our countries."

"Well, I don't really give a shit about the Fire Nation, your highness." he admitted, "But anything to keep my people safe... even if we have to work with you." he added, before turning his gaze to Kori and Sneers, "And what are you two doing fighting with the ash-makers? You're both Earth Kingdom."

"Uh... not exactly." Sneers admitted with a cringed face, before his girlfriend strode forward with a rather aggrieved look on her face.

"Excuse me?! I'm a proud Fire Nation citizen. Yeah, I might be an earthbender, but I'm as loyal to the Fire Nation as her." she argued, gesturing to the Princess, who chuckled at her outburst.

"I'm flattered, Kori, truly." she acknowledged her indirect compliment, before eyeing the earthbenders, "Anyway, if you're all willing to just... go home, we'll be on our way."

"Uh, we are." the same man assured her, before furrowing a brow, "But where are you going, exactly?"

"To have the exact same conversation I just had with you all with my fellow countrymen. The colonies are in need of a real leader, and I am a woman with credentials most applicable." she explained her intentions plainly, before gesturing her finger towards the man who had addressed her, "I'm not giving the people who tried to stone me and my comrades to death any more information than that."

"That's understandable." one of the rebels acknowledged, before he was elbowed in the gut by the man beside him.

"Shut it." he warned him, the Princess rolling her eyes before she turned around.

"Well, that's it." she simply addressed the matter for what it was, eyeing Sokka and Ty Lee, noting that the latter was still in pain; she had been slammed into the tree rather hard, and was struggling to keep her breathing regular, "Sokka, help Ty Lee back to the komodo rhino." she requested from her boyfriend, who nodded, before eyeing his boomerang, which was on the ground between them as their former enemies; one of the earthbenders kicked the weapon his way, and he caught it with his right hand, before chuckling.

"Thanks." he simply acknowledged his assistance, before turning his gaze to the acrobat, before scrunching his lips up, "Would you like an apology from them?"

"Eh..." she mumbled, before pulling herself up to her full height, "I don't need one. We stopped fighting, and that's what matters." she argued, before turning her gaze to Azula, who was striding on down the hillside, back toward the road, flanked by her guards.

"That was a lot easier than I expected." Kori admitted, before turning her eyes to the earthbenders, "How come you didn't attack us the other day?"

"Oh... you came through here?" one of them realised, "Uh, well, you two look like any other commoners."

"Maybe we really should just dress as peasants, Sokka." Ty Lee suggested, "It worked for Aang."

"Well, it works until we start showing off our skills." he retorted, before slinging his arm around her shoulder, "Come on, let's get down, and then you can stop complaining about being bored."

"It was a good fight." she conceded, before stumbling forward, wincing in pain from a sharp feeling around her abdomen, "I think I'm going to need this checked."

"Let's just hope there's physicians where we're going." he noted, "If not... uh, I guess you'll just have to tolerate it."

"Can't be any worse than what Azula did to you on the Royal Barge." she argued, making him snicker.

"Lightning hurts... but I have a feeling she didn't intend to really hurt me."

"I love Azula, but seriously, I think you're overestimating how nice she was." she warned him, "She would set the hair of girls she didn't like at school on fire, just for not bowing to her."

He chuckled, before raising his chin with a proud smirk on his face as he eyed the Princess from afar, "Yeah, that's her."

---

Smoke was never a good sign, especially when it was massing in large amounts on the horizon; Katara had just woken from a nap, and was confused to see it, and more so to see that they weren't flying around the smoke, but right toward it. She could see Aang by the reins, his shoulders slumped, while Momo slept, curled up beside him. She wondered if he had fallen asleep there and just not realised where they were going. That idea was disproved when he twisted his neck a little, before scratching his face. She narrowed her eyes, and wondered whether she ought to protest; she was the older one, after all, and she had a right to say she wasn't comfortable going wherever they were.

"Aang, are you tired or something?" she asked him, gesturing ahead of them, "We're flying toward all that smoke. It might be another Fire Nation settlement." she warned him, before narrowing her eyes, tensing up at the memory of the explosion, "We don't want to make the same mistake again, do we?"

"We didn't make a mistake, Katara." he argued, "We helped those people." he suggested, "If we hadn't been there I... well, I don't know what would have happened."

"We don't need to go to every problem we see, Aang." she stressed, realising that he wasn't tired, but rather willfully approaching the smokestacks.

"We don't even know what's happened. What if it's a forest fire... and people are in danger. We have Appa. We can help." he argued a reasonable point, which frustrated her own arguments; she wanted to tell him to turn around, but she couldn't stomach it, knowing that he was right- they were capable of helping people, and as the Avatar, he wasn't going to shy away from doing so.

"I..." she began, before turning her eyes away, deciding to just warn him once more, "We can't get into needless danger, Aang."

"It's not needless." he argued, before softening his expression, seeing her unease, "It was an accident, Katara. We had no idea those Earth Kingdom fighters were going to show up."

"No, we didn't." she agreed with him, "Maybe we should have stayed with Azula a little longer and actually tried to persuade those people to stop attacking the Fire Nation... especially like that." she acknowledged, knowing that despite their situation, the Earth Kingdom fighters were clearly in the wrong; they were doing the same kinds of things the Fire Nation did to her tribe, although perhaps with a more narrow-minded goal of simply expelling the military, though they clearly didn't seem to care about civilian casualties.

"That wasn't right." he agreed with what she was already thinking, "I can't let something like that happen again."

"You don't control the Earth Kingdom." she argued, knowing he was being a little harsh on himself, especially given his own youth and inexperience, "You shouldn't feel bad about things they chose to do."

"But I can talk to people." he spoke up, "I can try to show them a better path. I could have... I could have done that a hundred years ago, if I hadn't been so selfish." he added, his expression becoming darker; he regretted his actions so deeply, and she was almost glad he was so open about it.

That told her he wanted to heal that wound, and he was ready to do so through the hard labour that faced them; they were to help bring peace and stability to the Earth Kingdom, and then, hopefully, ending the war for good. Aang's eagerness, though dangerous, was better than the opposite; he could have become so afraid of doing anything that he might as well have not been the Avatar. She knew that Azula's hard, cold advice was helpful in that regard. Katara realised she might have wanted to soften the blow a little too much, and that the things that had happened to Air Nomads couldn't be ignored, and he wasn't going to forget it. So, she sat there silently, looking at the smoke clouds that they slowly approached, and hoped that they weren't about to get themselves into more trouble than necessary.

"Aang, we can still turn around." she spoke up once again, "I know you want to help but... it's dangerous."

"Everything's dangerous, Katara." he acknowledged, looking toward the smokestacks with an unnerved expression, "I can't just act like doing nothing is okay." he stressed, "We won't be too long. I just have to see what's happened, and if we can help, we will."

She nodded, and turned her gaze over to Momo, who made a little growl before he peered his head up above the edge of the saddle; he seemed a little irritated, and a few moments later, he sneezed. Katara guessed that the smoke wasn't good for him, which made her feel concerned about what might be causing it. As they drew nearer and nearer, she was able to make out individual smokestacks, and realised that the pattern was nothing like a village; if it was a burning village, the smoke would have been more spread out, and heavier, but it was far more concentrated, seemingly spurting out of the woodland in a line. Once she stood up, she realised what they were looking at; a large clearing in the woods, stretched out beside a road, where there was a long line of burning forest, not to mention debris everywhere- destroyed vehicles, clearly of Fire Nation design, as well as what seemed like an encampment, destroyed by the flames that had encroached into the woodland, lined up against some kind of defensive wall, made out of metal and wood.

"What... what happened here?" she asked Aang, who looked on at the field with a shocked face.

"Fighting. Lots of fighting." he deduced, before glancing over the edge of the saddle, looking down as she had, "There might be injured people."

"This looks like a Fire Nation ordeal, Aang. Why should we get involved?"

"Because people dying is never good, Katara." he stressed, "I don't like the Fire Nation either, but we have to at least check. Whatever happened here... it can't have ended well for whoever was fighting, no matter if they won."

"Ozai's men... or Zuko's?" she asked him, the young Avatar shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know." he conceded, "Let's just get a little closer to the ground." he explained his intentions, pulling up on the reins of the saddle, causing Appa to drop down slightly, moving toward the treetops as they approached the clearing.

She couldn't see any people, but there was clear evidence of them being there; the tracks leading off to the east told her one side might have had to run, and the burn marks on the ground, as well as the broken weapons, told her that things had gone bad for one side, at the very least. She rose up to her feet, and eyed out into the distance, checking the treeline to either side of the clearing, as well as the burning trees that were delineating whatever defences had been there before all hell broke loose.

"There's really nobody here." she noted, "The fires are all fresh... this makes no sense."

"People don't just disappear." Aang noted, "I mean, if they're not me." he clarified, half-jokingly, before narrowing his eyes to his right side, looking toward the burnt out remains of the campsite, "I'm guessing the guys who were at this camp had to run away... if they hadn't, they would have kept all their stuff with them." he gestured toward what looked like the personal supplies of the people encamped there, some of which had already been consumed by flames.

"You know, we could take some of that food... the parts that aren't burnt, that is." she noted, making the young Avatar grimace.

"I don't want to..." he began, before glancing toward their saddlebags, "Okay... maybe we can take a little." he noted, obviously realising they didn't have much food to begin with, and most of it was rice crackers; he then directed Appa down to the ground, the sky-bison growling, presumably because of the hot ashes on the ground.

"Sorry, buddy. Is it too hot?" Aang asked his sky-bison, who shook his head around, suggesting his unease.

"Come on, Aang, let's just check it out. If there's anything useful, we'll take it, then we'll leave." she explained her intentions, before she jumped down off of the saddle, Aang immediately following after her.

The pair paced on over toward one of the tents where she had seen some boxes of what she thought was food, and she narrowed her eyes at them, trying to read out the names printed on the boxes. She could read out 'rations', 'burn ointment', 'canvas' and 'bandages', on the boxes, and though a lot of them were damaged from the flames, some had fallen to the ground, and thus avoided burning with the others. She picked up a few boxes that had rations marked on them, and handed one to Aang, who shook it, before opening it up and glancing inside.

"Huh, so these must be full of rice crackers... or something. Maybe some other stale food." he noted, "Well, it's a little more than we had before." he noted, rather dejected that there wasn't anything very good in the boxes.

"The more food the better." she tried to give a bright side to the situation, "Let's put these up on the saddle and get out of here. I don't think anyone's coming back for this place."

"Wait." Aang raised his head up, glancing over toward the damaged walls, which he pointed toward, "Can you hear that?"

She glanced the way he had pointed, and tried to listen out for what he was trying to indicate toward, but could only make out the sound of the burning trees and tents flickering in the wind, "No, I can't." she admitted, before stepping closer to Appa, noting that Momo had piqued his head up, obviously hearing or noticing whatever Aang had.

"It's like a rumbling noise. Maybe an engine... remember that Southern Raider ship?" he asked her, Katara giving a curt nod, knowing that low rumbling that they made on the ship, before picking up another box, "Let's go. I have a feeling the Fire Nation isn't going to just leave this camp alone." he agreed with her prior sentiment, and Katara nodded, pacing on over toward Appa's saddle.

She suddenly heard a banging noise in the distance, and turned around to see a flaming ball coursing through the sky above them, heading right in their direction; before she could even react, the young Air Nomad jumped through the air, gracefully landing on the saddle, before he picked up his staff, conjuring a wind gust with it, which blasted up from his position toward the flaming ball of rock. It was split right in two by his attack, before crumbling away, Katara running in the opposite direction of the saddle to avoid the flaming debris that fell down from the sky above them.

"Katara!" she heard him call out to her, "Get to the saddle!" he pleaded with her, the Water Tribe girl gritting her teeth as she wondered if another attack would come their way.

She didn't know if the attack was aimed at them or perhaps at whoever had originally been at the camp, but she didn't care to find out, and dashed right back toward Aang, whose Fire Nation disguise had been blackened in various spots by small, hot rocks. She wondered if he was hurt, and saw the fearful look on his face; he had come to try and help people, but instead, they were just being attacked instead- his plan had backfired, and now they were going to have to fly away.

She tossed the boxes of rations over to Aang, who caught them all in his hands, before she scrambled up one of Appa's legs, the Air Nomad offering her a hand, which she accepted, "Appa! Yip-yip!" he called on his sky-bison, who growled and flicked his tail up and down, before soaring up into the air.

Suddenly, another fireball came into view, and Katara reached for her waterskin, wondering if her bending would be any good against the attack; her friend didn't relent to bend the air around the rock itself, causing it to fly off course, before she flicked the water she had grabbed out at it, creating an arc of water which was able to slice right through the surprisingly brittle rock, shattering it as it fell down past Appa's side. She sighed with relief as they soared up into the air, moving fast away from the battlefield.

She glanced back down, and noted smoke coming from the direction where the flaming boulders were being fired from. She wondered whether they were intending to hit them because they recognised Appa, or because they assumed they were enemies simply because of landing where they had. Suddenly, multiple fire streams fired out through the canopy of the forest, aiming right toward them; Aang tugged hard on the reins, and made Appa turn sharply to the left, the force nearly throwing Katara and Momo off of the saddle. She grasped tightly onto the edge of the saddle, and the flying lemur did the same to her leg; she knew without much water, her bending wouldn't be very useful to try and distract the people who were attacking them.

Another boulder flew out from the forest, this time missing by a decent margin, though she had a feeling they mightn't be so lucky the next time; she turned to face her friend, and stressed her feelings with a near shout, "Get Appa above the clouds." she demanded, the young Air Nomad's fearful grimace not fading as he nodded.

He pulled the reins back to indicate for his sky-bison to rise up even higher above the forest; she realised that they might be easier to spot before they reached the clouds, but it would be harder for them to be hit at such distances. Another flaming boulder flew up towards them a few moments later, and it forced Aang to pull tightly down on the reins, Katara watching as the boulder flew right over them, before dropping down in front of them, crashing down into the forest below. She almost laughed, just surprised by how close it was coming to them, but she knew laughing wasn't the right kind of response; she knew she ought to be panicking, but all she could do was grasp the saddle, and hope Aang didn't throw her off accidentally. The young Avatar pulled on the reins, and directed them to turn to the left, heading in the direction of a few small rock covered hills that peaked out from the surrounding woods.

"Why are we going there?" she asked him, the young Avatar narrowing his eyes.

"We need someplace to hide Appa. These guys are going to chase us, so we need to make them think we've gotten away."

"They can't go that fast... can they?" she asked him, the young Avatar grimacing.

"You know how fast their ships are, right? I have a feeling they have crafts on land as well." he reminded her, the Water Tribe girl shaking her head.

"I think we should continue flying."

"What if they send messenger hawks and all that? They might get half of the Fire Nation Army around here to chase us down. It's better if they can't see us." he noted, "I am the Avatar, after all."

"You are." she noted quietly, realising how many issues that made for them, especially given that the Fire Nation saw him as their enemy, or at the very least, a threat to their control, given his partnership with Azula, "We can't hide for that long. Maybe to nightfall... but then we have to leave. If they actually reach us, then we mightn't be able to escape." she warned him, the young Avatar nodding.

"We will escape, Katara. I'm a master of evasion." he assured her, making her snicker, remembering that Azula would use that as an insult; at that very moment, however, it seemed like a compliment.

Appa continued to fly along at pace, as she turned back to look at where they had been attacked, and realised that they had given up on their barrage of flaming boulders; she smiled, relieved by that fact, and turned her eyes back to the young Avatar, who was running his hands through his short black hair. he was obviously worried, but he seemed rather confident in his decision-making; becoming bolder was both a good and a bad thing for Aang. As the Avatar, it was expected of him to make the big decisions and do what was right to help the world, but at the same time, he was only twelve years old, and that meant that he could just as easily slip up, misjudge things and make mistakes- she didn't want that to happen, and just hoped that he'd listen to her advice next time.

"So, maybe landing there was a bad idea." she suggested, the Air Nomad boy cringing, before he nodded.

"Yeah... sorry about that. I really... well, yeah, we should have just kept our distance." he conceded, "But, we still don't know what happened. Maybe Earth Kingdom fighters were involved." he suggested, the Water Tribe girl turning her eyes out toward the horizon, looking out toward the edge of the forest they were flying over.

"This seems like a good place to hide from the Fire Nation... but maybe not, seeing what we found." she noted, before she glanced over toward the hills which they were quickly approaching; she could make out the rocks a little better now that they were closer, and realise how much cover it provided- she assumed it would be a good place to camp, if not for the fact that they had just been attacked by Fire Nation forces, who might reach them rather quickly if they gave chase.

"We can hide. Maybe not for long, but long enough that they might think we kept flying." Aang suggested, before scrunching his lips up, "Then I want to try and figure out what's going on here."

"Really? But aren't we meant to be getting to Omashu?"

"Yeah, we are, but I think we can spare some time. Azula might want us to gather some information."

"No, you're right." she nodded, realising that their greater plan for helping the Earth Kingdom rebuild itself couldn't exactly go ahead if they didn't know who their potential allies could be across the country, "If there's any Earth Kingdom fighters around here, then we'll be able to tell Bumi about them and maybe they can link up."

"Exactly." Aang grinned at her, glad that she had got his idea straight away, "So, we'll hide for a bit, and then we can look around."

Katara rose up from the saddle slightly as they approached the craggy hilltops, Appa slowing down as he began to meander past the rocks and crevasses; she thought about what they might do in their spare time, seeing that they mightn't be flying for a while, and came to a quick conclusion.

"Maybe find a place to do some forms." she suggested quietly, her friend making a bright smile, obviously thinking that would be a good idea.

"Oh, yeah, I should be working on my waterbending too, and I'm sure you want to practice too." he noted, before scrunching his lips up, "I kinda miss Master Pakku now."

"Oh, am I not as good a teacher?" she jokingly questioned him, the young Avatar taking her words seriously, raising his hands up to stress his point.

"No, no! You're great, Katara, I didn't mean it like that." he assured Katara, who pursed her lips up at the compliment he gave her; she was getting better, and even if she wasn't a real master yet, she certainly was getting on the way.

"Thanks." she quietly responded, before thinking back to his actual point, "He is a good teacher." she conceded, before narrowing her eyes, "Even if he isn't the most likeable man."

He nodded, and grimaced slightly, "Well, maybe if we see him again, he might be nicer." he suggested, the Water Tribe girl chuckling.

"Oh, I don't think he's going to change his whole mindset because he remembered how his attitudes made my grandmother leave the Northern Water Tribe." she conceded, "He might try and be kinder to me specifically, but I doubt he's going to be declaring women free to learn combat waterbending anytime soon." she acknowledged, before she glanced around them, noting how they were moving into the cover of a gully between two rocky outcrops; Appa soon after touched down on the ground, and groaned, obviously not liking having to go as fast as he had to flee their Fire Nation attackers.

"Okay, let's just hide out here for a bit. I don't think they'll be able to see us unless they climb up and in here." Aang noted, before jumping off of the saddle, glancing around, "Maybe we should go refill our water skins. Don't want to have to fly away again and then be thirsty all afternoon." he suggested, Katara glancing around, wondering where exactly they were going to get water from.

"You wouldn't happen to know where we could find some water, would you?" she asked, the young Avatar gesturing down the gully behind them.

"I think there might be some ponds around here. This is a lot like the land around the Southern Air Temple. There's a lot of ponds and caves." he explained, the Water Tribe girl nodding.

She reached over to pick up her water skin, which she tied to her belt, before she climbed off of the saddle; momentarily, she glanced back up, and wondered whether the flying-lemur would join them, "Momo, are you coming?"

Momo chittered, and flew up into the air, gliding around the gully, before he landed on a tree, presumably searching it for fruits; Aang laughed at his immediate choice of action, and gestured for her to follow, "Momo will be fine. He might get us some fruit while we're gone."

"If he doesn't eat it all first." she warned, the young Avatar snickering, before the two of them began to pace on down through the base of the gully, heading downhill, hopefully toward a source of water they could use to refill their supplies.

As they strode down the hill, she heard Appa groan, and she noted he was turning around to go find some food; there was enough bushes and grass for him to eat that she was sure he would have full stomach by the time they left, and hopefully recovered from the frightening experience they'd had with the flaming boulders. She turned her eyes back ahead, and focused on keeping a steady footing on the rocky ground below her; Aang was pacing ahead, as he always did, taking each step lightly, and keeping a keen eye out for water. She couldn't see anything from where she was standing, and resigned to follow after, and hoped that the gully led down to some decent sized water source they could collect from. She could purify the water with her bending, but she needed enough to last her a day or two, so she knew it'd have to be more than a trickle or a puddle.

"Wait, Katara, I think I hear water!" Aang turned around with a grin on his face, before he dashed on ahead, assisted by his airbending, allowing him to speedily approach whatever sound he'd heard.

She struggled to keep up after him, and found her chest heaving as she dashed on after him, making her way down around a corner, which led her to a wide opening; she was relieved to see that her friend hadn't misheard, as she gazed upon a stream that was flowing down through a wider gully between two of the hills. She paced on down the slope, which was gravelly and hard to keep a grip on, but she remained steady in her pace, and quickly enough, descended to the base of the slope, looking upon the reasonably fast flowing stream.

"Oh, well, that was easier than I thought it'd be." she noted, before drawing out her water-skin, approaching Aang, who was washing his face with the river water.

"Ah! Now I smell less like ash." he exclaimed, before running his water skin through the stream, gathering up some of the cool liquid.

Katara decided that instead of kneeling down that she'd practice her waterbending instead, and took a bending stance she remembered from her training at the North Pole, reaching out to the stream with her left hand, holding her water skin in her right. She felt the stream flowing in front of her, and raised her left hand up to direct the water up into a thin coil of water, still flowing in motion; it spun around in a few loops, before she strung it out, drawing it into the opening of the water skin. Aang looked at her with a face of awe, and clapped, clearly impressed by the accuracy of her bending.

"Wow, Katara. Good job." he congratulated her, "Maybe we should practice our waterbending right now?"

"We could." she agreed to his idea, before eyeing around the stream, "Let me just put this water skin down. I don't want to accidentally flick it into the stream if I get too into training." she explained herself, making him chuckle.

"Oh, yeah, that could happen." he noted, before doing the same, placing his water skin on the ground a little further away from the bank of the stream.

They both turned around, and she placed her hands together, taking a deep breath, "Let's just start with something simple. Getting our breathing right."

"Got it." Aang nodded, and put his hands out, imitating the long, drawn-out breath she had just taken.

The Water Tribe girl closed her eyes, and took another deep breath, grasping out to the water in front of her, listening to the splashes and gushing that it made as it flowed down the slope, the shallow, haphazard stream moving the water in one long flowing motion. Just by itself, the water was chaotic, but together, everything moved as if it were one, like some kind of snake.

"Uh... Katara." her friend addressed her, his voice calm, but clearly sounding on edge; she opened her eyes and glanced toward him, wondering whether something was wrong, or if he simply had a question to ask, "I can see something glinting in the trees over there." he explained, tilting his head toward the place he was referring to.

She narrowed her eyes, and noted that she too could see some small glints, presumably the sun reflecting off of metallic surfaces, "Spears?" she asked him calmly, keeping her voice low so that whoever she assumed was watching them couldn't hear.

"I think so." he nodded, before scrunching his lips up, "Should we run?"

"We don't know if they're Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom yet." she warned him, "Maybe these people aren't going to attack us."

"But we're wearing our disguises." he reminded her, "We just look like Fire Nation commoners." he noted, before sighing, "Well, I guess there's one way to find out." he decided, grasping the back of his head, swiftly untying his headband, which revealed his tattoos to whoever was watching them.

"We know you're watching us!" she called out toward the treeline, unsure who was there, and how many people there were, "Come out, unless you'd like to get this entire stream thrown at you." she warned them, raising her hands to begin bending the water out of its flowing stream, creating a large coil of water that she spun around herself, ready to attack, if need be.

A few moments later, some figures appeared from the woods, wearing conical hats and garbs that reminded Katara more of her own parka than the usual robes she'd see on Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation people. From the colouration and condition of the clothing and weapons they wielded, she was certain they were Earth Kingdom; one of them wore different clothes, however- gray robes that were thick and nearly covered the man's head, on top of which was messy brown hair. He eyed the two of them, and pointed towards Aang.

"Are... are you the Avatar, kid?" he asked the young Air Nomad, who nodded.

"Yeah, that's me." he confirmed, "Are you guys rebels?" he asked them, the man looking toward his comrades before he nodded.

"Yeah, you could say that." he nodded, before he began to stride down the hillslope, moving to the opposite side of the stream from the pair, flanked by a few of his comrades, who continued to hold their spears up, seeming rather cautious of the two strangers, "What are you doing out here? You're not exactly close to anything I'd expect an Avatar to be concerned with."

"We're passing through." Katara clarified, before narrowing her eyes, "Do you know anything about a battle that happened to the... uh, north of here."

"Yeah, a skirmish between some of Ozai's loyalists and the Fire Nation Army." he explained, "We were watching, but decided to leave... it was a little dangerous, given all the fire."

"We saw." Aang noted, before pointing at his comrades, "So who are you guys? You don't look like you're from the Earth Kingdom, but they do."

"Yeah... I'm a deserter."

"A deserter?" Katara raised a brow, "So, you were in the Fire Nation Army?"

"Yeah, I was, but I deserted a few years ago, after all... well, I guess you two know what they've been doing." he noted, the pair nodding, Katara thinking back to all the horrible things the Southern Raiders did.

"We do." Aang sighed, obviously not liking the state of the world; Katara didn't either, but she had known about the horrors of war for a long time, while he got proverbially slapped in the face by it after being frozen for a hundred years, oblivious to the events that had unfolded.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Avatar. I heard about you coming back, and we were pretty happy to know that somebody was finally coming to fix this mess."

"Oh... uh, yeah, that's what I'm here to do." he confirmed, cringing slightly as he spoke, "Oh, I'm Aang, by the way, and this is Katara." he gestured to his friend beside him, the man placing a hand on his chest.

"The name's Chey." he explained, Katara's eyes widening, remembering that name from her brother's story, or at least, one of the various permutations of it; Chey was the name of the man who led a group of Earth Kingdom fighters to try and beat Azula and her men, working for the same man her father had been hired by to capture the Princess.

Instead of accusing him of anything, she simply flicked her water forward, and struck him on the forehead with a water whip, throwing him down onto his back, "Argh!" he cried out, his men looking at him with concerned faces.

"Katara! What was that for?" her friend questioned her, obviously shocked by her outburst.

"That's the guy who nearly killed my brother with those explosives. Remember the story? When they were heading to Yu Dao." she growled before gesturing to Chey, "You're the guy working for Jeong Jeong, right?"

"How'd you... wait... the Princess." he remembered, "So, I assume you're friends with her?"

"Yes, we are." Aang confirmed, "So, can I ask, where's Jeong Jeong? Isn't he a member of Order of the White Lotus?"

"He is... but he's not with us at the moment." Chey clarified, "He's gone to Omashu for the turn over."

"The what?" Katara asked, "Omashu is where we're headed right now."

"The turn over. Haven't you guys heard?"

"What's the turn over?" Aang asked him.

"The Fire Lord is giving Omashu back to the Earth Kingdom." he explained, making their eyes widen, turning back to face each other.

"Zuko." both of them whispered his name, before turning to face Chey.

"Will he be there?" she asked him; he shook his head, and raised a finger to his chin.

"No, the Dragon of the West is going to oversee the turn over." he explained, Katara nodding, remembering that to be the epithet of Azula's uncle Iroh, who was the man behind much of the intrigue that had led to the coup against Fire Lord Ozai, and later, Azula's Agni Kai with her brother.

"Well, I guess we'll be able to meet him." Aang concluded, before scrunching his lips up, "I guess this'll be good news for the rebels."

"Yeah, it will be." she agreed with him, before glancing back at Chey, "Do you need any help? We're not planning to leave immediately. Anybody fighting the Fire Nation is a friend of ours... even after what you did to Sokka."

"I'm sorry... I didn't know that boy was Water Tribe." he apologised, "General Iroh explained to me what happened when he freed us from prison. You brother has been through a lot."

"Yeah, he has." she nodded, "So, do you need help, or what?"

"You're both waterbenders, right?" he asked them, the pair nodding, "Well, there's some goons after us. Some of Ozai's loyalists." he explained, "Maybe you could teach them a lesson."

"We'll need some water to bend, though." Aang realised a precondition of their bending being useful in any regard; Katara was unsure whether to feel reassured or concerned when she saw the deserter smirk.

"Oh, don't worry, we can help with that part."

---

Sokka had had quite enough of travelling through the woods, and realised after all the time he spent stuck with Ty Lee, he much preferred going Appa, which despite being reasonably more dangerous, for obvious reasons, was a method of travel which would allow him to sleep on the sky-bison's saddle without a worry in the world. That seemed a lot better than sitting Ty Lee, who seemed to not know when to shut up, and never ran out of absurd or intrusive questions. Though they were amusing to begin with, they became old rather quickly, and he had gotten to the point of refusing to even answer her if she asked about anything that didn't directly concern their physical needs and any issues they might face moving closer and closer to territories occupied by Zuko's loyalists.

When they got to the hills outside of Shengchang, they had to dismount and hide their komodo rhinos, after which they began walking on foot down into the valley. The city's outskirts were expansive, full of fields growing both grain and fibre crops, which he assumed the Fire Nation needed for making clothes. Azula had spoken of the use that seizing the cotton farms might have for her plans, but he didn't really understand how having more clothes or tent canvases would really help them. He was less so annoyed at that point by Ty Lee, who had shut up, given the dangerous location they'd found themselves in, and more by the fact their precaution had taken them walking along a tree covered stream, hiding themselves from view. They were already wearing camouflage cloaks, but Azula didn't want to take any chances and accidentally run into some farm labourers while trying to get closer to Shengchang.

He kept his frustrations to himself, and kept an eye on the left bank of the mostly dry streambed, which they were walking through; Fire Nation soldiers patrolled the area, according to Sneers and Kori, who had come through the city a few times before, and thus, had a good understanding of the best paths to take to avoid being spotted. That was a little better than going underground via her earthbending; it wasn't that he didn't trust Kori's skills, but he just knew that keeping enough of a cavity large enough to fit them all would challenge anyone, no matter their bending skill. It was more a question of pure strength, which he didn't want to find the answer to, in case it ended up with them suffocating under a bunch of dirt; of all the ways to die, Sokka was sure that would be one of the most embarrassing.

"Where exactly are we going?" he heard the Captain speak up, obviously asking Kori, who turned back to face him with a reassuring smile.

"Just to a warehouse on the edge of the city. That's where this group meets up. Some of them will have to be there right now." she assured him, before turning back around, "We're coming up toward a bridge, so we'll have to stay close to the bank." she warned them, the group heeding her advice.

Sokka moved up toward the left bank of the river, noting that indeed, there was a stone bridge ahead of them, crossing the stream; its arches dropped quite low, and he was a little concerned about all of them getting through without being spotted.

"We might as well announce our arrival." he heard Azula growl in front of him, the Water Tribe warrior glancing up to the top of the bank, noting there wasn't much around the bridge, as they were still walking through farmland.

The fact it was already late in the day gave Sokka hope that most people were finishing their work, and thus, less likely to be toiling about in the fields. It would be equally annoying if that were the case, given it meant their trudging around the streambed would have been effectively pointless. The only reason they were hiding was because Azula might be in danger if she were spotted. She could obviously defend herself, but if the entire town guard of Shengchang came down on them, intent on taking her in chains to her brother, things would go ugly quickly; the kind of ugly that would not endear the Princess to the people she sought to rule.

"Keep your heads down." she ordered the others, who complied with her command, crouching slightly as they all moved in double file toward the arch of the bridge closest to the left bank; it was a narrow passage through, but they were able to fit well enough, though Sokka was more concerned about being spotted; luckily, the bridge seemed to have high railing, presumably more for aesthetics rather than safety, which was a good thing for them, as it made it harder for any pedestrians to notice them walking on underneath.

When they got to the other side, Sokka noted that he could see the city proper ahead of them, down the slope which the stream ran, and could see that the stream went all the way to the walls of the city; he increased his pace to get closer to Kori and Sneers, wanting to ask them if they were going to go inside.

"Are we going into the walled part of the city?" he asked them, the pair shaking their heads.

"No, the warehouse is outside the walls." Sneers clarified, before scrunching his lips up, "But we might need to take a different route than usual. The tough guards do stand out a bit."

"We're not even wearing our helmets." Shan noted, looking to his comrades, "We don't stick out that much, do we?"

"We're wearing full armour." Renshu retorted, "I can see what he means." he noted, turning his gaze back toward Sneers, "Which way are we going?"

"You're probably not going to like it." he admitted, before gesturing down the stream, "Just down here is a sewer. It's the only way we can get close to the warehouse without being spotted." he explained, "Kori can earthbend a hole out when we get to the warehouse." he clarified, his girlfriend nodding.

"Don't worry, I can do it." she assured them, before gesturing for them to follow, "Let's keep moving. People can still look down into the stream if they need to relieve themselves." she warned them, making Sokka snicker; his girlfriend looked back at him with a confused face, and raised a hand.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, the fact you might burn some guy's dick off for snooping on us while he's pissing." he admitted, making her cover her face, clearly embarrassed by such a suggestion.

"Just shut up, Sokka." she chided him, before following on after Kori and Sneers; he did the same, making his way along the dry streambed, approaching the clearly marked out stone sewer entrance, where he could see a trickle of wastewater coming out.

He grimaced with disgust, and shook his head, just wishing they'd put the effort in to properly disguise themselves and not had to take such a disgusting route, no matter how secure it might be. Sokka ducked down as he approached the entrance, walking in after Azula, who snapped her right hand, lighting a flame in her hands, which lit up the damp and dark sewers a blue hue. He was surprised that the colouration made the sewer look cleaner, though that was probably because he just associated blue with the snow and home; he chuckled at the thought that it could be his opinions of Azula that made him feel comfortable in the blue-coloured sewer. The colour had taken on a new meaning after being around her for so long; it was no longer the simple colour he associated with home, but with her strength as a firebender, and the assurance she'd protect him and herself from danger. Once he might have thought such an idea to be gravely emasculating, but he had grown to like it, knowing that assurance gave him peace of mind, more than any chi-blocking training had, even though he was quite confident in his abilities.

He followed her flames, stepping cautiously as they moved deeper into the sewers; he could hear splashing from footsteps ahead of him, and decided to stay by one side of the sewer, and avoid getting his boots soaked with the water, not knowing what was in it. It might just be waste water from washing and cooking, but it could be a mixture of fecal matter and urine too; he didn't want to think about that, and the smell suggested there had to be some of the latter. He could hear Ty Lee making a gag noise behind him, and glanced to see her disgusted expression, and he just made an awkward smile, giving her a nod to confirm he agreed with her. He might have come from an impoverished little village in the South Pole, but that didn't mean he could tolerate something as disgusting as walking through a sewer.

Kori whistled at them, indicating for everyone to turn at the corner they were approaching, leading them along a slight upward incline through the sewer. He didn't know where exactly the sewers went, but he assumed she knew exactly where the warehouse would be, so she could earthbend them a way out. Azula gestured toward her boyfriend with her left hand, indicating for him to hurry up, which he did, though still keeping himself as far to the left side as possible, not wanting to inadvertently step in somebody's shit.

"How much further?" the Princess asked the couple, Sneers, turning back to face her, raising a finger.

"It's around the main road, so, just up ahead. You'll hear it." he explained to her and she nodded, seemingly affirming her understanding, though Sokka couldn't see her face, and therefore couldn't tell if she was confident in his words.

As they continued up through the sewer, he suddenly heard the sound of stomping above them, and the clattering of things; he realised that it had to be a cart driving down the road just mentioned.

"That'd be it." he confirmed, before pointing ahead of them, "Kori it has to just up here." he explained, his girlfriend nodding, pacing ahead, before she took an earthbending form.

It took awhile for everybody to catch up to her, given they'd been walking through the sewer in single file, but by the time the Water Tribe warrior had reached her, he could see that she was carving a hole in the sewer roof, though she seemed to be doing so cautiously, to avoid collapsing the tunnel. Eventually, light broke into the tunnel, and Sokka covered his face, finding the change in light to be rather jarring, and when Azula's flames went out, he was reminded that they were in a sewer, and sewers were usually a murky brown, not blue. Kori shifted her movements, creating indentations in the sewer wall and hole above it to give them someplace to step and hold as they climbed up.

"We'll go first... given we're not wearing Fire Nation armour." she glanced back to the Princess who crossed her arms.

"Hurry up, and check the street. I don't want to stand in here any longer than I have to." she gestured down to the ground below her, Kori nodding before she quickly scaled up to the street, offering Sneers a hand as he climbed on after her; once the two of them were up, she clenched her fist, closing the hole she had made, leaving them in the darkness once more.

"This place is terrible." Sokka spoke his thoughts, making Azula sigh, clearly in agreement.

"This better be worth it. If I don't get something amazing out of this, I'm going to go find the Governor of this city and give him a beating just to make the trip worth my time."

"You're not serious are you?" Sokka asked her, "You do remember what happened last time, right?" he warned her of what had come of threatening Mayor Morishita, Kori's father- it had amounted to pretty much nothing, given Zuko's presence in the city.

"Well, Zuko isn't here." she retorted, "I doubt whoever's here will have any reason to not take my threats seriously." she acknowledged, "A warning to those that oppose me ought to help them make up their minds when my army arrives here." she noted, making the Water Tribesman cringe at the thought of what she intended to do.

Restarting a civil war in earnest, or at least, adding another dimension to it, wouldn't do her country much good, in his opinion; however, he knew that she would be a competent and skilled leader, the kind her country did need if they wanted to move beyond the hundred years of war that had dominated the world. She could come out victorious, if the support she desired did exist, which seemed to be a question they were very close to answering.

After an uncomfortably long period of time standing in the damp, stench-filled sewer, the hole reopened, and Kori looked down at them, gesturing for them to follow, "The alley is clear. Let's go." she told them, the Princess immediately scaling up the indentations in the sewer wall, flicking her hands about once she reached the top, indicating that she didn't enjoy touching the dank walls of the sewer.

He immediately followed after, and cringed at the touch of the indentations, but tried his best to ignore it, and pulled himself up onto the street, eyeing around to note that they were in a recluse alleyway, some distance from the main road where they might've been spotted. He wiped his hands down on his cloak, not wanting to keep the smell of the sewer on them after he had finally left its grasp. He turned around, and noted that there was a doorway nearby, where a suspicious looking man stood; he seemed to be of mixed Fire Nation-Earth Kingdom ancestry, like Kori, and was well-muscled with a moustache and short brown hair. He was eyeing them, and Sokka had a feeling he had something to do with the people they were going to go meet. Azula noticed his presence as well, and moved to approach him, pointing a finger at him accusingly.

"Are you one of them?" she asked him, the man raising a brow at her with confusion.

"Sorry, what?" he asked, Kori stepping forward between them.

"I'm sorry for her rudeness." she excused Azula's behaviour, "This is her... you know who." she gestured to the Princess beside her, the man eyeing down Azula for a few moments.

"Seriously?" he asked her, now sounding rather unnerved.

"Sokka, is there anyone at the end of the alleyway?" his girlfriend asked Sokka, who shook his head, not seeing anyone who could potentially be looking their way, other than the muscled man he assumed to be a bouncer of sorts.

"No." he assured her, making her smirk slightly; he guessed she intended to show off or intimidate somebody, most likely the bouncer.

"Well then, I guess you won't mind me showing you this." she turned her attention back to the man, creating a few dancing bright blue embers in her palm, the man's eyes widening.

"It is her!" he practically shouted in amazement, before falling to his knees, "I apologise your highness. I am sorry for doubting your identity... it's just that we get fake Princesses all the time, trying to play us for money or supplies." he explained, before looking up at her with eyes of awe, "You're the real deal."

"Yes, I am." she confirmed, before pointing at the door behind him, "I am at the right place to meet people who support me, correct?"

"Yes." he nodded, "You want to meet the people I'm working with?" he asked, the Princess giving him a resolute stare; without any other need for confirmation, he knocked on the door behind him, and a second later, a wooden shutter opened up, revealing a pair of golden eyes.

"What is it, Lee? Did some informants come to you again?" he asked, the bouncer shaking his head.

"It's the actual Princess. She's here." he clarified, gesturing to Azula, who stood beside him.

"Very funny..." the man behind the door sarcastically quipped, before he took note of the blue flames in Azula's hand, "Oh fuck." he mumbled, before a few moments later, the door was unlocked and opened for them, "Please, come inside, your highness."

"It's about time." she narrowed her eyes at the man who had been holding the door, "Who am I meant to speak to? I assume you have a leader." the Princess asked him; he seemed rather unnerved by her presence, after he had joked about her being an impostor.

"Uh..." he mumbled, gesturing down the hallway that he was standing in, "I'll take you to them." he explained, the Princess raising a brow.

"Them?" she raised a brow, "You have more than one leader?"

"Uh, yes." he nodded, "We aren't a gang... we're a political group, your highness." he clarified, Azula turning her gaze back toward Kori and Sneers.

"Who do you know from this group?" she asked them, both of them glancing at each other awkwardly.

"Well, one of my friends from Yu Dao, she was really enthusiastic about our whole thing about ensuring the colonies were made better." she acknowledged, "She heard about what your brother was planning to do with the colonies, so she worked with some other people to try and get support to either secede and create a new nation to protect our livelihoods or get you to return and help them. They had to leave Yu Dao, though, just like us." she explained, "Her name is Kibo."

"Well, I'd like to meet this Kibo." the Princess acknowledged, raising a finger to her chin, "So, do they live in this warehouse?"

"No, this is just our base of operations, your highness." the man explained, before gesturing for her to follow, "I'll take you our leaders."

Sokka stepped forward, following after his girlfriend, before he placed a hand on Sneers shoulder, stopping him from following after the others as they began to file after the Princess, "You guys never really said what you've been doing since you left Yu Dao."

"Well... it hasn't exactly been legal." the former Freedom Fighter admitted, "Jet told me a few things, and Kori is a good earthbender."

"Fair enough." he nodded, before grimacing, "I'm sorry for leaving." he admitted, making the other boy raise a brow.

"You didn't have much of a choice. The Fire Lord was going to capture her otherwise."

"We could have fought longer... but I was too afraid." he acknowledged, "Yeah, Azula ended up finding the Avatar, so I guess it all worked out, but if that never happened, we would have left the Earth Kingdom to chaos, and for all we know, Fire Lord Ozai could have returned to the throne."

"Well, we can't make up for our mistakes other than by acting." he acknowledged, "We did some bad shit... I didn't exaggerate when I called Jet crazy." he added with a dark, almost fearful tone.

"You don't need to explain." he assured him, before pacing on after the others, "Let's just see these people." he decided, before narrowing his eyes in thought, "Do you think they're any good?"

"I fought for the Earth Kingdom once." he spoke with a wistful face, before sighing, "But that was just what we told ourselves. These people don't just care about themselves, they care about their communities. The colonies aren't just the parts of the Earth Kingdom ruled by the Fire Nation, they're more than that."

"Yeah, I figured that." he nodded, "They're a new nation... kind of." he declared, before considering whether a mixture of the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom was a new nation, or moving beyond such a absolute concept; the Water Tribes were easy to define due to their isolation, but the Earth Kingdom was a diverse place, with people from all over travelling through, living there and ruling over it.

He followed after the others, making his way to the end of the hallway, before walking out into an open warehouse, where he could see a number of tables, stacks of paper and people sitting down, writing text or printing images onto paper; they weren't doing their jobs at present, given all their attention had come to Azula, who wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He knew she was used to attention, and guessed she might be glad it wasn't the bad kind.

The man who had been standing by the entrance was leading the Princess and her entourage up a staircase, leading to what looked like some kind of office that looked out over the floor of the warehouse. When they reached the door, Azula simply needed to stand in front of it, and it was opened for her at once; she paced on inside, and Sokka followed after her, making his way in after Kori, Sneers and Ty Lee. Once all of them were inside, he glanced over a large table inside, where about a dozen people sat, all of them of varying ages and appearances; some of them were Fire Nation, though others seemed to be of at least partial-Earth Kingdom descent, like Kori. A teenage girl stood up from the table and beamed at her, presumably the girl Kibo that she mentioned.

"Kori, you're here!" she grinned at her, before eyeing the Princess, "And you got her here too." she observed, before bowing at the girl who was proclaimed their leader and rightful Fire Lord, "Your highness, it's an honour to meet you."

Azula acknowledged her with a nod, "Well, I have been looking forward to meeting you all... not that I know anything about you." she noted, striding closer to the table, "So, could one of you tell me what you want... obviously, you think I'm a better candidate for Fire Lord than my brother or father, but there must be a reason for that."

"You are the one who swore to protect us." Kibo spoke up, "I didn't hear it myself, but Kori didn't lie. We all know what the Fire Lord wants to do... and I think you know what your father thinks of the colonials."

"Uh, yes." the Princess nodded, rather awkwardly accepting that presumption about Ozai, "He thinks of you all like you are exiles and peasants." she noted, "Though that might be partially true, I know that every person who is a Fire Nation citizen is deserving of the same respect... well, I learnt that."

"We don't want to find ourselves swallowed by a resurgent Earth Kingdom, or suffer as the pawns of a tyrant." one of those on the table, an older man, spoke up, "The colonies are something that cannot just be destroyed. We are more than just Fire Nation citizens on Earth Kingdom land."

"I know that." she agreed with him, "My brother probably just thinks of the colonies as a problem that he has to solve, but I see no problem here." she acknowledged, "I mean, the Earth Kingdom locals will need to be afforded respect and dignity if we are to make peace with them, but these lands cannot be torn asunder from the homeland, and if they are, it should not be to subjugation by the Earth King." she added, before placing her hands down on the table, "But luckily for you all, I'm working to make sure that is an impossible outcome."

"How?" the man asked her, not sounding skeptical, but rather intrigued.

"Because I am making sure whatever comes about of the chaos in the Earth Kingdom does not simply mean a return of what was there before. There is a reason the colonies could have been established in the first place; opportunity was seized upon a weak and divided country." she gave them the briefest of history lessons, one Sokka had come to realise the tragedy of.

The Earth Kingdom was defeated by the Fire Nation thoroughly, though not because of any inherent weakness in their people, or in earthbending, but because they were divided into squabbling fiefdoms, ruled by a monarch in a city so far from anything else that it was only logical they'd care little about the events on the other side of the Earth Kingdom. He knew that groups like the Dai Li stood in the way of a better country, and that that was exactly what Azula wanted to solve; that was what she had told Bumi's men, and they seemed to agree with her.

"So, you want to... help them?" another on the table asked, "But won't they come for us? The colonies are built on their land."

"No, they won't because I'll be helping them reunite their country, and they'll help us free the rest of the colonies by dealing with my father's supporters." she explained with a smirk, "They will allow me to focus all of my resources in achieving exactly what I want: these lands, under my rule, secure and free, and with peace found with the Earth Kingdom, allowed to prosper without the threat of war."

"That's what we all want." Kibo admitted, "It's just a shame we couldn't have met you earlier."

"Well, I didn't know where anyone who supported me was." she conceded, "I did, however, spot the posters your organisation has been making." she added, pursing her lips upward; despite how much she had changed, Azula couldn't help but to enjoy having her ego stroked.

"Ah, we think they're getting the public riled up to support you." one of those on the table, an older woman explained, "The colonials don't like martial law very much. A few cities have been locked down due to riots, and our posters are giving them hope."

"Oh, that's exactly what I want them to feel." the Princess agreed with her, "A storm is coming, and I will be there to keep them safe."

"So... will you be coming to help us soon?" the man who had already questioned her asked another question, sounding rather hopeful that she might come over with her forces to liberate Shengchang.

"Not yet." she refused, "I cannot attack a city as large as Shengchang without both securing my supply lines and weakening my brother's forces first, though I assume my father's loyalists may do that job for us."

"And the supply lines... I assume your army is in need of food and armaments." he noted, "Well... we may know some people who might be able to help you with that."

"Associates with weapons?" she raised a brow, the man nodding.

"There's a few factories in Shengchang that have been producing arms for the war effort, but since the Fire Lord began withdrawing his forces from the Earth Kingdom, they've slowed down production, and there's been a little excess."

"Oh, so nobody's using these weapons?" she asked him, the man pursing his lips upward.

"That's right, your highness." he confirmed, "We may be able to smuggle some out of the city, but we'd need your men to deal with some of the security issues. There's guards checking the roads out of the city, so it may be a challenge to get carts full of weapons out of here." he explained, the Princess nodding.

"Well, I believe I can help with that." she explained, "I have a number of elite firebenders with me at this moment, standing down in the floor of this warehouse." she gestured towards the door they'd used.

"So what... you want to us to whack up the city's guards?" Sokka asked the man who was offering them with a plan; he shook his head, and raised a finger.

"Not necessarily. We just need to make sure they don't check the carts." he explained, Sokka glancing over toward Ty Lee and Azula.

"You remember the day we met you, Ty Lee."

"Oh yeah, we had tea and my sisters ogled you-" she began, the Water Tribesman raising his hand up, knowing she'd brought up something unrelated to the part of the day he was thinking of.

"Not that, sheesh." he cringed, "I mean Aang and Katara stealing from that stole and riling up the guards. We had to chi block them, remember?"

"Oh... yeah." she nodded, before scrunching her lips up, "So, Azula, do you have any good way to catch the guards attention?"

"Well, I'd say it would be smartest to have my guards escort the cart of weapons out of the city, once it is secured that is." she noted, "They're the ones who are better able to protect it." she clarified, before raising a finger to gesture to Ty Lee and then to her boyfriend, "These two are the ones who can beat the guards and run away with ease."

"That we are." Sokka proudly declared, knowing that a few town guards would be no issue for him, "But... uh, what are we going to do to actually get their attention."

"Well, Sokka, you like shopping." Azula recalled, gesturing toward him, "You want to buy something, just don't pay."

"I mean..." he mumbled, wondering if he could tolerate theft in such a blatant manner; he knew that getting the weapons they might receive if they could draw the attention of the guards would be so helpful that it would outweigh the negatives of him stealing from somebody who probably didn't deserve it, "I guess I could do that."

"What do you want to get?" Ty Lee asked him, the Water Tribe warrior cringing; he didn't wnt everybody on the table to have a chance to critique his choice.

"I'll decide when I get there." he lied, "Then we'll have to run." he deduced, "How are we going to get away?" he asked Azula, who seemed unsure of a solution to that specific issue.

Kori tapped her left hand on the table, smirking at him confidently, "How'd we get here?"

"Oh." he realised, before cringing, not wanting to walk through the sewers again, "I don't want to go back in the sewers again."

"Well, Master Chi-Blocker, do you want to fight your way out instead?" Azula mocked him, the Water Tribesman cringing as he realised she was doing so in front of a fair few people neither of them knew.

"Uh... no." he mumbled, before shaking his head, turning back to face the man who had offered to get them the weapons to begin with, "So, who are these associates, anyway?"

"Good question, Sokka." Azula commended him, "I would like to know exactly who is donating to my cause."

"Well, the man who is offering to sell us weapons is a man by the name of Mister Takumi." he explained, "He owns a number of factories that have been threatened with forced closure, because the Fire Lord wants all military producers to be moved to the homeland." he explained, "And he doesn't want to close up shop, as you could imagine."

"What kinds of things do these factories produce?" Azula asked him, the man raising his hands up.

"The usual. Armour, parts for and whole siege weapons, as well as engines and hydraulics systems for trains and ships." he explained, the Princess raising a finger.

"Did you say engines?" she asked him rather simply; her tone suggested to Sokka that she had another plan in mind.

"Uh, yes, your highness. Some of his factories produce engines." he confirmed, "Why do you ask?"

"Are they in this city?" she retorted with another question, which he answered with a simple nod, "Good." she smirked, "I know exactly how I'm going to liberate the colonies." she decided, "I'll just need to meet this Mister Takumi once I return with my army."

"Wait..." Ty Lee mumbled, "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"

"The prototype worked, Ty Lee." she assured her, "If we simply make them larger and add weaponry, which I'm sure these producers could provide, we will have an arsenal capable of destroying military installations and defences with ease."

Sokka's eyes widened, realising that she was referring to the airship design which Zhao had piloted to the Northern Water Tribe, "You want to make more of those? What if your men mutiny and give them to your father?" he asked her bluntly, the Princess scoffing at his suggestion.

"Oh, well, I have a simple way to prevent that, Sokka." she decided, "I'll have civilians on board controlling the operations of the craft." she decided, before turning to face those on the table, "How would you like to start a campaign to recruit me some pilots."

"Pilots?" one of the men on the table asked, "What are you going make?"

"Airships. You may have heard about the prototype War Minister Qin had taken from the Northern Air Temple. We made it even better, and now, I can utilise the industrial resources of this city to make even more. We can rain down fire... or even rocks, if those capable of bending them decide to join our forces." she explained, Kori smirking confidently.

"So, can we get Yu Dao back for ourselves?" Kibo asked the Princess, who nodded, rising to her feet.

"All of the colonies will be free. If we can take this city, I promise you, I will come out victorious in the end, but only with your support."

"You are our Fire Lord. We would not have it any other way." Kibo assured her, before she gestured for her fellow members to stand up; they all did, before bowing toward Azula in a sign of respect.

"You will all receive the peace you desire, and the world will be made better than it was before my brother dared to turn it upside down, I promise you that."

---

I apologise for being so slow to update this story. I essentially stopped writing The Return for this last semester of university. The good news is, I have finished university for the year, and thus, will be able to write this story at a fast rate again. Once I finish my original story which I have being working on for the past year and a half, I will be able to dedicate most of my summer break to writing this story in particular, meaning that I should be able to catch up and compensate for the writing I haven't done for the past few months. Thus, you can expect frequent updates from December onwards. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and are looking forward to seeing where it will go next.