A Trip to the South Pole

Kiyi was sleeping soundly in her room when a noise woke her up. Curious, she got up and went to go see what it was. That's when she heard two voices talking to each other. Both of which belonged to her parents.

"That girl isn't mine, is she Ursa?" she heard dad say. What did that mean? Of course she was his child! That's why she calls him dad, right?

Ursa was quiet for a few seconds before she let out a breath "No, she isn't. She's Ikem's child."

Ozai snarled "You're ex-boyfriend? When did you run into him?"

"Five years ago, when we went to Hira'a to visit my parents. I ran into him and we started talking about why we broke up and… one thing led to another. I didn't find out that I was pregnant with Kiyi until two weeks later. I didn't know how to tell you, so I stayed silent about it. I never told Zuko and Azula either."

Ozai stood there glaring at her before he spoke, with pure malice in his voice " Five years. You've kept this hidden from me for five years. You let that… mistake run around here and she isn't even of royal blood! You have made a fool out of me! Well, no matter. I'll put an end to the mistake right now. Let this be a lesson to you, dear wife. Do not lie to me again."

Azula was walking towards her little sister's room on the ship when she suddenly heard Kiyi screaming. Azula didn't know what was going on, but if anyone dared to harm Kiyi, she would kill them. She quickly dashed to her sister's room and busted the door open. She scanned the room for any sign of an intruder but saw nobody. Why was Kiyi screaming then? When she turned to look at the girl herself, she got her answer.

Kiyi was shaking beneath the covers, whispering "daddy please don't kill me" and "Zula, help me" over and over again.

She must be dreaming about that conversation, Azula thought to herself, although I doubt that father would actually kill her for something that was beyond her control… probably.

Shaking her head, Azula made her way to the bed and gently shook Kiyi awake.

Kiyi jumped up from her bed and looked around with frightened eyes. When her eyes finally landed on Azula, she began crying again and shouted "ZULA!" and wrapped her arms around her big sister.

Azula immediately wrapped her arms around Kiyi and held her tight, all the while trying to think of how to console the girl. Before she could say anything though, Kiyi looked up at her and said "I had a nightmare."

No, you don't say.

Of course Azula didn't say this to Kiyi. The last thing the girl needs right now is some of her big sister's infamous sarcasm. Plus, Azula never did like being unnecessarily mean to the child. Now if she were Zuko, that would be an entirely different story.

Azula cleared her throat and said "I see. Do you want to talk about it?"

Kiyi hesitated for a moment before replying "...I had a nightmare about what I overheard mommy and daddy talking about before. About how daddy isn't really my dad. In the dream, daddy got really angry with mommy when she told him that and… and he said that he was going to kill me."

Azula hugged her sister tighter before saying "Kiyi, listen to me. Father is upset with mother about keeping this from him. He's not mad at you at all. And he is certainly not going to kill you either. Ok?"

Not on my watch he isn't.

Kiyi looked at her and sniffled "Ok" she then realized that the ship was no longer moving, "Um, where are we? How come the ship isn't moving?"

That question caused Azula to remember why she had originally made her way to Kiyi's room to begin with "Ah, yes. We've arrived at the South Pole. Now, let's go. We don't want to keep them waiting, now do we?"

Kiyi nodded and held out her arms "Carry me? Please?"

Azula rolled her eyes but nodded e here."

Sokka could barely contain his excitement. After going through months of not seeing each other, he would finally get to see his girlfriend. Although he did wonder what prompted the sudden visit. All Azula had said in her letter was that she missed him (he felt an incredible amount of joy upon reading this) and that she would be coming by for a visit. And also that she would be bringing Kiyi along with her, and that she would explain everything when they got there.

That part of the letter gave him pause. Why did Azula bring Kiyi along with her? Didn't she say that she missed him? That usually meant that she wanted to spend time with him. Alone time. So wouldn't bringing Kiyi along with her cut into that?

Oh well. Guess I'll just have to do what she said in the letter and wait until they get here.

That's when he hears people shouting "It's the Princess's ship! Princess Azula has arrived!"

Sokka grinned and said to himself "Well, guess I won't have to wait too much longer."

Azula winced as she and Kiyi walked down the ramp of her ship, the child holding Azula's hand in a death-like grip. Seriously, how was it possible for a freaking five year old to be this strong?! Did that nightmare truly terrify her that much? Who is she kidding, of course it did. No child would be completely fine after dreaming about one of their parents killing them. Before Azula could ask Kiyi if she was alright, she heard a faint shout in the distance.

"HEY! AZULA, KIYI!"

Azula looked up at the sound of her boyfriend's voice and smiled as she saw him running towards them. The moment Sokka was in front of her, he wrapped her up in his arms and gave her a kiss.

"Yuck!"

The two of them broke apart and looked down at the child. Sokka smirked "Well hello to you too, Kiyi. How have you been?"

"Fine. And stop kissing Zula in front of me, it's gross!"

Sokka kissed her again

"Eww!"

"Alright that's enough, Sokka." Azula said while laughing. Sokka chuckled "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Anyways, what brings you two here? Not that I'm complaining of course, I love seeing you. I'm just curious." At that question, Kiyi looked away from Sokka and started trembling, thinking back to her nightmare. Sokka took notice of this and looked at Azula. "Um, is something wrong?"

Azula sighed "Kiyi, why don't you go on ahead to the village and find Katara. I'll tell Sokka everything." Kiyi shook her head and gripped her sister's hand even tighter. "No, I don't want to go by myself. I want to stay with you."

Sokka looked back and forth between the two of them, confused "Ok seriously, what's wrong? Did something happen? Anything I can do to help?"

"I had a nightmare."

"A nightmare? About what?"

Azula was quiet for a moment before responding " Two weeks ago, Kiyi overheard our mother and father talking. Somehow or another, father realized that Kiyi isn't his child. He confronted mother about it and she confirmed his suspicions. Ever since then he's been acting weird around Kiyi. I figured getting away from the palace and the fire nation in general would be a good idea, which is the reason for this impromptu visit. When I went to wake Kiyi up and let her know that we had arrived, she was having a nightmare about that conversation. In the dream, my father said that he would 'get rid of the mistake'. I'm sure you know what he meant by that."

Sokka was shocked. Kiyi had a nightmare about Ozai killing her? He wouldn't do that! Sure, the man could be downright scary at times, but he would never kill his own child. "Kiyi, you have nothing to worry about. Ozai would never do that to you. You know that your sister would never let anything happen to you, right?"

Kiyi nodded "Yes"

"Exactly, so you have nothing to worry about. Everything is going to be fine, I promise. Hey, why don't we take a tour of the village and say hi to everyone. That'll cheer you up!"

It did not, in fact, cheer her up.

Seeing all of the kids in the village did little to brighten the child's mood. When the other children had asked Kiyi if she wanted to play with them, she declined and said that she wanted to stay with her sister. She was never the type to pass up an opportunity to play with other children, which showed how much her nightmare had truly shaken her up. Azula tried telling deadpan jokes, since those usually got Kiyi to laugh. Those didn't work either. Hell, Sokka showering Azula in with affection ceased to bother Kiyi after a while. The two teens were at their wits end, so Sokka decided to go and ask Katara for advice. She was good with kids after all. Perhaps she would know what to do.

"We've tried everything, Katara! Trying to get her to play with the other children, Azula telling her jokes, AND me constantly kissing Azula and giving her hugs! Nothing seems to be working and she refuses to leave Azula's side at all. Do you have any ideas?"

Katara looked at him and said "Have you two tried taking her penguin sledding? Kids love that."

Sokka blinked "What?"

She rolled her eyes "Penguin sledding? You know, when you get on the back of a penguin and slide down a hill?"

Sokka blushed and glared at her "I know what that is! We used to do that all the time when we were younger. In fact, that's what Azula and I did for our first date!"

"I know, which is why I'm wondering how you two haven't thought of this yet. Aren't you supposed to be geniuses?"

"Shut up!"

The two of them took Kiyi to the hill where all of the penguins were. After explaining to her how penguin sledding worked, Sokka tossed a piece of fish into the air, which Kiyi caught. She was immediately surrounded by penguins. The child let out a small giggle.

Sokka gasped and turned to his girlfriend "Did you hear that, Azula? She laughed! It's working!"

Azula smiled "Yes, it is. So far, anyway. Now let's see if she'll actually do it. Hopefully she won't act like Zuko and be all nervous about it."

Sokka threw his head back and laughed "Now that was funny! I thought he would never get on that penguin!"

A few minutes later, Kiyi picked the penguin that she wanted and soon enough was sliding down the hill. Laughter could be heard from where Sokka and Azula were standing.

"Woohoo! This is awesome! You guys gotta try this with me next!"

The two of them looked at each other and smiled.

Mission accomplished