A/N:

Ooookay... I know. I know. Did I go insane? Yes, I did. Happens every week, it seems, but I went particularly crazy this time.

This is going to be by far the longest oneshot I've EVER written. It absolutely should be a multichapter story. It's not one simply because the format of the Sokkla Saturdays Event doesn't really lend towards that... and so, I'm sorry to give you guys suuuuuuuch a long story in such a heavy, single installment.

It's also a potentially difficult story to get into if you're unfamiliar with the setting I'm basing this on: this is a Dragon Age Origins AU, plain and simple. Why is it so long? Because condensing the content of a 70+ hour game into a single chapter is slightly more difficult than I anticipated. If there's anything you don't understand, anything that feels weird, it's quite likely my own fault because I'm too familiar with Dragon Age's setting and I took certain things for granted just because they feel perfectly natural for me, at this point :'D so if you have any questions, if I failed to explain anything properly, feel free to ask. If, however, you've played this game before, I'm optimistic that you'll flow through the veeeeery long story without that much trouble.

Alright, then. To clarify a few things beforehand: yes, this is a Dragon Age AU, where I've more or less replaced all of Dragon Age's cast with Avatar characters (and occasionally a few OCs of my own). I'm posting the list of correlating characters in the end notes, in case you want to contrast the new version and the original (something useful if you played the game, particularly). Thus, a lot of ATLA characters in this story are depicted rather darkly (namely, haha, Ursa and Iroh, what are the odds...), but in this case it's 100% that way because of the characters whose roles they've taken here (Flemeth and Loghain, respectively). I've softened a few things from the game's storyline, skimmed a lot of combat or else we would have twice as long a story than we do, tried to merge the ATLA character with the DAO one (which means there's certain mannerisms in some characters, such as Azula, that are actually borrowed from her correlating character, Morrigan, as well as several dialogues that are taken from the game itself), and I've done a few alterations in the main anecdote to try and stay true to ATLA's characters in this new setting. Each faction in Thedas has a culture of its own too, so certain characters will be characterized according to said culture (namely, the qunari version of Mai I've written, as well as Toph), in order to stay true to Dragon Age's setting.

I know a common and popular way to do these sorts of AUs with magic and ATLA characters is by making all benders mages... that's not the case here, as the correlations between characters were done depending on how they served the story better. Thus, Zuko is not a mage, but Ursa is, for instance. I hope that's not too confusing.

In short, Dragon Age is a game set in a world of high/dark fantasy, where an invading force of monstrous creatures called darkspawn attempt to invade the nation of Ferelden in the world of Thedas. Said invasion is called a Blight. There's mages in the world of Thedas, and they're generally oppressed or outcasts, generally controlled by the Chantry, the religious institution of their world, who have an order of warriors called templars, who control those mages. I am hoping the rest of the lore and worldbuilding will be understandable once you get into the story, but I figured I'd expand on it a bit here so you wouldn't go into it completely blindly. For those familiar with the game, this story begins after the Battle of Ostagar.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! Take your time and also take MANY breaks reading this, for your own sake xD

The foam that dripped from the fangs of that ogre and the monstruous faces of the creatures that rushed up to him were the last memories he could retain before everything faded to black. The bright beacon had been lit successfully, the signal that the reinforcements should storm in to aid the Queen… but Sokka had no time to find out if the plan had paid off or not. The hellish, tainted creatures had swarmed him, he had sensed them, he had known they were coming… and he had nowhere to run, not when the beacon he'd lit was at the top of the tower of Ishal. He and his small team had killed every monster, every darkspawn they had come across… but it hadn't been enough. It hadn't been enough…

… But he was thinking those thoughts. If he was thinking them… didn't that mean he had survived?

He was alive.

Sokka was alive.

He gasped suddenly, eyes flying open: a wooden ceiling greeted him. The ceiling of a not-quite cozy cabin that he certainly had no memory of visiting in his life. Sounds of nature outside suggested he was in the woods, somewhere… which woods? The immediate answer that came to mind made no sense: the darkspawn horde, the tainted monsters the Queen's armies had been battling against, had rushed the fortress of Ostagar, the place where he had been at: said dreaded creatures had surfaced and assembled their forces in the Korcari Wilds. If he was there again, did it mean the monsters had taken him as their prisoner?

"Ah. You awaken, at last."

He hadn't noticed he wasn't alone until then.

He turned his head quickly towards the source of the female voice… a voice he had only heard once before, and yet it had been so memorable he could have placed it anywhere. A beautiful woman, with eyes as gold as the sun, with hair as dark as night, with a complexion as pale and smooth as polished marble… and a dismissive sneer that only seemed to make each of those traits terribly hazardous, rather than merely something to admire.

"You…" Sokka said, frowning as he pushed himself up slightly: he cringed, slight pangs of pain bursting in his body… a glance down at his torso revealed he was covered in bandages. He blinked blankly before gazing at the woman anew. "Did you… treat me?"

"I did not. T'was my mother who did, in fact," she responded, arms crossed over her terribly exposed chest – why on earth she wore clothes that left so very little to the imagination, Sokka didn't know. "You owe her your very life, Grey Warden."

"My name… is Sokka," he said, staring at her firmly. She hummed, as though knowing his name meant next to nothing to her. "And yours… you said it was Azula, right?"

"My, my. I'm surprised you remember it," Azula smirked. Sokka gritted his teeth.

"That's the name you gave to my… my fellow Warden. Where is he?" he asked, frowning heavily.

It surprised him to see the sneering, dismissive woman would seem genuinely stricken, a glimpse of emotion in her eyes… a very dark emotion, at that. Oh, no…

"Mother says he was badly injured when she arrived," she explained. "Too far gone to be saved. I wasn't there, so…"

"Wait. Your mother reached the Tower of Ishal, in the middle of the battle? How?" Sokka asked, frowning. Azula sneered again.

"You're still surprised by her versatility, I see. Weren't you most adamant about claiming both my mother and myself are Witches of the Wild, last we met?" she asked. "Do you truly believe our magical powers are limited to shapeshifting soft-hearted fools into toads?"

"I… hope not. Bet you'd have done it to me by now, if… if you could do that," Sokka said, gritting his teeth as he tightened a fist. "Damn it, though… damn it, is she sure he couldn't be helped at all?"

"Well, you're most welcome to ask my mother to revisit that fancy Tower of Ishal of yours, if you don't believe me," Azula said, skeptically. "I sincerely doubt she would do so, as the whole valley and your fortress are now overrun by darkspawn…"

"W-wait… the battle," Sokka said, eyes wide. "The beacon… we lit the beacon! Teyrn Iroh's forces were supposed to help flank the darkspawn that Queen Katara and the Grey Wardens were drawing out…"

"Indeed, your signal was lit, and your commander quit the field," Azula said, a strangely bitter tone in her voice upon speaking those words. "Why he would betray his allies, I do not know… but whether or not his choice was the correct one, your Queen's forces have been destroyed. You wouldn't want to see what's happening in that valley right now…"

"N-no… no," Sokka gasped, raising a hand to his forehead. "T-then, the Queen…? She's dead?"

"I'm afraid so," Azula said, with a shrug: it was an impersonal thing for her, of course it was. She had no idea who Queen Katara was, and why she meant anything to Sokka, the Grey Warden whose life had been saved…

"And… what of the Grey Wardens? Did any of them escape?" asked Sokka, desperate. "Our Warden-Commander, Piandao…"

"If he was in the valley… I'm afraid the odds of his survival are quite slim. I suppose a few stragglers may have gotten away, but I wouldn't put my hopes in finding many escapees from that massacre," Azula said. "At any rate, are you feeling better?"

"No," Sokka groaned, and she rolled her eyes.

"I mean physically. You may fall on your own blade in grief outside, if you must…"

"All those people, lots of whom I called my friends, are dead. I'm allowed to be miserable about it, aren't I?" Sokka huffed, glaring at her. Azula eyed him skeptically.

"I didn't say otherwise: all I'm saying is you're in my bed, Grey Warden, templar or whatever it is you may be."

Sokka flinched: color shouldn't have flooded his face upon learning he had been lying on Azula's cot for however long he had been, but it did. He jolted up to a standing position, and Azula offered him her typical, unpleasant smile.

"Is there anything else you need to know before you're on your way?" Azula asked, dismissively. "If not… please, get going. My mother would have a word with you before you leave."

"Right," Sokka said, eyeing her warily… though his blue eyes softened, suddenly. "Look, you and I started on the wrong foot…"

"Oh, don't play coy now: we have been skipping on that same wrong foot for as long as we've known each other, non-stop," Azula said, with that same dismissive sneer. To Sokka's surprise, her remark actually brought a soft laugh out of him.

"Well, if you put it that way, that just makes it even weirder that I… that I'd owe you my life," he said. Azula frowned.

"You owe it to my mother, not me," she said. "I wasn't the one who saved you from that tower…"

"How did she do it, anyway?" Sokka asked, puzzled. Azula scoffed. "I mean… I believe it, I'm alive, there's no reason to think your story's false. Unless this is some really weird dream…"

"You're not in the Fade right now, no," Azula confirmed, shaking her head.

"Then it's got to be true. And… I don't really understand why," Sokka said, frowning. "Your mother said some cryptic things to my friend, when we first met…"

"Yes, when you and those Warden recruits were skulking about in old ruins and I happened upon you," Azula said, nodding. "And you called me a… what was it? Sneaky-witch thief? With such eloquence, you certainly ought to pursue a career in politics."

"I've been looking into running for mayor, yes, thank you for your support," Sokka replied, dryly: she giggled. It was a strange sound, coming from her: it didn't diminish how daunting she was, in the slightest… and yet it was such an earnest reaction that Sokka couldn't quite help but think her own amusement had gotten the better of her high-and-mighty demeanor. "My point is, though… you guys didn't have to save me at all. You hate my guts…"

"Ah, and I'm supposed to think you like mine?" she asked, dismissively. Sokka made a face.

"Eh… you're probably an acquired taste, but I don't suppose I'll be here long enough to acquire it," he said, eyes darkening as he finished the sentence. Azula's own gaze gained more steel when he said those words.

"You won't be, indeed. You'd best be on your way as soon as possible," she said. Sokka sighed.

"Well, if that's how it is, I guess this is the last I'll see of you, so… thank you, Azula. I'll thank your mother too, once I speak to her."

He nodded in her direction before picking up his gear: he dressed in his armor slowly, cringing at the painful aches all over his body, and Azula scowled as she caught sight of the dents and damage upon the metal. Was he truly going to keep wearing an armor that might do him more harm than good, at this point…?

It was none of her business if he did, though. He was walking out of here, and that was that.

Their world was a dark, unsettling one. In a land where humans, elves, dwarves and qunari would go to war over territory, religious beliefs and thirst for power, there was but one threat that might bring all those different factions together under the same banner: the Blight. When the Deep Roads, tunnels dug by dwarves since times immemorial, had been swarmed by the monstruous, corrupt creatures called darkspawn, the world as it had been known until then had taken a turn for the worse.

It was already well past a millennia since the first Blight had happened, the first phenomenon when darkspawn had climbed out from beneath the earth and attempted to destroy the surface world: three more Blights followed, and the fourth had ended four centuries ago. Now, the sudden resurgence of darkspawn that interrupted the peace in Thedas suggested the fifth Blight, the newest invasion of darkspawn, had only just begun.

The darkspawn were rallied, led and commanded by the greatest darkspawn of all, the Archdemon: the Archdemons used to be what ancient cultures had called Old Gods, sealed and dormant deep inside the Deep Roads underground. Upon being infected and awakened by the darkspawn's taint, the Old Gods would take the form of a tainted dragon and beckon the smaller darkspawn to attack the surface. The massive forces of darkspawn would proceed to destroy everything their tainted reach might touch, to the point where lands upon which Blights had begun, or where final battles against Archdemons had taken place, were irremediably corrupted and rendered infertile, no matter how many attempts were made to recover the land. Magic could be inexplicable and fickle that way.

Azula knew all this from the many lessons her mother, Ursa, the legendary Witch of the Wilds, had taught her during her childhood. She had the feeling Ursa knew more about the Blight, about the true nature of the darkspawn taint, than she let on… but what knowledge her mother had shared had still been extensive enough for Azula to know exactly why her mother had gone out of her way to save the last living member of the Grey Wardens, the legendary Order of heroes fated to defeat the Archdemon and end Blights.

That Ursa happened to save the very Warden and templar with whom Azula had clashed, upon finding him and his group of Warden recruits lurking in the Korcari Wilds earlier that week, wasn't quite a positive thing for Azula. It seemed likely that this Blight would extend for many decades – the first one had lasted almost two hundred years, as far as she knew –, if they'd have to wait for Grey Warden reinforcements to show up and aid the likely helpless fool who was finally ready to leave the cabin.

He didn't have any gear with him. Not even a potion, not a sign of secondary weapons… Azula snarled upon realizing as much. She shook her head and made her way to a corner of the room. He breathed out and glanced back at her as she did as much.

"Alright, then. Off I go…"

"Wait."

Sokka froze on the spot, glancing at her with confusion. His eyes widened further when Azula rose back to her full height, offering him a small backpack.

"There. You'll need to carry supplies," she said.

"I… oh, I can't," Sokka said, smiling a little at her. "You really don't have to…"

"Are you truly in any position to refuse someone's generosity?" she asked, with a vicious smirk. Sokka grimaced.

"Don't look at me like that or I'll assume you put some sort of prank inside that bag just to make fun of me…" he said. Azula giggled in that odd way again.

"Ah, I would have done so gladly, if I'd had the chance. Perhaps, if you ever visit me again, I'll prepare all sorts of pranks for you, at your request," she said. Sokka smiled back at her.

"You're something else, Azula," he said. "Well, then… now I'm off."

"Be on your way, then."

She moved back to fix the wrinkled sheets on her bed, and Sokka watched her with light amusement: the unusual attire, the near-otherworldly golden eyes, the haunting beauty… all of them seemed odd in a woman who had now taken to performing perfectly common chores. She seemed so mysterious, with likely powers well beyond Sokka's imagination… but she was also stuck with doing measly housework like making beds and worrying over the stew she had likely placed over the fire shortly before Sokka had awoken.

Wherever Sokka's path might take him next, he knew he wasn't likely to find anyone quite like Azula anywhere else. A mage, living well beyond Chantry control, with no apparent fear of templars… he had been raised as one of them, as a warrior who could annul the powers of mages, for most his life. Then, shortly before his full induction in the Templar Order, Piandao had recruited him into the Grey Wardens. As a mage raised outside a Circle, Azula fell into the category of what common people deemed an 'apostate', a term that scared people even more than 'murderer', 'thief' or 'bandit' could. Mages were supposed to be terrifying, with the ability to command all sorts of magical powers brought forth from the land of dreams, the Fade… but Azula truly didn't seem all that scary, just now.

With a last smile in her direction, despite he had never expected to smile at her at all, Sokka marched through the doorway and stepped out into the open. His eyes were stung immediately by the brightness of the location: Ursa's hut in the Korcari Wilds. The very witch of legends stood right in front of him now, a knowing look in her eyes that chilled Sokka's heart immediately. Why did he feel like he was walking right into the woman's trap? Ursa had saved his life, who knew how, when he had been about to die… so why did it seem as though he was but a pawn in a game he couldn't even understand yet?

"Ah. There you are," Ursa said: her gold eyes had the same haughtiness present in Azula's… but it was more worrisome in her case, somehow. Sokka immediately suspected Azula liked acting superior out of learned behavior, upon seeing a much colder and more dangerous version of that arrogance in her own mother.

"Here I am," Sokka confirmed, frowning: whatever Ursa had to say to him now, he had no doubt it wouldn't be pleasant.

Azula worked steadily on the stew, trying not to think of the young man she hadn't been able to nurse to health herself. Her mother had taught her a healing spell, a basic one… but it wasn't enough to mend some of the bruises he bore upon his body, bruises she had attempted to heal while he was still unconscious. She had so much to learn… but Ursa didn't want her to understand everything yet. The woman hid countless secrets, Azula was aware of it… being her daughter was quite difficult, in more ways than Azula would make apparent. She felt no shortage of resentment towards her mother over her upbringing… and yet she understood, in many ways, why Ursa had made many of the choices she had made.

She wouldn't be ready, however, for her mother's newest decision, a decision she discovered upon stepping outside the hut, realizing Sokka's conversation with her mother had taken much more time than she had expected.

"Well, then, Mother, is it you intend for us to have a guest for dinner, by any chance?" Azula asked, smirking unpleasantly at Sokka. "I had thought he was taking his leave by now."

"Oh, yes, the Grey Warden will be leaving shortly, girl," Ursa said, her graying hair swaying as she turned her face towards her daughter. "And you will be going with him."

"Ah, 'tis too bad you won't stay to enjoy my… what?!"

Azula had been so confident, so certain Ursa would be sending the young man out to meet his likely doom… she had never expected, however, that Ursa would intend for her to watch, firsthand, how the Grey Warden attempted to stop the Blight, something a single man could never achieve…

"This young man has a great task ahead of him," Ursa declared, raising her head and gazing at the nervous Sokka with her eerie golden eyes. It was almost as though she could see through him… through everything he might amount to in life. Could her powers as a witch of legends truly be that extraordinary? "And he will need all the help he can get. You will be certain to help him out of the Korcari Wilds, and then to fulfill his duty as the last Grey Warden in Ferelden."

"You mean… he, alone, will stop the Blight?" Azula asked, with a dismissive laugh.

"Evidently not: you will help him," Ursa stated, bluntly. Azula's amusement fled her countenance entirely. Sokka eyed her with uncertainty, an awkward smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Uh… huh. Is it okay for you to just choose that? Looks like Azula doesn't want to come with me," he said. "And, I mean, how to blame her? I don't even want to do this, to begin with…"

"But you must," Ursa said, firmly. "Only a Grey Warden can defeat the Archdemon: surely your mentor and the other Grey Wardens already have said as much to you."

"Well… yes, though I can't pretend I understand why that's the case," Sokka pointed out. Ursa let out a deep breath.

"I can only hope that you will, by the time destiny pulls you into its relentless dance… oh, but it already has," she finished, with an ominous smirk.

Azula gritted her teeth, glaring at Ursa in confusion. The woman turned her eyes on her, and wordlessly conveyed something that Azula, and Azula alone, could understand. Something her mother had told her beforehand… something Ursa had explained to her many years ago. Back then, it had been a strange concept, distant and unreal, as good as a fantasy… but now, Azula realized she understood what Sokka's fight entailed far better than Sokka himself did. Thus, she had no choice but to join him, in more ways than one… for she might be the only one who could ensure Sokka survived a presumed final battle against the Archdemon.

That is, if they even got that far.

"Well, mother, how kind of you to cast me out this way…" she said, with no shortage of bitterness. "Ensure you tend to the stew by the fire, I'd hate to return to a burned-down hut…"

"Oh, it's far more likely you'll return to find this whole place overrun by darkspawn and the Blight, girl," Ursa said, point-blank. Azula flinched.

"I… all I meant was…"

"I know. Do have fun on the road, dear."

Sokka swallowed hard as his eyes met Azula's anew. Their journey was only beginning, and it would be a harsh one, for certain… but while Azula could have continued to fight Ursa's designs, she understood what her mother wanted her to do. She knew why she had to be there, when the Archdemon was slain… she had no choice, no matter if Sokka's life wasn't quite that valuable for Azula so far. Yes, he was the final Grey Warden in Ferelden, that certainly made him important, politically speaking… but there were countless Grey Wardens elsewhere. The organization of darkspawn hunters had been chased out of the nation of Ferelden many years ago, and they had only been allowed to return a few decades ago…

Expecting other Grey Wardens to come by and save the day was a gamble, though… and one Azula had no power to make. She let out a deep breath before stepping towards Sokka, her stern eyes meeting his.

"I suppose it shall please you to have a guide to lead you out of the Korcari Wilds, if nothing else," she said. Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"You're not trying to tell me a Witch of the Wilds can't hold her own in a fight, are you?" he asked, with a lop-sided smirk. Azula laughed, shook her head. "Come on, you may think I'm a stupid excuse for a Grey Warden and a templar, but I'm not stupid enough to think I can do this on my own. I protested a lot, before, but your mother's insistence you come with me is… well, a bit of a relief."

"You don't think you can handle this alone, of course," Azula said, raising her eyebrows. "Very well then, we shall be allies on the road, and we shall fight whatever threats we must. But, in our downtime…"

"You'll call me names, poke fun at me, try to turn me into a toad…?" Sokka asked. Azula smirked.

"I cannot quite do that… but, admittedly, it would be entertaining to try," she said. "At any rate… I suggest we march north, I know the way through the Wilds, and I can see us out of them safely. After that, we will find a small village, Lothering, and from that point on…"

"Yeah?"

Azula frowned, looking at him skeptically. Sokka didn't seem to understand what bothered her, so clearly she'd have to say it aloud:

"From that point on, the one to determine our course shall be you, oh, Grey Warden," she said, mockingly. Sokka flinched. "Oh? Is the notion of leadership quite so disturbing to you?"

"I… well, yeah?" Sokka grimaced, scratching the back of his head. "Look, I've been a templar initiate, I've been a Grey Warden recruit, then I was a junior member of the Order… I haven't led anyone anywhere. I'm pretty sure I'd ruin all our chances to stop the Blight if I so much as tried…"

"Then, you'd sooner allow a Witch of the Wilds to choose your path for you?" Azula asked, amused. "My, my, you have quite the confidence in me, if so…"

"Well, what would you have us do?" Sokka asked, grimacing. "I mean, as long as it's not something stupid…"

"Oh, I'd find that Teyrn Iroh of yours and kill him."

"W-what?! That's insane!"

"Why would it be? Surely what my mother has told you to do is to make use of those Grey Warden treaties of yours to secure allies to fight the Blight?" Azula asked, twirling her fringe carefully in one hand. "That man will cause you no end of grief and surely get in the way of your goal, so remove him first and the business with the treaties can be done safely without his meddling."

"No way. Not going to happen," Sokka said, with a disbelieving smile. "Iroh's got to be on his way to Denerim right now, he's going to have fortified city walls around him, a whole army at his behest…!"

"If your intent is to recite why things cannot be done, then I fear we'll never leave the premises of my mother's hut," Azula said, with a cutting tone. "Though… for better or for worse, your refusal to follow with my suggestion is already a decision."

"And possibly the wrong one," Sokka pointed out, with an awkward smile. "I mean, you think it's the wrong one, don't you?"

"I can't say I have any opinion on the matter," she retorted, with a sigh. "At any rate… 'tis time we move on. The road ahead of us will only be clear as long as the darkspawn continue to feast on the remains of the battle of Ostagar."

Sokka flinched at her wording, and he eyed her begrudgingly as she glanced back at her mother one more time. Ursa appeared determined to see them off… thus, Azula returned to their hut, gathered her belongings quickly, and upon leaving the hut again, she raised a hand in her mother's direction, bidding her farewell wordlessly. Then, she turned towards the small bridge that would get them across the swampy waters that surrounded Ursa's hut. Sokka followed, breathing anxiously as he strapped their still empty backpack upon his shoulders.

At first, Azula wasn't talkative at all. Eventually, though, banter began between them, mostly centered around Azula's obvious high opinion of herself, as well as her dismissive one of Sokka – it was no surprise that an apostate would think nothing of someone who had been raised to hunt mages for most his life, no matter if Sokka had never truly hunted mages due to his unfinished education as a templar. They were walking near other ruins in the Korcari Wilds when another of their squabbles began, and this time, it seemed, it was Sokka's fault…

"Have a care where your eyes linger, Sokka."

He flinched, eyes darting up to her face quickly. Oh, curses, why did his eyes get lost so often on her ridiculously exposed cleavage…? He had to save face, though. Before he blushed, before he gave away that she was correct about how he had been taking in her natural beauty…

"If you must know… I was looking at your nose," he declared. Azula appeared unimpressed.

"Ah? And what is it about my nose that captivates you so?" she asked. Sokka bit his lip before finally coming up with the best answer he could muster:

"Well, I was just thinking it looks exactly like your mother's," he declared, beaming: her reaction was immediate.

"I…! It does not!" she bellowed, and Sokka snickered. "Oh, I hate you so much…"

He bit his lip at her outrage, finding again that in some ways, Azula couldn't help but fail at keeping up her ethereal shroud of mystery when it came to certain ridiculously mundane matters. She seemed to want to appear larger than life, and yet she was vain in a surprisingly cute way. She also had a very complicated relationship with her mother, and Sokka didn't blame her at all for being on the defensive when it came to that…

"You… do not truly think I look like my mother, do you?" she declared, after about half an hour of silent hiking. Sokka smirked.

"Have you seriously been thinking about that for as long as we've been walking around this old ruin…?" he asked.

"Perhaps. What of it? I'm just curious if you were merely jesting…" she said, with an aloof tone that wasn't convincing in the slightest.

"And you're not even a little bit insecure about the family resemblance, I'm sure, yes…" Sokka said, jokingly. Azula's eyes narrowed.

"I think I look nothing like her," she stated, stubbornly.

"Well, maybe if you live about three hundred more years, you might actually change your mind…"

"I said I look nothing like her!" Azula huffed, cheeks red. Sokka flinched, hands raised defensively.

"Okay, okay, definitely no resemblance, whatsoever…" he surrendered: he would remember this was a way to poke fun at Azula if need be, but he didn't want to antagonize his only traveling companion too much, regardless of how amusing it was to find one of Azula's weaknesses.

She seemed ready to pick another fight, or to continue this one despite he had already surrendered, when Sokka's body shuddered upon sensing an approaching threat: one of the talents of a Grey Warden was the ability to detect darkspawn at a distance. He frowned, and he hoped his sudden seriousness had alerted Azula that something was wrong…

A creature came bounding down the road they were walking, right by the ruin. A creature with four legs, short, brown fur, a black muzzle and a tongue wagging happily, carelessly in the air as it rushed towards them.

For a second, Sokka relaxed: it was a dog, a mabari, not any sort of darkspawn… but then he frowned again as the cheerful canine slowed down in front of him and the even more puzzled Azula.

"Wait… I remember you," Sokka said, swallowing hard. "You were… you were the mabari, right? The one my friend got that flower for… uh, sorry if you're looking for him, but…"

"I'm not quite sure the dog was simply seeking out a potential master…" Azula said, her brow furrowing.

Sokka's Grey Warden instincts had come through, after all: a group of darkspawn rushed towards them, and in a matter of instants, Azula had clasped her staff and readied herself for battle.

Sokka drew his sword and shield as well, and he leapt into the fray: a humanoid darkspawn, heavily armed with a large mace, that Sokka identified as a Hurlock Alpha, had made a threatening gesture at them, and Sokka was quite content to make the bastard pay for his arrogance, no matter if the Grey Warden wasn't quite in his best shape.

A sudden purple glow appeared right underneath Sokka's target, and he frowned upon realizing it was Azula's magic: a sigil glowed under the creature's feet… and then it was frozen in place. Afterwards, a lot of its lifeforce seemed to pour out from the creature, and Sokka gaped at Azula in confusion for a moment…

"What are you waiting for?!" she shouted, glaring at him, staff in hand and sparkling with magic. "Fight, you fool!"

Sokka swallowed hard but nodded: he bashed the frozen darkspawn with his shield, shattering it effectively. Halfway through battling against the seven lesser Hurlock, Sokka realized the dog was helping him, attacking the monsters from behind, biting into them, lashing at them with his claws. Along with that, though, Azula continued to cast magic spells, disorienting some of the enemies, infusing them with horror…

She was quite the helpful traveling companion, that much was true.

He smiled slightly as he beheaded the final Hurlock. Then, he glanced at Azula with a pleased grin as she walked, nonchalantly, towards a plant on the side of the road, to collect its roots.

"Well, you know what you're doing, that's for sure," he said. "Thanks for the help."

"'Tis only reasonable that I would fight alongside you. Did you expect me to side with the darkspawn, by any chance?" she asked, rising back to her full height to stare at him skeptically… only to grow more skeptical yet upon noticing Sokka was ransacking the enemy bodies. "Are you quite certain you should be looting the corpses of tainted creatures…?"

"Eh, I'll be fine," Sokka said, dismissively. Azula huffed.

"Well, I suppose the Grey Wardens do believe themselves immune to their taint…" she said, dismissively. "I suppose, if you continue to be quite so reckless, I shall see for myself if that's truly… uh, what is the creature doing?"

Sokka blinked blankly before raising his head: the mabari dog who had just helped them with the darkspawn was panting happily in front of him… and something about the creature's cheerful demeanor stirred something inside Sokka's heart.

"Aww… look at him, he's so happy to make new friends," he said, smiling and reaching out to pat the dog's head. "Oh, goodness, we can't just leave him to deal with this place on his own. This dog's practically a Grey Warden too, you know?"

"I… don't quite understand how that's possible," Azula said, scowling as she stepped closer to Sokka. "You're not truly expecting us to bring it with us? When my mother advised you to find allies…"

"She said every bit of help we can get will be useful, so I think I can adopt this puppy and all will be fine," Sokka declared, beaming. "I'll name him… uh, Foo-Foo Cuddly-Poops!"

For the first time ever, he had rendered Azula speechless. Her jaw dropped as she stared at him in horror, and he smirked at her, smug and pleased with himself.

"Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"You must jest," she finally said, and Sokka shrugged.

"What, you want to call him something else? Something like… um, Barkspawn! Yeah, that sounds about right! That's his battle name, for when he's got to be all gruff and serious and a mean warhound…" Sokka said, with a silly voice the large, dangerous dog welcomed with happy barks. "And when he's being a cute big puppy, we can just call him Foo-Foo."

"You're utterly mad," Azula concluded, with a thread of a voice, staring into space in disbelief. "The Blight will consume everything… and all shall perish. Because somehow, destiny decided the man who calls his dog Foo-Foo Cuddly-Poops was our only hope. Yes. 'Tis how it shall be."

"Eh, best make the most of the time we have left, if that's how it is," Sokka chuckled, ushering her and the dog to follow him. "Alright, alright, let's get moving. This is the Imperial Highway already, so…"

"Lothering isn't far," Azula finished for him, with a huff, shaking her head. "Perhaps you'll find someone in there who would take in the mangy beast…"

"Aww, he's not mangy!"

Azula rolled her eyes.

The Imperial Highway was a beautiful construction… save for the poorly maintained patches of it that had crumbled at some point or another through the centuries since it had been built. It would be a great way to travel quickly, as long as they managed to keep their identities hidden properly – otherwise, they'd have to travel at night or take other routes rather than the Highway itself. Sokka had no doubts Teyrn Iroh wouldn't want him spreading word of his treason against Queen Katara… but until it was apparent the Queen's former top advisor had learned of his survival, it might be for the best to stick to the main roads.

"Would be nice if we had horses…" Sokka reasoned suddenly, and Azula scoffed in his direction. "What? Would make the journey faster, is all I'm saying…"

"You already have a hound and now you want a horse as well?" she asked. "Here I thought being a Grey Warden would make it clear to you that your templar privileges are well and truly gone by now…"

"Hey, now, I didn't learn to ride horses as a templar, I learned much earlier and… wait. Do you not know how to ride a horse, by any chance?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Azula huffed.

"I need not know how to do such a thing…" she said. Sokka scoffed.

"Well, if we make enough money, I'll buy a horse eventually and you'll see just how much better it is to travel with one…"

"I don't need it, I said. If I somehow require to gallop away from you at some point or another… I can simply become a horse, myself," Azula declared, with a dry grin. Sokka's eyes widened.

"You… wait, what? Didn't you mock the whole 'witches turning people into toads' thing earlier?" he asked, and Azula clearly savored the fear in his face as he spoke. "You can actually do that…?!"

"I… can turn myself into whatever animal form I wish to. Not others," she clarified, and Sokka let out a relieved breath. "However, I shall begin looking into the second thing soon, in case your continuously disappointing choices compel me to do so…"

"Hey, now…" Sokka pouted.

Their argument, however, was interrupted when they came across an unwanted happening, right before a sizable gap in the elevated road: a group of highwaymen, bandits, were scavenging crates and counting money… and one of them stepped towards them, with a smug smile.

"Oh, my! More travelers to attend to! I take it you're the leader, sir?" the man said, smiling at Sokka, who flinched at those words.

"Look at that: people are deciding you're the leader upon meeting you, no less," Azula smirked, arms folded over her chest as Sokka shot her a blushing glare. "You must act and look the part, don't you think?"

"Give me a break…" Sokka sighed, as another of the highwaymen stepped up, warning his own leader that the armed warrior and mage, accompanied by a warhound, might be best off unbothered…

"Oh, nonsense!" the leader said, dismissively. "Greetings, travelers!"

"Greetings, highwaymen preying on those fleeing the darkspawn…?" Sokka remarked, eyeing the crates. Azula shrugged.

"Seems that's what they are, yes. And they appear not to hold their lives in high esteem if they intend to bar our way into Lothering," she said. "We could teach them a lesson."

"No need to be so hostile, my lady, we are merely toll-collectors!" the man grinned smugly. "A simple ten silvers will be enough for you to move on."

"Oh, toll-collectors! Marvelous! Bet you're going to invest all that coin into maintaining the broken highway, yes?" Sokka asked, glancing over the evidently stolen caravans and crates the men had been looking through so far. The leader laughed again.

"Yes, yes! You must be a patriot, I can see it in your eyes!" he said. "So, what do you say?"

"Oh, I say… I'm a bit broke, actually. Nope, no silvers," Sokka said, with a sad smile. "I could interest you in a darkspawn blade I picked up earlier? It's still smeared with darkspawn guts, but…"

"O-oh, please, this is a toll! You must pay it, it's as simple as that…" the leader said, and Azula let out an exasperated sigh, glancing at Sokka sternly.

"Shall I do the honors?" she asked. Sokka chuckled and shrugged.

"At this point? Be my guest, witch," he said, winking at her.

Azula smirked back and the chaos begun: she shot the leader full of lightning, but when the man attempted to attack her, Sokka leapt in the way and blocked his path with his shield. The dog barked, then howled and stunned their foes with the high-pitch of the sound, while Azula continued to shoot magical attacks at the group's leader. Sokka didn't hold anything back either, bashing his foes with his shield and stabbing whenever he had a chance: one of the enemies fell over backwards, badly wounded, before the leader, weakened, finally understood how outmatched he was.

"Stop! Stop! We surrender!" the man whimpered, raising his hands defensively. Sokka hummed, aiming the sword at the enemy's throat.

"Return the money you stole," he said, firmly.

"H-here, here, it's all right here!" the highwayman said, pulling out a small pouch of coin that certainly couldn't be everything they'd taken so far. Thus, Sokka hummed and readied himself to push harder.

"Alright. If that's how it is, I'm turning you in to the authorities in Lothering," Sokka said. The bandit scoffed.

"There aren't any! Soldiers have fled, the Bann's gone, nobody's left here other than the templars in the Chantry, and they'll execute me!"

"Hmm. Should've thought of that before you tried to extort me," Sokka said, with a sarcastic smirk.

"I… I'm not going down without a fight!" the man roared… and the battle began again.

Merely a couple of minutes later, Sokka was rummaging through the chests and looting the corpses: the highwaymen's armor didn't suit him very well, but it would be better than his dented and damaged splintmail anyway. He changed into the salvaged armor quickly while Azula assessed the situation, and he stepped up to her in his new, not-very-helpful and slightly-too-exposed suit of leather armor, grinning awkwardly:

"How do I look?" he asked. To his surprise, Azula smirked.

"I suppose heavier armor suits you better, but… this is fine, too," she said. "I'm surprised you had it in you to slaughter these fools as you just did. I certainly pegged you wrong…"

"Well, it's what needs to be done with some folks, I'm under no delusions to the contrary," Sokka said. "I don't like killing people, evidently not… but hey, I tried to go about things lawfully and they forced my hand. You saw it, right?"

"Are you attempting to excuse yourself for it? Goodness, you're a fool," Azula laughed, shaking her head. "I'm pleased, Sokka. 'Tis… not what I expected, but in a good way. Perhaps you have more steel in that bland, soft-hearted demeanor of yours than I realized so far"

"Heh. Perhaps I do," he said, his voice hitching in a playful way. Azula actually laughed as she and the dog followed him down the ramp and into Lothering.

Refugees of all sorts crowded the farmlands in the small village. Sokka's lightheartedness dwindled upon glimpsing so many miserable faces: they had likely lost everything by now and were fleeing the darkspawn as best they could.

After dealing with an unpleasant man who was selling supplies at outlandish, unaffordable prices, and instructing a family of city elves to return to the highway and find their belongings, which the bandits had stolen from them, Sokka, Azula and their dog ignored a doomsayer outside the Chantry and marched into the building. Sokka smirked as he eyed Azula intently, and she raised a knowing eyebrow.

"Ah. It seems the Maker did not smite me when I set foot on holy ground. You must be shocked by His oversight when it comes to an apostate like me…" Azula said, lowering her voice with her final sentence. Sokka scoffed, leaning closer to her.

"You're being pretty playful, but just so you know? We could use dressing you up in less conspicuous clothes. You're basically screaming 'I am an apostate' with that get-up, just so you know…"

"Admit you just don't want to get distracted by looking at my breasts, will you?"

"I didn't…! I haven't…!"

"Oooh, be careful, Sokka! The Maker might just smite you for all those impure thoughts in His Chantry…!" Azula mocked him, playfully: Sokka rolled his eyes, blushing and biting back a smile as he dragged her deeper into the Chantry, pointedly looking away from her chest.

At first, their conversation with the resident Knight-Captain of the templars in the Lothering Chantry seemed perfectly smooth, and while the man eyed Azula with curiosity, he didn't say anything along the lines of hunting down apostates. Still, after he rewarded them with some coin for dealing with the highwaymen, Sokka had the hare-brained idea of admitting he was a former templar and a Grey Warden… and the news the man shared with them caused Sokka to freeze in place.

"You are aware that Teyrn Iroh has declared all Grey Wardens responsible for the queen's death, aren't you?"

"What… what?!" Sokka gasped, staring at the man in chagrin. "But that's…! That's not the case at all, he's the one who abandoned the Queen!"

"I cannot presume to know what happened in Ostagar, myself…" the templar said. "But I admit I cannot imagine the Grey Wardens could ever commit a treason of this magnitude. Either way… I suggest you do not linger here for too long, for your own good. There's a reward for the capture of surviving Grey Wardens, and as skilled a warrior as you may be, the less attention you attract in these troubled times, the better."

"I… I see," Sokka said: his dejected face had to be so unsettling for the templar that he suddenly stepped up and offered him a key.

"There's some supplies in that cabinet," he said, gesturing at the piece of furniture. "We won't be able to carry them out of here, it seems, once the darkspawn arrive, for we know they will. It may be of some use for you, however."

He clapped Sokka's shoulder in a reassuring gesture before walking away. Sokka gritted his teeth as Azula let out a sigh.

"Then I suppose the highway will be best only used when every other alternative is worse," she said. "Also? Attempt not to spread word to everyone about who you are. The less recognizable we may be, the better for…"

"Sokka? Sokka, it's you!"

Her words froze cold upon hearing a male voice calling for her companion. Sokka's momentary depression faded as he regarded the familiar man, a knight bearing the standard of Redcliffe, the town Sokka had been raised in, upon his shield.

"Ser Hahn? Is it really you?" he asked, puzzled. "It's been a long time…!"

"Right, since many years ago, back before the Redcliffe Chantry took you in," Hahn said, smiling and nodding in his direction. "It's good to see you."

"Why are you here, though? Were you sent away from Redcliffe to a Chantry too?" Sokka asked, with slight mirth that vanished quickly when Hahn explained himself.

"Unfortunately, no. You must have been away for too long to know this, but… Redcliffe's Arl has fallen ill."

"What… what?!" Sokka gasped. "Right now? Truly? W-we… we meant to travel to Redcliffe when we had the chance, I wanted to meet with Arl Arnook…"

"Unfortunately, he's indisposed," Hahn said, with a sad grimace. "No magical healing has served any purpose. At this point, we're actually hoping the Ashes of Yangchen may be able to save him, but…"

"What? The ashes of the prophetess of Chantry lore?" Azula scoffed, eyeing Sokka and Hahn with skepticism. "Is that even possible?"

"I'm afraid we have no way of knowing if it's real or not yet… but it's certainly Arl Arnook's only hope, at this point," Hahn said, with a sigh.

If possible, Sokka was even more depressed and dejected than the others as they left the Chantry anew: Azula proposed doing a few jobs hunting down brigands to cheer him up with slaughter, but he didn't seem all that happy about it anyway. He didn't even protest when Azula chased away a boy who was looking for his mother: Azula stepped past the child and crossed a bridge over a small stream in the middle of the village, with Sokka following miserably, with Foo-Foo licking at his fingers in hopeless attempts to cheer him up.

"I understand you were counting on this Arl of yours and his forces to keep us safe from Teyrn Iroh and his schemes, but surely you realize that he alone couldn't possibly salvage our precarious circumstances?" Azula said. Sokka groaned rubbing his face with his gloved hands. "Truly, must you moan and groan at all times…?"

"Can a single thing go right? Just the one, I don't ask for much…" he said, shaking his head. Azula sighed, rolling her eyes… and upon slowing them down, they fell upon one place in town where, with any luck, she might actually get Sokka to calm down.

"A tavern might be that single thing, then," she said, clasping him by the arm. "Come. Drink and eat, at the very least. We're not exactly overflowing with supplies, so it can only do us good…"

"I hope you're right…" Sokka sighed.

It turned out she was wrong, though: a group of heavily armored men were inside the tavern, men who were quick to declare their association with Teyrn Iroh… and who were also quick to determine Sokka was a Grey Warden.

"Didn't we ask in the village for a fellow of this description, and everyone said they hadn't seen him?" said one of the soldiers. The one who appeared to be their leader scoffed, arms crossed over his armor.

"It seems we were lied to," he declared.

"Oh, dear. In the middle of a tavern. Nothing is sacred to these people, don't you think?" Sokka asked Azula. She had been about to answer by telling him to ignore the fools or cut them down only for someone else to intervene: a young woman with a long, brown braid, wearing the unassuming, pink attire of a Chantry sister.

"Gentlemen, surely there's no need for trouble?" she spoke with a strong Orlesian accent, smiling as she stood between them and Sokka.

"Stay back, sister!" growled the man. "Vouch for these traitors, and you'll get the same as them!"

"Lady, it's very nice of you to try and negotiate in our defense, but… wait, is that a dagger on your back?" Sokka blinked blankly, pointing at the weapon the woman carried, unassumingly, and that didn't fit at all with the persona of a Chantry sister.

"We'll take the Warden into custody!" shouted the leader. "Kill the rest!"

"As easy as that, no?" Azula huffed: in a matter of moments, a new battle began.

It was clear that the Chantry sister was a fighter, though she wasn't quite as proficient with that dagger as Sokka had expected her to be. Still, him, Azula and Foo-Foo dealt with their foes as systematically as before, proving sufficiently tactical and clever to tear down the defenses of the heavily armored foes without much struggle – albeit at the cost of the integrity of some of the tavern's furniture and infrastructure.

"We surrender!" Teyrn Iroh's man declared once they were almost through with them, flinching under his many wounds.

"Good. They've learned their lesson and we can all stop fighting now," the Chantry sister said, with a reassuring smile. Sokka scoffed.

"Right. Bet we can all sit together, drink tea, sing Chantry verses… hey, Azula? Do you know any Chantry songs?"

"Why would I want to know any of that drivel?" Azula scoffed, and Sokka chuckled at her predictably dismissive response towards everything pertaining Ferelden's main religion.

"Ah, looks like the plans fell through. Oops," Sokka said, with a simple shrug. "Guess we'll have to do something else to entertain ourselves, then…"

"What? They were no match for you, they surrendered!" the woman pleaded. "I do not wish death unto anyone…"

"Uh, yeah, that dagger sure says as much," Sokka smirked. Azula chuckled behind him. "If you're so worried about their souls, or mine… feel free to give us a final prayer, Sister."

With that, Sokka dealt the final blow to the wounded man, fierce steel glowing in his eyes. No doubt, knowing that Iroh was spreading falsehoods of all sorts, disparaging the Grey Wardens and pretending they were the true traitors had brought out the very darkest, most merciless side of him… and Azula could only smile in delight at the sight of it. At first, he had appeared an awkward man, inexperienced as a leader, foolish in countless ways… but now, upon seeing him take such harsh approaches with the highwaymen and Loghain's troops, Azula found herself wondering if he might just be a worthy leader to follow, in the end…

She was surprised by the Chantry sister next, though: where it seemed the young woman was disappointed by Sokka's definitive choice to kill the soldier, she had shaken it off quickly and now smiled at them with a strange, unwelcome friendliness.

"I'm sorry I interfered, I just wanted to help," she said.

"Ah, that's alright. Azula and I, we've been doing our fair share of saving lives for about, uh… two days now, I suppose," Sokka said, with a shrug. The woman frowned.

"You think you saved my life?" she asked. "I can handle myself…"

"Well, with just the one dagger, maybe not that well," Sokka smirked. "Still, I wasn't aware that sisters in the Chantry were taught to fight at all…"

"I wasn't born in the Chantry," the woman said, skeptically. "I've picked up skills at many different stages of my life. At any rate, I'll introduce myself: I am Ty Lee, a lay sister from the Chantry of Lothering. Or I was…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka asked.

"Those men said you're a Grey Warden," she said. "And you'll need all the help you can get to defeat the darkspawn, so I intend to join you."

"Uh… what?" Sokka said, with a disbelieving smile. Azula, next to him, scoffed in amusement.

"Right, shall you lecture darkspawn to death with nonsense about this Maker of yours?" she asked, dismissive. "Oh, please…"

"I'm sorry, I don't know if this makes any sense," Sokka said, with an awkward smile. "Yeah, I do need help, but even if you know how to fight… why would you join me? You can probably help other people far better with the Chantry anyway, you know? Help them find refuge from the darkspawn, keep the refugees calm, organize evacuations, that sort of thing?"

"Well, you'd think, but…" Ty Lee said, smiling a little shyly now. "I'm coming with you because the Maker told me to."

"Oh? Oh, my! A new prophetess, is it?" Azula sneered. "I'm in awe…"

"Come on, play nice," Sokka chuckled, though he looked at Ty Lee in utmost disbelief. "Though I'll admit this does sound like the part where I ought to start walking away, slowly…"

"I know it sounds insane, but…!" Ty Lee said, biting her lip. "I had a vision. The darkness that's spreading across the world… it's not what the Maker wants. You will be fighting it, and that's what the Maker's work would be, so I want to be part of it, too."

Sokka grimaced, glancing at Azula again. She raised an eyebrow, dismissively… and then he said the very words she suspected he would, even if she hoped he wouldn't.

"We do need help, though…"

"Perhaps your skull was cracked worse than Mother thought."

"Eh, maybe I've been knocked in the head too many times all my life, thought about that?" Sokka said, with a weak grin. "Besides… this way she can be the one who bathes the dog, eh? How about it?"

"I… w-well, if I must!" Ty Lee exclaimed, blushing, as Azula laughed deviously.

"Stop saying such wicked things or I may actually start liking you, Grey Warden," she said, shaking her head. "Anyway… were we going to eat something or not?"

It was very strange to enjoy a meal while the tavern's staff carried the corpses from their earlier fight out of their building. Sokka used some of the money from the reward the templar had given him to buy their meals, and now that they were a team of four – including the dog – he was in much better spirits.

Thus, it was only natural that he'd feel even better once they recruited a fifth member for their team, right at Lothering's outskirts.

They heard a voice muttering words in a foreign language as they were about to leave the village's premises. Sokka frowned as he glanced at a large cage… he frowned even more upon glimpsing that the horned humanoid inside that cage didn't appear human.

"A qunari?" Azula said, raising her eyebrows. "Huh. I had never seen one before."

"The Revered Mother from the Chantry had the qunari woman placed in that cage for slaughtering an entire family," said Ty Lee, somberly. Sokka frowned.

"Really? Why?" he asked. Ty Lee huffed.

"Who knows. Though I do think that leaving her here to be eaten by darkspawn… it is far too cruel a fate," said Ty Lee, grimacing. Sokka huffed.

"I say we release her, whether you think she would be of any use to us or not," Azula said, surprising Sokka.

"Use? You mean… we could recruit her," he pointed out, frowning. "I know it might sound insane, but… a lot of Grey Wardens have very dark pasts. Not me, but others did. Not that I'll be making a qunari a Grey Warden, mind you, but…"

"But for all effects and purposes, we're all doing Grey Warden work, going forward," Azula pointed out. "No matter if you're the only actual Grey Warden in our ranks."

"Okay, then… okay. We're going to see about releasing her," said Sokka, huffing as he stepped towards the cage, followed by his three allies. "Hello, there!"

The qunari raised her steely glare towards them. Horns protruded from her forehead, angled back over her dark black hair.

"Go away," she said, cuttingly. Sokka flinched.

"Uh, heh, look, I see you're in a cage…"

"Evidently."

"Would you like to be released?" he asked. The qunari woman scoffed.

"I am atoning," she said, cuttingly. "Leave me be. You'll find no amusement with me, human."

"Uh, yeah, I don't need amusement, I need someone who knows how to fight and I'm hoping you're one such person," Sokka said, with an awkward smile. "Look, I'm in need for allies. I'm trying to help stop the Blight, so…"

"The Blight?" finally, something appeared to interest the qunari woman. "You're… a Grey Warden? The warriors of legend who fight against the Blight?"

"That's right," Sokka said. The woman eyed him, up and down, and he felt even more judged than he did around Azula.

"My people have heard legends of the Grey Wardens' strength and skill… it appears not every legend is true," she said, skeptically. Sokka flinched, and Azula laughed softly next to him. "I have been locked in here by the Chantry. If you wish to free me so that I may atone in death on the battlefield, you would have to speak to them."

"Oh, gladly! I can talk to the Revered Mother…!" Ty Lee said, but Sokka scoffed and looked at her skeptically.

"You look like you've got that dagger for a reason," he said. "Can't you just unlock the cage?"

"U-uh, but…"

"'Tis entirely possible the Chantry woman will refuse a request, even if a lay sister with a dagger is the one to make it," said Azula, with a shrug. Ty Lee sighed.

"Fine, then, fine…"

She didn't need the dagger at all: she had a toolkit for undoing locks, it turned out, and both Azula and Sokka watched in astonishment as the qunari warrior was set free. She was tall enough to tower over the rest of them, and she let out a relieved breath as she stepped out of the cage.

"Then I shall follow you and find my death in battling darkspawn," she said. Sokka nodded.

"We'll find you some gear, and off we go to our work. Your name is…?"

"Sten, of the Beresaad."

"Oh?" Sokka blinked blankly. Ty Lee tapped her chin.

"That's not really a name, though, is it? It's your rank," she said. "I know a thing or two about qunari, myself, so… uh, can't we call you by your real name?"

"That's my real name. Sten," the woman said, firmly. Ty Lee blinked blankly before biting her lip.

"How about… I call you Mai? You look like a Mai!"

Sten, or Mai, growled with irritation as she turned towards the fields ahead. Sokka smiled and glanced at Azula, who wasn't sure yet if their two new additions would be good or bad for their upcoming journey.

"Things may just get hectic. I say we find Sten-Mai some armor and proper weapons before we get out of Lothering," Sokka suggested. Azula nodded in agreement.

They wound up spending most the day in Lothering, dealing with many requests in the Chanter's Board, defeating bandits and even fighting a group of greedy refugees who wanted to earn the bounty offered by Iroh if they killed the last remaining Grey Warden in Ferelden. By the end of it, both Sokka and Sten-Mai had found better gear for themselves, and Ty Lee had been happy to take a set of leather armor of her own, too, as well as a new bow. Only Azula kept to her odd, revealing attire, something that proved slightly distressing to her when Ty Lee started rambling about how they'd design a beautiful, Orlesian-styled dress for Azula one day. Sokka had found the exchange amusing as they made their way to the next chunk of the highway, at the other end of Lothering, when he heard Azula delivering a most confusing line:

"You are insane!" she scoffed, after Ty Lee fawned over the low-cut dress she wanted to see Azula wearing. "I'd sooner let Sokka dress me."

"Oh, it will be fun! We'll go shopping and find shoes for you, too! It really will be fun!"

Sokka raised an eyebrow, glancing back at Azula, who seemed moments away from smacking Ty Lee with her staff. She'd sooner let him dress her? Was that supposed to be some sort of insinuation, or was it merely a way to drive across just how much Ty Lee's excitement disgusted her…?

He was tempted to ask, but there was no time to do so: the first darkspawn they had glimpsed since saving Foo-Foo had showed up, and they appeared to be attacking a pair of dwarves, on the Imperial Highway.

The older dwarf was so grateful for their help in fending off the creatures that he decided to travel in their company, hoping for their protection due to how many brigands there were on the road. Chong was the older dwarf, and the younger one was his adoptive son, Moku: they were merchants, but Moku was a talented enchanter – if not a very eloquent one, as his vocabulary seemed to be comprised of very few words, 'enchantment' chief among them – who seemed ready and eager to enchant their weapons with runes, were they to find any.

Sokka could have stayed in the center of the camp they set up that night, with the bulk of their group… but he realized Azula had set up her own tent at a distance from the others. Ty Lee had taken to chatting with Sten-Mai, who appeared utterly unamused by her ramblings, and Sokka had no intention of joining their strange, terse conversation: instead, he made his way to where Azula sat, warming herself by a fireplace.

"Do you need something?" Azula asked, pointedly. Sokka shrugged, sitting down beside her.

"To talk, I guess. You're the one who's told me to make decisions, so… I think I'll do that, and I wanted to run it by you," he said, breathing deeply. "We have Grey Warden treaties for three different factions: the dwarves of Orzammar, the Dalish elves and the Circle Tower. But considering that we do need political protection from someone who can help us keep Iroh at bay… I think we ought to go to Redcliffe, first."

"To see that Arl Arnook fellow you spoke of with that man in the Chantry today?" Azula asked. Sokka nodded. "Are you certain of this? We do not have any specialized healers that might fix whatever ails him. It might be a waste of a journey."

"I'm thinking, if there's nothing we can do to help, we can go around Lake Kuruk…" he said, setting down his map in front of Azula. "And head up here, to the Circle Tower to recruit the mages, afterwards…"

"Is the treaty for the mages or the templars?" Azula asked, skeptical. Sokka shrugged.

"Either. Both? Makes very little sense to recruit the mages and for the templars to stay behind, who would they be guarding in that case?" he asked. "And if we ask the templars to come, the mages will be free to do as they wish and they might just escape from the tower, so I'd say logic suggests we ought to recruit a fair number of both so things don't go out of hand."

"Hmm. Well, then, it seems you've decided all this: what do you need of me, if so?" Azula asked. Sokka bit his lower lip.

"Well… do you think this is alright?"

"On paper, I suppose it is. The gravity of your Arl's situation may not be apparent until we arrive," she said, with a shrug. "I only advise you're ready to leave and find allies elsewhere, if this leads us nowhere."

"Thing is, Arl Arnook is the only one with enough political weight to really rival Iroh's," Sokka grimaced, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "If we can't have him… then it means we won't have the troops from Ferelden at all, in all likelihood. Iroh apparently is fashioning himself as the nation's regent, from what we've overheard in Lothering… his nephew is the Prince Consort, but Iroh's the one controlling everything right now, I'm sure of it."

"You seem to understand quite a great deal about Fereldan politics, Grey Warden… or templar," Azula said, raising her eyebrows. "Clearly I'm not much of a reference when it comes to such things, I was raised in the Korcari Wilds and I didn't involve myself in worldly events until… until, now, actually. But the way you speak of this Arl Arnook… it almost sounds as though you have some sort of personal relationship with him. Do you?"

"I… uh, well," Sokka started, rubbing the back of his neck before letting out a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. The real reason I wanted to talk to you now is… there's something I have to tell you. I probably will tell the others later too, but they're pretty busy now, so…"

"What is it?" Azula asked, point-blank. Sokka gulped.

"You know how you asked about my mother, earlier today?" he said. Azula hummed.

"Why, yes. When you wanted to talk about how my mother was a scary witch in a swamp, of course," she said, recalling a conversation they'd had a few hours before he made that utterly offensive claim about her alleged physical similarities with her mother. "And you said… there was nothing to talk about, with yours? Don't tell me you're this Arl's long-lost son, or so…"

"Despite the rumors claimed otherwise… no, I'm not," Sokka said. Azula frowned: she had made an outlandish guess, or so she had thought… but it wasn't that outlandish now, it seemed. "I suppose you already can guess that I'm a bastard, huh?"

"Ah. I see," she replied.

"And before you think to make any smart mouth comments, I mean the literal kind of bastard. I never knew my mother… or my father," he admitted, biting his lip. "She was just a Redcliffe maid, starstruck and smitten with King Hakoda when he visited Redcliffe Castle, one time, and…"

"Wait. Wait…" Azula leaned forward, staring at Sokka with utmost horror. "You're not… no. You're not seriously attempting to say that you're… you're of royal blood? Of Theirin blood?"

"When you put it that way, it sounds…!" Sokka started, before barking with laughter and shaking his head. "No, no. I mean, yes? But not the way you think…!"

"You're King Hakoda's bastard son?" Azula asked. Sokka sighed and hung his head. "Who… who knows about you? Does Iroh know that you're the only living Theirin?"

"I guess so," Sokka said, bitterly. "I… didn't know the king personally, I barely saw my half-sister a few times when we were kids, though she seemed pretty interested in me back at Ostagar… she kept me at a distance, though"

"Queen Katara's brother…" Azula said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm speechless. I… I cannot quite fathom you're a royal now…"

"You don't have to fathom anything, it's not going to mean a damn thing," Sokka said, with an awkward smile. "Most people don't know about it, and it's likely it'll stay that way…"

"You are terribly optimistic, aren't you?" Azula asked, with a skeptical smirk. "You say the Prince Consort is Iroh's nephew?"

"Yeah, Zuko…" Sokka said, nodding.

"So, your brother-in-law, in a way?"

"Yep," Sokka confirmed, grimacing.

"Do you expect he would think you're insignificant and no threat to his rule, now that his wife is gone?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. Sokka shrugged. "You are naïve, if so. You are a threat, whether you like it or not…"

"I don't want the bloody throne," Sokka growled, shaking his head.

"And yet you were willing to march to Arl Arnook's castle without considering perhaps he will intend to use you as a political tool to fight Iroh?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Sokka winced. "You were. 'Tis clear you were. You're far too innocent for a man your age…"

"I was raised by Arl Arnook," Sokka said, staring at Azula intently. She raised an eyebrow. "I lived in Redcliffe all my life until Piandao recruited me for the Grey Wardens. People thought I was the product of some affair Arl Arnook had with my mother, and his wife, Arlessa Macmu-Ling, positively despised me because of that. I lived… well, in a barn, pretty much, until I wound up at the Chantry, when the Arlessa finally convinced the Arl to send me away. He came to visit me a few times and… well, I rejected him and said a lot of stupid things. I was a boy, I didn't understand a lot of things. All I could see was that I'd been abandoned. So I… tossed this amulet at him – it was the one thing I had left of my mother's, my only heirloom – and it shattered against the wall. He… never came back, after that."

"And due to this sentimentality of yours, you hope Arl Arnook would still see you as that little boy he took in, a long time ago?" Azula asked. Sokka shrugged.

"I have no idea. But I do know that it's wrong of me to have acted as I did," he said. "If I can do anything to help him and make up for that, I will."

"And… what of the Blight?" Azula said. "Isn't that the whole reason we're doing any of what we're doing?"

"It is, yeah, but if we can help Arl Arnook, we can fight the Blight all the better with him at our side," Sokka said, frowning sternly. "And I'll do right by someone I wronged in the past. I know it sounds like we're going about things roundaboutly, but…"

"Oh, no need to worry about that," Azula said, with a careless shrug. "The First Blight lasted well over a hundred years; we can just as well extend this one for that long if we please…"

"You… are joking. Of course," Sokka huffed, and Azula smirked in his direction.

"Is this why you're so reluctant to play the part of a leader, however?" she asked. "T'was most uncanny to see a man deflecting responsibility and hoping I would be the one to provide guidance… is this the reason for it?"

"I suppose you could say that…" Sokka grimaced, scratching the back of his neck. "To be honest, I've never had to lead anyone anywhere. Being a bastard son doesn't really make me eligible for anything like that."

"Well, perhaps your difficult upbringing would make you a more suitable prince than the one currently sitting on the throne," Azula said. Sokka balked and shuddered.

"Prince? No, no, no…"

"King, then…"

"No!" Sokka squeaked, and Azula laughed. "Not funny! That's awful! Please, no!"

To Azula's surprise, Sokka didn't return to the main area of their encampment that night. He curled up by the fire, without even bothering to retrieve his bedroll, and dozed off in an awkward position, still in his armor. Much as he would occasionally see her, and see through her many layers of mystery and evasiveness, Azula could see him… and see depths of a man she had assumed much simpler, before.

He could be a king, someday. He might just become one, sooner than later. It sounded like a fine notion…

Only, it wasn't quite that fine for her.

Azula grimaced as she pulled her knees up to her chin, gazing at him as he slept. She knew why her mother wanted her here. She knew what her true purpose was, at the Grey Warden's side… and yet she also knew that, as much as Sokka appeared not to hate her as much as she thought he would, he wouldn't be sure to accept her eventual proposal, if they even lived long enough for her to make it. Yet he had to, didn't he? She didn't need to be a genius to know that he was the most eligible candidate for the Fereldan throne… he was, in her opinion, the only candidate, as far as the logic of monarchy dictated. Sokka's ancestor, Kuruk, had been the one to unite the clans of Ferelden under a single banner, and for as long as Ferelden had been an independent nation, a Theirin had been sitting on that throne…

Yet he was a Grey Warden. Azula's eyes narrowed as she regarded him carefully. Fulfilling her task… it would still be doable, for as far as she understood, his Joining, the ritual with which he had become a Grey Warden, hadn't happened too long ago. The adverse effects of drinking that poisonous, dangerous brew of darkspawn and Archdemon blood, lyrium and magical herbs that dimmed the deathly corruption of both the first components… they could render any Grey Warden, female or male, sterile after a few years. If he was the last Theirin… then it truly meant the bloodline would end with him.

She shuddered upon thinking of that. Upon reasoning that her choices would no longer be as easy, as self-serving, as personal as they had been in concept alone. Had Ursa realized he was a Theirin all along? Had she been aware of the danger in what she had expected of her daughter, in consequence? Azula gritted her teeth, unsure of what to think anymore… and then Sokka thrashed lightly, in his sleep.

"Archdemon nightmares…?" she recited: she knew, perhaps, more about the Grey Wardens than any outsider was supposed to. Her mother had seen to that. She knew, without Sokka telling her, that in his sleep, he would occasionally glimpse the monstruous corrupted dragon… that he had likely spent years attempting to shrug away those images, to no avail.

Azula breathed out slowly and reached inside her bags: she needed Sokka alive and safe, that much had been a certainty all along, but now it was even more urgent, for he was likely to be king, someday. Learning a few insignificant spells to help him sleep wouldn't be a terrible idea, she hoped…

She studied her books through the night until she was too tired to keep going: it was all the better if she fell asleep soon too, for who knew what kind of dangers awaited them in Redcliffe…?

An undead invasion.

An undead invasion awaited them in Redcliffe.

Azula had thought they should turn tail and leave at once: what was the point in trying to defend a village that was plagued by an even worse problem than the Blight they were already trying to fight? And yet Sokka, of course, had decided they had to stay and help, because the Arl's brother, Bato, was nice and friendly to him. Because the villagers made sad puppy eyes at him – except for that wretched bartender: Azula thought his neck, thicker than his head, looked like a turtle's – and he was utterly defenseless against them.

So, here they were, merely a night later, fighting fiercely against the swarm of undead that had rushed into the village from the road that led to the Castle, and from the lake itself. Azula suspected the many reanimated corpses in Lake Kuruk might have been the object of occasional accidents, but the closeness to the Mage Tower suggested they might have even been drowned mages, whether accidentally or not. She fought as hard as she could, though, blasting skeletons with as much power as she could muster…

Until she realized Sokka was surrounded.

The Grey Warden she needed to keep alive and safe was surrounded because he had taunted the damn skeletons away from the militia and the fighters he had recruited to help the village.

The Grey Warden who might just become the King of Ferelden.

She had no idea if this would work. She had just happened to read the spell last night, while seeking one to remedy the lackluster sleep Sokka might have, caused by the nightmares of the Archdemon… she hadn't thought it would be useful at all. But in a frantic moment, she had raised her staff and infused her magic into it, channeling it perfectly… into a force field. Suddenly, Sokka couldn't move, and she could mind blast the damn skeletons and hit them with her staff if need be, while Sten-Mai and Ty Lee rushed in to her aid, the former wielding daggers, the latter shooting arrows with a bow the townsfolk had leant to her.

Sokka's eyes flickered towards her, though… and even before the force field had faded, Azula knew he would be cross about what she'd done. She glared back at him before carrying forward: she had done what needed to be done. If he wasn't grateful, that wasn't her problem.

The fight dragged on into midnight, and nobody on their side was felled: even if Sokka had looked like he was moments away from yelling furiously at her once the force field faded away, Azula thought the outcome had been rather positive, and Bann Bato had declared as much by morning: they had survived a battle they had thought unwinnable, and unsurprisingly, the one credited for that grand success was none other than Sokka, who smiled awkwardly as he was presented with a grand helmet of red steel for his great service to the village.

By then, everyone rejoiced in the outcome of the fight: people went day-drinking, others simply prayed at the Chantry, and a few just needed to rest. Their five-member group followed fit with the first of those ideas… but Azula wasn't surprised at all to find that the consequences of her actions would catch up to her now, when the excitement had winded down:

"You do realize I'm heavily armored, and I have a pretty big shield?" Sokka asked her, point-blank. Azula huffed. "I know you thought you were saving my life, but I had it handled…!"

"You did not. You only hoped to draw all their attention to yourself because that meant they wouldn't kill anyone else, just you," Azula said, pointedly. Ty Lee and Sten-Mai eyed them with uncertainty, never before having witnessed such a serious argument between them.

"I wasn't going to die, and if you thought I was, maybe you could have helped without taking me out of the fight for…!"

"Oh, for what? Five minutes?" Azula let out a humorless laugh, glaring at him intently. "You simply refuse to understand you're far more valuable than… than any other person in that village, you've refused to understand it from the start, you dragged us into a fight we didn't need to fight at all…!"

"We weren't going to leave these people to their own devices…"

"They handled it without any losses! Countless of them fought to their best…!"

"Because I ensured they would! I got that smith to make armor and weapons, I fetched the mercenary dwarf and his goons, got that elf, Longshot, to admit he was working for Iroh and he agreed to fight alongside us afterwards, I even got this bastard to give out free ale to the militia so they'd have more motivation to fight…!"

"You still don't get it…"

"No, I don't!" Sokka said, staring at her in disbelief. "This is… this is what it means to be a leader, to me. I'm not doing it for myself… I have to do it for those who depend on me. If I can save a life, I will. It's not that hard to grasp."

"No, no doubt, of course," Azula said, with a disbelieving smile. She shook her head and pushed the untouched tankard away from herself as she rose to her feet. "Now you somehow have some sort of leadership philosophy when you've been running away from all responsibility so far…"

"Azula, I'm not saying…"

"Oh, no: you brought up the subject yourself," she hissed. "And you can't see the facts as they are, even so. This whole nation… it happens to be but a larger version of what happened in this small town. The darkspawn are swarming and destroying it, just like these undead attempted to tear Redcliffe to pieces. And yet you think the right way of fighting back is to bring them all down on you so that they leave everyone else alone? You might become the leader of this nation one day: what sort of leader abandons his people by becoming the very first casualty in combat?! You don't understand your value, not your political value, not your responsibility as a Grey Warden, nor…! Ugh, you're infuriating!"

Without any further ado, she stormed off, towards the next floor. Sokka followed her with his gaze, confused… and even after she was gone, he continued to gaze in her direction. Thus, he wasn't paying attention when Sten-Mai and Ty Lee began to speak.

"… The witch has a point, but she is not trustworthy," Sten-Mai declared. Ty Lee sighed. "You southerners are… chaotic. There is no order, not the slightest sign of it…"

"There's beauty in chaos, sometimes," Ty Lee said, before offering Sokka a sad smile. "You want to go after her, don't you?"

"I… do. But I don't know if I should," Sokka admitted, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "You're a Chantry sister, you understand why I did this, don't you?"

"Oh, I do. And yet she's not wrong just because you're right," Ty Lee said, with an enigmatic shrug. Sokka huffed. "If I understand correctly, you're as good as a legend in the making, Sokka. The bastard son of King Hakoda? And the last Grey Warden in Ferelden, too. A templar…"

"Not a full initiate, though," Sokka pointed out, and Ty Lee giggled.

"And she is an apostate, of all things," she said. "You two… you have the makings of a legendary love story, that's for sure."

"Wait, what?!" Sokka squeaked, cheeks heating up. "What sort of…? That's crazy talk! Love story? Her and me?"

"Oh? So you're trying to say you leer at her cleavage as you do and she allows it without you two being officially together?" Ty Lee asked, and Sokka blushed crimson. "I merely mentioned the perfect low-cut dress for her, and with a single glance at her chest she immediately told me she was disturbed that I was looking at all. Not that she's hiding it, to begin with, but… has she told you it disturbs her when you ogle her?"

"Uh… no," Sokka admitted, flustered. Ty Lee giggled.

"Because she wants you to look. So sly…" she said, giggling again. "She's worried about you, silly. Don't you see? She cares about you. She wants you to survive this war. The last thing she wants is for you to throw your life away recklessly… because she cares."

"Well, I'm not sure how you've come to that conclusion, but… I get the feeling she'd take offense to it," Sokka said, with a weak smile. "From the moment we met, we've been at each other's throats…"

"Perhaps you ought to be a little less hostile by each other's throat, if so," Ty Lee said, with a knowing grin. "I'm sure you'd both feel a lot better if you were."

"That's… totally out of place, and anyway, it's not reasonable for her to care about me on any capacity anyway," Sokka said, shaking his head. "We've been thrown together into this trip by circumstance alone, and yeah, maybe that's how strong bonds can be forged, but I doubt she wants anything of the sort with me. Though… I also doubt she'd be doing this just because she thinks I might be king one day, but eh…"

"She has an ulterior motive," Sten-Mai declared, and Sokka frowned. "I cannot understand why you're incapable of seeing through the obvious. She has no shortage of signs of subterfuge and deceit all around her."

"Right, so she's keeping me alive so she can cook me in a pot when the urge hits her?" Sokka asked, skeptical. Sten-Mai scowled.

"She is dangerous," the qunari declared. "You southerners leave your mages to trample about with no control whatsoever. It's no surprise you cannot seem to see the signs of danger…"

"Oh, really? How do the qunari handle their mages, then?" Sokka asked, skeptical. "Or is it you folks don't have any mages altogether?"

"The saarebas are kept chained," Sten-Mai stated. Sokka's eyes widened. "And watched, by an Arvaarad. If they are dangerous, their mouths are sewed shut. Their tongues may be cut if they are found questioning the Qun and driving doubt in the minds of others."

"Y-you're not saying we should…? Oh, come on! That's absurd!" Sokka scoffed.

"It is my understanding you had been in training to become a templar, a manner of Arvaarad for the mages in the south?" Sten-Mai asked. "Then it is only expected that you would not succeed at your training if you harbor such sympathy for dangerous mages."

"Well, now, templars are known to be pretty nasty with mages, that much is true," Sokka said, raising his eyebrows. "And that's already bad enough, as far as I can tell. Your people are a little… ugh, what are we even talking about this for?"

"You believe that woman could be of some use to you, you are concerned over her sentimentality, if that is even what she is experiencing at all," Sten-Mai said. "She is as a kasaanda. A sundew."

"Oh? Now you're comparing Azula to a flower?" Ty Lee asked, puzzled.

"A flower that entices and entraps insects," Sten-Mai clarified, and both Sokka and Ty Lee flinched. "You would do best to keep your wits about you rather than trust a woman who attempts to fight, let alone by using magic."

"Uh… wait a minute, what did you just say?" Ty Lee smiled a little, eyes narrowing. "Women should not attempt to fight? Or is it more about your aversion towards magic…?"

"It is not done," Sten-Mai said, firmly. Sokka and Ty Lee blinked blankly.

"What's not done?" Sokka asked.

"A woman's role is in a farm, or a shop, or as a priestess," Sten-Mai said, simply. Ty Lee gasped in unrestrained disbelief and outrage.

"Okay? How does this explain your presence here, then?" she asked. "If women are not allowed to fight…"

"I am no woman. Women would not be allowed in the antaam," Sten-Mai said. Ty Lee's eyebrows twitched.

"So, it means you identify as a man?" she asked. Sten-Mai nodded. "Though your body is female?"

"That is of no concern for a member of the Qun who has exhibited appropriate skill and discipline to join the Antaam," Sten-Mai declared, firmly. Ty Lee huffed, folding her arms over her chest.

"Identify with whatever you please, Sten… be it your name, a nickname, as a man or as a woman," she said. "But it's not up to you to determine whether a woman can fight or not! Maybe that's how it is done in Par Vollen, but here…!"

"Is it any wonder you southerners are ever engrossed in chaos…?" Sten-Mai huffed. Ty Lee scoffed right back.

"Is it any wonder you northerners can't seem to defeat the Tevinter Imperium?" she said: Sten-Mai glared at her. "Why, yes, perhaps you would have already conquered all of Thedas if only you allowed your women to fight…"

"That's not…"

"Okay, you know what?" Sokka smiled awkwardly, rising to his feet. "Good luck getting our buddy to change his mind, I'm going to go check on Azula."

"Oh, you go on, then. I have to give this qunari a piece of my mind," Ty Lee declared, glaring Sten-Mai down fiercely, only to find the response by the qunari was as good as utmost dismissal.

Sokka let out a deep breath as he marched upstairs, knowing the argument that would begin between Sten-Mai and Ty Lee would likely be far worse if Azula had been there too. He was likely to walk into another argument with her now, himself… but he hoped she wouldn't be too upset about what had happened between them just now.

He looked through a few rooms in the tavern, finding that some people were celebrating their survival in a rather enthusiastic way, but no sign of Azula so far. Upon glimpsing a window near the roof, though, he dared poke his head out just to check if she had, perhaps, climbed on the roof to be alone… and he found she had done exactly that, sitting with her knees against her chest, with a frown upon her face that was quite different from the one from earlier.

"You okay?" Sokka asked, softly. Azula blinked before glancing back at him.

"You… didn't have to come after me," she said, her voice soft at first, then as steely as ever. "Though I suppose, now that you have, I should apologize for my outburst."

"You don't have to apologize for that…" Sokka said, as he climbed on the windowsill and slid closer to her. "It's, uh… kind of nice to know you want me to live, actually"

"I… oh, please," she said: he smiled upon seeing a light blush upon her cheeks.

"No need to be so annoyed, I'm not going to boast about it or so," he said. "Whatever your reasons… I probably should consider you have a point."

"Well, that's far more open-minded and permissive than I would expect from a templar. Giving the apostate the benefit of the doubt?" Azula asked. Sokka huffed.

"You do realize I may have templar abilities, but I'm not a full templar? Haven't I said it a thousand times?" he asked, smiling a little. "Look… I still think I have to do what I have to do. I have to fight, to save lives, because that's the whole point of my presence here…"

"Of course," Azula said, with a deep sigh.

"But you… you aren't entirely wrong, okay? Maybe I do have to think twice before throwing myself into danger," Sokka said, scratching the back of his neck. "So… how about we compromise, if just a little? You'll let me serve as the shield, let me take on the dangerous foes by keeping you guys safe while you attack them mercilessly… but if you notice I'm being pummeled and overwhelmed? Pull that Force Field on me. I won't get mad."

"But I have to allow them to hit you a few times before I do it? Is that how it is?" Azula asked. Sokka chuckled and nodded. "You have no sense of self-preservation, I see."

"You're not exactly wearing a ton of armor, and while your staff's pretty heavy, I don't think you can objectively hope to slam it into your enemies if they rush on you whenever I can't distract them by being a shiny, ridiculous beacon summoning them towards me," Sokka said, raising his eyebrows. Azula sighed and shrugged. "We're a team, alright? So… we'll protect each other. That's what this boils down to. And if you're somehow prioritizing me because you've gotten it into your head that a fool like me would ever be king, well…"

"Hmm… as far as foolishness is concerned, you might be delighted to hear that a Fereldan king of old drooled so heavily at every moment that he needed an attendant to wipe his chin in court constantly," she said, smirking at Sokka, who scoffed and eyed her with derisive disbelief.

"You're making that up."

"Oh, not at all. Feeling a little less daunted, when the bar set by your ancestors is quite so low?" she asked, amused. Sokka laughed and shook his head.

"You're something else," he said. Azula smiled and relaxed her legs slightly, letting them dangle over the edge of the roof.

"I've… been looking up other spells, in my books," she said. "They were books my mother didn't quite allow me to browse, but I brought them with me when she forced me to come with you. I thought, perhaps… I could find a spell to aid you. I found that one, rather than the one I was searching for, but still…"

"What were you hoping to find?" Sokka asked. Azula breathed deeply.

"A sleeping spell, actually," she said. Sokka's brow furrowed. "You had an Archdemon dream two nights ago. I noticed."

"You know about that?" Sokka asked, eyes wide. Azula laughed, a softer version of her wicked giggle.

"It might do you good to consider the possibility that I might have knowledge on subjects that you might not think I'd be privy to. My education wasn't exactly normal, as you already know…"

"Well, I do know that, but still…" Sokka blinked blankly, eyeing her with confusion. "How exactly did you hope to help me with that, anyway?"

"I believe there may be a spell that could ease you into sleep," Azula explained, eyeing Sokka with uncertainty. "I have no intentions of using it on you if you don't wish me to do so, but… if you have trouble sleeping in the future, I may be able to help you by casting it."

"Azula…" Sokka gazed at her with amazement, and her cheeks reddened again. He smiled leaning forward, his forearms on his knees. "You know what…? You're not half bad, for a Witch of the Wilds."

"A sneaky witch-thief?" Azula asked, with a teasing grin. "Oh, my: that Prince Sokka himself has deemed me, a common nobody, worthy of his time…"

"I'm not a prince, and you're not a common nobody: I'm a goofball, and you're terrifying," Sokka clarified. Azula laughed, shaking her head as he smiled fondly at her. "But you know what? I'm pretty happy to have you by my side in this mess. Yes, you keep poking fun at me and being mean, but compared to those two, eh…"

"And here I thought you liked them just fine…" Azula pointed out, amused. Sokka shuddered.

"They're probably going to tear down the tavern with the massive argument they'll be having about gender roles and whatnot," Sokka said, eyeing her skeptically. Azula let out a bark of laughter. "Apparently, Sten identifies as male and thinks women can't fight, so…"

"Ah? Then Ty Lee and myself would be men too, as per that logic?" Azula asked. Sokka chuckled and shook his head.

"Qunari always felt like a really strange, foreign concept to me. Guess they feel the same way about the likes of us," he said. Azula smirked.

"And you're certain you and I can be lumped in the same package? Ty Lee is clearly Orlesian, a girl used to the luxuries of grand cities and opulent, lavish lifestyles… so, of course, she is different from us. Yet you are a future king…"

"Am not."

"While I am, indeed, a swamp witch, as some might say," Azula said, with a casual shrug. "It would seem that none of us really has had the same life experience as the others. My views might just conflict with yours as badly as our qunari ally clashes with the rest of us."

"Well, you're more fun when you argue with me than Sten is," Sokka said, with an awkward smile. "At least I get to poke fun at you."

"Ah, you do, do you?" Azula huffed. "Say I look like my mother again and you'll pay for it dearly."

"No more Force Fields to defend me?"

"And no sleeping spells, either," Azula declared, haughtily. Sokka chuckled and shook his head.

"What you said earlier, though…" Sokka said, biting his lip and glancing at her. "Your mother kept some books from you, but she let you take them now? And you said your education wasn't normal, but you apparently know things like how kings in Denerim would drool all over themselves…? And you know about Grey Warden secrets, too? Can I ask… how? Why?"

"You can. That doesn't mean I'd answer," Azula said. Sokka huffed, and she only smirked in return for that.

"Fine, then. Be secretive. I'll just imagine your mother taking you to Chantry school like a nice, dutiful swamp witch…" Sokka said, haughtily. Azula grinned.

"That would have been infinitely more boring… though perhaps safer," Azula admitted. Sokka hummed inquisitively at her words. "My mother had… what you would likely consider odd ideas for raising a child. Her lessons weren't quite as simple as making me recite some verse of the Chant of Light until I stopped mixing up the words…"

"Eh, yeah, I never did stop mixing them up," Sokka admitted. Azula let out that odd giggle again, and by now it delighted Sokka to hear it.

"Either way… she taught me many things but, above all, that survival has meaning. Love and beauty are fleeting, meaningless… a lesson taught to a child who thought stealing a hand mirror, on her very first forays into human civilization, would be a fun idea," Azula said. Sokka's eyes widened. "I stole it from a noblewoman, when her carriage stopped not far from where I hid. T'was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen… and yet stealing it could have caused consequences I couldn't possibly imagine. My mother taught me as much by destroying that beautiful, golden mirror right in front of me."

"That's… that's so cruel," Sokka said, frowning. Azula let out a light laugh.

"Maybe so. But 'tis how it had to be. I wasn't born to a life of luxuries: I was born with magical powers most could only dream of. Coveting gold and silver, mirrors and beauty… it serves no purpose, in the end."

"Well, maybe not for you, I guess," Sokka said, with a shrug.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Azula asked. Sokka blushed.

"Say what you will, beauty is fleeting, whatever… pretty sure a gold mirror can't be more beautiful than you are."

Her jaw dropped, and she let out a disbelieving bark of laughter as Sokka grinned, almost proudly, at her.

"You jest," she said, shaking her head. "Oh, you fool…"

"I'm not messing around," Sokka chuckled, shaking his head.

"You continue to astound me, Grey Warden," she said. "I expected you would side with my mother, if just on the logic that 'stealing is bad', as that appears to be what made me deplorable to you, when we first met…"

"Well, that's not very good, no," Sokka laughed and shook his head. "But that doesn't mean you can't have a golden mirror. Just, you know, pay for it next time?"

"Oh, certainly. Money we should be using on supplies, weapons and armor will be well invested in pretty baubles instead," Azula said, sarcastically. Sokka chuckled and shrugged. "Do you… truly believe me to be beautiful, then? My wicked, wily ways haven't scared you all that much, so far?"

"Eh, I said you're terrifying," Sokka said, grinning and bumping her lightly with his shoulder. "But you manage to be both things just fine, as far as I can tell. You're just sneaky that way."

"I see," Azula smiled: he could tell she was flustered, but he decided not to push the subject any further.

"So… we have an understanding?" he asked. "From what Bann Bato said, sounds like whatever's going on in the castle might not be easy to handle… we'll have to fight at our best to win there. I know it won't be easy, but…"

"I will do my best not to burden you or anyone else in the battlefield," she said. "Besides… this new spell for sleeping? I think I finally found it. I may be able to use it on our foes."

"Oh? Making them fall asleep mid-battle?" Sokka asked, amused. Azula smirked. "That I have to see."

"You will. You will," Azula said, bumping him gently as well: Sokka laughed and let out a happy sigh, enjoying that subtle, quiet moment of peace with someone he had never truly expected he'd call a friend, one day…

A few hours later, Bann Bato summoned their group to the windmill that overlooked Redcliffe: shortly after he started giving them instructions, however, a woman in an ornate Orlesian dress came rushing towards them. Sokka flinched immediately as the woman began begging, pleading for Bato to come to the castle and help her daughter… and then her eyes fell upon Sokka and her demeanor changed into utter contempt.

"Sokka? What are you doing here?" she as good as spat at him. Sokka winced visibly.

"Lady Macmu-Ling, what is going on in the castle?" he asked, unwilling to let the woman's distaste for him derail the conversation: Azula shot him a sudden glance, and Sokka waved a hand as though to ease her.

This was the woman who had seen him tossed out of Arl Arnook's castle and into the templars. The woman who had been so certain Sokka was Arnook's illegitimate son… and now, it seemed her actual child was in danger, going by what she was saying.

"There's something in the castle, that mage brought it…!" she whimpered. "It will hurt Yue!"

"Calm yourself, Macmu-Ling," Bato advised, but the woman's hysterical demands didn't change: she only wanted one thing, and that was for Bato to go with her to the castle, right away, alone. Azula scoffed at her… at the disrespect she would show Sokka, more than anything.

The knights of Redcliffe distracted the woman briefly, allowing Bato a chance to hand a key to a secret passageway to Sokka: his group would infiltrate the castle, the knights would be on standby at the gates, and if this truly was a trap, Bato would attempt to alert them of danger before matters took a worse turn. It appeared Yue, the young daughter of Arl Arnook, had started to show signs of being a mage, and the child's mother had decided to find an apostate, no less, to teach her daughter to control the magic in secret. She now blamed said apostate for whatever had gone wrong in her daughter's education… but Azula already had strong suspicions as to what had happened to the girl, even before seeing her directly.

Said suspicions were corroborated after they barraged through the secret corridor, past more undead – then they found the mage, a nervous man called Haru, whom Sokka left in the cell underneath the castle in case he might come in handy in the future. Haru had insisted he had nothing to do with the undead invasion… but he had confessed, sorrowfully, having been hired by Teyrn Iroh to poison Arl Arnook. A sneaky move to get rid of his strongest political opponent…

And a move that had greater consequences than they had expected, too: after moving on through the castle and defeating the very worst of the undead invasion, no less than a Revenant – a corpse possessed by a greater demon –, the whole group led by Sokka, now joined by the Redcliffe Knights, had entered the castle to find a most disturbing scene: the young princess Yue, no older than ten, was clearly possessed by a demon of her own.

"What a surprise, isn't it? An inexperienced child, tampering with what she doesn't understand…" Azula hissed, whipping up her staff when the demon inside Yue commanded the Redcliffe men under its spell to attack the arriving forces.

"Don't kill them!" Sokka exclaimed: as the young girl escaped through a back door. "They're under magical control… blood magic, I figure! They're not themselves!"

"The darkest form of magic there is…" Ty Lee recited behind him, pulling up her bow as the enemies, including a mind controlled Bato, came running towards them…

And then all of them fell asleep when Azula cast a powerful spell that ranged all around the room. Sokka blinked blankly and Azula gazed at him with that delightfully pleased expression on her face.

"Yes? Something the matter?"

"That… was very effective. Nicely done!" he smiled before stepping up to the now unconscious men who had dropped on the floor, unceremoniously.

Once Bato woke up, he was himself once more. He explained the situation: Yue was clearly under the control of a demon, and the demon had used all sorts of magic to tamper with everyone's minds. It seemed the girl might have wrongfully sought help from the creature after her pleas to see her father saved from his illness had beckoned it towards her… Azula was quick to suspect that the type of demon in possession of the child's body right now would be a Desire Demon.

"We need to fight the demon and end this madness before my niece becomes an abomination…" started Bato, flinching. "Though, I suppose… she already is one."

"No!" Macmu-Ling exclaimed: she had been complicit with the demon out of fear of what might happen to her daughter if she didn't play along with the creature's every whim. "You cannot kill Yue! Please, Sokka, whatever you have to do to save her, do it! Kill me instead…!"

"That wouldn't likely save the child, would it?" Sokka asked, grimacing.

"… It might. If you're truly ready to make that sacrifice, it might."

Macmu-Ling paled when she heard Haru's voice: he had left his cell at some point during the fighting, and he had arrived in the castle's vestibule to offer his aid, Sokka supposed… but convincing the feral woman that the mage could be trusted wouldn't be easy, as she accused him of being responsible for everything wrong in their village right now.

In the end, though, something Haru said brought Sokka to make a surprising decision:

"Either blood magic or a massive amount of lyrium might allow us to send a mage into the Fade to fight the demon directly and set Yue free?" Sokka repeated. Haru nodded.

"But we don't have much time," he said. "We don't know if the demon will attack anew…"

"You'll have to contain it," Sokka said, firmly. "I'm not about to sacrifice any other lives to save Yue's. Blood magic is… at best, a last resort. But it's still not the last resort. So… stay here with the knights and help contain the demon as best you can. The rest of us… we're off to the Circle Tower."

"Kinloch Hold?" asked Bato, frowning. "It's not far… but traveling there will be a gamble. Will the mages be willing to perform this ritual?"

"Only one way to find out," Sokka said, with a shrug, before turning to his companions. "Alright…! Who wants to visit a Mage Circle, eh?"

Azula grimaced, Ty Lee smiled a little, and Sten-Mai shuddered with distaste. Foo-Foo, as ever, only barked positively.

Thedas was a complicated world for everyone, but perhaps it was most complicated for mages: a child with any magical ability born to any family, whether noble or common, would be taken to their respective nation's Mage Circle, an institution of magical education controlled and overseen by the Chantry, the most prominent religious institution in Thedas. Most human nations had Mage Circles of its own – dwarves were unable to use magic, thus they didn't need a circle at all, and the qunari had even stricter forms of control than the circle's own, it seemed. Tevinter, the northern magical empire, was the only exception to that rule in human nations, and the only land upon the known world where mages reigned over everyone else.

Mages were overseen by templars, the Chantry's mage-hunting warrior force. They were trained in talents that could drain mages from their energy to cast spells – mana – and they were assigned to guard and watch the mages in each circle, day in and day out. There had ever been a bitter relationship between the two factions: mages resented templars for being their jailors and oppressors, templars deemed mages too dangerous to be unsupervised… and Yue herself was but a perfect example templars would love to point to, when it came to the danger mages posed: spirits and demons could come into contact with mages more easily than with any other life form. Demons and spirits dwelled in the world of dreams and magic, the Fade, and mages drew their power from a deep connection they held, inherently, with that magical dimension.

The demons' promises of power could sway many mages into creating dangerous pacts with them… pacts that would see them losing themselves to the claws of a wretched, otherworldly creature that would thrive in reaching into the material world, wreaking havoc and sowing destruction in their wake. Most mages who agreed to such pacts would become blood mages who resorted to the power of blood rather than that of the magical mineral, lyrium, to strengthen themselves and access powers beyond anyone else's grasp. Blood mages were popularly referred to as maleficarum, and more often than not, every single apostate – any mage living outside a circle – would be deemed a maleficarum by default, no matter if they had never dabbled in blood magic.

Thus, Azula was apprehensive about the Circle, even if she wouldn't let it show. The dark tower was ominous and unsettling when they reached it after two days' travel, but she marched along with the others, ready to take advantage of the Blight and her allegiance with Sokka to ensure no wretched templars would attempt to restrain her and force her into the damnable prison for mages. For, as much as they liked to fashion it as a place of study, the truth was obvious in Azula's eyes.

While she had expected the templars would refuse to aid Sokka, whether in the case of Yue or with the Blight, Azula had failed to predict what their reasons for such rejection would be:

"We've lost control of the tower!" exclaimed Knight-Commander Jeong Jeong, and Sokka froze on his footsteps. "The mages… they've gone mad, there's demons and abominations everywhere! We've locked the mages and all the demons inside the tower, I'm waiting for the Right of Annulment, as we speak…!"

"The Right of Annulment?" Sokka repeated, eyes wide. "Wait, you intend to wipe out this whole tower, kill every mage, innocent or not…?!"

"At this point, we cannot secure the tower in any other way," Jeong Jeong said, firmly. "Not unless First Enchanter Pakku is somehow found alive and safe will I declare the situation is under control. If he's dead, there's no hope for the rest of those mages."

"Then… we have to barge into the Tower and find First Enchanter Pakku?" Sokka asked, rubbing his forehead before sighing. "Why is nothing ever simple…?"

"Everywhere we go, every place we see, is filled with further chaos," Sten-Mai growled. "You southerners…"

"Yes, yes, we should submit to the Qun or this shit will keep on happening, blah blah blah," Sokka dismissed Sten-Mai's words carelessly before turning towards the Knight-Commander. "If we head in there… you will close the doors after us?"

"You will be locked in, yes," said Jeong Jeong, nodding. "I cannot risk letting anyone else get out of that tower. If you truly intend to fight and save whoever you can save, I will wait until your return. I will wait for three days, at best: if you're not back by then, I will bring down the Right of Annulment on this tower, I swear it."

"Fine, fine, alright then…" Sokka sighed, running a hand over his hair before glancing at the others. "I know this is kind of awful, so if one of you wants to stay here…"

"No way we won't go with you," Ty Lee declared: Foo-Foo barked.

"You will have a better chance of survival if I fight alongside you," Sten-Mai declared, stubbornly.

"Oh, marching voluntarily into one of these places just to set it on fire afterwards… 'tis almost my greatest fantasy, didn't you know that?" Azula asked Sokka, with a low voice. Sokka smiled and shook his head. "You're stuck with us, I fear. Lead on, dashing Grey Warden…"

"If you say so… dashing, though? Really?" he asked, amused. Azula chuckled as they stepped past Jeong Jeong.

After replenishing their supplies with the templars' quartermaster and selling him some of the gear they had picked up along the way, they marched into the tower and the massive doors were sealed behind them. Azula let out a sigh as Sokka took to searching through the student dorms, finding countless butchered corpses, strange footlockers and many odd notes here and there… her narrow eyes studied the two rooms they checked, knowing the one actual valuable object they might find in the tower wouldn't be here. But, if there was a chance that Sokka might come across it…

"Sokka?" she called him, with a tone that immediately compelled him to eye her expectantly. "We are here, so… it has come to mind that there's an opportunity we could take advantage of, in this tower."

"We're not setting it on fire, no…" Sokka said, dismissively. Azula laughed.

"More's the pity," she said. "But what I had in mind, though… 'tis but an old tale of my mother's, one that might have been true or not at all, who can possibly know, with the woman? At any rate… apparently, my mother came across a templar once who divested her of a particular tome: it was a black grimoire, leather-bound, with a tree on its cover. It may have important information of magical nature… presumably, information that we could make use of to fight this Blight."

"Oh? More information about Wardens, maybe?" Sokka asked, raising his eyebrows. "Maybe something that explains why, exactly, are we the only ones allowed to kill the Archdemon? I've been wondering about that for a while… anyway, you want us to look for it?"

"If possible…" Azula said, with a dismissive shrug. "If it were nowhere to be found, I will simply put it out of my mind."

"Well, then… as you wish, Azula," Sokka said, with a simple grin. "Tell me about whatever you find in it, though, alright? I'm already curious."

"If I must…" Azula said, enigmatically, though she smiled back at him anyway.

Their quest for the book would have to wait, though: upon crossing into the next room, a large hall, they found a group of mages fighting a flaming Rage Demon. One elderly female mage defeated it, and her many apprentices flocked towards her afterwards, worried.

"Yagoda, are you alright?"

"I'm fine… I'm fine. And we have more company, it seems," said the elderly woman, turning towards the arriving group. "Has Jeong Jeong sent you? If you're here to kill the remaining mages…"

"Uh, no. I'm actually here to help save as many of you as I might be able to," Sokka said, his eyes gliding over the many teenagers and children standing with the woman, Yagoda. He eyed her keenly, his brow furrowed. "Though… do I know you? I feel like I've seen you. In… Ostagar?"

"Oh… you were one of the younger Grey Wardens!" Yagoda exclaimed. Sokka nodded. "I suppose you're here to recruit the mages after tragedy struck? Teyrn Iroh's abandonment of the field is unforgivable. I had no choice but to flee, as well… and upon returning to the Tower, I found Hama had taken control of it, in our absence. She has been dabbling in blood magic, without most of our awareness…"

"Hah. So much for the controlled, proper education mages get in the Circle…" Azula said, with a derisive grin. Yagoda scowled at her, but she focused on Sokka again.

"Please, help us. I cannot swear we will be able to assist you in the battle against the Blight… but if I can fight alongside you to defeat Hama, I will be eternally grateful for your help. I will pledge myself to your cause… I will help, in every way I can, for as long as there's any life in these old bones. Please, Grey Warden…"

"I'm Sokka," he said, breathing deeply and nodding. "I will do my best to help you, yes. But I need your help in more ways than one: a child in Redcliffe is possessed by a demon, and a mage has told us your Circle may be able to use lyrium for a ritual where a mage enters the Fade and kills the demon. Will you be willing to provide aid in this endeavor, too?"

"I… I see. Why, yes, I shall ensure it is so," Yagoda answered, nodding promptly. Sokka sighed.

"Well, then… join in, eh? The more the merrier," Sokka said, with a dry grin.

Of course, there was nothing merry about their circumstances: Azula suspected the book she sought wouldn't be in the common libraries, as Ursa's knowledge would be considered too dangerous and non-academic for the usual Chantry-sanitized content the Circle mages would likely learn. Yet they still had to walk through those common libraries, finding corpses of templars and mage apprentices, as well as many living, disfigured creatures they had to fight against: abominations, ones far more ghastly than Yue, who had been fortunate to retain her human form, somehow, even while possessed by a demon.

Yagoda lamented herself over every dead they left in their wake, whether the abominations they had to cut down, or the blood mages they came across who had been complicit with Hama. Countless fights later, they found an actual Desire Demon, a creature that took female shape, driving a weak-minded templar mad with delusions of the family he no doubt wished to have: he had to be cut down anyway, and as the man's uniform wasn't quite that damaged afterwards, Sokka wound up taking it for himself. He teased Azula, asking if the Templar uniform suited him, and she responded that he looked like some sort of metallic barrel rather than a person – he was quite amused by the remark as they marched into another room to find yet another abomination… or was it?

"Wouldn't you like to just lay down and… forget about all this? Leave it all behind?"

A sudden energy filled the room, and Azula shuddered as she sensed magic, she knew it was magic, so akin to the spell she had learned recently… but her rational mind wouldn't register it as such. She yawned before she knew it, thinking it was ridiculous for her to rest on a floor sticky with blood…

"I'm not going to listen to your lies, demon… you have no power over me…?" Ty Lee recited, though her own voice was weak with exhaustion.

"We must stand… and fight!" Sten-Mai growled, though his voice lacked the bite it usually carried.

"Resist… you must resist! Else, we are all lost!" Yagoda said, though the exhaustion was certainly reaching her, too.

"Can't… keep eyes open… Someone… Azula, pinch me…" Sokka said, but even if the invitation was wonderful to hear, she couldn't do it. She couldn't possibly move at all…

"Why do you fight? You deserve more… you deserve a rest. The world will go on without you…"

She hadn't truly fallen prey to the demon, only to the immense amount of magic it had wielded… but she couldn't deny the reality she was facing right now: she was back in Ursa's hut, and Ursa was right there, offering her some strange, kindly smile that couldn't have been more inaccurate and artificial if the demon had tried harder to make it so. Azula scoffed.

"I'm in the Fade?" she said out loud: she could see through the deceit quite quickly. Everything around her was weaved into the fabric of dreams, into magic powerful enough that she could sense it tingling against her own. She was unconscious… she was in the world of magic and dreams. "How dreary. And I suppose the others aren't around, are they?"

"Oh, Azula, my dear," Ursa said, smiling warmly. "I have just finished preparing supper."

"No, you haven't. Goodness, 'tis such a relief to know this meal of yours is but an illusion," Azula said: she waved a hand carelessly and, upon doing so, the table and the wall blended and withered.

Slowly, everything around them faded into nothingness, leaving them standing in a strange, ethereal, unsettling terrain. There was nothing natural about it, and yet it was the most natural thing in the world. Strange shapes protruded all across what Azula guessed was but an island, floating somewhere in the Fade. She frowned as she glanced about herself, until she finally glimpsed a floating building, in the depths of the sky.

"Aha! The Black City of Chantry lore, is it not?" she said, smirking. "'Oh, how the halls were golden until the Tevinter magisters, in all their greed, sought to usurp the Maker's throne'… utter nonsense, I say, but 'tis curious to see it for myself. I suppose I ought to thank this wretched demon for said opportunity… only, I'm not in a generous mood, actually."

"Why are you being so stubborn?" Ursa sighed. "Don't you love your mother?"

"Don't I… what?" Azula turned, with a disbelieving smile. "Oh, but you're embarrassing yourself now, spirit! I suppose you're in the thrall of the Sloth Demon that brought me here, but truly, is that the best you can do? My mother would laugh at the notion of me being quite so foolish as to love her! Is it quite so difficult to unravel the depths of my mind, spirit?"

"Whatever do you mean? I am your mother!"

"Ah? If so, do tell me: why did you ask this of me?" Azula asked, glaring at Ursa. "Why did you decide I ought to join the Grey Warden in this journey? Do you know why, spirit?"

"I… do not know what you speak of. We are in the Korcari Wilds…"

"We are in the Fade, you incompetent nitwit, and you're the poorest pretense of a mother I've ever seen…"

"Ah! How dare you!"

Without losing a beat, the spirit slapped her. Azula snorted and laughed as she glanced back at the creature wearing her mother's image.

"Much more like it, yes, but 'tis too little, too late," she hissed. "Truly, though, if you had the slightest inkling of how to so much as pretend to be my mother, I'd love to ask you countless questions that she never did answer. Such as… what were you hiding in that grimoire, exactly? Most curious that you would lose something quite as valuable as that tome, and yet you never did anything about it? However powerful you may have thought the templars to be, surely you could have arranged matters to have the book delivered to you, should you want it…"

"There's no book to retrieve, and you have gone too far with your accusations," Ursa declared one more time, brow furrowed. "I will have no more of your disrespect!"

Azula sighed, reaching for her staff, expecting a battle to begin… only for a sudden loud, crashing sound to startle both her and the spirit in the guise of her mother.

To her utmost astonishment, the sound was nothing other than a golem.

It was a massive, bulky stone creature, slamming its fists mercilessly upon the spirit feigning to be Ursa. Perhaps there was some part of Azula that was disturbed by the image, but a much louder part actually found it slightly amusing, up until she started to dread that the golem that had showed up out of nowhere might choose to target her, too…

She fought, though, casting her own spells to attack the spirit, finding it was a very poor imitator of her mother, as far as magic was concerned. Basic spells, nothing more… she smirked as she and the golem took it down, and she glanced at the rocky creature with concern once the spirit faded away…

Then, the golem shapeshifted into Sokka.

Her eyes widened, and he offered her an awkward smile.

"You… t'was you?!" she gasped, jaw dropping. "How did you…?! How could you…?!"

"I have no idea, it's been one hell of a puzzle, a maze, getting here," Sokka admitted, reaching out to her. "But I'm glad I found you. I bet the others are in the other places I saw in the Fade Pedestal but… uh, oh no. Azula? Azula…!"

"Oh, not this again! I refuse! Damnable demon…!"

Azula had been happy to hear about Sokka's adventures in the Fade, most intrigued by his acquisition of shapeshifting know-how, considering he was no mage, and shapeshifting was a skill only a select few knew how to use. Yet before he could go into details, several strange lights started bursting around her… and all was blackness anew. Azula tried to fight it, she did… but there was nothing else to do. She was gone, so was he, and she could do nothing to reach him again until…

Until she reappeared in another section of the Fade. This time, she stood behind Sokka, and Ty Lee, Sten-Mai, Yagoda and Foo-Foo Cuddly Poops were there, too…

An Arcane Horror, draped in unsettling, vaporous robes, wearing a tall hat, stood before them, bearing its skinless grin at Sokka in particular.

"Oh, there you are!" Sokka said, turning his head back to grin at the rest of them. Azula huffed.

"You've made a dangerous enemy, demon, by toying with my mind," Azula hissed, glaring at the creature.

"You will not hold us, demon! We found each other in this place and you cannot stand against us!" Yagoda declared, with far more determination and strength than expected for the elderly woman she was.

"It's time to finish this," Sten-Mai hissed. "I've had enough of cages."

"You tried to keep us apart. You led us from each other because you fear us, don't you?" Ty Lee asked, and Foo-Foo barked, as though to intimidate the demon.

"If you go back quietly, I'll do better next time. I'll make you much happier," the demon said. Sokka scoffed, shaking his head.

"Oh, the only thing that'd make me happy is lopping your head off, so if that's what you're offering, please step up and we'll see about making you a Fade-touched chopping block and everything!" Sokka said, beaming. The creature seemed frustrated with his response.

"You wish to battle me?" the demon said, its voice losing its lazy drawl as it gained hostility. "So be it… you'll learn to bow to your betters, mortal!"

"We'll see about that!" Sokka smirked.

The creature shapeshifted suddenly into a familiar shape: an ogre, like the one Sokka had to slay in the Tower of Ishal before nearly succumbing to the darkspawn. He snarled before transforming, too… and his many companions watched in awe as he took on a new form to fight the monstruous creature. Shapeshifted into a golem, Sokka took to pummeling the Ogre personally while the others attacked from range, with Sten-Mai and Foo-Foo occasionally rushing in to help up close. Then, when it was weakened, the demon transformed anew: this time it was another flaming, Rage Demon. Sokka attacked a few more times as a golem, but he dropped his own form and changed into a different one: the Burning Man. Azula watched in utmost awe as the non-mage switched forms with such ease, capably exploiting his strengths and the creature's weaknesses to deliver as much damage as possible.

The next form was that of an Abomination, and Sokka fought it as a golem anew: within a short time, it had shifted into another typical demon form, a slithering dark creature called a Shade: it was far more slippery than the others, so it was Sokka's turn to become an Arcane Horror to catch the creature with his Crushing Prison spell.

"Am I to understand you're a mage now, templar?!" Azula shouted at him in the middle of the battle: Sokka let out an ominous, disturbing laugh as he dropped his form right after freezing the creature, too.

"I can do more than that, too!" he said, grinning wildly at her. "Look!"

At first, Azula thought there wasn't much to look at… then Sokka's shape shrank into a mouse and vanished from sight.

"Sokka…? Sokka!" Azula exclaimed: the Shade-form of the Sloth Demon had vanished, and now he was an Arcane Horror again.

"No more games! Face me and die!" the creature declared…

"Back down, Azula!" Yagoda exclaimed, rushing forward. Azula watched the woman with uncertainty, but she obeyed her nonetheless…

A sudden burst of magic bathed the location, and with a single blow dealt by the elderly mage, the creature died… and mouse Sokka returned to his normal size, blinking blankly at the remains of the demon.

"Wow. Couldn't you have done that one from the start?" Sokka asked Yagoda, amused. She laughed quietly and shook her head.

"It was only going to work once it was in a highly magical form. I wasn't quite sure a Mana Clash would work even then… but I'm relieved that it did."

"It's over! Finally!" Ty Lee exclaimed, hugging Sten-Mai excitedly, on for the latter to sigh with irritation.

"Well, this stint in the Fade is, if anything," Sokka said, frowning. "I met many dreamers… one of them told me to take something, the Litany of Adralla, from his body. So, once we wake up…"

He had barely finished saying the sentence when the Fade seemed to shift and vanish around them…

And then they were in the material world once again, on the floor sticky with blood indeed, in the Circle Tower.

"Oh. Well, then, I guess we can go on now," Sokka said, letting out a deep breath as he rummaged through the corpse of the man he had met in the Fade, an apologetic grimace on his face.

"Quite the outstanding performance you exhibited, just now," Azula complimented Sokka, who grinned at her as he rose to his feet. "I'd have never imagined anyone with a templar background would be so talented with magic."

"Well, it's an awesome skillset, I have to say," Sokka laughed. "I'll just… uh. Oh. Oh, no. Wait a minute, I can't be a golem now that I'm out of there?!"

"Uh… indeed, you cannot. You're no longer in the Fade," Azula explained, with a shrug. Sokka let out a pitiful whimper.

"That's not fair… Azula! Teach me to be a golem!"

"I can't do that! I don't even know how golems are made, they're not natural creatures…!" Azula laughed, as Sokka groaned pitifully.

"You look it up, then, because I want to be a golem again," he said, turning towards the next archway they had to cross. "But, until I can be… onwards, eh?"

"Onwards. Hama awaits," Yagoda confirmed, stepping forward with determination.

After fighting several more abominations – as well as a group of dragonlings that attacked them suddenly, surprising everyone, as no one could have anticipated to find such reptilian creatures inside such a building – they came across a miserable templar, locked inside a cage of light. He attempted to dissuade Sokka from saving whatever mages he could, and while Sten-Mai appeared to think the templar had a point, Sokka wouldn't hear of it: Azula smiled as she followed him up the final stairs to the tower… and there they confronted the elderly woman, Hama, a blood mage driven mad with power, fully succumbed to the control of the Pride demon she had made a deal with.

It was a difficult fight: the demon that had once been Hama would frequently attempt to turn the nearby mages, kept under magical restraints, into Abominations. Sokka had to use the Litany of Adralla to interfere with the demon's magical attempts to control the mages' minds while the others continued to fight against Hama and the many abominations she had kept as her main line of support. Yet, after several successful attempts to disrupt the blood magic, the Pride Demon couldn't hold it's own any longer… and it failed to live through the powerful burst of magic Azula cast in its direction, zapping it of its lifeforce.

"Everyone okay?! Everyone alive?!" Sokka asked, not only to his group but to the rest of the mages too. Their magical restraints had faded, and while they still appeared to be terrified, First Enchanter Pakku rose to his feet and walked awkwardly towards them, reaching a hand up to his ribcage, where he had been wounded at some point during the scuffles with Hama.

"Oh, Maker. I'm too old for this," were the first words he said… but he smiled at the group, gratefully, upon knowing his life had been saved.

They returned to the first floor of the tower, where Knight-Commander Jeong Jeong had been genuinely relieved to see that his frenemy, Pakku, still lived. After a short conversation where Pakku reassured him that the tower was safe now – regardless of that one templar's protests –, Sokka finally brought up both the matters that had seen him taking off on this journey to the tower. As Pakku considered the Circle was indebted to Sokka, he was quick to agree to both his requests… and when they finally returned to Redcliffe, they were accompanied by a retinue of surviving mages, experienced enough to perform the ritual to save Yue's life from the clutches of yet another demon.

"If I don't have to deal with any more corrupted mages for the next ten years, I'll count myself lucky," Sokka confessed to Azula as they crossed the gates into Redcliffe Castle again, at last. "It feels like this has taken us forever."

"We've secured one ally, and we're on our way to securing the second. It may not be my place to encourage your longwinded nonsense…" Azula said, and Sokka grinned guiltily. "But we have done better than I anticipated, despite the many setbacks we've had so far."

"Great to know you approve," Sokka grinned: Bann Bato and the Arlessa were still alive and safe, visibly relieved upon seeing them returning with the troupe of mages.

Pakku explained the procedure once his mages began preparing the ritual, with Haru's help: they needed to weave intricate magic to send a mage into the Fade. Haru was one potential candidate, as were Yagoda and Azula. Pakku declined to do it himself, so it was up to those three. Sokka frowned, suspecting Azula wouldn't wish to undertake yet another complicated journey into the Fade… but when he was about to ask Yagoda to do it, the Witch of the Wilds stepped forward.

"I'll handle this," she said. Sokka's eyes widened. "'Tis abundantly clear to me that you do not trust this Haru, and while Yagoda has certain offensive power, most of her magic is for the sake of defense and healing. I'm by far the better candidate for this journey."

"Azula… you don't want to do this," Sokka said: he didn't even ask, he as good as assumed it… and he wasn't wrong, anyway. Azula smiled.

"No, I don't. But I also don't believe I have much of a choice," she said, patting his shoulder gently. "I shall be faster than those two, if nothing else."

Sokka swallowed hard, unsure of letting her go through with this idea, even though her reasoning was sound. Why, exactly, would he rather see a dangerous, untrustworthy mage like Haru, or an elderly, frail one like Yagoda, taking on the difficult mission, he didn't know. It was irrational, it was unreasonable… and yet his heart ached with despair at the thought of the dangers Azula might face if she charged into the Fade alone.

He reached a hand out to hers, clasping it delicately. Azula blinked blankly, letting her gaze flicker down to the heavy gauntlets he wore… then she met his eyes, and Sokka spoke, earnestly:

"Be careful. Come back to us… to me."

A rush of confusing feelings nearly made her topple over once he said that. Her cheeks reddened, but she nodded in his direction as she joined those preparing for the ritual. Her eyes met his for longer than necessary, as she seemed to eye him quizzically, confused by the profound emotion with which he had conveyed his thoughts.

"Alright… Sten?" Sokka called: Sten-Mai stepped up, frowning. "You'll take the lead on the second floor. Take Ty Lee, Yagoda and Foo-Foo. If it looks like you guys can do anything to help defeat the demon without hurting Yue, do so. If… if the worst happens, though…"

"We will be ready to cut down the abomination," Sten-Mai responded, firmly.

"You'll stay here?" Ty Lee asked Sokka, a knowing grin on her face. "You're sure?"

"Yeah. Completely," Sokka nodded. "Please… do as I ask."

"Right, right, as you wish…" Ty Lee giggled, following Sten-Mai down into the nearby corridor…

Then a ridiculous pandemonium ensued when a group of undead, as well as many charmed statues, came to life and began attacking the group in that very corridor. The mages had to stop their preparations, the knights jumped out to fight, and of course, Sokka's group dealt with the worst of it. They were even laughing by the end of it, surprised that the Desire Demon's wicked schemes had likely been waiting for anyone to venture into that corridor for days, but they only had done so right now.

They checked the remaining rooms thoroughly to ensure nothing was amiss, and that they had defeated every undead left in the castle. Once they were finished canvassing the rooms and looting whatever some of them dared loot, the ritual was ready to begin: just as commanded, most their group rushed upstairs… and Sokka remained by Azula's side, watching as the mages cast powerful magic upon her…

Magic that thrusted her right back into the unsettling, unpleasant world of the Fade.

She rushed through every portal, passing countless mirages of the young princess Yue and her father calling for each other, until she came across a more corporeal version of the princess… though it was still the demon, of course. Azula defeated it, then defeated it again after encountering it for a second time, and then a third…

Finally, the Desire Demon confronted her in its true form, the same form as that of the Desire Demon in the mages' tower: a female creature of purple skin and dark horns, with her body fully exposed in order to evoke lust into whoever gazed upon her, Azula supposed, and it would surely pay off on anyone who lacked magical training and understanding of what demons were and how they worked… but she, naturally, wasn't among such fools.

"Very well. No more illusions. Now we meet face-to-face. You see my true form and stand in my domain," said the demon, caressing her own body suggestively. "I am at my most powerful here, and yet I have no wish to engage your power. Nor should you be so eager to engage mine. Perhaps we should converse, instead?"

"Do you take me for a fool?" Azula snorted, eyeing the Desire Demon with utmost disdain. "There is no conversation to be had. I will never barter with your kind."

"Alas, that is sad," said the Desire Demon, with a slight pout. "I can see through your desires… I know what it is you want, more than anything, and I could ensure that it is granted to you."

"Oh, truly?" Azula asked, with a derisive smile as she brandished her staff. "Considering how poorly your kind have read me before, I'd sooner cut you down than see another pathetic rendition of my mother, demon!"

She began by casting a weakening spell, then she poured a Cone of Cold onto the demon. It wasn't enough to cut it down yet, but Azula continued to inflict curses, glyphs to weaken the creature, until it unfroze, halfway to death by then.

"If you wish a battle, you will have it! Let us see if your power matches your boldness, creature!" the demon shouted: suddenly, a mirage shot off before Azula.

There were multiple Desire Demons all across the small enclosure they were fighting in. They encircled Azula and she found they faded away when she attacked them… but they powered the demon anew once she struck them, healing it from its wounds. Azula snarled, attacking further until finally she found the true Desire Demon, who laughed at her desperate attempts to nullify her foe.

"You know he will never care for you the way you care for him!" the demon shouted, and Azula scoffed with disdain. "You are but a tool, and you're not even the prettiest of the many tools at his disposal! There's the singing girl, oh yes, and the horned creature… so much more appealing than a nobody, a commoner in rags, raised in the wilderness…!"

Azula snarled, casting a powerful fireball that burned brightly as it struck her enemy. The demon slumped but returned to her full height, attacking Azula as well with a burst of ice. Azula managed not to freeze entirely, but she was wounded: a lyrium vein stood nearby, and she rushed towards it at haste, using the power of the Fade itself to boost her strength in every way she could.

"If you offer yourself to him, you will be but an amusement. A plaything to discard when a better offer comes along!" the demon continued. "And most any offer would certainly be better than anything you could attempt to grant him!"

"Your drivel means nothing to me!" Azula shouted, casting another burst of fire at the creature, who laughed dismissively at her.

"Keep on fighting! Keep on hesitating, you know I speak the truth! You pretend you wish for nothing but power, nothing but the satisfaction of your own ambitions, when the truth is nothing matters more to you than love…!"

Azula shouted, casting another weakening spell before barraging again with as many attacks from her staff as she could muster. The creature was weakened, though, even its counterattacks against Azula weren't so effective… and it knew so. It did. It was saving its strength in the hopes of convincing Azula to strike a bargain with it, even now…

"But if I help you…! You'll gain it all! Power, love, everything you've ever dreamed of!" she said. "Cut me down now… and you'll never be anything to him. You'll be a footnote, forgotten by history…!"

Azula swung the staff fast, and it slammed the Desire Demon under the chin: it screamed right before Azula cast a new, powerful freezing spell… and then, with the force of a Crushing Prison, the creature had nothing to do but wait until it faded from existence.

"No! You need me! Without me…!" the creature whimpered, and Azula laughed.

"Without you… if I cannot win his heart without you, perhaps I do not deserve to have it altogether!" Azula hissed. "Go tempt others with your foul promises, creature…! Oh, wait: you won't."

The creature shattered under the power of the magical cage… and Azula let out a sigh as she reasoned with what had happened… with what she had done. Her chest heaved as the Desire Demon encounter brought her to face a truth she hadn't expected to confront, not just now, but ever…

"I want… his heart?" she said, with a weak smile. "I want his love? But love is… is a weakness, a sickness. It grows sour in the vine so quickly… and yet, even so, I…?"

She couldn't articulate another thought before she was flung forcefully out of the Fade.

She woke up in someone's arms: his arms, she knew as much right away, even before opening her eyes. It was his scent, it was his grip… it was his voice, calling her name as he held her against his chest. Azula opened her eyes at last… to find Sokka smiling in relief at her.

"You're alive. You made it… you…"

"The demon is gone! She did it!" Ty Lee's voice echoed from the second floor.

Immediately, the vestibule was enveloped by cheers and laughter, by the tearful gratitude on Macmu-Ling's part before she sprinted at haste to the second floor to find her freed daughter, followed by Bato. The mages were relieved the ritual had worked, and they were discussing its particulars now… but Sokka couldn't seem to remember any of them were there, only gazing at the woman in his arms with sheer wonder.

"You're okay… you're okay," he said, smiling proudly. Azula huffed, letting herself smirk in a slightly haughty way.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "Haven't I already told you demons have no sway over me?"

"You probably did, but… goodness, I'm sorry I was an ass about things back during the battle with the undead," he said, pulling her in for a tight hug. Azula's eyes widened. "If you felt anything like what I felt right now… it's no wonder, huh? I… I wanted to help, but I had no idea how. So…"

"You… needn't worry about it anymore," Azula said, softly. "I'm fine. I'm… I'm fine."

Sokka nodded, and Azula managed to glance over his shoulder to spot a smirking Ty Lee, a puzzled Yagoda and a dismissive Sten-Mai. They had returned from their duties… and so had Foo-Foo Cuddlypoops, who rushed towards them to bark happily and cover Azula with his careless, sloppy dog kisses, which she rejected while Sokka laughed, accepting them in her stead.

Hours later, the mood in the castle and Redcliffe in general had improved considerably. Ty Lee and Yagoda took off to oversee the funerary rites for the many dead, performed by the villagers, while Sten-Mai and Foo-Foo took guard duties at the Palace walls, in case anything dangerous would approach Redcliffe anew. Sokka however, had insisted on watching over Azula as she recovered from her second trip into the Fade in but a short few days, and she only laughed off his concern as he sat by her assigned bed, frequently measuring her forehead's temperature with a hand.

"Must you be so fussy?" she asked, with a weak smile. "Truly, Grey Warden… your lot sees much worse than I have on any given day, don't you?"

"Sure thing, doesn't mean I can't fuss about you, though," Sokka said, smiling a little. "How are you feeling after drinking the lyrium? No weird sensations?"

"None. I'm better now," Azula admitted, nodding.

"Was it a really difficult fight?" Sokka asked, eyeing her with uncertainty. "I bet it wasn't, you're just that great, after all…"

"I am," Azula declared, haughtily, and Sokka chuckled. "But… perhaps t'was slightly challenging, yes. This Desire Demon had the Fade at its beck and call and did much stranger things than the one we saw in the Circle Tower, with that templar…"

"Huh. I see…" Sokka said, frowning. "From my theoretical education… demons always bargain with people, or try to. They want to come into the human world, right? Did this one try to bargain with you?"

"They are predictable that way, yes, and it did not matter if it tried, for it would never succeed," Azula said, simply. Sokka grinned and nodded.

"That's right," he said. "So it tried to tempt you anyway?"

"Perhaps. Are you curious about it?" Azula asked. Sokka chuckled and shook his head.

"A little, but… it feels like a guaranteed failure, doesn't it? Trying to outsmart you," he said. "Anyway, uh… I didn't really know if I ought to do this yet, but I figured I'd do it after the whole mess with Yue was dealt with. Doesn't look like Arl Arnook will wake up anytime soon… maybe the crazy story about the healing powers of the Urn of Sacred Ashes really will be our only hope? But anyway…! That's not really the point here, I just… I have something for you."

Azula blinked blankly as Sokka reached into his bag… and pulled out a large, black tome, bound in leather, with a tree upon its cover. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.

"You found it…?" she asked, Sokka grinned.

"I don't know if you can find any Ursa-sanctioned remedies for Arl Arnook in there… but I guess, if you happen to come across anything of the sort, you can let us know, huh?"

"This is…" Azula smiled, sitting up on the bed as she took the book in her hands. "I had asked you to try, but I never imagined you'd succeed…!"

"Oh? Never?" Sokka asked, with a dismissive smirk. Azula laughed and shook her head.

"I mean… I thought those prudes from the Circle might have burned a book written by the very dangerous Ursa, Witch of the Wilds," Azula explained. "But they truly didn't…"

"I think the First Enchanter has a lot of sketchy books in his office," Sokka said, grinning awkwardly. "I found it there. Figured he wouldn't miss it, if I took it, so…"

"Well, it'll certainly see more use in my hands than his," Azula smirked. "My thanks for retrieving it."

"My pleasure," Sokka grinned.

"Though… huh. I suppose… we can have an exchange of sorts, if so," Azula said, eyeing Sokka with a weak smile.

"An exchange?" Sokka repeated.

Azula's hand slid under the covers, to her hip. She produced something from her pocket, smiling as she offered it to him: Sokka's mouth dropped as a small pendant fell into his hands.

"Wait… what?!"

"I suspect it is your pendant, yes? I found it in the Arl's study earlier, after that clash with the undead and the suits of armor," Azula said, with a weak smile. "I do not know if he would have preferred to give it to you himself… but 'tis obvious that he wanted you to have it back. He glued all the little pieces back together, it seems…"

"He… he did," Sokka said, with a heartfelt smile. He raised his gaze at Azula, gratefully. "No one's ever… done anything like this for me."

"Nor has anyone done anything like this for me," Azula pointed out, smiling as she showed him the book. "I would consider it an even trade, this way."

"I… don't know if it is," Sokka admitted, with a weak smile. Azula huffed.

"Right. Yours is a matter of sentimentality, mine of knowledge, and knowledge is power," Azula said, tapping her chin for a moment. "Which suggests I… am indebted to you, still."

"Wait, what? You're not! Not at all, you just saved my somewhat-cousin's life, how could you be indebted to me at all…?" Sokka laughed… and yet Azula shifted in the bed, her eyes avoiding his.

"You asked me… what the demon had tempted me with?"

Sokka blinked blankly, his amusement fading as their eyes met anew. His heart raced inside his armor, so loudly he suspected it would sound like an actual drum against the metal, at this rate…

"Azula?" he said. She smiled a little, raising a hand with fingerless gauntlets… to touch his face delicately.

"T'was… utter nonsense, of course. Utter nonsense," she said, biting her lip… and instilling a powerful urge in Sokka to pin her down to that mattress, right then and there… "I don't… need a demon to help me with anything like this. I don't. All I have to do is…"

Sokka's eyes widened: the demon had tempted her… over him? Had it promised power beyond counting, power that would enable her to conquer his heart…?

Futile power, then, he realized right then and there, for she had already done so long before meeting any demons.

He surrendered to his impulse, cradling her face before pressing his lips to hers. Azula's hand dropped to his armor, yanking him towards herself as she pulled him into the bed with her. In a matter of moments, all his protective gear was out of the way… and her own clothes joined the armor on the floor as Sokka climbed atop her, linking their lips repeatedly, recklessly, as they proved the demon's foul attempts to meddle with Azula's mind had been out of place… and, just as she had thought, utterly unnecessary.

This is a good place to take a break... :D

They set out of Redcliffe on the next day: Sokka was beaming brightly the whole time and Azula did her best to act aloof, but the irksome, charming fool kept sneaking kisses with her as they traveled with the rest of their group. Ty Lee kept saying it was sweet, Sten-Mai looked like he was moments away from throwing up, and Yagoda merely sighed but smiled, no doubt confused about their relationship but not willing to meddle in it, so far.

Everything was going well up until they came across a woman on the road: she begged for their help, because a group of bandits had attacked her caravan… she rushed off after saying that, without waiting for confirmation that they'd follow.

"Is it my idea… or was that terribly suspicious?" Sokka asked. Azula smiled and shrugged.

"Considering the circumstances… I can't say it matters to me, one way or the other, if this is some foolish trap. They do not know what powers they're trifling with," she declared, proudly. Sokka grinned and glanced at the others.

"Be alert for danger. We're going to, uh, assist the lady, whether with dispatching the bandits, or with dispatching her, if she's the bandit, or so…"

"Surely she is not deceiving us!" Ty Lee gasped, shaking her head. "I understand being distrustful on the road, but…"

"I smell oil," Sten-Mai declared. Ty Lee flinched. "Oil traps?"

"Likely," Azula said, smirking. "I suppose we shall see how bad it gets, but… for safety's sake, Ty Lee? Get to undoing the traps while the rest of us fight the enemies."

"Oh, fine…" Ty Lee sighed, readying herself to detect any dangers, even if she wasn't sure they'd find any…

But of course, Ty Lee was wrong: they stepped into an ambush, sealed by a massive tree that fell heavily behind them: the leader of the bandits, a dark-haired elf with a tattoo across the side of his face, drew his twin swords and smirked at the sight of them.

"The Grey Warden dies here!"

"And here we go again," Sokka sighed, pulling out his sword and shield as his every companion drew their respective weapons.

The fight wound up being a massacre: Ty Lee obeyed Azula's order to undo every trap she could find while the others took to tearing down enemy upon enemy, perched up on the mountain ledges that hugged the ambush location. It wasn't easy, but they succeeded at defeating the elven leader before taking on the next foes: there was a mage that Yagoda reduced quickly with her Mana Clash spell, and the others were easily defeated too once the rest of the group took to fighting them, whether up close or at a range. It would be just another battlefield to leave behind… until it wasn't.

The elf was still moving.

"I… what? O-oh… I rather thought I would wake up dead, or not wake up at all, as the case may be. But I see you haven't killed me yet," he said, upon coming back to his senses.

"That's something I can rectify easily, yeah," Sokka responded, towering over the writhing elf on the ground, who offered him a painful smile.

"Of that I have no doubt… but as you haven't killed me, however, I suspect you are keeping me alive for some purpose or another, yes?"

Sokka frowned, unsure as to the answer for the question. They had been attacked several times, so far… but something this time felt different. Perhaps the determination with which this man had shouted he was here to kill him… perhaps the deliberate trap, the careful plotting, even if it hadn't been remotely enough plotting to stop him and his group. Thus…

"I have a few questions about what you were doing here, and why," Sokka hissed. The man smiled.

"Then I'll save us some time: my name is Jet, and I'm an Antivan Crow, brought here for the sole purpose of slaying the remaining Grey Wardens. A job I clearly failed at," he said.

"I'm pretty pleased you did," Sokka said, with a dry grin. Jet laughed.

"I would be too, in your shoes. For me, however, it's quite the stain on my record as an assassin."

"That's what you are, then? An assassin?" Sokka asked, dismissively. "Your Antivan Crows… I've heard of them here and there, a pretty famous guild of assassins in the nation of Antiva. You were hired to kill me? By whom?"

"By a fellow in the Capital… chubby and stout, but he looked like he was ready to rain fire and lightning upon us all," Jet laughed. "His name was… Iroh, yes, that's it."

"Then you're loyal to Iroh?"

"Certainly not," Jet said, shaking his head. "I was hired to provide a service, nothing more. I imagine you threaten his power in some way, and he wanted you eliminated. It is no different than paying a boy to shine your shoes in the streets of Antiva City…"

"And when were you supposed to see him again?" Sokka asked. Jet shook his head.

"I wasn't. If I had succeeded, the Crows would have been paid by Iroh and I would have gone back home. If I had failed, then I would be dead… or at least, as far as the Crows are concerned, I would be. There would be no need to see Iroh either way."

"If you had failed?"

"Well, I am an optimist! Though I admit, the chances of success are growing quite slim at this point, ahaha… I suppose you're not amused at all, of course, of course not…"

"And you're happy to talk my ear off this way, despite your circumstances are pretty precarious, as you can tell?" Sokka asked. "Didn't your employers expect your silence?"

"Not really," Jet said, with a nonchalant shrug. "And I didn't exactly offer it for sale, either."

"And do tell, what's going to happen to you now that you've failed?" Azula asked, frowning.

"That is no cause of concern for you. It's between me and the Crows… and the Crows and Iroh, of course," Jet said.

"And between you and the rest of us?" Sokka asked. Jet smirked.

"Isn't that what we're establishing now?" he asked. "If you're done interrogating me, perhaps we can discuss our options going forward, if you'd like."

"Oh? Options, then?" Sokka asked. "You think you have any say upon whatever I'll choose, from here on?"

"Not at all. I only offer a possibility for you," Jet said. "As I failed to kill you, my life is forfeit: if you don't kill me, the Crows will. Thing is… I like living. And you look like the sort who would give the Crows pause… so let me serve you, instead."

"What?!" Azula gasped, staring at him in disbelief. Sokka's jaw dropped at the boldness of the assassin. "You truly intend to join us? When you've only just tried to kill the Warden, and admitted to having fickle loyalties? What sort of deal are you expecting to strike here?"

"It's a good question," Sokka said, raising an eyebrow. "You'll just try to stab us in the back, try to finish the job later…"

"Well, the Crows bought me off the slave market when I was but a child," Jet explained. "I'm certain I've long paid off my worth to them by now. They might choose to kill me if I return anyway, even if I succeeded at killing you in the future, and the only way they won't attempt to do that is if I find safety with someone they wouldn't dare touch. You seem a sound candidate for that."

"And I guess I'd have to expect the same amount of loyalty from you as the one you offered your employers this time?" Sokka asked, suspicious.

"I happen to be a rather loyal person, I'll have you know… up to the point where someone expects me to die for failing. Surely that's not unreasonable, is it? Though… if you're the kind of person who would kill me for the same reason, I don't come very well recommended, I suppose," Jet said, with a guilty laugh.

Sokka sighed, glancing at the rest of the group. Nobody seemed to be certain about what to do with this strange assassin. He was taking his failure so lightly, so easily, that it was difficult to assess whether he was dangerous or not.

"What do you wish to do?" Azula asked. Sokka grimaced.

"I'd rather ask your opinions on the matter, first," he said.

"You are free to kill him," Sten-Mai declared, shaking his head. "I have no interest in preserving the elf's life."

"Surely you have more compassion in you than that," Yagoda said, and Sten-Mai growled at her. "I don't believe this young man can be trusted blindly, truth be told, but… I cannot wish death unto anyone."

"Neither can I!" Ty Lee exclaimed, grinning. Sokka and Azula sighed: it made sense that the good-natured mage would find a kindred spirit in the Chantry sister. "I believe in second chances. If Jet is as professional as he says he is, and he has no true loyalty to Iroh, you have no reason to kill him."

"And so we'd leave him alive so he can decide to finish the job later?" Azula asked, turning towards the assassin again.

"Well, you see, beautiful lady…" Jet cut in, with an awkward smile. "I have no intentions of doing that, believe me or not. I offer my services as an assassin, I will add further cunning and finesse to your traveling group: if the time comes when your merry group no longer requires me, I will simply go on my own way, and we'll make nothing else of it. Until that moment comes, I am yours. Is that fair?"

Azula huffed, eyeing Sokka with uncertainty. She knew exactly what he was going to say… and she sighed in resignation as he smiled sadly at her.

"We do need all the help we can get," she recited at the same time as he did, and Sokka laughed at her dismissive tone.

"We're in such good synch, you and I," he said, beaming. Azula huffed.

"We'll ensure to inspect our meals more than we ever have, then," she said, growling at Jet. "And if we should come across the Archdemon, we can toss him right at its jaws as we run away."

"Seems fair," Sokka said, with a smirk, before turning towards Jet. "Fine, then. We're taking you in, it seems."

"Having an Antivan Crow joining us sounds like a fine plan," Ty Lee said, beaming. Jet's eyes darkened as he eyed her with interest.

"Though I was not aware I might find such loveliness amongst adventurers…" he said, suggestively. Ty Lee winced.

"… Or maybe not," she said – Azula giggled deviously at the archer's sudden regret of her endorsement of the assassin's joining of their group.

Sokka leaned down and helped Jet up: he dusted himself off as Yagoda cast several healing spells upon him. Jet nodded gratefully at her before regarding Sokka with determination.

"I hereby pledge my oath of loyalty to you, until such a time as you choose to release me from it. I am your man, without reservation. This, I swear," Jet declared. Sokka let out a deep breath.

"I suppose we'll see about that," he said, gesturing at the others. "Tag along, then. Don't bother anyone or they might decide to kill you even if I decided against it."

"Very well, very well…" Jet laughed, raising his hands defensively as the whole group continued their trek into the forest that awaited them ahead.

After more encounters with darkspawn as they marched towards the Brecilian Forest, the group finally entered the expanse of vegetation. They had taken breaks and set up camp frequently, ever followed by the merchant dwarves, Chong and Moku… and while the others had cause for concern over finding poison in their food, now that Jet was in their midst, Sokka and Azula had no such trouble: they cooked together by Azula's chosen, isolated area in the camp, and such isolation was ideal for them to enjoy their newfound intimacy as thoroughly as possible. To think they hadn't known each other that long, and yet they had found their bond strengthening to this extent, acting upon their rising attraction and affection without holding back anymore…

There wasn't much opportunity to enjoy said intimacy, however, once they were found by the clan of Dalish elves that resided in the Brecilian Forest at the time. The elves were immediately distrustful, for they belonged to a group of elves that, unlike those who lived in slums in the big cities, were part of several iterating clans that attempted to live by following what little customs they hoped to have preserved since the days of the fall of Arlathan, and later on, of the Dales, the two great wars in which the magical, powerful elven race of many millennia ago had been crushed by their enemies. They were distrustful of humans by nature, for they had been the ones responsible for the loss of great magic of the ancient elves, and of the utter destruction of their culture… thus, a group comprised by humans, one qunari, a mabari dog and one city elf would never be welcome in the Dalish clan unless they had a genuine reason to seek them out, which, fortunately, they did.

As it turned out, the leader of the Dalish clan revealed that they wouldn't be able to honor their treaty until they, as ever, solved their problems for them. Off they went, frustrated and irritable – Sten-Mai appeared close to losing what little patience he had left –, into the depths of the Brecilian Forest, where they would find countless werewolves to defeat, for they were attacking the Dalish elves and spreading the disease of lycanthropy to their whole clan. The only chance of salvation would be in slaying the source of the werewolf curse, a spirit bound to a great wolf, called Witherfang, and bringing its heart to the leader of the Dalish.

The truth, as ever, was more complicated than that: after no end of strange adventures – including an awkward encounter with a Shade in a disturbing, magical camp, resolving a conflict between a talking Grand Oak and an apostate gone mad, living in the forest, multiple Revenants that spawned from tombstones, and bumping into several Darkspawn as well as many werewolves –, they finally found the elven ruins in which the great wolf's lair was located: after a long, complicated trek into the ruins' depths, they had to fight a dragon, undo countless traps, slay another Arcane Horror… until a werewolf finally came forward and asked them to speak with their leader, the Lady of the Forest.

Said Lady was an ethereal woman of a green-blue skin color, highly exposed before their eyes, with strange tree branches hugging her body. It was clear to everyone that she was not human, and so, Sokka was quick to realize she was the so-called Witherfang. Yet the woman declared it was the Dalish leader who was at fault and responsible for the werewolf curse, and that only the elf could lift it by sacrificing his own life. Otherwise, neither the current werewolves nor the afflicted elven hunters would regain their true nature.

In the end, after confronting the Dalish leader, the Lady of the Forest had her way: both she and the Dalish leader perished to end the curse. All werewolves, human and elven, were cured from their ailment, and the forest was at peace again. The Dalish leader, called a Keeper, was succeeded by his apprentice, who pledged her clan's forces to Sokka's effort against the Blight. With three allies as good as confirmed, it was time to move on… and to head into a dangerous location, far worse than the Circle Tower, the Brecilian Forest or the Fade itself.

Denerim was the capital city of Ferelden. Iroh, Sokka knew, resided inside the city and would no doubt slaughter them all if he found out they had paid it a visit. Sokka had been in Denerim a few times before, and he ensured their whole group didn't go further than the Market District for safety's sake. There, they found the home of the man Bann Bato claimed might have news about the location of the Urn of Sacred Ashes… but upon entering the house, they found it was occupied by a young, nervous man.

"Professor Zei isn't here," said the bespectacled man, shaking his head. "When I heard you come in, I hoped you'd have news about his whereabouts… wishful thinking, it seems."

"Oh? Why's that?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He has been gone for weeks. He's searching for the Urn of Sacred Ashes, but I'm afraid something may have happened to him on the road."

"Why would anything happen to a man on a sacred journey of the sort?" Sokka asked, with a puzzled frown.

"I don't know, but maybe the Urn has been lost for a reason," said the nervous man. "Some men from Redcliffe came to find him too, I-I told them to go after him, but they have also disappeared…"

"Have they? Perhaps they simply returned to Redcliffe," said Ty Lee, with a casual shrug. The man winced.

"Perhaps? But I suspect that's just as wishful as my hopes to see him return. Some things are not meant to be found," said the man. Sokka frowned.

"Where did you tell the knights to search for him?"

"What? I'm not about to tell you! You'll be lost to the world as well, I can't risk that happening again…!" said the man, stubbornly. Sokka huffed as Azula's eyes narrowed.

"We are willing to risk it. Tell us," she said, firmly. The man sighed.

"All Professor Zei said about his destination was that he would be staying at an inn, near Lake Kuruk. Perhaps you will find him there…"

"We've been to Lake Kuruk recently. Odd that we didn't cross paths," Azula said, cuttingly. The man flinched.

"It is what I know," he said: all he achieved was to further convince Azula that he was lying to them.

"What did he hope to find there?" she pressed on. He shrugged.

"I don't know. All I know after going through his research was that he'd be staying at the inn…"

"His research?" Jet chimed in, with a sly smirk. "Didn't you say, just now, that he had told you so himself?"

"Well, I looked for other clues in his research, I mean, but it matched with what he'd told me," the man said, with a nervous smile. Sokka's eyes narrowed: he crossed his arms over his chest, and the bespectacled nervous wreck trembled at the sight of him.

"Why are you so nervous? What are you hiding?" he asked. "Are you lying to us?"

"N-no I'm not! Professor Zei told us – told me about the inn he would be staying at, and that's all!"

"'Us'?" Sokka smirked.

"Why do you continue to lie to us? Must you do it so poorly, too?" Azula sighed, bored of the man's failures at misleading them. He snarled.

"Well, if you won't turn back from this foul quest of yours, so be it! Yangchen forgive me, I do this in your name…!"

For an invocation as powerful as that one, the fake assistant of Professor Zei proved a terribly weak foe: in a matter of moments, their whole group had pounced on him and he lay dead on the floor… much like the professor's actual assistant, whose body was hidden in a room deeper inside the house. Near it, they found a book: it was Zei's authentic research, in which they learned the man was likely in a western village, deep in the Frostback Mountains… a village called Haven.

"That's all the way across Ferelden," Azula groaned, tossing the book into Ty Lee's eager, waiting hands. "Had we known of this when we were in Redcliffe, we would have reached the damn place in a matter of days. It'll take us longer than a week to get there now."

"Well, better to know now than to go in circles looking for nothing in Lake Kuruk," Sokka sighed, shaking his head. "We ought to leave the city quickly anyway. We don't have enough political allies here to risk staying very long."

"Agreed," Azula said, nodding sharply.

Thus, their course was set anew: off they were to recruit the next allies before marching to Haven, as it was on the way… but they were derailed, unsurprisingly, by someone else requiring help that Sokka, also unsurprisingly, decided to provide. Azula had been quite irritable about it… so he had no choice but to make it up to her every night during this new detour. That was the only way to ensure she would be less displeased about their adventure in Soldier's Peak, an old Warden Fortress, where they would help a cabbage merchant reconnect with his roots and clear the name of his great-great-great-grandmother, the Warden-Commander who had caused the first exile of the Wardens from Ferelden by rallying her troops in an attempt to wrestle the throne from her cousin.

It was a curious adventure, one that yielded strange and surprising results: they found a rather old blood mage in the very depths of the fortress, and it appeared he had unlocked some sort of secret of immortality, for he had been alive for well over two hundred years… yet he had been trapped by a demon infestation that his own magic had set free in the fortress, back when he had attempted to fight to save the Wardens from the King's assault.

The old man took advantage of their strong group to take down the summoning circles through which the demons poured into their world. After another hard fight against yet another Desire Demon – Azula was particularly pleased over having killed this one, too –, all was solved – the old man would be allowed to continue his research, but now in more humane ways than the ones he had resorted to so far. They even found a cache of valuables, as well as a brand-new – or rather, very ancient yet still well preserved – armor for Sokka to wear: the armor of the Warden-Commander.

"Suits you better than it should," Azula admitted that night as she laid down on her bedroll: her mood had improved now that all troubles had been settled, and that the cabbage merchant had offered to barter with them and even granted them a chest where they could store their excess valuables – from having next to no weapons and armor initially, they now had far too many of them, instead.

"Oh? The huge, bulky armor looks good on me, really?" Sokka asked, giggling casually. Azula smiled, though her eyes returned to her book. Sokka bit his lip, sitting beside her on their shared bedroll. "Hey, I know you didn't want to go at all. I'm sorry that I dragged you along, but…"

"Don't be," she said, cutting him off. Sokka swallowed hard.

"Then you're not mad? Because you seem mad…"

"I'm mad. But not at you," she admitted. Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"I'm slightly relieved to hear that, but… who are you mad at, then?" Sokka asked. Azula let out a heavy sigh before setting her book aside: Sokka's eyes widened upon realizing it was the grimoire he had given her.

"My mother, actually," she said, bitterly. Sokka blinked blankly.

"Whatever you read wasn't what you wanted to find in that book, I take it…?" he asked. Azula shook her head. "But you still seem… disturbed."

"Disturbed is a good word for it," Azula agreed, casting another glance at him. "Most the contents of this book are… they're not much use to me, not truly, and yet I just learned the truth about one of Ursa's darkest, most unsettling secrets."

"What's going on?" Sokka asked, frowning uneasily. "Does she really eat children, like the legends say…?"

"You jest… but that's not far from the truth," Azula said: Sokka's jaw dropped. "Ursa… is a figure of legend indeed, difficult for me to fathom her as such because she is, indeed, my mother… but the first tales about Ursa go back to the times before Ferelden was even unified by Kuruk. You know of this, don't you?"

"Of course…" Sokka nodded. Azula sighed.

"It seems my mother's extended her lifespan most unnaturally… by changing bodies every time her own grows old and wizened," she said, with a furious snarl.

"Wait… what? Like… what, a demon possessing a human?" Sokka asked. Azula shrugged.

"Similar enough, I suppose. She… she takes a lover, and raises a daughter," she explained, with a bitter, utterly ironic smile. "When the time is right… she takes over her daughter's body and discards the old one. And so, the tales of Ursa's long lifespan are suddenly so easily explained…"

"That's… that's unnerving. That's disturbing…!" Sokka exclaimed, frowning heavily. "You… you think she wants to do that to you. Is that why she raised you…?"

"Most likely," Azula said, gritting her teeth. "'Tis hardly surprising, is it not? I knew from the start there was something off about whatever she intended for me in this journey: she wanted me to grow stronger, to learn further magic, to exploit my full potential… and once I was ready, she'd take over my body. She'll be more likely to do so now, too, as I have learned the truth through… through this Grimoire. But her true Grimoire, the one with her other secrets… she hides it elsewhere, for certain. The real book that hides so much more knowledge than I can fathom…"

"You think she keeps it with her?" Sokka asked. Azula nodded.

"I… am positive of that, in fact," she said. "And… I do not like to say this, Sokka, but I… I'm scared."

"Of what your mother might do if she finds you again…?" Sokka finished. Azula nodded. "Then… what do you think we should do? I had no plans of taking you back to the Korcari Wilds, but…"

"But she might come find me," Azula said, looking at Sokka sternly. "Once the Blight is over, once the dust settles… should I lower my guard but for a moment, she will be sure to strike."

Sokka gritted his teeth. Azula breathed deeply before sitting up on her bedroll. She gazed at Sokka intensely before taking his face between her hands.

"I… do not wish to ask this of you. I wouldn't, if I had any other choice, but I suspect I don't. Sokka, I… I need you to kill my mother."

"Kill…?" Sokka asked. She gritted her teeth and nodded.

"I… I understand how it sounds. I know, I… I'm sorry," she said, pressing her brow to his. "But I… I cannot do it myself. And I cannot even go with you, for… for if I'm nearby, she will simply possess my body immediately, when her current form perishes. If I hope to ever be safe of her…"

"You're sure you can live with that?" Sokka asked. Azula shuddered. "With me, killing your mother? You… will forgive me, and yourself, for that?"

"I don't know. Knowing her, she will be able to escape regardless of your power and skill," she admitted. "But if she's weakened… I may yet have a chance to hide from her before she grows back into her power. That is… it is my only hope."

"Your only hope?" Sokka asked. Azula nodded and looked into his eyes.

"I… would not ask this of anyone. I ask it of you because… I hope you'll understand," she said. Sokka swallowed hard and shook his head.

"I don't understand, no… my mother was a serving maid in Redcliffe," he said, with a weak smile. "Having to do something like this… to ask something like this of someone, I can't fathom how hard it must be for you."

"You… you're too kind for your own good," Azula said, smiling sadly at him.

"I'll… I'll go, then. Once we're done with Haven, once we've saved Arl Arnook's life… we'll be close enough to the Korcari Wilds. I'll be able to go back… I'll take the others, you'll stay behind. With Chong and Moku, I suppose…" he joked. Azula smiled and shook her head, as Sokka leaned closer to kiss her softly. "I will do this. I'll… do anything for you."

"Hmm? You're too generous tonight, if so," Azula laughed. "Here I was thinking I'd thank you properly for agreeing to my outlandish request…"

"Oh, now, I'm not about to refuse that offer…" Sokka chuckled: Azula's arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him into her bedroll with her.

"The armor does suit you… but you look all the better without it," she hissed teasingly by his ear: Sokka laughed into their lovemaking, in which they set aside their current worries and unsettling discoveries, if just for that one glorious moment.

Their next journey took them further to the west, but they took a detour to Lake Kuruk anyway, not only to do away with a strange gang of cultists that had been lurking in the place – no doubt, the very people Professor Zei's fake assistant had been working with –, but to begin Ty Lee's new, self-appointed mission of searching for Sten-Mai's vanished sword, which he called his soul. After some time of frequent clashes, it seemed the pair had finally started bonding properly… yet Ty Lee appeared adamant that she would, one day, prove Sten-Mai's strict concepts of womanhood wrong, and this quest for the missing qunari blade appeared the best way to go about it. They didn't find any signs of the sword, however, but a scavenger relayed that someone else had likely pilfered the area before him and taken the sword if it had been there at all: the man would be found in the Frostback Mountains, at the trading posts right outside the dwarven city.

That was, as it happened, their next destination: they sorted through groups of hostile mercenaries until they reached the merchants, and the nervous man who had taken Sten-Mai's sword admitted to the crime… and admitted, too, that he had sold the sword to a dwarf: the very same mercenary dwarf Sokka had met in Redcliffe and coaxed into helping them defeat the undead invasion. As they would have to return to Redcliffe eventually, they decided to wait until they had found the Sacred Ashes before seeking out the dwarf.

A group of humans, Iroh's men, stood at the gates of the great city of Orzammar: Sokka's request to be allowed inside the city, as he was there for Grey Warden business, was accepted, to the outrage of Iroh's goons, who hadn't been allowed inside the dwarven city: a violent fight ensued, in which all of Iroh's officers were reduced quickly… and the dwarf guarding the gates almost seemed amused for it.

"They had been hounding us for a week," he explained, simply, shaking his head. "Are all humans so touched? Anyway, you're allowed inside, but you won't be seeing the dwarves at their best, Grey Warden. It's possible you won't get the aid you seek for the Blight until a new king is elected."

"Another hurdle along the way…" Sokka sighed, as the great golden gates of Orzammar, a city inside a mountain, was opened for them. "Bet we're going to have to help crown a king and everything before the day is out."

"If it only takes a day, it will be nothing short of a miracle," Azula interjected, though she eyed the Hall of Heroes, the very entrance of Orzammar, with profound interest.

"You seem to wish we'd stay for longer than a day, too…" Sokka grinned. Azula huffed.

"Well, it isn't quite as though I have any say upon the matter, but… I admit, I cannot say I know nearly enough about dwarven culture. Perhaps it will bore me, after some time, but until it does, I shall learn whatever I can of it."

"Let's hope we can settle this quickly anyway," Sokka said, leading the group across the large hall, in which countless statues stood resolute, representing the most extraordinary dwarves in the history of Orzammar, the Paragons.

They were greeted by an unwelcome surprise right after emerging from the Hall of Heroes and into the actual city: it was a scuffle between Prince Kuei and Lord Long Feng, the two pretenders to the throne. Later, Sokka learned that there were many rumors, conflicting ones at that, regarding which of them had schemed to kill King Bumi's oldest children, and which one was lying pertaining King Bumi's final will before he, as well, died of grief over the loss of his older sons. Kuei's men appeared more civilized than Lord Long Feng's, though, and after a few conversations with the locals, Sokka wound up suspecting Lord Long Feng was the true hazard, the actual leech, attempting to take Orzammar's throne forcefully.

Still, the city was massive, spacious, polished and organized, with its many castes belonging in certain quarters of the city. Of course, the poor were relegated to slums: they were the casteless, and the other dwarves didn't even treat them as people. There was the Diamond Quarter too, where the nobles and the royal family would reside. The massive underground city was lit up by different sources of light, among them, the lava that pooled in the distant depths of the great city.

"What shall we do, then?" Jet asked Sokka, as he looked through the wares of a nervous, awkward dwarf. "Are we only here for shopping, is it?"

"Uh… no. But we could be, they have a lot of cool stuff," Sokka said, grinning at Jet – so far, the assassin had settled for only attempting and succeeding at killing their foes, so while Sokka wasn't completely comfortable with him yet, he wasn't as suspicious of the elf anymore. "Like…"

His hands reached for a beautiful, ornate, golden mirror, a smile on his face. He glanced at the shopkeeper and bit his lip.

"How much for this one?"

"Oh! That would be, um… sixteen silvers, and ninety coppers, yes!"

"Alright, then," Sokka grinned, handing over the money as Jet eyed him with uncertainty.

"I understand you are aware of how handsome you are, and you must find no end of amusement in admiring yourself, but you have also purchased a large, expensive book…"

"It'll be fine, Jet. We've made a lot more money in all our trips than I expected to have in a lifetime," Sokka said, with a proud grin. "Besides, the mirror isn't for me."

"Ah… this mirror is for the dark-haired temptress that charms you so, is it?" Jet asked, smirking. Sokka's cheeks heated up. "Nothing to be ashamed of, is there? You Fereldans are so finicky when it comes to sex…"

"Must we talk about this in front of a shopkeeper?" Sokka grimaced. Jet laughed.

"And why not?" he asked, amused. "I can certainly provide plenty of advice, should you need it…!"

"Advice? I don't need it at all, we're doing perfectly fine!" Sokka hissed, stuffing his newly purchased mirror into his bag. The others hadn't witnessed his bashful reactions to Jet's teasing, as they were busy judging Ty Lee: she was chatting with a dwarf who apparently was in some sort of business involving nugs, creatures akin to overgrown mice, with trunks in place of a normal mouse's snout.

It was lucky for Sokka that Azula was distracted by the nug-chasing ordeal and hadn't noticed what he'd purchased. Ty Lee insisted on running about, searching for nugs on every level of the city, and Sten-Mai and Foo-Foo would go with her while the rest of the group visited the Assembly, in the Diamond Quarter, to begin finding solutions for the city's political stalemate.

That the ideal way to start resolving matters would be for Sokka to join the dwarves' favorite means entertainment baffled the Grey Warden: the Provings were controlled duels, held inside a fighting ring of marble and stone. Lord Long Feng had seemingly bought out and blackmailed most of Prince Kuei's fighters, to ensure he would be the one to triumph in the combat held in honor of the fallen King. It would be up to Sokka to defend Kuei's honor, apparently…

And so he did, taking down foe after foe with apparent ease. He defeated everyone they set against him without a hitch, though upon reaching the fourth fight, it turned out that he would need to choose a companion to fight alongside him… and the choice was apparent immediately:

"Azula?" he said, grinning at her. She huffed, smirking.

"I thought you'd never ask…" she said, her voice as sultry as ever. Sokka chuckled as they walked together to the ring, hand in hand.

He hadn't been scared at all, so far. He had faced a pair of combatants, two-on-one, earlier… but this time he had been given the chance to bring a companion into the fight with him, and he had no doubt things would go swimmingly with Azula by his side.

Dwarves had a natural resistance to magic: they couldn't use it at all and they resisted its effects, to a fault. Thus, Azula settled for supporting Sokka through her spells: she cast her sleeping spell upon their foes, and paired it with her horror spell too, causing a nightmare to one of the two foes while Sokka pummeled the other one by stunning him with his shield. In a matter of moments, the fight had been settled in their favor… and Sokka laughed before reaching out to wrap an arm snugly around Azula's waist.

"And what are you doing?" she asked, amused. He smirked.

"Giving them the right conclusion to their show," he whispered so softly that the loud cheers in the audience almost muffled his voice.

He cupped her face in his armored hand and kissed her in front of that huge crowd. Azula smiled, inevitably, before leaning into him and responding without a shred of remorse: the dwarves in the crowd only grew wilder at the sudden turn their spectacle had taken. Even the herald of the Provings stuttered when he spoke anew:

"A-and the winner…! The winner is the Grey Warden!"

Sokka laughed once their kiss broke off, and Azula did the same, her brow pressed to his. How utterly childish of them to take advantage of such a moment, to kiss before a wild crowd… and yet how marvelous it had been, just as well.

The next fight would give them a chance to reprise their fun, but only if they bested the top fighter in Long Feng's roster: it was a four-on-four battle, and Sokka, Azula, Yagoda and Jet were ready to take on their next opponents.

"You fight well," said Long Feng's champion, a dwarf with greasy black hair called Xin Fu. He sneered upon delivering his next words: "It will be a pleasure seeing you fall."

"If you have eyes left to see with when I'm through with you, sure thing," Sokka said, with a proud grin. Xin Fu's amusement receded.

"The group of the last one standing will be declared victor! Fight!"

This fight wasn't as simple as the previous ones: Azula's Cone of Cold couldn't freeze Xin Fu successfully, and Sokka had to bash him with his shield to ensure he wouldn't attack Azula. The man's offensive was relentless, and even Sokka was struggling to endure it – Yagoda and Jet tried to keep the other three members of the team distracted, but Sokka shouted at them to focus on a single one at a time. Their fight wasn't going to turn out well at this rate, not unless Azula's sleeping spell worked… and it didn't: Azula snarled upon noticing that, yet again, Xin Fu and his second endured it despite his two weaker henchmen fell asleep successfully.

"Azula…!" Sokka exclaimed, hesitating to make the request she knew he would ask for. She gritted her teeth and prepared the spell. "On him! Force Field… on him!"

His command surprised her… but she did as she was told: suddenly, Xin Fu stopped moving, mid-swing, caught in the barrier Azula had erected around him.

The temporary barrier meant Xin Fu was untouchable… but it gave Sokka the chance to heal and to fight back against Xin Fu's second without as much struggle anymore. By the time Xin Fu was free, one of his henchmen was out of the fray, the other one was on its way there, and his second was merely a couple of blows away from passing out, too.

Jet rushed in, casting a Mark of Death upon Xin Fu: every attack the others dared throw at him would now hit the man harder, and once Azula cast glyphs to weaken the aggressive dwarf, she finally could freeze him effectively. Without losing a beat, Sokka attacked mercilessly, as did Yagoda, who petrified the resilient dwarf next. Azula shot an array of fire in his direction, then charged lightning…

The dwarf only had one moment to gain his bearings after defrosting before Sokka slammed his shield so hard upon his head that he fell, face-first, on the floor.

It was clear, by then, that their foes wouldn't stand a chance: the two remaining dwarves attempted to fight back as best they could, but they were both outnumbered and outmatched. Everyone in the Proving Grounds launched into joyful celebration as the last man of Xin Fu's team fell, and the Warden's team was declared victorious.

"Oh, that was… invigorating, and terrifying!" Yagoda confessed, with a happy laugh.

"We are ridiculously awesome," Jet declared, haughtily. Sokka laughed as he wrapped an arm around Azula's waist once more. She huffed.

"Again?"

"Yes. Again," he confirmed, beaming before kissing her powerfully, bending her over slightly as the other two laughed at their boldness, ever offering an unforgettable show to the crowd before them.

By the time they finally left the Proving Grounds as champions, they had damn near forgotten what they were supposed to be doing: the four of them reunited with Ty Lee, Sten-Mai and Foo-Foo and then proceeded to visit Prince Kuei once more.

As ever, their ordeals had only just begun: as much as they had done well at the Provings, now they had to hunt down the leader of the dwarven crime gang, the Carta, and execute her unlawfully, in order to gain Kuei's trust. Finding the Carta's secret hideout was no easy feat, and it involved visiting the slums where the casteless dwarves resided. As grand and beautiful as Orzammar might be, a single glance at how they treated their poor suggested their society was as distant from perfect as could be.

The Carta members were renegades, victims of said society. If only they had actually tried to help their own in some ways, finding justice for the casteless rather than devoting their business to illicit trafficking of a wide variety, it would have been difficult to justify the massacre their group left in their wake in the Carta hideout. By the time they found their way to the surface, they were just about sick of the political schemes of the dwarves… only for Kuei to reveal that there was one final favor he had to ask of them.

"So, 'tis not enough that we cleaned his undercity and won a tournament in his name…" Azula recited. Sokka grunted. "Now we have to go underground to find a missing inventor of renown, some… living Paragon?"

"That's right," Sokka said, as good as dragging his feet as their whole group marched to the one location of Orzammar they hadn't visited so far. "And he's been missing for well over a year… after taking off on an expedition into the Deep Roads."

The bulk of the Deep Roads, the network of dwarven tunnels and cities – called thaigs –, had been long abandoned. The Deep Roads were the place where all the darkspawn came from, where the taint had begun… that was where, allegedly, they'd find this Paragon, whose vote would supersede that of the Assembly. If a Paragon selected a king, there would be no more political conflict to deal with. It would be over… but only if they found the Paragon alive and well, which nobody believed possible at this point in time. A fool's errand, and yet they had no choice but to attempt to achieve the unthinkable, yet again.

They were about to reach the entrance when a dwarf suddenly called for them. The whole group turned around to find an auburn-haired dwarven warrior, a woman young and weary, but with determination and steel shining in her violet eyes.

"Grey Warden… that's who you are, you and your whole group?" she asked. Sokka nodded.

"And you're… wait. I think we saw you," Sokka frowned. Azula raised an eyebrow. "You know, the first time we went to the Diamond Quarter? She was yelling at the guards, who yelled back and told her to, uh…"

"To go get drunk in Tapsters, yeah," the dwarven woman said, with a dismissive snarl. "Takes one to know one, am I right? Anyway, I'm not here to talk about that: you're going to find Takase? Paragon Takase?"

"That's what we were told to do, yeah," Sokka confirmed. The woman's eyes glowed even more powerfully now.

"I'm coming with you."

"Uh… right. Why?" Sokka grimaced.

"This just keeps happening, doesn't it?" Azula asked, with a sigh.

"I'm Takase's daughter, Suki!" the dwarven woman exclaimed. "I've been waiting for a whole year to hear someone's finally going to bother looking for my father, and up until now, nobody's bothered. But you'll do it… right? You've beaten Long Feng's goons in the Proving, you can pull this off, too. Help me… help me find my father."

Sokka sighed, running a hand over his hair. Ty Lee, as ever, stepped in with a kindly smile.

"Do you have any insight on where your father might be?" she asked. "Any maps, any information…?"

"I do have maps. I can take you into the thaigs his expedition was supposed to visit," Suki said, firmly. "I can help you track him down too, I can identify signs he would have left upon each place he visited, gathering samples of rocks and such. So… I can be of help. I can be of use. Please… let me help you."

"Oh, well…" Sokka said, glancing at Azula, as ever. She shrugged.

"If she will make herself useful, we'd do best not to turn down her aid," Azula said. "We're bound to come across no shortage of darkspawn and who knows what other creatures might reside in those depths. Though… what was your father looking for? Do you know?"

"The Anvil of the Void," Suki stated: her ominous words didn't mean anything to the group yet… but they would, sooner than later. "It's a famous invention by a Paragon of old, Kyoshi. He thought he knew where it was… so, if he found it, we just have to find him, too."

"Then… I suppose we'd better get moving," Sokka sighed, jerking his head towards the Deep Roads' entrance.

The Deep Roads were as good as a world of their own. The great halls that still stood the test of time were glorious, strong even after so many years of being lost to the darkspawn, and there were many signs of ancient, glorious buildings everywhere they looked, buildings that might have been as grand as Orzammar currently was… only, most the glory had decayed now that those beautiful dwarven constructions had been taken over by violent creatures, whether darkspawn, spiders or deepstalkers – small, reptilian creatures that often attacked them in groups. Here, the darkspawn were at their most dangerous: they had the advantage in the terrain they had inhabited for many years. Without Yagoda's frequent Mana Clash spells to disrupt and one-shot the Darkspawn Emissaries, the mages of the tainted creatures, their team would have found themselves in tight binds often upon being attacked mercilessly by no shortage of tainted, mindless foes.

They started by crossing the Aeducan Thaig, the small city the current reigning family, Kuei's family, had founded countless centuries ago. After many hard fights against the darkspawn there, they reached Kyoshi's Cross, a place founded by another Paragon of old, the one who had created the Anvil of the Void that Suki's father had been seeking. They took many detours through unstable tunnels before they found their way out of the Cross… and then they marched into Ortan Thaig, a darker location riddled with spiders and incorporeal spirits – whose blows were very much corporeal, however –, and to Sokka's utter amazement and simultaneous horror, there were enemy golems, too. If only he'd had a chance to recruit one of those for their team…

A monstrous spider awaited in the depths of Ortan Thaig. The battle against it and its many summoned minions was fierce, and many of them were wounded by the end of it – Jet had a cracked skull, Sten-Mai had a broken rib, Foo-Foo had a bleeding wound too –, all of which was taken care of by Yagoda, whose magical healing skills were remarkable. Even if they were slightly demoralized by the increasing difficulty in their challenges so far, they regained their spirits upon finding an actual journal left behind by Takase: Suki was delighted to discover her father had even written a note about her, even if it was an unfinished thought. Her father wouldn't be far away, she was sure of it…

The next location they entered, however, was the most unsettling one they had visited yet.

They reached a massive chasm, across which stood a long, sturdy bridge that still hadn't decayed and crumbled. It would allow them passage across said chasm… but upon glancing down at its depths, the group didn't find a river of lava, as they expected to. It was, instead, a river of torches… of moving torches.

It was an army of darkspawn, spreading as far as the eye could see.

"Oh, shit…" Sokka hissed: his darkspawn detecting abilities sent unpleasant shudders down his body as he eyed the marching horde with disbelief: this was what they had to fight? The Archdemon's legions were this large?

And speaking of the Archdemon…

The group leapt back and hid behind a cluster of rocks when a sudden, deafening roar bounced against every wall of the tunnel they were in. Then, the speedy shadow of the biggest dragon any of them had seen crossed their sight, landing on the bridge and roaring again in that fearsome way… and then it released a burst of purple fire, as corrupt and tainted as the dragon itself.

Sokka clasped Azula's hand, his heart racing: it was the very damn creature he had seen in his dreams so many times… dreams that Azula had chased away by magic or by other means, as of late. It was the Archdemon, in the flesh… the very damn creature he had to slay.

"Steady," Azula told him, gripping him hard. "It… didn't see us. It mustn't have seen us…"

Sokka nodded, shrinking in his frame as the rest of their group did the same, hoping to avoid catching the fearsome creature's notice. It roared again and again… and the troops listened, marching faster across the large chasm. Sokka shuddered as the Archdemon took flight anew, vanishing in the tunnels after flapping its gigantic wings three more times.

"T-they're… gearing up to strike?" asked Ty Lee, shivering in Sten-Mai's embrace. Azula gritted her teeth and glanced at her trembling lover, the only one who might have actual insight into whatever the Archdemon was up to.

"I don't think they'll do it yet… but things are getting dire. We have to be ready to stand against an army that big, once the Archdemon brings them to the surface…" Sokka said, eyeing the others warily.

"There is still hope. We can defeat our foe, no matter how strong and numerous his allies might be," Yagoda said. Sokka sighed and nodded.

"We'd best move on," Sten-Mai said, firmly. "Come on, Ty Lee."

"Okay… okay," Ty Lee nodded, as Sten-Mai pulled her up to a standing position.

They walked slowly, even more wary of darkspawn than they already had been, until they came across a group of strange dwarves right ahead, at a point where they had expected to find no one: they were the Legion of the Dead, a group of dwarven exiles who were sentenced to atone for whatever crimes they had committed by fighting the darkspawn threat, underground. Their whole group had to dash in to help the group from the Legion of the Dead against rushing waves of darkspawn, and Sokka's group continued across the bridge at that point, fighting as hard as they could to defeat a pair of Ogres, flanked by rows of organized darkspawn archers, with their many bows trained on them: Azula's sleeping spell was quite useful at reducing the threat some of the archers represented, but it was up to Jet to backstab them as fast as he could, cutting them down one by one while the others fought the Ogres and the stealthy Shrieks, the worst darkspawn species they had found yet – the elongated creatures were dreadfully fast and their frequent screeches would seem to shatter their eardrums. After a battle that felt like an eternity, they finally succeeded at cutting down every foe – the Legion of the Dead, most unhelpfully, crossed the bridge only after the worst threats had been dealt with. After a brief break, the group continued… and they found more and more darkspawn ahead, yet again.

It was madness. If they had thought the rest of the Deep Roads were infested with tainted creatures, it was nothing compared to this region, called the Dead Trenches. There was always some new deadly threat looming at every corner. They found countless treasures too, many suits of dwarven armor that improved Suki's defenses, but she found no sign of her father anymore…

Not until they came across a strange dwarf that Suki identified as her father's best friend and lover, Goro. She flinched away from him upon realizing he was poisoned terribly with the very same taint of the darkspawn: he had become a ghoul, what happened whenever any creature was tainted over contacting or even ingesting darkspawn blood. The taint would damage and decay the living, and the only possible cure for it would be to undertake the Joining, the ritual through which Grey Wardens were recruited into the Order, and it was a difficult ritual to prepare. Goro had been tainted for months, at least, and he seemed delirious and feverish:

"First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat," he recited, repeatedly, refusing to acknowledge them at first. "Third day, the men are all gnawed on again. Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate. Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn. Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams. Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew. Eighth day, we hated as she is violated. Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin. Now she does feast, as she's become the beast. Now you lay and wait, for their screams will haunt you in your dreams…"

"What is… w-what are you talking about?!" Suki asked, desperate. "Where's my father, Takase…?!"

"Takase!" Goro growled, pulling away from Suki with a disgusted snarl. "Do not talk of Takase… of what he did. Ancestors preserve us, forgive me… I was his captain, and I didn't stop him. His lover, and I couldn't turn him… forgive him… but no, he cannot be forgiven. Not for what he did. Not for what he has become."

"What…? What does any of this mean?" Sokka frowned. "Did… did Takase betray you?"

"No… I will not speak of what he did! I will not become what I have seen… I will not become Takase!"

With that, Goro rushed away, and they had no choice but to watch him go. Suki shuddered, and Yagoda offered her a kindly hand.

"What… what the hell was that?" she said. "M-my father… what has he done?"

"Nothing good, if it's what turned that guy… into a ghoul," Sokka said, gritting his teeth. "We have to keep going. We've got to find Takase anyhow, and we'll only get answers once we do."

It was, they realized later, wishful thinking to assume that they'd be able to get their answers soon: after fielding so many awful fights so far, it seemed unlikely that another terrible one might come next… but it did.

In the form of a Broodmother.

They had heard more of Takase's mumbling as they approached it, but they hadn't understood what horrors he spoke of until they entered the chamber in which the monstrosity stood. A tentacled, massive, disfigured creature roared fiercely at them, chilling the blood in their veins upon realizing that this was what Goro had warned them of: Takase had given away a female member of their expedition to the darkspawn, so that they would make the dwarven woman a broodmare, a broodmother, that spawned and produced more darkspawn. This was how they multiplied… why their ranks never seemed to decrease in number.

And it was, by far, the most gruesome sight any of them had ever seen.

"Take your positions!" Sokka roared, shuddering. "Azula, Yagoda, stay back! Jet, switch to bow: Ty Lee and you, shoot at it from a distance. Sten, Foo-Foo, Suki… we're attacking, head on!"

It was a sound strategy… and a terrifying one, too: the creature was one of the most dangerous monsters they had met. It spat acid that could melt their weapons and armor, that could burn into their skin – only the simultaneous work of Azula's rudimentary healing magic, as well as Yagoda's stronger one, could keep any of their warrior friends from losing against the creature's power. But then the tentacles sprung up from the fleshy ground, and they had to cut those down or risk being restrained or choked by them. Suki, furious, rushed into fighting the Broodmother anyway, losing her mind to a berserker rage, while Sokka, Foo-Foo and Sten-Mai worked to cut down the tentacles – Jet switched to his dual swords after a while, helping all the ranged fighters when the appendixes of the creature attacked them.

And then came the darkspawn: waves of darkspawn, pouring in from the corridors at either side of the room: Azula had to cast a fire storm in one corridor, and an ice one in the other. She was nearly depleted from strength by then so she drained a lyrium potion quickly before continuing to fight.

"Focus on the Broodmother!" Azula shouted at Sokka, after he beheaded another darkspawn in front of her: he had come to her aid as soon as he noticed she was in danger. "I'll take care of these!"

"Y-you sure?" he asked, eyeing her with uncertainty.

"If we keep going at this rate, the damn creature will keep calling its minions! Go!" Azula shouted. Sokka nodded and obeyed, despite dreading he was making the wrong choice.

He barreled against more tentacles, slashing across them with his sword before reaching the Broodmother: it suddenly spat out a barrage of acid in a circle, hitting everyone attacking it directly. Jet switched to his bow again when the nearby darkspawn were felled, and Azula and Yagoda cast their spells at the creature in quick succession… but it resisted most of them. It was uncannily powerful… thus, Yagoda took to boosting their allies, Jet cast his Mark of Death upon the Broodmother, and the rest of them hacked at it mercilessly.

One of Ty Lee's arrows packed enough power to debilitate the Broodmother considerably, but it wasn't enough: more darkspawn flooded the room by then, and Sokka snarled as he determined to finish cutting down the Broodmother before focusing on them, he could do it, he could…

The Broodmother's tentacles wrapped around his body in a steel, unyielding grip.

Azula gasped: she only had one moment to blink, to think, to so much as realize it was the right moment to cast her barrier… when Sokka went limp in the creature's grasp.

"No… NO!" She roared: a furious barrage of flame poured out of her staff, and she stabbed it into a darkspawn's gut. "You… will not take him from me! I won't… I won't allow it!"

She drew out her staff and shot a myriad of spells, one after the other, at the wretched creature. When she felt weaker, she drank lyrium, bottle after bottle, unconcerned with how it might damage her own body. She could hear Yagoda warning her to be careful, but Azula couldn't listen: all she could do was step closer yet, knowing Sokka was right there, lying unconscious on the ground after the creature dropped him, and she couldn't tell if he still drew breath…

She reached him, trembling hands touching his face a mere instant before the Broodmother attempted to lash out at her too. A fierce snarl spread across her lips as she picked up Sokka's sword… and then she leapt. She leapt with more strength she knew she had in her, slashing at the creature before beheading it, brutally.

The rest of the darkspawn were dead by then. The Broodmother stopped writhing… and then there was only silence.

Until Azula jumped off the bleeding creature, dropping Sokka's sword carelessly on the flesh-ridden floor of the cavern, taking him into her arms.

"Sokka? Sokka, answer me!"

A sudden brightness fell upon him: Yagoda had cast one of her healing spells, the most potent of them all… and Sokka woke, coughing blood.

"Here… here. Calm down…" Azula said, though it seemed, by the trembling of her hands, that the one in need of calming was her, rather than him.

She rolled Sokka over carefully, and he spat the blood without choking on it. Yagoda knelt by their side, eyeing him warily.

"We shouldn't do this here. Sten, can you carry him?" Yagoda asked. Sten-Mai nodded quickly, kneeling by Azula's side and slipping his arms underneath Sokka's body.

"Will he be alright?" asked Azula, glancing at Yagoda warily. The older mage bit her lip.

"I can only hope so. Even if he somehow received any of the creature's taint directly, he is naturally resistant to the darkspawn taint, as he is a Grey Warden," Yagoda explained. "But come… we will only know how severe his wounds are after we treat him."

Twenty minutes later, they had set up a rudimentary, small camp right beyond the tunnels where the Broodmother's corpse now lingered. Yagoda treated Sokka as best she could, with their best poultices, and he shuddered often as the healing salves worked on him.

"Is magic not enough…?" Azula asked, softly. Yagoda hummed.

"It might be, but I am as good as spent. And you used quite a lot of our lyrium reserves, at the end of the fight," Yagoda pointed out. "How are you feeling? Dizzy? Any shivers?"

"Nothing to be concerned about…"

"Be honest. We cannot have both of you ill when we take into the next passages," Yagoda said. Azula gritted her teeth.

"Yes… some shivers," she admitted. Yagoda sighed.

"We will have to rest for two days, at least. I don't expect he will feel better before that… nor will you. It's not as terrible as outright lyrium poisoning, it seems… but you'd best be careful. Drinking too much lyrium can be lethal."

"I know, but… I couldn't do anything for him," Azula hissed, gritting her teeth. "I… I was distracted. I shouldn't have been…"

"I could have hoped to heal him at a distance as well, but I didn't have the opportunity to do so," Yagoda said. "Don't blame yourself. He yet lives, and we will live on to fight as many days as we can."

"Can you…?" Azula started, swallowing hard: oh, she had never liked this old woman, she was another Circle Mage, one of those fools who wouldn't delve into any magic beyond whatever the Chantry considered appropriate… and yet she couldn't stop herself from asking the question she had in mind, her heart tight with uncertainty. "Can you teach me your techniques?"

"Oh? To be a Spirit Healer?" asked Yagoda. "I… am surprised."

"You should be. I never intended to do this, but… if Sokka's life is in danger again, I would rather have more means at my disposal to save him. So… please," Azula said. Yagoda nodded, with a weak smile.

"So be it."

Sokka woke up again three hours later: he barely could hold his head upright for an instant, unsure if his eyes were feeding him wrongful visions, or if Azula was actually speaking with Yagoda about… healing magic?

He fell asleep again, shortly after that.

He woke up anew a few hours later: Ty Lee had cooked a meal, and Azula, nervous but relieved to see him healthier, had fed him some of the stew carefully.

Hours later, he had taken several naps, eaten several rounds of food… and so, he laid on the cavern floor, with Azula wrapped firmly around his body.

The rest of their group seemed exhausted, too. Foo-Foo laid down at Sokka's feet, soundly asleep. Suki sat away from the group, still an outsider, hugging her large hammer to her chest as she dozed off. Yagoda rested not far from where Sten-Mai and Ty Lee were also nestled in an embrace, not that different from the one between Sokka and Azula… he smiled a little, hoping Sten-Mai had finally understood Ty Lee's value. Jet sat at the mouth of the cave, no doubt keeping watch – he was a slippery one in battle, taking as little damage as he could while delivering as much as possible, too. Thus, he was the least injured one, and the better suited for standing guard and ensuring no darkspawn incursions would find them in their current location.

Azula stirred when Sokka glanced at her. She gritted her teeth for a moment before opening her eyes, meeting his. He smiled gently, reaching a hand up to caress the arm she kept around his chest.

"Hey there," he whispered, as quietly as possible. Azula sighed but smiled at the sound of his voice.

"You finally look and sound a bit like yourself. Guess 'tis true that Grey Wardens have resistance to… to that sort of corruption," she said, her grip tightening around him.

"I'm okay… I'm fine," Sokka smiled, closing his eyes. "Better yet because you're here, of course…"

"Good," Azula pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder before closing her eyes, too.

"What happened… at the end, there?" he asked. Azula winced. "I… know it grabbed me. I don't know what happened after…"

"It… continued to struggle, but we cut it down," Azula said, unsure about sharing her part in the end of the battle. "Yagoda healed you… then we brought you here. You had some damage to your ribs, where it seized you…"

"Did… the armor get fucked up, too?" Sokka asked, with a sad grimace. "Damn. It's such a good armor, too…"

"Suki said she can fix it. Her father was smith caste, even if she's warrior caste…" Azula explained, with a half-hearted shrug. "Dwarven politics are increasingly odd. At any rate, she knows enough of smithing to help with it. I suppose she'll do it when she awakens."

"That's good to know," Sokka smiled, glancing at Azula. "It didn't hurt you, did it?"

"No. I'm fine," she reassured him. Sokka grinned.

"Good. I'm sorry I got hurt, but…"

"Don't be. I should have been ready to cast the Force Field…"

"You were swarmed by darkspawn. It's not your fault…"

"I could have done that for you and focused on them again shortly afterwards," Azula said, bitterly. "But… I was too slow. I… I'm sorry, Sokka. I… failed you."

"You didn't," Sokka said, caressing her hand gently. "You helped kill that thing… you did amazing, Azula. I'm just sorry I wasn't there to see you blowing it up with your magic…"

"You didn't miss that," Azula said. Sokka chuckled.

"I suppose… who cut it down, then?"

"Uh… me. But I used your sword, instead," Azula admitted. Sokka blinked blankly.

"You… what?"

"I can use a sword, believe it or not," Azula rolled her eyes, blushing. "Though t'was a heavy one, for sure, but… it did the job."

"You… you're mad. You're amazing… and you're crazy," Sokka chuckled, pulling her closer and kissing her brow. "Oh, Azula…"

"Hmm?" she caressed his chest, raising her head to look into his blue eyes.

"Is it… too soon?" he asked, to himself. He laughed and shook his head after saying that. "Is there such a thing as 'too soon' when a horde of darkspawn is threatening to end life as we know it, eh?"

"Too soon… for what?" Azula asked, frowning.

"For me to say that I love you."

Her jaw dropped. Her words fled her. Sokka raised his gaze to meet hers… only to find her cheeks flushed, her eyes aglow with a strange, beautiful emotion, and yet she said nothing. She couldn't seem to say anything… and so, he smiled.

"Too soon, yes," he confirmed. Azula flinched.

"It is not that I…! I'm not… well, 'tis only… love happens to be a… oh, this truly isn't the right time for this," Azula said, shaking her head. Sokka chuckled and closed his eyes, letting his head loll back onto the pillow of his bedroll.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not asking you to return those words to me," he whispered. "If anything… I'm just glad I had the chance to say them. You deserved to know."

Her heart clenched, tight, and her soul seemed to soar, and… and then stupid tears slipped out of her eyes as she covered her mouth with a hand. She deserved it? Was he utterly mad? She didn't deserve…

She didn't deserve his love. He was a fool to offer it so readily. He was too foolish, too inexperienced when it came to relationships – not that she was much better, truly – and too innocent, seeing her for something she wasn't. He didn't understand her… and perhaps it was better if he didn't. Perhaps it would be for the best if she just pushed him away, broke things off, so he would realize she was nothing like the illusions he had crafted of her in his mind…

She knew she had to do something. Of course she did, and yet…

And yet she curled up around him again, holding onto him tightly, grateful that he was alive… grateful to be loved, for once in her life.

The atmosphere was awkward on the next day, though Sokka barely acknowledged it. The others were pleased to see their leader was in good spirits, and he marched ahead of the rest, into the depths of whatever new, unsettling nightmares the Deep Roads had in store for them. Azula wondered if perhaps she had hallucinated that exchange last night, or if Sokka had forgotten what he'd said… the possibilities made her feel all the more foolish. To fall apart so easily over the notion of love… it was unbecoming of her. And yet…

And yet she remembered, all too well, the words of that Desire Demon. The way it had taunted her, claiming Azula's truest wish had never been power, but love… the love of a man who, according to the demon, would never grant it to her. And yet the way he had spoken the words last night, the affectionate way in which he treated her, the reckless kisses he'd stolen from her in the Provings, in front of everyone… her heart jolted upon thinking of any of it. And it was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, that she would be so stupid as to feel this strange… dependency on him. This camaraderie was but the expected outcome of having spent too long traveling together, of course. Making more out of it than that would only hurt her, in the end, and what was the point? She didn't want to get hurt, did she…?

Did she?

The thought hung in her mind for a long moment… and it was interrupted by the sudden burst of a metallic barrier, rising right behind them and blocking their way out.

Their group gasped in confusion and surprise… yet one of their members, the newest of them all, exclaimed loudly upon glimpsing something else ahead, while the others eyed the new metal wall with discomfort.

"Oh… oh, by the Ancestors! Stone preserve me: Father!"

Suki's voice startled everyone all over again: an armored dwarf stood atop a rock, arms crossed, apathetic eyes regarding them with distaste.

"Suki? And why are you here?" he asked, as though she were merely a self-invited guest hoping for tea. Suki smiled awkwardly.

"Father, you've been missing for a year!" she said. "I've been begging the Assembly to send someone to find you…"

"Well. You've found me. Hurray," Takase said, dismissively. "Who are these? Hmm… is that actual Grey Warden armor?"

"Is that any way to talk to your daughter?" Sokka asked, skeptical. Azula, only a few steps behind him, let out a disbelieving laugh.

"Good to know I'm not the only one with an utterly dreadful parent…"

"Father… yes, he's a Grey Warden and he accompanied me to find you," Suki said, a pained expression in her eyes. Sokka let out a deep breath.

"We're to escort you back to Orzammar so you can help them choose a king," he said. Takase cackled.

"Oh, so old Bumi finally kicked the bucket! And why do you think I'd care about who rules Orzammar, anyway?"

"Why? Because…! Because the city is in chaos, and the Grey Warden needs our help! There's a Blight…!" Suki exclaimed. Takase huffed.

"All the more reason you lot ought to help me, in that case," he said. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"How many times is this shit going to happen…?" he grunted, irritable.

"I am seeking the Anvil of the Void, but there are traps in the road ahead. None of those I've sent have been successful in deactivating them," said Takase. "Kyoshi… she prepared everything to ensure the Anvil would not be found easily. I need you to get through each of those traps and allow me to access the Anvil of the Void. Once that is done… I suppose my Paragon vote will go to whomever you wish, yes, whatever."

"Why is the Anvil of the Void so important to you?" Sokka asked, frowning.

"Why? Because it's the greatest invention of our society and it was lost!" Takase exclaimed, impassionedly. "Our only means to craft golems… lost forever in the Deep Roads! But I've been able to find it, and only I know how to use it. Bring me through those traps… and I shall give you a golem army, if you so wish, to defeat the Blight"

Had his arguments been any different, Sokka might not have listened. Azula winced upon stepping closer, finding Sokka's eyes were wide with hope.

"A… golem army? Oh, shit…" he said, glancing at Azula. "That sounds… like the best damn plan ever."

"And 'tis abundantly clear the madman won't let us go unless we succeed where he has failed," Azula assessed, cuttingly. She shook her head and glanced at the rest of the group. "We'd best be on our way, then."

Helping Takase after he proved to be such a monumental asshole didn't sit well with most of them, but it was clear they were stuck and had no other way to go but forward. So they defeated the many darkspawn in the tunnels, and then reached a strange place, filled with toxic gas: Jet offered to deactivate the valves, but upon doing so, sentinel golems in the room sprang to life and damn near killed him: Azula's Force Field and Yagoda's Lifeward spells were both necessary to ensure he wouldn't falter while the rest of them rushed up the golems and shattered them. Sokka, of course, continued to mourn the lack of chances to turn the stone creatures into his allies, but he socked it up and they progressed further into another strange room… this time, with a magical mechanism from which poured different kinds of beams, activating angry spirits at each of four anvils. A strange corruption attempted to attack them, but they fought back as hard as possible until the disturbing device had been deactivated.

Only then did they reach the final room… to find themselves facing even more golems. At the head of them stood a metallic one, with a deep, jarring voice…

"My name is Kyoshi. Once, longer ago than I care to think, I was a Paragon to the dwarves of Orzammar. If you seek the Anvil, then you must care about my story, or be doomed to relive it."

"K-Kyoshi? Kyoshi is still alive?!" Suki gasped, staring at the metallic golem in amazement.

"Though I created many things in my time, I gained my status as a Paragon for creating the Anvil of the Void," Kyoshi declared. "With the Anvil, I could build an army of golems of steel and stone… but none knew what the cost was."

"The cost for creating golems?" Sokka asked.

"No smith, no matter how talented, would have the power to create life. Thus, I had to take the lives from elsewhere," Kyoshi continued. Ty Lee gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "The darkspawn threat was too great. I took volunteers, at first… those willing to do what it took to defend their home from those monsters. But King Chin understood why I needed volunteers… and he became greedy. He would send men, casteless, criminals, any who threatened his power, to be given to the Anvil and transformed in golems for his army. It took feeling the blow of the hammer myself to understand the magnitude of my crimes."

"You… you were given to the Anvil for not abiding by everything you were commanded to do," Sokka concluded, frowning. "For questioning your king. And… you became this. A golem."

"A fitting punishment for the crimes I was guilty of," Kyoshi continued. "Us golems have been entombed here ever since. I have attempted to destroy the Anvil… but no golem can bring it harm. I need your help, stranger, or else…"

"No! You won't destroy the Anvil! I won't have it!" Takase's crazed voice suddenly reached them: he had followed them through the tunnels, and he appeared close to losing his mind with desperation and greed. "You cannot take it from me!"

"You!" Kyoshi exclaimed, accusingly, before focusing on Sokka again. "Please… help me destroy the Anvil!"

Azula could practically see the gears turning in his mind. Sokka snarled: yes, a golem army sounded great… but not at that cost. Not when that was what needed to be done. Azula had to admit, in a practical sense, she would sooner side with Takase if he truly could create golems to aid them in the war… and yet she knew Sokka would choose otherwise. She did… and she couldn't even say he was wrong to do so. Takase seemed far too dangerous to be trusted with a weapon as powerful as that Anvil.

"It takes… the vote of one Paragon to settle matters in the Assembly," Sokka said, raising his gaze at Kyoshi. "That's the whole reason I'm here. The only reason I care to be. The golem army… I don't need it if that's the cost. Help me choose a king, and…"

"No!" Takase roared, as good as throwing a tantrum. "That old hag cannot help you, she has lost all contact with the real world, she cannot give you what you seek! But I, I will give you an army like none you've ever seen! Grey Warden…!"

"Father…! You bleeding fool, stop this madness!" Suki shouted, looking at him pleadingly. "Does this damn thing mean so much to you that you can't see what you've lost to get it?!"

"Our whole empire could be thriving if we had that Anvil! Be reasonable, Suki!" the dwarf retorted at his daughter.

"There's no question to be had…" Sokka said, fists tightened. "We won't allow you, or anyone else, to abuse this tool's power."

"It is a wicked, vicious power, for certain," said Yagoda, nodding proudly at Sokka's decision.

"Thank you, stranger. Your compassion shames me," Kyoshi declared… only for Takase to laugh hysterically anew.

"You are not the only master smith here, golem!" Takase exclaimed, hoisting a strange, wand-like device in his hand. "Golems, obey me! Attack!"

"A control rod?!" Kyoshi exclaimed. "No! Stranger, please help me! I cannot fight him alone!"

Sokka gritted his teeth, reaching for his weapons. Suki, to his utter astonishment, didn't seem to hesitate to draw her hammer and fight her own father.

Thus, the battle was joined: defeating the golems Takase took control of was no easy feat, but Sokka commanded the others to take those out first, while Foo-Foo expertly taunted and led Takase away from the rest – by biting his ankle enough times to make the man see red, attempting to hunt down the dog while forgetting himself. His madness, apparently, was a double-edged blade.

The battle continued and Kyoshi fought bravely: slowly, her fellow golems, those who had answered Takase's call, were felled, until only Takase himself remained. He fought rabidly, clearly seeing red… but his fury wasn't enough to match his daughter's, whose face was riddled with tears.

"Enough… ENOUGH!" Suki roared.

The hammer fell upon Takase's chest, by the edge of the platform upon which they fought: he was screaming desperately as he fell into the lava below.

Yagoda rushed to embrace Suki, to ease her after the painful sacrifice she'd had to make upon killing her own father. Kyoshi sighed, as much as a golem could sigh, lamenting the loss of another life… and yet, now that the true menace was gone, she agreed, quite gladly, to craft a crown for the king of Sokka's choice.

Once the crown was finished, for the sake of giving her some closure, Suki herself shattered the Anvil with her hammer. Kyoshi proceeded then to finally liberate herself from her own existence by jumping into the lava as well… and she thanked Sokka with dwarven words, 'atrast nal tunsha': may you always find your way in the dark.

It had been a laborious journey, yet again… but it was finally over, at last. Retreading their steps was easier now that they had carved a path through the Deep Roads, and only a handful of straggler darkspawn attacked them as they returned to the dwarven city. Suki sulked all the way there, but she seemed grateful, all the same, for everything their group had done for her.

They wasted very little time upon finally returning to the city: Sokka marched into the Assembly with his many friends, and Suki was the one to herald them by announcing they had found Kyoshi, who had crafted them a crown and now they would bestow it upon the chosen leader. When the Assembly asked who had Paragon Kyoshi chosen, Sokka decided to resort to some subterfuge… nobody would know, at this point, that Kyoshi hadn't even asked a single question about who fought over the throne. Thus, Sokka simply announced that the crown was to be Prince Kuei's… and that was when Long Feng went mad with greed, attacking the Assembly and asking for a beating that Sokka's team offered him and his supporters, most gladly, on the Assembly floor. It was a gory mess, and not quite what Sokka imagined would happen upon the coronation of a king… but in the end, Kuei was crowned, and all was well.

"If we're to learn anything from this ridiculous mess, it's that I'm way better off not touching a throne, ever," Sokka declared, once they were setting out anew, marching out of the Diamond Quarter. Azula laughed.

"You're certain of that? You've crowned Prince Kuei, the rightful king, and defeated his father's close advisor, who may have schemed to betray him…" she recited, smirking at him. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

"W-well…! Ugh, fine, I surrender," Sokka sighed, as Azula laughed wickedly.

Suki, as was the case with most everyone else they'd recruited so far, elected to stay with them. Dwarves weren't allowed to return to Orzammar after they had stepped out to the surface, but she hardly seemed to care: the dwarven city had given her no end of grief while she wanted to find her father, and now that she had found him and realized there had been no saving the man, she wanted nothing more to do with the city. Thus, after sulking miserably over her father's terrible choices, she had been starstruck by the absolutely different, unexpected world she had found right past Orzammar's main gates.

They took a few days to rest after that difficult ordeal: Chong and Moku welcomed them gladly and offered them as many new supplies as possible, including much food and treats that Sokka devoured in a hurry. They had secured their last army, aside from Redcliffe's own… in but a few days, they would track down Professor Zei and finally put an end to the countless ordeals they had to face before they could finally confront Iroh.

Thus, on such a wonderful opportunity and downtime, Sokka pulled Azula aside to her corner of the camp and, with a nervous sigh, handed her the beautiful mirror he had found in Orzammar's shops.

"This is a mirror… a golden mirror. It… it looks just like the one my mother destroyed right in front of me," Azula said, eyes wide. She glanced at Sokka in astonishment, and he grinned guiltily. "You… you found this for me?"

"Told you I'd try, didn't I?" Sokka laughed. "Now you can look at your beautiful face as often as I do, eh? Though I hope you won't like yourself nearly as much as I do, else you'll just stare at the mirror all day and get nothing done…"

"Ah? Do I distract you to that extent?" Azula asked. Sokka chuckled as she smirked affectionately at him.

"I welcome the distraction gladly," he said. Azula bit her lip.

"Surely I should… grant you something in return?" she said, uneasy. "This is… 'tis quite meaningful. And, well, the truth is I do have something…"

"You don't need to give me anything, it's a gift," Sokka laughed. Azula blinked blankly.

"Just like that? Selfless, entirely?" she asked. Sokka nodded. "Well, I still cannot live with that, so…"

She rummaged through her bags, surprising Sokka when she rose back to her full height, bearing a ring of rosewood in her hand. Sokka blinked blankly, and she blushed.

"Now… don't get any foolish ideas. This is… 'tis a ring my mother gave to me, long ago," she said. "Its magic was supposed to track me down, wherever I went. I undid the spell back when we left the Wilds, as I didn't care to have my mother tailing me while I was none the wiser… t'was a better choice than I realized back then, considering what we've learned of her intentions. At any rate, I have modified the ring's magic so that I may be able to find whoever wears it. Thus…"

"You'll keep me in your sights, no matter what happens?" Sokka smiled. Azula huffed.

"Well… yes. 'Tis also supposed to be connected with the one I've fashioned here, see?" she said, blushing as she showed him another ring.

"Then… you'll wear that one, and I'll wear this one," Sokka smirked. Azula huffed.

"It isn't meant to be…! Well, what you may have thought, if that is even what you thought! Oh, you're maddening…"

"In a good way, I hope," Sokka chuckled. "Then… does this mean we'll be connected, no matter what?"

"Yes. This way, I can sense if you're in danger, if you were caught by our enemies, I could track you down with it… so, 'tis useful."

"And there's no form of sentimentality to the gesture, whatsoever?"

"Absolutely not," Azula lied. Sokka smiled.

"Great, then. If so, it's not an even trade, and the mirror is still a gift for you," he said, kissing her brow quickly. "It's a very nice ring. Thank you."

"I… well, yes, I only hope it proves useful," Azula said, flustered. Sokka smiled. "Oh, stop doing that, you smug fool… cut it out!"

Sokka laughed as he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her heartily again. As much as she had berated him before, now Azula kissed him back so passionately they nearly toppled over: it would be their first night of lovemaking in what felt like an eternity, since they had been in Orzammar… and so, they made the most of it. Yet as they lay in bed that night, with Azula running her fingers delicately over Sokka's tired body, she couldn't help but think of the impact his choices had upon her. The way he listened to her, just as she listened to him… the way they had grown not only to rely upon each other but perhaps to… to depend on each other? It sent a shiver down her spine. Never before had she pondered if this was what a relationship was meant to be like. So far, she had enjoyed the intimacy, the closeness, and of course, the sex… but now it was another kind of intimacy. The closeness made them fear for each other's lives. The sex was no longer as driven by impulsive lust, she had felt it just now, as he gazed into her eyes upon sheathing himself inside her…

And it scared her. All of it scared her. This wasn't what she had been taught by her mother: if anything, wasn't she making every mistake her mother had warned her about? The attachment, the sentiment… she was succumbing to them, like a fool. She was allowing it to control her… and the Desire Demon's taunts returned to her mind: she would never gain his love, it had claimed, and yet now Sokka gave it so freely, as he had in the cavern, upon saying those words to her for the first time. Perhaps it wasn't quite Sokka's fault, though… perhaps it was Azula who didn't know how to receive, to accept that love when it was given so selflessly. Perhaps it was she who was the problem…

She gritted her teeth and curled up against Sokka, tightening her grip around his strong body. Whatever the reason… she would stay right here, with him, and enjoy this relationship of theirs for as long as it might last. Considering they only had one more stop along the way before Arl Arnook could be revived – if some dead woman's ashes could somehow achieve that –, it meant their time together would be cut short quite soon. Whatever they meant for each other, they'd do best to indulge in their mutual affection, in their shared fun, for what little time they had left…

This is a good place to take a break... :D

They journeyed south now, as they progressed towards the village of Haven. They had a few hostile encounters along the way, a not-so-hostile one where they found a rare meteorite in the depths of a crater – they harvested its ore in the hopes that it might be useful in the future –, and yet only one encounter felt noteworthy to Sokka, one where they'd come across an anxious, miserable merchant who had many complaints about the bad turns his life had taken. He offered to hand over the alleged source of his misfortunes to Sokka, as he hoped, or expected, that Sokka might have better chances to make use of the item, or dispose of it…

The item in question was a golem's control rod.

"Are you sure about this?" Suki asked him. Sokka grimaced and shrugged as they restarted their journey.

"You don't get it, Suki…" he sighed, shaking his head. "I… I was a golem, once."

"You… what?" she blinked blankly, as the witnesses of Sokka's strange adventures in the Fade laughed at his dramatics.

"This story I have to hear," Jet laughed too, stepping up with undeniable interest.

Sokka explained the tale, and unsurprisingly, those who hadn't been there to watch him turning into a golem couldn't seem to believe it had happened at all. It was a fun conversation for the road… and yet, after a few moments, Azula caught sight of a stricken expression on Sokka's face.

"You're not sure about the rod, are you?" she asked. He sighed and shrugged.

"Can anyone be, after what we learned?" he said.

"You didn't turn this golem into what it is. It wasn't your choice, or your responsibility," Azula reminded him. "But if it tears at you so, we can simply not go to Honnleath at all. We are headed to Haven first, after all."

"Yeah… maybe we shouldn't," Sokka said, biting his lip. "But, y-you know…?"

"You want a golem anyway," Azula smiled knowingly, and Sokka sighed in defeat. "Fine, then. We'll head to Honnleath after Haven is done, if you insist."

"Thank you," Sokka kissed the side of her head, and Azula slipped an arm around his, ensuring they would continue to march together as they followed the others.

After the long period they'd spent in the Deep Roads and its many disturbing caverns, it seemed unlikely that a village called Haven could be worse than the very den of the darkspawn… and yet it was mostly deserted, with a grumpy guard who kept trying to turn them away, a creepy child reciting weird chants that unnerved Sokka, a strange graveyard with many odd inscriptions, and a suspicious shopkeeper who warned them to get lost as soon as possible – possibly because Jet nicked a pair of Antivan Leather Boots that the man kept in an unlocked chest. If he didn't want to be robbed, Jet said, he should be more careful with his priceless artifacts: then, he proceeded to smell the leather and sigh happily, convincing every member of the team that he had a very odd leather fetish.

Yet things only reached the heights of unsettling when they disregarded every warning and finally broke into one of the houses… to find a bloodstained altar before them.

"That is human blood," Azula remarked. Everyone was surprised over her quickness to assess as much, and she shrugged dismissively in their direction. "And if you must know, no one can lose that much blood and live."

"The Crows sometimes used human sacrifices to enhance their own abilities," Jet remarked, tapping his chin. Sokka squirmed.

"Why can't we ever go anywhere nice?" he groaned. "I want… to go somewhere else. Like the beach!"

"The day we go to the beach, it'll be the day a darkspawn tunnel bursts open at the shore and the genlocks run around trying to eat everyone in sight," said Azula, with a dry grin. Sokka huffed.

"Just our luck, eh?" he said, shaking his head. "At any rate… better not to dwell on unsettling blood-stained altars and just go find the Professor before anyone gets the harebrained idea of making him the next sacrifice…"

It was a valid concern, and a highly likely possibility… but they couldn't get to finding Professor Zei quite that quickly, for once they opened the door anew, the villagers poured down on them in a violent, reckless rush. Most of them were untrained… but only most of them. Some were actually skilled warriors or archers, and it took quite some time for their group to sort through them all… by the time they did, they had raced up a long hill, one that led into a small building of religious purposes…

"Ah, and the rest of them are all hiding in the Chantry. How lovely for them," Azula said, smiling skeptically. Sokka huffed.

"Let's find someone who answers for whatever this fucked up place is supposed to be…" Sokka said, frowning heavily.

The weirdness of the place only increased when they entered the Chantry to find a man, rather than the traditional woman, officiating an odd ceremony. Sokka scowled as he marched forward, and the villagers squirmed out of the way as the officiant, clearly a mage by the staff on his back, regarded them coldly and confrontationally.

"Where's Professor Zei?" Sokka asked, cutting across the man's dismissive words. The mage frowned.

"Whatever you seek, you will not find it in Haven. By Yangchen, we will drive you out, at all costs!"

It wasn't an odd war cry for a Chantry fanatic… but something about the way he exclaimed the name of Yangchen sounded like he was speaking of a living, breathing being rather than a long-dead woman, much as it had been back in Denerim, when the false assistant had shouted her name similarly. As ever, Yagoda took out the mage with her Mana Clash spell and the rest of them made short work of the other fighters. Ty Lee successfully found a secret wall deeper in the Chantry… and hidden inside it was the badly wounded Professor Zei.

"Oh… you're a sight for sore eyes, strangers," Zei said, smiling as Sokka knelt beside him.

"Professor Zei, I presume?" he asked. "Your leg…"

"It's broken? I don't know what it is, exactly, but…" Zei said: Yagoda stepped up to heal him, and while Azula wasn't keen on aiding a total stranger, she offered some assistance regardless.

"We will need to set the leg," Yagoda said. "And you should rest for a week at least…"

"I cannot. We're so close… the Urn of Sacred Ashes is just up that mountain," Zei said, pleadingly, "I can take you there, I can help you get through the door… but please, take me there. I must… I must see it."

Azula huffed, glancing at Sokka nonchalantly.

"If the fool has a death wish, I don't see the problem with granting it to him," she said, shaking her head. "As long as he is of use to us, we can set his leg and he can wait outside: I doubt he's a fighter, and he's certainly in no shape for combat…"

"And we'll likely see more combat, if these cultists are as obsessed with the Urn as they seem to be," Sokka agreed, grimacing. "Alright, alright. We'll set the leg, and he'll take us there."

Hours later, they had climbed into a ruined temple, of architecture so ancient it baffled most of them, especially the Professor. It wasn't difficult to convince him to stay and admire the Temple's architecture and inscriptions while the group charged into each room to find more foes and fiends everywhere they went. It could have seemed surreal to Professor Zei to watch the many battles at a distance, if he had bothered watching them at all… but he was so hypnotized with the archaeological discoveries that he plainly ignored everything but his immediate surroundings.

Sokka's team continued to move forward across each room, with Yagoda making short work of the many mages while Azula cast countless sleeping spells whenever crowd control was necessary. Ty Lee's latest skills with the bow had seen her learning an attack that stunned every opponent in range with a chained shot, Suki roared with berserker rage that daunted their foes and filled her with strength, and Sten-Mai made use of his new Reaver talents, outright stealing life from the enemies they felled. Foo-Foo tailed Sokka, knocking down every enemy he could… and the dangers increased when spirits and demons started to attack them as well.

After some time, they reached another level of the temple's depths. It was a cavernous location, and just as dangerous as everything else: this time, however, they found Drakes, wingless dragons, similar to the one they'd fought in the Brecilian Forest. This time, Azula had to be the one dealing the bulk of the damage, taking to using debilitating glyphs and multiple ice attacks in order to slow the three menacing creatures that attempted to tackle and overwhelm their team members one by one. It took some time, but in the end, they took out the three dangerous reptiles without sustaining major losses in their group.

Odd and unnerving as the cultists were, didn't seem as though they would find anything quite as dreadful as the many dark encounters they'd had in the Deep Roads… but just as they were about to find their way out of the caverns anew, judging by light that drifted in through a wall, a group of cultists, led by a pretentious man, stopped them.

"You won't take one more step through these caverns! You've dared kill the faithful, and you'll explain your actions now!" the man shouted, furious. Sokka grimaced.

"Well, I killed those who tried to kill me first, in general," he said. "Sometimes, yes, I have to go on the offensive first because they'll try to kill me anyway, but…"

"Don't ramble endlessly, Warden," Sten-Mai sighed. Sokka shrugged carelessly in his direction before focusing on their foe anew.

"I'm seeking the Urn of Sacred Ashes, that's why I'm here," he said, simply. His enemy's face shifted upon hearing that.

"The Urn…? Perhaps we may yet reach an agreement, if so…" the man said, frowning. Sokka snorted.

"Oh, no, I've done enough people's bidding, your cult is creepy and I'm not interested in enabling your weirdness, thank you very much," Sokka said. The man scoffed.

"You dare disrespect me? I'm Father Fong, leader of the Disciples of Yangchen! Kill us, and you will face Yangchen. She will smell our blood, the blood of Her children, and Her wrath will be unstoppable!"

"She… what, now?" Sokka grimaced.

"You will bow before Yangchen!" the man roared. Sokka scoffed

"Look: some people have no problem worshipping the Maker's girlfriend, I'm not keen on it myself, regardless of my education, but…"

"How dare you disrespect Her with your foul words?!" shouted the man, furious. Ty Lee winced and stepped in.

"Don't mind him, please…! Truly, we mean no harm to Yangchen," said Ty Lee. "But I can't say how anything we do would, uh, displease her, at this point?"

"How could you believe otherwise?! We worship Her!" shouted the man. "I, Fong, am Her faithful servant, and I shall bring you as sacrifices for Her to gain further strength! She shall lay waste to all the unfaithful…!"

"Now, now… do explain this: why do you speak of Yangchen as a real, breathing being when we are all quite aware of the fact that she died forever ago?" Azula chimed in: the thought of her own mother gave her pause, though. Ursa had been alive for many centuries, through rather corrupt and disturbing means… could Yangchen, famously loved and revered as the purest woman to ever live in Thedas, be guilty of similar sins?

"You know nothing!" Fong growled. "Yangchen is more glorious than all the Old Gods! She has overcome death itself and returned to her fateful in a form more radiant than your weak minds could imagine!"

"Uh… well. That's something," Sokka said. Yagoda gasped as Ty Lee's jaw dropped.

"This is… heresy," Yagoda said. "Even Azula is not quite this much of a heretic!"

"Thank you. You flatter me," Azula said, dismissively.

"You're saying Yangchen lives on, but… what happened to the ashes?" Ty Lee said, frowning.

"They're still in the Temple, but who needs ashes when the true form of Yangchen is far more glorious?" Fong declared, with a crazed grin.

"Well, we do, so if you don't mind…" Sokka said, with a dry grin… Fong, of course, attempted to stop him.

"Wait. If you only require the ashes… then we may reach an agreement!" he said again. Yagoda and Ty Lee scoffed behind Sokka.

"Whatever he says, you can't make bargains with these people!" Ty Lee exclaimed.

"Unthinkable!" Yagoda declared. Sokka sighed and shook his head.

"You're outraged over something I haven't agreed to? Honestly, though…" Sokka said, turning to the cultist with a skeptical, raised eyebrow, "You still want to make a deal with me, after I've killed all your friends so far? Isn't it a little too late?"

"You may yet become Yangchen's greatest champion…!" Fong declared, eyes wide with madness. Sokka laughed and shook his head.

"No, thank you. Living or dead, Yangchen can't stake a claim over my heart. It's already taken," Sokka said, with a bright grin. Fong's eyes almost seemed to be ready to fall out of their sockets while Azula blushed crimson behind Sokka.

"Then… then you shall die, right where you stand! To arms, my brethren! Yangchen will grant us victory!"

It was quite an epic war cry, and one that went nowhere: as strong as Fong proved to be, his mages were quickly dispatched, Sokka's fellow warriors engaged Fong's own, and Jet joined him in fighting Fong by stabbing him repeatedly in the back while Fong was too busy hacking away at Sokka. Azula cast her own spells upon the man: in the end, Sokka lopped his head off, and the battle was over.

"What in the Maker's name was he even talking about?" Ty Lee asked: as frightened as she had been sometimes in the Deep Roads, she appeared deeply distressed about what she was hearing now. "Yangchen, reborn?"

"It can't be true. He was mad, you heard him," Sokka said, shaking his head. "Ignore, and move on. It sounds like he was the last of the cultists, so let's just get going,"

They looted the enemies as they often did, and Sokka was confused to find a strange horn among Fong's things. He was still studying it intently as they marched out of this cavern, and down into the snowy remains of the ruins in the mountain…

A sudden roar startled him out of his reverie: everyone jumped in fright when a massive shadow crossed the sky above them. They hid behind the debris of the crumbling ruins, but they watched as the creature roared and dropped on the ground… right on the pathway that led into a smaller temple.

"A… oh, no. Oh, hell, those guys had lots of little dragons, bigger dragons, so this is a…" Suki started, eyes wide.

"A high dragon," Azula finished, lips trembling as she took in the sight before them.

"There was no Yangchen reborn… it's just this thing. This dragon," Sokka concluded, frowning. "And… shit. It's actually pissed because we killed its cultists?"

"Maybe there's another way around the creature," Jet suggested. Sokka's brow furrowed and he shook his head.

"Not sure it'll work if it noticed us because of the scent of the cultists' blood, like that guy said. We're taking it down," he said. Everyone gasped and glanced at him in disbelief.

"A brave choice… and yet a difficult one to commit to," Sten-Mai said, eyeing Sokka warily. "I will join you in fighting it if we must… but are you certain we can do this?"

"Well… back in the day, I would've likely soiled my drawers at the prospect of fighting a high dragon," Sokka admitted. "Nowadays, though? I… I have all of you fighting beside me. I'm stronger than ever before. And if we work together… well, it may not be easy, but we can fight that thing and live to tell the tale, I believe."

"If… if need be, I have learned the Force Field spell Azula can use," Yagoda said. "If we truly will attack it… perhaps it will serve us well to keep those spells at hand."

"Do we have ice arrows?" Sokka asked. Sten-Mai nodded and lowered one of their many bags, drawing out two quivers with enchanted, ice arrows. "Alright, Ty Lee, Jet, you two will fight ranged…"

"Ah, but I had hoped to fight upfront, as well…" Jet said, smirking. Sokka shook his head.

"Not unless it's necessary. Me, Sten-Mai, Foo-Foo and Suki will draw its attacks and make it focus on us," Sokka said. "Yagoda, heal everyone who needs it, and attack whenever you have the opportunity. Azula… you're the one who will deal the most damage, I think."

"Me?" Azula asked. Sokka nodded.

"Your ice attacks… space them out so that it doesn't notice you're the greater threat. We'll try to keep it taunted and focused on us," he said. "But do your best to use your ice spells upon it. That will weaken it far faster. If need be, Force Field any of us if it, I don't know, tries to eat us…?"

"What a promising battle," Suki said, with an awkward grin. "And here I thought the surface might be dull…"

"I told you you'd enjoy it," Jet grinned mischievously at her.

"Alright, then. We're all clear on what we'll do?" Sokka asked. The rest of the team nodded. "Distribute yourselves all around the expanse of this terrain. Make it so its attacks can't take out all of us at once, alright?"

"No problem," Ty Lee said, nodding.

"Then… let's go kill a dragon," Sokka said, with an awkward smile.

In a sense, it might be training for the likely confrontation he'd have with the Archdemon in the future… but just thinking about that made Sokka's head spin unpleasantly. He'd rather focus on the here and now, right now… and he'd worry about everything else later. If they didn't slay this dragon, it wouldn't let them reach the Urn of Sacred Ashes… and they had to do this, all be damned, for Arnook's sake.

The dragon stirred upon seeing them approach: the group distributed across the open field between the ruins and the other building, all archers and mages readying their ranged weapons while the three warriors and the war hound rushed in, from different directions, to fight the creature.

Azula attacked relentlessly, her ice-projectile staff proving particularly helpful in damaging the dragon's hide. It attacked with barrages of fire, and with magical flaming spit – if that was what it was – that would pursue whoever the dragon targeted. Azula had to join Yagoda frequently in helping heal the group, but the ranged damage was truly wearing down the creature. They flanked it as best they could, keeping the dragon on its toes… until it flew off, landing near Ty Lee: Sten-Mai roared in outrage and climbed on the dragon's back, hacking savagely with his two-handed sword to distract the creature from the archer it had targeted. It worked, as the high dragon shook Sten-Mai off its back and focused its attacks on him. Each blow brought them closer to the end of the line, though, sooner or later it would be over…!

"It's in bad shape!" Sokka shouted: he blew on Fong's horn to taunt the dragon, something he'd been doing throughout the fight. "Keep going, you guys, keep…!"

A sudden shadow crossed their line of sight.

Nobody knew where he had come from, or why he had leapt in as he had… but Jet had stepped up to the dragon's snout, climbed on its neck, and stabbed it across the face. A spring of blood burst from the creature, coating their surroundings, forcing the warriors to step back while Jet stabbed again and again: at one point, the creature tossed him in the air, but he landed on its neck regardless… and delivered a final blow that saw the dragon crumbling underneath him. Jet simply barrel-rolled away from the creature in the most graceful manner he possibly could.

"D-did you just…?" Sokka gasped, staring at Jet in disbelief as he rose to his full height.

"Did I just slay the dragon? Did I take your kill?" Jet asked, with a mischievous smirk. "Why… I suppose I did. Very upset about it, are we?"

"Is it even important who did the slaying?" Ty Lee asked, with a trembling smile and a much paler face than usual. "T-thank you, Sten-Mai…"

"You are alright?" Sten-Mai asked, a hand on her shoulder. Ty Lee nodded, leaning against him slightly as she regained her bearings.

"It is important, though, because I did it," Jet declared, beaming. "I can add it to my assassin title! Jet, Master Assassin, Dragonslayer…!"

"Extremely flexible, for he's quite skilled at kissing his own ass…" Sokka smirked. Jet laughed and nodded.

"Yes, yes! That sounds about right."

Now that the creature was dead, the tension seemed to have receded. After looting the creature's very stereotypical hoard, they finally had the way clear into the heart of the upcoming mountain… into a new section of the temple.

The place felt odd as soon as they stepped inside it. Suki remarked that, as a dwarf, she could tell that part of the atmosphere they sensed was caused by massive amounts of lyrium underneath their feet. Yet the weirdest part of the situation, upon entering the very first chamber of the place, was finding a well-groomed man, with a stainless, spotless armor and a serene expression on his face.

"Oh, boy. I suppose that's not Yangchen come to life as a man now, is it? Considering she already came back as a dragon…" Sokka rolled his eyes, running a hand over his hair before stepping up to the man. "Hello?"

"I bid you welcome, pilgrims," the man said, with an ethereal voice that suggested he was a spirit, rather than a man. "If you have come to find the sacred ashes of Yangchen herself, there are trials you must undergo…"

"How shocking," Azula said, with a sardonic grin. Sokka chuckled and eyed the spirit with uncertainty.

"At this point, explaining that is a formality: what do you want us to do?"

The first test was one of self-reflection, it seemed: the guardian took chances to ask terribly personal questions to each member of their group, questions that puzzled them more often than not. Azula refused to let him ask her anything at all, and it seemed that, as well, counted as an answer for the strange being.

Thus, they went on to the next test: it was a set of riddles, posed by new spirits that seemed to take the form of people who had been important in Yangchen's life: her mother, her best friend, her elven ally… Azula couldn't recognize any of those people, but Sokka thrived in the challenge. He figured out the answer to every riddle and he laughed carelessly about having unraveled them… until he stepped forward to the next corridor and came across a mirage of Piandao. His old mentor, the man who had taught him the ways of the Grey Wardens… he was but an illusion, Sokka knew as much right away… but he conveyed words that struck Sokka's heart deeply, regardless:

"You have proven your worth a thousand times over and again, Sokka. Where most would have faltered, you have gathered allies, comrades and friends: you have become the leader I always knew you could be. I am proud of you, Sokka."

The warrior was close to tears after the strange spirit placed an amulet upon his hand. Sokka swallowed hard before fastening it over his neck, sniffing and attempting to hold back the tears.

"Sokka…" Azula called him. He offered her a watery smile.

"I'm alright. It wasn't really him, but… it almost felt like it was," he laughed, shaking his head…

And then they marched into the next challenge: it was practically like stepping inside a mirror, for suddenly they were attacked by mirages of themselves. They had never faced a foe they couldn't take down, no matter how difficult the battle might be… thus, it was no surprise that their greatest rivals might be themselves.

It was a fiercer battle than the one against Fong, but after Azula's crowd control skills succeeded at limiting several of the team members, they took to targeting the immediate dangers first: Jet went down first, weak as his constitution was, for his attacks were always devastating. Azula was next: it was disturbing to help her friends defeat herself, but she did it anyway. Sten-Mai and Suki followed, with their massively harmful two-handed weapons, and Ty Lee had to go next, for her arrows continued to stun them and sabotage their fighting rhythm. Sokka was too durable, so Yagoda's copy had to be taken out first so she would stop healing him… then they finally could slay him, and they proceeded onto Foo-Foo's reflection, next. It was exhausting, but it was interesting to see, first-hand, how powerful they truly were.

The next test was a lot trickier than the ones before, though: it was a true puzzle, where triggering certain switches would create a spiritual bridge over a deep chasm, a bridge that only solidified when a certain combination of switches were stepped on at once. Only three could be pressed at the same time, so Sokka had the whole team distributed at each switch, and he called for each of them to step onto their switches, one at a time, to unravel which ones would ensure the bridge's integrity would endure to allow someone across. By the time he finally cracked the puzzle, Azula was weary of the challenge but tense and horrified by the notion of Sokka crossing the bridge himself.

"It's alright. I'll just get to the other side… see if I can get the ashes, I guess, and then I'll come back," Sokka said, with a reassuring smile. Azula sighed but nodded… and so, they proceeded to follow Sokka's orders.

After several tense moments in which Sokka nearly mixed up the right order of pressing the switches, he finally got it right: once he had stepped across the chasm, the spiritual bridge solidified, and the rest of the team sighed in relief.

"What a waste of time…" Azula grunted, rushing up to Sokka, followed by the others…

And then they marched into another room, one with a long trail of fire right behind an altar. An inscription upon it read: Cast off the trappings of worldly life and cloak yourself in the goodness of spirit. King and slave, lord and beggar, be born anew in the Maker's light.

"Uh… huh. Does this mean… we have to strip naked?" Sokka asked, smiling awkwardly. The others winced, though Jet's eyes widened with greed.

"Oh, really, now…?"

"Ugh, you're impossible. Maybe you should go jump off that chasm back there," Azula snapped at him, as Jet cackled with mad glee.

"This is no joke," Ty Lee said, unusually sternly. "It's a matter of spirit, not of lust, Jet. We must be born anew in the Maker's light… so we shall be."

"And this one's impossible for wholly other reasons," Azula sighed, shaking her head.

"How about we go about it in a reasonable way?" asked Yagoda, smiling awkwardly. "Surely we can all keep our backs to the fire while each of us crosses?"

"You're ruining the fun of it, Yagoda, dear!" Jet tsked, shaking his head, and Sokka sighed… before beginning to strip naked himself.

"What are you…? Sokka!" Azula blushed, reaching for him as he set down his armor.

"No big deal, I'd rather they don't see you naked. Him in particular, he'll decide he wants you for himself all the more if he does," Sokka smirked, pointing at Jet.

"Well, I am always open for such negotiations, dear Azula," Jet winked at her, and Azula rolled her eyes at his flirting.

"I'll do it myself," Sokka said, reassuringly. "And if it fails, well…"

"That's not reassuring at all," Azula hissed. Sokka laughed, shaking his head.

"Don't worry. What's the worst that could happen?"

The worst that could happen was that their whole party would gawk at him with undeniable interest and curiosity: in the end, Azula was the one who had to enforce Yagoda's previous idea, forcing everyone else not to look at her lover as he stripped completely… and stepped across the fire.

In a matter of instants, the flames faded. Upon looking at Sokka again, he was fully clothed once more, magically so. The guardian of the Gauntlet stood before him, a kindly smile on his face.

"You are worthy: take but a small pinch of the ashes… it will suffice for the noble goal you've come to this temple for," he said. Sokka swallowed hard but nodded.

"Well, grand. Such a convoluted, twisted journey for a dead woman's ashes. At least 'tis over at last…" Azula said, shaking her head as Sokka climbed the altar upon which stood the urn – ever intrigued by everything to do with the Chantry and its founder, Yagoda and Ty Lee watched in utmost awe while the rest, skeptical, waited at the bottom of the small flight of stairs.

The ashes were placed in a small pouch, and Sokka thanked the guardian one more time before they set out anew, through a side door of the Gauntlet. After the many fights they'd dealt with, it seemed a new tunnel had cracked open in the main temple, connected directly to the area where they'd fought the dragon: they returned to Professor Zei that way, and explained they had found the ashes indeed. The man had been ecstatic, eager to bring knowledge of this historical, archaeological discovery to the Chantry… and their group had been eager to get out of the Temple, above all else, so they all marched off, to their next destinations.

After a couple of days resting at camp – days where the group gathered at the main fireplace, laughing and exchanging stories, relaxing as best they could while the world seemingly fell apart around them –, it was finally time for Sokka to see his dream of having a golem ally fulfilled: Honnleath wasn't far from Haven, so they marched there before returning to Redcliffe.

A large statue stood at the center of the perfectly happy town, a rare place where darkspawn had yet to strike, it seemed. The statue was a strange golem, a lot more decayed than those they had seen in the Deep Roads… shorter, too. It had colorful crystals protruding from its body, and it seemed to have frozen in the middle of action, somehow.

"So… this is it?" asked Suki, eyeing the golem in question. "Looks…"

"Smaller than the others?" Ty Lee said. Suki smiled awkwardly.

"Not that I have much of a right to judge anything for being smaller than everything else, anyway…" she said, with a careless shrug.

Sokka bit his lip as he brandished the control rod he had been given before visiting Haven. He held it out and spoke the awakening command the odd man from the road had given him:

"Dulen harn!"

It took a moment for it to work: suddenly, the cracking sounds of rocks shifting thundered in the location, as the many villagers nearby ran for cover, hiding away from the awakening creature. It stretched its arms and legs, and it seemed to gaze at them somehow, with the light that emanated from its white, unnatural eyes. Sokka gawked at it in wonderment… and the feeling was certainly not mutual.

"Ugh…" a roughened voice spoke, with such clear disdain it startled the whole group. "I knew someone was gonna find the control rod one day… not even a mage this time. Bet it just sat on the damn rod by accident or something, bought it off one of those damn market sales in the village… bleh."

Sokka blinked blankly: so far, the only golem with an actual personality that he'd met was Kyoshi. Kyoshi, however, had been grandiloquent, even formal and elegant… this one sounded like a street urchin from Denerim.

"Uh… huh. Nice to meet you too, I guess?" he said, smiling awkwardly.

The golem huffed, turning its stone head to take in its surroundings with no shortage of disdain.

"I've been stuck in this stupid place for ages…" they growled. "Watching these squishy villagers running around back and forth, putting up with their games of hide-and-seek, enduring the hell fiends from the sky that kept crapping all over me…"

"And the villagers didn't know you were watching them all along? That's… a bit creepy," Sokka pointed out, raising an eyebrow. The golem sighed.

"Anyway, say it already. What's its command?" the golem asked. Sokka swallowed hard.

"I suppose you mean me when you say 'it', right? Huh. Well, first… do you have a name?" he asked. The golem almost snorted.

"A name? Probably, but after all those years of just being called 'golem', I don't know if I remember it. You know, 'golem, fetch me that chair', 'golem, squash that insipid bandit', 'golem, carry me, for my wimpy, squishy feet are tired of walking', I could go on for bloody days, I could…"

"So, you don't have a name anymore?"

"It's… Toph," the golem said, after a moment. Sokka blinked blankly.

"Is that a joke…?"

"Why would my name be a joke? Not enough things to laugh about in its life?" Toph retorted. Sokka winced. "Weird, though. It… does have the control rod. I would still be stuck if it didn't, so…"

"It certainly does, right in its hand," Sokka said, mockingly.

"I… can sense the control rod. I can see it," Toph said, voice hitching with intrigue. "But I feel… hmm. Order me something. Anything."

"Okay?" Sokka blinked blankly. "Hug Jet."

"What?!" Jet flinched, inching away from the golem and Sokka right away.

"And… nothing. No compulsion to do as I'm told… it's… it's broken? The control rod is broken?! I am free!" Toph exclaimed, with a giddy excitement. "I don't know how the hell it happened, but it's done! It is! Oh, I thank it for this!"

"You can thank me if you want, yeah… but what do you intend to do now?" Sokka asked, wary – they had seen more than enough hostile golems to trust this one to be perfectly pacific if left unsupervised… "Hopefully you don't mean to go on a killer rampage in this village…"

"Eh, not worth it… well, maybe only on the blasted birds," Toph retorted. "But if I have free will… huh. I don't know what the hell I'd do with that. Someone's always controlled me, and this is a first, so… what should I do? It woke me, so… what did it want of me, eh?"

"Oh, me?" Sokka said. "I was a golem once too, you see…"

"It was? And yet it turned back into a squishy form? What a stupid choice…" Toph said, letting out a whirring sound that probably was meant to be laughter. Sokka's eyebrow twitched.

"I didn't really lose that power by choice, but yeah," he sighed. "Anyway… I wanted a golem to help me fight the Blight, if I couldn't be one myself. So… that'd be what I'd ask of you."

"Ah? The Blight?"

"Yep. Killing lots of darkspawn before they kill the rest of us," Sokka clarified. Toph hummed.

"I see… so I can go kill darkspawn or not go kill darkspawn?" Toph recited. "Heh. I suppose, if it bores me too much, I can always take off on my own…"

"Well, nothing would be keeping you, that's for sure," Sokka said, letting out a slow breath. "Then… you're coming along?"

"For now, at least. Let us see if it truly gets up to carnage and violence, that is my favorite thing to do…" Toph cackled, stepping forward and out of the small crater in which the golem had been frozen.

"Somehow, t'was less worrisome hiring an assassin rather than making an alliance with a golem…" Azula recited: Sokka offered her a sad smile and a shrug.

"Let's hope it's worth it," he said, clasping her shoulder as they started their way down the village again – merely a few steps out of the village entrance, Toph adamantly stomped a chicken to death, startling the rest of the team, and then responded to their questioning stares with a careless shrug.

The way to Redcliffe was crowded with unpleasant encounters once again: Toph proved their worth as a golem by smashing away at each darkspawn they found… though they were particularly bad at gauging the strength and the range of their attacks. Quite often they would wind up damaging their allies by accident, and it didn't seem to trigger even a slightly guilty reaction from Toph. The golem was completely unconcerned with protecting any 'squishy creatures', thus, they seemed to respect none of them in particular – though they built rapport quite quickly with Sten-Mai, oddly enough.

The gates of Redcliffe were a welcome sight, almost like coming home – despite it had only been a home to one member of their group before. Sokka made haste to deliver the ashes to the astonished and grateful Bann Bato and Arlessa Macmu-Ling… and yet he didn't intend to stay and watch until Arl Arnook was fully healed. Instead, he announced his intentions to depart on a dangerous voyage to the rest of their group, in one of Redcliffe's sitting rooms… a voyage that chilled the heart of the very woman who had asked him to undertake it.

"You're saying… Ursa, Witch of the Wilds, has lived through centuries by taking over the bodies of each of her daughters?" Yagoda asked, eyes wide after Sokka's explanations. Suki swallowed hard and eyed Azula compassionately.

"No wonder you understood my plight over my father… but that's even worse than what my own dad did," Suki remarked. Azula sighed and shrugged.

"I'm not asking all of you to join me, if you don't want to," Sokka said, biting his lip. "Azula will be staying here, for safety's sake. If she's nearby when Ursa is slain, she may just choose to take her body right then and there."

"Then we have to make sure to slay her before she can try," Ty Lee said, adamantly. "Though, um… could we go visit the mercenary dwarf first? For Sten-Mai's sword?"

"Uh, yeah, we can stop there first, then go fight Ursa," Sokka said, with a weak smile. Sten-Mai's usually cold and emotionless disposition seemed to change, and he gazed at Ty Lee with utmost amazement. "So… guess you two would be coming with me?"

"I'll go as well," Yagoda announced. Jet smirked.

"As will I. I'm already a dragon-slayer, it may build my reputation further to slay the dangerous Witch of the Wilds…" he said. Sokka rolled his eyes but smiled.

"I'll go too," Suki said, firmly. "I understand your pain all too well, Azula… If I can return the favor you guys did to me, I will. I'll help you."

"If there's anything squishy for me to destroy, why would I waste my time staying here?" Toph asked, simply.

"Then… you'll stay with Foo-Foo?" Sokka said, glancing at Azula. Azula sighed as the dog barked and stepped up to her, happily.

"You… you'd best be careful. All of you," she said, eyeing the rest of the group. "Do not let your guard down, not for an instant. My mother is shrewd… it may be that she has another escape plan even in the case of her demise. You must be vigilant for her trickery."

"We will be," said Sokka, reaching out to embrace her warmly. Azula gritted her teeth and hugged him back.

And then she was left to wait in Redcliffe. To wait while caressing a dog's fur. To wait while hearing the voices rejoicing in Arl Arnook's recovery. To wait as days went by, as she counted down the moments spent away from Sokka… as she pondered if she had sent him on an impossible, murderous errand that would see him dying at her mother's hands.

Yes, she wanted to be free from Ursa. She wanted to ensure she would never be anyone else's to control. And yet… and yet she found she wanted Sokka's safety even more than she wanted any of those things. It was all too terrible to only realize as much when he was gone…

And all she could do was wait.

The only one familiar with the Korcari Wilds and its maze-like vegetation was Sokka. He guided the others through the swamp, much as Azula had guided him in the past, all the way until he reached the hut, where his adventure alongside her had begun, by Ursa's own design. Had she known that they'd ever develop the strong affection they felt for each other now? Had she suspected this day would come? It seemed likely, for the old witch stood outside her hut with her typical derisive smirk on her face – where said expression had grown to become something endearing for Sokka, in Azula's face, it was utterly blood-curdling in Ursa's.

"And so, you return," she said, her voice impregnated with no shortage of arrogance, ever behaving as though she saw through them thoroughly, as though their every choice was utterly predictable for her. "Lovely Azula has found someone willing to dance to her tune, at last. Such enchanting music she plays, wouldn't you say?"

"I've returned, yes. Because Azula found out about your little secret," Sokka hissed. Ursa let out a cackle of laughter.

"Which one, I wonder?" she smirked, once she composed herself anew. "What has Azula told you, hmm? What little plan has she hatched this time?"

"We've found out how you extend your lifespan. How you've stayed alive, for all these years… and I have no intentions of allowing you to do so through her," Sokka said, firmly. Ursa smirked.

"My, my. She has made a man out of you in countless ways, it seems… so self-assured and confident now, when you were a bumbling fool, rejecting his destiny, when we first met. No doubt, you owe her much," Ursa sneered. Sokka snarled. "Ah, but it is an old, old story. One Ursa has heard many times before, and even told: let us skip right to the end, shall we? Do you slay the old wretch, as Azula bids, or does the tale take a different turn?"

"A different turn?" Sokka asked, skeptical. "Can't see how that'd happen…"

"Does Azula wish my grimoire?" Ursa said. "Take it as a trophy. Tell her I'm slain."

"Oh, so you want me to lie to her?" Sokka scoffed.

"Ah, and you'd prefer the truth? Typical of a man," she said.

"You're expecting me to believe you'll leave her alone if I pretend to kill you? That you won't come after her and endanger her again?" Sokka hissed. "Not a chance. I have no reason to believe you, even if you claimed you mean her no harm. But you still haven't even said that…"

"Oh, so very dramatic, are we?" Ursa said, with a dismissive laugh. "If you wish it to be this way, so be it. It is a dance old Ursa knows quite well. Let us see if she remembers the steps…"

Sokka knew, of course, that fighting Ursa could be a dangerous choice to make, a dreadful gamble… he didn't quite reason that Azula's own shapeshifting abilities, to which she resorted to on very specific occasions, had been learned from Ursa herself.

It was impossible not to reason with it anymore when the woman before his eyes suddenly shapeshifted into a high dragon.

Ah. So that was how Ursa had saved him at the Tower of Ishal, when everything had begun.

"Another…?!" Yagoda gasped: Jet, behind Sokka, laughed madly.

"Oh, Yangchen preserve us…!" Ty Lee exclaimed, reaching for the ice arrows in her quiver – good thing she still had some of those left after the rough fight against the high dragon in Haven.

"Same strategy!" Sokka bellowed to the others: only Toph was left without knowing what exactly those words meant.

"Right behind you!" Sten-Mai exclaimed right back, marching in with his newly regained sword, Asala, brandished firmly in his hands.

Ursa's tactics were just as those of the high dragon: she was particularly keen on attacking Sokka, but through Yagoda's frequent healing, he remained on his feet regardless of Ursa's intent. The others attacked fiercely at a distance while Toph, Sten-Mai and Suki helped keep the dragon occupied… and as the fight progressed, Sokka's drive to ensure Azula's safety only strengthened: this was the woman responsible for countless of Azula's insecurities and struggles. The one who had taken the first thing she had liked and destroyed it cruelly before her eyes. The one who had taught her everything, even the very worst of philosophies that Azula clung to, if just because she barely knew how to live her life differently. The woman who had treated her own daughter as a substitute, a body to raise so that it would one day belong to her, instead…

It was that surge of outrage, that need to defend the woman he loved, what saw Sokka imitating Jet's actions back during the fight against the high dragon: he climbed onto Ursa's draconic neck, stabbing and hacking at it with strength similar to the one Suki exhibited when she entered berserker rages… and after enduring Ursa's writhing and her many attempts to shove him off, Sokka managed to drive the blade through the dragon's snout, through its hardened hide… across the neck he lopped off, at last, as the former Witch of the Wilds collapsed underneath him.

Strangely, the corpse of the dragon didn't switch back to that of a woman. Sokka shuddered, hoping deeply that Ursa hadn't simply escaped and replaced herself with a dragon, rather than shapeshifting into one… he let out a deep breath before turning to the rest of the team, finding they eyed him with approval in some cases, warily in others, amused in the case of the uncouth golem.

"You've done it. Azula won't have to fear her mother anymore," Yagoda said. Sokka swallowed hard and nodded.

"Let's check the hut. Might be the Grimoire is there," he said.

They proceeded to open the door: Sokka found the Grimoire indeed, in a chest he hadn't touched during his previous stay in the hut. It was a different book this time, bound in a different kind of leather… and underneath it, he glimpsed a set of familiar clothes.

Sokka frowned as he reached into the chest and pulled out clothes that perfectly mimicked Azula's preferred, typically revealing outfits. He frowned as he regarded them with uncertainty before turning to Yagoda.

"What do you make of this?" he asked the only mage of the group. Yagoda frowned, reaching a hand towards it… a hand she withdrew, quickly.

"It's… filled with a dark sort of magic," she explained. "Magic intended to sap someone's willpower. It's… I believe it's robes to enable possession."

Sokka snarled: he had known it was true, he had believed Azula all along, but this only confirmed her theories further. That was what Ursa had been after, just as Azula had feared… he gritted his teeth and shook his head, shutting the chest after removing both items from it.

"Guess Azula will be disturbed to know Ursa was already setting things up to steal her body…" Sokka said, letting out a deep sigh. "But it's done now. We're done. Time to… to go back to Redcliffe."

"We've done well," Ty Lee said, offering Sokka a weak grin. "The woman you love will be safe."

"I hope so," Sokka said, with a small smile of his own.

The way back to Redcliffe was quiet: Sokka kept shooting wary glances around himself, unsettled by the sensations the swamp and the Korcari Wilds elicited inside him. To think Azula had been raised here, all her life… that this was practically the only world she had known until she had joined him on this journey. His heart ached for her, needing to return to her at once… to let her know she would never have to come back to the oppressive world she had been shaped and hurt by, on equal measure.

In Redcliffe, arguments and discussions about the fate of the apostate, Haru, were in full swing: he had offered aid in many ways upon Arl Arnook's recovery, but his earlier involvement in the man's sickness only made it so the majority of the people in charge would be ready to ask for his death. Azula couldn't have cared less, one way or another… but she still chimed in, for Sokka's sake, to state he would likely disagree with executing the apostate.

They were only agreeing to put the matter on hold until the Warden returned when a soldier suddenly raced into the room, breathing heavily:

"The Warden's group is back!"

Azula didn't wait another instant for further explanations.

She raced downstairs as fast as her feet could go, tempted to take animal form if just to move faster… but she made it out of the building just in time to see her companions arriving through Redcliffe Castle's front gate.

Sokka appeared weary… but when his eyes rose to meet hers, his disposition changed completely. Azula's heart raced, much as his own did… and so, she sprinted down the stairs as he picked up his walking pace to a light trot. The rest of the group smiled fondly at the sight of them, as Azula nearly fell down the stairs at the wild speed at which she ran – outspeeding Foo-Foo, no less:

"Azula, be careful…!" Sokka laughed, climbing the first few steps…

And then she reached him, and her arms were tight around his armor, and her lips pressed endlessly sweet kisses to his own. Tears blinked in the corners of her eyes as she held his face between her hands, as she kissed him urgently, persistently, as though he might vanish if she didn't do so right now… Sokka laughed halfway through responding to her loving gestures, holding her tenderly in his arms.

"I'm back… I'm back," he said, smiling reassuringly as Azula finally pulled away.

"You are, and… is it done?" she asked, nervously. "Did you actually…?"

"Yeah… Ursa's not going to harm you again. Not if I have any say upon the matter," Sokka said, firmly. Azula's heart tightened as she gazed at him in disbelief.

"He did it himself…" Ty Lee chimed in, smirking knowingly as Azula's tears spilled down her cheeks. "A prince taking down the dragon that kept his lover captive… it's truly the subject of the best tales any bard could hope to tell!"

"You're not telling weird stories about us," Sokka huffed, eyeing Ty Lee in disbelief from the corners of his eyes as Azula laughed softly, brow pressed to his. "I promise, Azula, I won't let her…"

"I don't care. I don't care," she said: it was rare for Azula to let her emotions shine through as purely as they did right now… and so, Sokka cherished it deeply, wrapping his arms around her body as she hugged him tightly.

He opened his eyes after a moment… and his heart nearly stopped upon glimpsing, at the top of the stairs, the unmistakable silhouette of the man who had taken care of him when he had been a boy: the ashes had worked. Arl Arnook was safe… and he had survived.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Sokka," Arnook said, smiling warmly at him. Sokka swallowed hard and grinned back.

"And it's wonderful to see you standing… Arl Arnook," he said: Azula let go of him by then, allowing him to perform a reverence towards the Arl. Arnook smiled and jerked his head towards the building.

"Join us inside, all of you. We have much to discuss yet," he said.

The first of many things they had to discuss was Haru's fate: as Azula predicted, Sokka advocated for sending him back to the Circle, as the man had done what he could to atone for his sins. The second, then, was Arnook's insistence on presenting them the honor of being Champions of Redcliffe – Ty Lee pointed out quietly that a young woman in Orlais happened to be the champion of the whole nation, not just of one city, and Arnook had chimed in to tell her his jurisdiction didn't allow much else, making her blush upon realizing her indiscreet comment had been overheard. Lastly, though, was the matter of the civil war brewing over Iroh's choices… and how that needed to be dealt with before the Blight was stopped and confronted at last.

"I will call a Landsmeet, a gathering of every nobleman in Ferelden, and we will travel to Denerim," Arnook declared. "But in order to ensure Iroh cannot retain his power, we need to propose an alternative to Prince Consort Zuko's current reign: we need a new king, of Theirin blood."

Sokka tensed up, and Azula's hand tightened around his. She had warned him this was the most likely outcome… but he hadn't made much of it until now. His heart clenched, but he nodded before long.

"I… I think I understand," he said, softly. "If Ferelden is to be united…"

"No one has a better chance of achieving that than the last Theirin in Thedas," said Arnook, earnestly. "I have no doubts you can do this, Sokka. You have achieved the unthinkable as it is… you have it in you to achieve far more than this, just as well."

"I can only hope so," Sokka smiled sadly, nodding in Arnook's direction. "I'll do my best, Arl Arnook."

At last, it seemed Macmu-Ling had left behind her reservations about Sokka – knowing he was the bastard son of King Hakoda apparently was the only thing that could persuade her that Sokka wasn't her husband's own illegitimate son and some sort of threat for their marriage. She and Bann Bato would stay with Yue in Redcliffe while Arl Arnook and his troops escorted Sokka and his large team all the way to Denerim. Marching with an army would be strange, after all these weeks of being on the road as adventurers, but Sokka expected the change would be welcome, as it would likely mean better camping conditions than the ones they had grown fond of, so far.

They would enjoy one night in Redcliffe before setting out, and Sokka smiled as he relaxed on the very bed he had shared with Azula when they first succumbed to their feelings for each other. He watched her quietly as she sat by the desk, reading Ursa's true Grimoire and no doubt learning far more valuable things than Sokka would ever be likely to understand…

"You're free to fall asleep whenever you wish to do so. T'was a long journey, I'm sure," Azula said, still reading the book. Sokka shrugged.

"I've been on a lot of long journeys lately. Some better than others, admittedly," he said, with a weak smile. "I missed you this time around. Don't make me travel without you again, alright?"

"You…?" Azula stopped, lowering the grimoire to glance at Sokka in disbelief. He blinked blankly.

"What?" he said. "You think I shouldn't want to travel with you?"

"I… didn't say that," Azula hissed, eyes narrowing. Sokka snorted.

"Then what's so bad about what I said?" he asked. "I like it better when you're around. I like it better when I can kiss you… when I can make love to you. With you, the whole 'save-the-world-from-the-darkspawn' thing feels a little less hopeless…"

"Oh, it does, then?" Azula said, gritting her teeth. "You… said you loved me, once."

"I did," Sokka acknowledged. Azula nearly winced upon hearing his confirmation. "Want me to say it again?"

"No, I… I only wish to understand whatever you meant by those words, is all," she said, setting her book aside and marching towards him. "We have been intimate, in many ways. Close, for some time now. I… find you impressive in more ways than I wish to admit aloud, and you've only just saved me from my mother's wretched plans with no hope for reward. I… feel anxious whenever I look upon you, and even more anxious when I cannot do so. This sense of… of dependency is utterly unfamiliar for me, and I'm uncomfortable with it. It feels like… a weakness, of my own choosing, one I inflicted upon myself, and yet one I cannot seem to… to relinquish. Is… is this how you feel about me, too?"

"In some ways, it is," Sokka said, frowning as he sat up on the bed. "Only, I… I don't think of it as a weakness. I've never been half as independent as you are, though, and… if anything, I've felt stronger ever since we started traveling together. Knowing you have my back, and that I have yours… does it truly make you feel weak?"

"It… it does," Azula said, trembling. Sokka frowned as she shook her head. "We're both fools, and we need to do something about this, at once."

"Something? Like what?" Sokka asked, baffled. "Azula… I've never asked you to love me back, you've never said the words to me and I'm not demanding that you do: is it because I said them that you feel this way?"

"That… has no relation with this matter," Azula hissed, though she knew it wasn't true: it was how her doubts had started, and why she wasn't sure about their relationship, ever since he had spoken them. Yet the problem had truly begun in the Dead Trenches… in that dreadful moment where she had feared, deeply, that she might lose him forever.

"Love is not a weakness. Not to me," Sokka repeated, firmly. Azula huffed.

"You're a fool, if so," she said, shaking her head. "It does you… it does you no good to love me. I say this for your own good: I am not worth… your distraction. I am not like other women…"

"There's nothing wrong with that, from where I'm standing," Sokka said, firmly. "I love you because you're you, Azula."

She flinched and shook her head.

"You're impossible. You really are impossible!" she huffed, as Sokka rose to his feet, stepping towards her. "Then… very well, then! Have it your way! But you'll… you'll regret this, in the end. You'll…!"

She couldn't even bring herself to finish her thoughts: she leapt into his arms, kissing him voraciously, fiercely, and yet there was something new in each kiss, a set of charged emotions Sokka could only return just as passionately to her: a few steps back saw him bringing her into the bed with him anew, and he pinned her down as he kissed her recklessly, longingly, pulling apart her easily undone clothes… and she did the same with his, for he had long removed his armor.

They were as passionate as ever, that night… and yet they gave themselves to emotion above impulse: with Sokka sheathed to the hilt inside her, Azula hugged him warmly, tasting his kisses as though she were doing so for the last time, clinging to him tightly as though to convey just how badly she needed him… how deeply she loved him, just as well, even if she hadn't said the words outright just yet. But it was love… it was love, without a shred of a doubt, and even Sokka knew so by now. And she succumbed to it, if just for one moment of weakness… one more moment of dishonesty, of letting him believe there was any sort of future for them, of letting him trust he truly would keep her by his side forever… although she knew, and had always known, that that wouldn't be the case.

"So… did you do something stupid last night in bed, by any chance, Warden?"

Jet's question was unwelcome, as ever: Sokka's eyebrows twitched as he marched alongside them, keenly missing Azula's company. She had taken to walking at the back of the long retinue traveling to Denerim, speaking with Yagoda about whatever spells she had learned about in her mother's grimoire. It seemed a perfectly natural thing, for two mages to exchange notes about spells… and yet Azula had been avoiding him all day. He had woken up alone, he had eaten breakfast with the others and she hadn't been around, whenever he spotted her she would walk the other way… and where she usually would choose to walk beside him when they traveled, now she kept him at a distance. His heart ached, and he really wished he could hide that from Jet… but he couldn't. Let alone could he hide it from other snoopy companions who seemed particularly intrigued by the state of his relationship with Azula.

"And here I thought that, now that Sten-Mai finally respects me properly and realized we can treat each other as equals, the four of us could be happy couples together…" Ty Lee sighed, shaking her head. "More's the pity…"

"I-it's not like we're over!" Sokka hissed, glaring at her. "I… don't know what's wrong. Not really. Something's definitely bothering her…"

"You think it's because you killed her mom?" Suki suggested: Sokka froze in place. "Not that I would imagine her to be so sentimental about her parent if said parent was out to kill her and take her body, but… you don't think that's it, do you?"

"Not really. If anything… it looks like she's just troubled because of how strong our feelings are," Sokka said, biting his lip. Jet snickered.

"That's best dealt with in the bedroom, for sure," he said. "I've offered before, so I'll offer it again: I can give you a few tips and tricks to see to it that your lady friend is…"

"I don't want nor need your advice, thank you very much," Sokka cut him off, grimacing, as the others laughed.

"So prude and finicky. Truly, these Fereldans… how do you people expect you'll ever learn to pleasure one another if you don't ever talk about sex?"

"Why would I talk about sex with anyone other than the person I want to pleasure?" Sokka huffed, and the laughs rang louder yet now. "Seriously, Jet?"

"Do you do that, then?" Jet asked, with a lecherous smirk. "Ask her if that's what she wants? Maybe that's the answer to your plight… and maybe it's not at all about feelings but about your performance, yes."

"You'd love it if it were that, wouldn't you…" Sokka pouted.

He had asked Azula often about what she wanted him to do, at first. After the first few rounds of sex, they had grown used to exploring each other, to exploiting their weaknesses properly, and the communication between them had become near wordless gradually… but was that really anything to worry about, right now? His intimacy with Azula was suffering in every possible aspect but the physical one, as far as he could tell.

What the source of the problem was, though, he couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Was it Ursa, still? Was it her terrible, toxic teachings were still affecting Azula, despite he had done his best to convey to her, last night, that love didn't have to be a weakness? Whatever it was, though, the answer he received when he went to join her that night, once their tent was pitched, shocked him:

"I… would rather not."

"Uh… why?" Sokka asked, puzzled. Azula scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Must I have a reason? Am I expected to be at your beck and call whenever you wish to find satisfaction?"

"I… no! We don't have to do anything if you don't want to, but…" Sokka said, eyeing her with uncertainty. "We've been sharing a bedroll for months now. If you don't want sex, we don't need to…"

"'Tis all the same if I don't share your bedroll if we won't do that, is it not?" Azula asked. Sokka gritted his teeth.

"Look… what did I do wrong? I… I know our conversation was a bit, well, charged last night, but…"

"I… don't wish to discuss this. Please… leave me be," Azula said, cuttingly… and she walked away, as good as ripping his heart out of his chest upon doing so.

Thus, the trip that should have been the smoothest and most comfortable one in all their journey turned into a miserable disaster. Sokka couldn't understand yet what was it that troubled Azula quite so badly, for she refused to explain things… and so, he was left to sleep alone every night until they reached Denerim. It should have been comfortable, spacious… and yet his heart ached with misery, for he missed her too badly. Fear gnawed at him constantly as he wondered if they were over, if their relationship would hit an abrupt end without his understanding of why or how it had happened…

Fortunately, their arrival in Denerim served as a good distraction from those depressing thoughts: this time, they weren't quite so daunted upon entering the city. Arl Arnook's forces seemed to scare off Iroh's scattered soldiers, and even a few of Denerim's guards appeared pleased for their arrival. They marched into a large estate Sokka had visited on occasion in his younger years, where his first and only true exchange with his sister had taken place: he had greeted her as formally as possible, and she had simply squealed 'ooh, swords!' and rushed off to the armory. Queen Katara couldn't quite be blamed for her love of weaponry, Sokka guessed, for he wasn't much better than that… she had also been a child back then, much as himself. Had she found him despicable, a threat to her throne…? If so, why had she adamantly wanted him to light the beacon in the Tower of Ishal, the apparently safest duty of all during the battle of Ostagar? Why had she spoken with interest to Sokka's fellow, dead wardens, about him? His heart clenched as he marched inside the building, wondering if he really ought to push for becoming king to honor her memory…

His friends were fascinated by the estate: Ty Lee had rushed right away to devour every fancy book she could get her hands on in the estate's library, namely books about grand stories of Ferelden. Jet had joined her there… though his interest was, as he confessed, in the spiciest of tales rather than anything else. Suki seemed to enjoy watching human cooking, absolutely fascinated by their cuisine ever since she had left Orzammar. Yagoda joined her on occasion, but she also chatted with the bored Toph often, who seemed to think this place was so very breakable they could hardly stomach holding back the urges to tear it down.

Yet, when Sokka marched into his assigned room – a fancier room than any he had been assigned to, ever – he found himself facing quite the odd surprise: Azula was there… though so were Foo-Foo and Sten-Mai, actually. He coughed, clearing his throat as to announce his presence, snakes twisting in his stomach as he entered the room… and nobody acknowledged him with anything but a curt nod.

"Well… they changed the dining room," he announced, with a dry grin. "This place looks… well, similar to what I recall, but not that similar. It's… the one place where I met my sister, face to face, once."

"Is that so?" Azula asked: there wasn't remotely as much bite to her tone now, and Sokka's foolish heart churned for it. He smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. I have to say, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to these accommodations. They're so fancy…"

"If Arnook has his way, you'll be king before you know it," Azula pointed out. Sokka flinched.

"Yeah, well… that's probably true," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm hoping to be ready for it, but… I may just turn the royal bedroom into a campsite just to feel a little more at home, if I have to move in there."

"Oh, truly?" Azula smiled a little. Sokka grinned awkwardly.

"Say, uh… uh. Sten?" he glanced at him: Sten-Mai stood firmly by the bedside, and he let his eyes flicker towards Sokka nonchalantly.

"Yes?"

"Can you, uh, give us a little privacy?" he asked.

"What for?" Sten-Mai responded. Sokka's eyebrow twitched, and Azula couldn't muffle a laugh completely.

"You know, I think they were baking cookies down at the kitchen. Or, I don't know, maybe a cake!" Sokka grinned: Sten-Mai's eyes narrowed.

"A cake, you say? That had better be true," he growled.

"Please take Foo-Foo too…" Sokka encouraged them: Foo-Foo had taken a liking to many members of their group, particularly Azula and Sten-Mai, so he was delighted to follow the latter out of the room when he finally decided to go find the sweets Sokka had claimed were being baked.

"Who'd have thought a qunari would have a sweet tooth," Azula said, with a careless smile. Sokka breathed out and shrugged.

"I had no expectations regarding whatever foods a qunari would like, to be honest, but I'm glad he likes cookies and cake rather than anything unsettling," Sokka said. "Anyway, uh… I wanted to talk things over, Azula. I figure you can guess as much already, but…"

"I can," Azula admitted, nodding. Sokka swallowed hard.

"It's… well, it's not like I have any right to make any demands or requests from you, or anything like that," he said. "But I really just… I really just want to know if you're okay."

"If I'm okay?" Azula repeated, eyeing him skeptically. "Why would that be your main concern?"

"Because I'm not… but if you are, then at least one of us found some peace, out of all of this, and if you're the one who did, I guess I can live with that," Sokka admitted: his miserable expression broke through Azula's own pretense of tranquility. She snarled, letting her hands slip out of their position, over her crossed arms.

"I… I warned you. I told you love was a weakness, that this was driving me mad, and you did not listen to me," she said: seeing her emotions anew was a blissful surprise, no matter how painful it might be, too.

"I… I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you, Azula…"

"Yes, you do… and I want you to do it, too," Azula said, gritting her teeth, startling Sokka. "That is not right, is it? That is not how a normal woman acts, I know 'tis not, and… and I can tell how much it distresses you. So… release me. Tell me you don't want this anymore. That you wish to end this. Make me believe you and I… I will be grateful."

"I… can't do that," Sokka said, stepping closer to her. "You can't ask that of me. Azula… the only point in all of this where I've felt weak is when I feared you'd turned your back on me. I won't lie to you… I won't break your heart that way, because I know you care about me just as much as I care about you."

"You… you miserable, selfish bastard," she said, gritting her teeth: her voice was wracked with emotion… and so she stepped forward. At first, Sokka thought she might slap him, but her hand fell on his armor and she pulled him in, kissing him fiercely anew.

Oh, how he had longed for it, even if he hadn't been deprived from it for that long. How could she ever put a stop to moments like these, how could she ever hope to make him believe he should lose her…? It was unthinkable… it was unacceptable. He loved her, and no matter how many times she tried to shove him away, he'd always come back, fool that he was, because he truly did love her…

"You will regret this…" she said, between heated, emotional kisses. "And so will I. And perhaps that's… that's how 'tis supposed to be, Sokka…"

He still didn't understand anything. He didn't know where those regrets she claimed he'd feel would come from, because he loved her beyond reason. What was there to regret? Why would he ever regret it at all, when she swayed against him, inviting his hands to slither under her revealing clothes, to caress her body intimately, just as he had missed to…

"Sokka! Sokka!"

The screams were urgent, and he growled against Azula's lips in displeasure upon hearing them. She smiled sadly at him, caressing his face… the one calling for him was none other than Suki, who froze on the threshold of the room and blushed at the very clear sight of Sokka's hands underneath the cloth that covered Azula's breasts.

"U-uh… sorry to interrupt," she said, with a guilty smile that faded quickly. "But, Sokka… Iroh is here."

If there was any way to ensure Sokka's mood would change drastically, it was by speaking those words. The warm, loving man in front of Azula suddenly grew colder, harsher, his blue eyes steeled with determination and fury… and Azula, lacking even a shred of common sense, found that side of him impossibly attractive. Had matters been any less dire, she would have ensured to have her way with Sokka again right then and there… but Iroh visiting was, indeed, bad news for everyone.

Sokka marched downstairs right away followed by Azula, clad in his full armor, holding his weapons: he marched into the estate's vestibule just as Iroh did the same, followed by a woman in a red-steel armor and a man with a face so twisted with greed, bitterness and hatred that it was impossible for anyone to believe he could be up to any good. Sokka snarled as he stopped right next to Arnook, whose arms were folded over his chest. Azula stood by Sokka's other side, ready to restrain him should he lose control upon finally facing Iroh, the great hero of Ferelden…

Who certainly didn't appear as great as he was famed to be. He was old, he was stout – much shorter than Azula – and he bore a deceptive grin on his face as he stopped right in front of Arnook.

"The regent has come to greet me personally… what an honor," said Arnook, with practiced, false cordiality. Iroh smirked.

"How could I not welcome a man so important as to call every lord in Ferelden away from their estates while a Blight claws at our land?" he asked, before the mirth on his face faded.

"The Blight is why I'm here," Arnook said, simply. "Ferelden needs a king to lead it against the rise of the darkspawn."

"Ferelden has a king, and I lead his armies," Iroh rebuffed.

"Ferelden has a Prince Consort, not a king," Sokka cut in, sharply: Iroh's eyes mercilessly fell upon him. "And considering the disaster of Ostagar, maybe new leadership is in order. Or we'll find ourselves with yet another immolated army because you decided to turn tail and leave the darkspawn to feast on the whole nation…"

"Oh, and no doubt you are quite as arrogant as to believe the king and leader in question should be you?" asked Iroh. "You're a Grey Warden. Your claim to the throne is meaningless in the face of your association to the group, especially a group that is now considered a threat to Ferelden…"

"Oh, right, we're a threat because we could tell the people the truth about how you abandoned the Queen and left her to die, while running away to save your own hide…!" Sokka exclaimed, inching in threateningly: Arnook stretched an arm in front of him, and Azula pulled him back by tugging at his arm. Iroh scoffed, but it was the woman beside him who responded:

"Don't interrupt, churl. Your betters are talking," she said. Sokka's irritation only seemed to worsen at that, but he settled for glaring at the woman while Iroh chided her.

"Enough, Ming. This isn't the time or place for this," Iroh said, before turning to the others once more. "Have some sense: your pretense and ambitions for the throne are misplaced, Arnook. In the face of a threat like the Blight, the course of action should be clear: we must save Ferelden, and to do so, we should be united against the true menace."

"Easy for you to play the uniter after you let the Grey Wardens die and criminalized the ones left," Sokka hissed. "If you want unity, stand with us."

"Ferelden deserves a king of the Theirin bloodline. Sokka is the only candidate," Arnook said, firmly. "I cannot forgive you for the choices you've made, Iroh. Perhaps the Maker can… but not I."

"If so… expect no more mercy than I showed the Emperor of Orlais, when he foolishly thought he could defeat me," Iroh said, sternly. "There's nothing I would not do for my homeland."

Iroh marched away with that, followed by his two goons. Sokka scowled as he watched them leave, his hands balled into fists.

"Pretty sure that's the problem," he said, no matter if Iroh couldn't hear him anymore. "He as good as killed the Queen by abandoning her to the darkspawn, exiled the one organization specialized in dealing with the exact problem the land is facing, tried to kill his political opponents… and as far as he's concerned, he's done all of it for his homeland. Fucking bastard…"

"And he brought Zhao and Ming with him, too," Arnook sighed. "His two most staunch followers. I cannot quite understand how anyone would willingly start an alliance with Arl Zhao, frankly, but it may be the sign of how desperate and wrong Iroh's course is, if anything. Sokka… we must prepare for the Landsmeet. We will see to gaining the support and approval of most the lords over the next few days…"

Sokka nodded, agreeing with the course of action Arnook proposed: over the next couple of days, he and his group took to traveling across Denerim, defeating no shortage of brigands and bandits intending to attack them, as well as guards loyal to Loghain. The city was nearly as dangerous as the world beyond it, Sokka realized, after they even destroyed a haven of blood mages, in a suspicious building in the city…

His only relief was to be found in the strange, tense rekindling of his romance with Azula. She no longer pushed him away… but he felt a distance between them, all the same. Something bothered her, and to this day he wasn't sure of what it might be. It seemed odd that they would make love more earnestly, more honestly, than ever before… and yet that distance came back once the consummation of their powerful feelings was over. It was there by her choice, Sokka knew… and it worried him, even if he had no idea how to interpret it.

Their relative tranquility – if killing bandits, selling valuable information about the Temple of Sacred Ashes to the Chantry and dealing with hysteric smiths who couldn't seem to craft armor based on drake or dragon scales without claiming the result was utter garbage could be described as tranquility – ended abruptly one day, when they received a strange elven visitor in Arl Arnook's estate:

"I'm Lee. I'm Prince Consort Zuko's attendant," the young elf explained. "He sent me here to ask for your help."

"My help?" Sokka repeated, eyeing Lee warily. "And how exactly could I be of any help to the Prince Consort? Last I knew, he would rather I dropped dead so he could have a free shot for the throne."

"Because he's in trouble!" Lee said, urgently. "He loved his wife, and he trusted his uncle would protect her. But when Teyrn Iroh returned from Ostagar and she did not, he started to suspect something was wrong. He has tried to confront Teyrn Iroh many times about this, but he never gets any answers. So he decided to find his answers with Arl Zhao…"

"Zhao?" Arnook repeated, disgusted. "That's an unwise course of action."

"He thought Arl Zhao would be easier to pry answers from," Lee explained. "He visited him, in the Arl's estate in Denerim, it was considered a matter of courtesy, but… it was a mistake. He insulted my prince in every way he could, and then locked him in a guest room!"

"Oh?" Sokka frowned. "So… he's Zhao's prisoner now? Does Iroh know about this?"

"It could be worse than that: Zhao said something about how Prince Zuko could be a greater ally dead than alive," explained Lee. "He might kill him and blame Arl Arnook for his death…!"

"How the blazes would he pull that one off, I wonder?" Sokka huffed, shaking his head. "If the prince is found dead in his house…"

"He can easily pin it on anyone, Sokka," Arnook said, frowning. "He could have his body moved, even if there were signs that the place of death was elsewhere, the general sentiment of Ferelden, of the city, would be to demand justice against whoever he points his finger at as the guilty party."

Sokka snarled and shook his head. It truly was one thing after another. He really would love to forget the world and just take a nice vacation to… uh, fine, perhaps nowhere in Ferelden, come to think of it. So far, he hadn't visited a single place he actually liked in his homeland. How about Orlais? Maybe Antiva? Rivain could be an interesting possibility… not Tevinter, of course, Azula surely would hate it there…

"You cannot allow this!" Lee exclaimed, urgently. "Prince Zuko cannot die…!"

"Well, it wouldn't be convenient, that much is true," Arnook said, letting out a deep breath as he glanced at Sokka. "We would need to… Sokka? Sokka?"

"Uh, sorry, what?"

"You need to rescue Prince Zuko."

Sokka's eyebrow twitched. Arnook didn't seem to be joking, not even slightly… and so, Sokka just let out a resigned sigh and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, then, fine. I'll gather my best troops," he said. Lee's eyes glistened with illusion.

"You must be stealthy!" he said. "I can provide you with uniforms so you can blend in among Zhao's guards."

"Uh… if I have to be stealthy and we ought to pretend to be guards, I should mostly bring humans, huh?" he said, biting his lip. "Jet can probably stealth his way there too, so maybe it's not a problem if we bring him… not that easy with Sten-Mai, though, or Suki. No dwarves or qunari among Zhao's guards, I take it? And of course, no golems either, so Toph's out of the question…"

"Not that I know of…" Lee shook his head. Sokka sighed and nodded in resignation.

"Alright, alright. I'll get to it, then," he said, nodding as he made his way to the door.

He rallied his sole elven ally and many human ones and, together, the group set out to Arl Zhao's estate. The uniforms Lee offered them were heavy and uncomfortable for the rest of the group, but it was even light for Sokka, who had worn much bulkier armor before. He couldn't hold back some lecherous grins in Azula's direction, and she fielded them with dismissive laughs.

"I shall take offense if you continue ogling me that way. I'm usually far more exposed and yet you're somehow always looking at my nose," she teased him, as they marched around the estate, to find the back entrance. Sokka chuckled.

"Is it that offensive that I'd think a beautiful woman in armor is absolutely worth admiring?" he said. "Doesn't matter what you wear, or if you wear nothing at all, Azula… you're always driving me crazy."

"Huh. Must be the nose," Azula teased again. Sokka laughed, venturing to kiss the tip of her nose indeed.

"Must be," he smiled fondly at her, wishing to hold her hand in his without armor in the way.

The guards by the backdoor of the estate were misled by Lee's deceit, so the group entered the building easily. Azula and Yagoda walked behind Sokka while Ty Lee and a stealthy Jet, shrouded in shadow, marched behind the group. Lee led them expertly across the building at a perfectly calm rhythm, giving away no urgency up until they reached the corridor of Zuko's guest room, near the front gates of the estate.

"Here it is. Prince Zuko, I've brought the Warden!" Lee exclaimed, urgently.

"Thank the Maker," sounded a male, exasperated voice from behind the door. "I'd greet you properly, but I'm afraid we've had a setback."

"What does that mean?" Sokka hissed: he half-expected to hear that Zhao was inside the room, with Zuko. Azula, however, revealed Zuko's problem was of a different nature when she stepped forward to study the door.

"This is… a magical barrier," Azula explained.

"My 'host' didn't have enough by turning me into his prisoner, he used magic to seal the door!" Zuko exclaimed. "It's a spell cast by one of the mages he keeps with him. Find them, and I'll be free to leave with you as soon as the barrier is gone."

"Wait. Wait just a second, here…" Sokka said, with a grimace. "I'm supposed to find this mage and convince him nicely to take down the barrier? Or am I expected to kill him?"

"I fear the latter is our only safe option," Zuko said. "It won't be long before Zhao realizes you're here, and he won't hold back from killing you if you allow him to do so."

"Killing an Arl in his own estate is…" Sokka hissed, turning around and rubbing his face with his gauntlet-covered hands. "Oh, fuck this. I knew it had to be a trap…"

"But it's not a trap…!" Lee cried out: Sokka waved a dismissive hand in his behavior.

"I didn't say it was your prince's trap: it's Zhao's," Sokka hissed. "The bastard knew you'd come to us, and that's why he got us up to this. So… I'm fucked. Now that I'm in here, I have to fight my way out, one way or another. Brilliant."

"I… I am sorry for the inconveniences…" Lee said, but Zuko's voice dwarfed his quickly.

"Do this and you'll have my support in the Landsmeet! We can discuss the terms of an alliance later, I will gladly reveal the extent of Zhao's treachery by your side if you help me! But please…!"

"Fine, then! Fine. Not like I had a choice, anyway," Sokka huffed. "Come on, you guys. Let's…"

He was surprised to find half the group was already gone: only Yagoda and Azula remained with him, for Ty Lee and Jet had vanished. He frowned, perplex, as Azula sighed and urged him to leave the small corridor.

"They decided to canvass the area, to find out where Zhao's room might be…"

"At the end of the hall, to the left!" Lee said, with an urgent hiss. Sokka nodded gratefully at him for the information before marching in that direction with his mage allies.

"They did come this way, I believe…" Azula said, raising an eyebrow as they walked down the hallways. After crossing a couple of corridors, they finally found Ty Lee and Jet, engrossed over something in a room, though not the one at the end of the hall. "Though, either they found him elsewhere and not in his rooms, or they are otherwise distracted."

"Ty Lee, Jet…" Sokka called, and Jet shushed him soundlessly, his finger upon his lips. Sokka frowned. "What the hell…?"

They approached the door the other two had stopped at, slightly ajar as it was… and then Sokka overheard the sounds within the chamber. Two voices, one male, one female…

"Shh! The housekeeper will hear us!"

"Everyone's at dinner, don't worry."

"Well, in that case, come here…"

The sound of a belt undone, and of the fabric of breeches dropping down thighs, was familiar enough for Sokka by now that he scowled at Jet and Ty Lee for their obvious interest in this particular room: they smirked knowingly… and then the slurping and gagging sounds started. Azula shuddered as Yagoda covered her ears with her hands… to little avail, for her uncomfortable uniform's gauntlets weren't quite helpful at drowning out the noise. Sokka huffed and shook his head.

"You idiots, let's get going already…" Sokka growled, reaching for Jet… who bumped into Ty Lee, and who pushed the door open by accident when Jet clashed against her.

The guard inside the room gasped, pulling up his breeches hastily, cheeks red. The woman rose to her feet too, covering her mouth with a hand as the guard snarled at them.

"You didn't see nothing…! Wait. You're not on my watch! Guards! Intruders! We have intruders!"

Sokka rolled his eyes, shooting a deadly glare at the guiltily smiling Jet and Ty Lee, before barreling into the room to silence the guard effectively.

From that point on, their so-called stealthy attempt to sneak into Zhao's estate went downhill and it became an all-out violent debacle instead. Guards rushed towards them, others were waiting in ambush points… and so, it wasn't long before Sokka, followed by his group, had to run all the way back across the estate, right in front of Lee's confused eyes.

"What's going on out there, Lee?" Zuko asked, with an annoyed voice tone. Lee swallowed hard.

"I, uh… I think Arl Zhao will know we're here now," he confirmed. Zuko sighed audibly and dropped his head on his hand.

"Well, so be it."

About thirty minutes later, the massacre was over. Their chests heaved as they stood among the many corpses in the dining room, many of whom had been victims to Azula's powerful blizzard spell before being cut down by the rest of the group…

Among whom stood a wolf now. One that Sokka stared at with utmost confusion.

"Okay, so I actually almost attacked this one until I realized it was attacking the enemy too," Sokka pointed out, gesturing at the wolf that panted in his direction. "Did any of you decide to adopt a wolf and then forgot to tell me as much?"

"Ah, yes!" Jet declared, beaming. "He's my new companion, yes. I summoned him when I thought we might be overwhelmed, just now."

"How did you get a wolf in here?" Ty Lee asked, amazed and confused. Sokka huffed.

"If it makes itself useful, great, but it's probably for the best if you don't call it all the time anyway, it probably will get hurt at some point or another," Sokka sighed.

"Aw, do you have a problem with wolves, Sokka?" Jet asked, leaning down to caress his companion wolf behind the ears.

"I've had to kill no shortage of them on the road so far, whether I like them or not. It's hard to say if they're friend or foe," Sokka pouted. Ty Lee giggled.

"I bet you wouldn't have such a problem if Azula transformed into a wolf…"

"I… hey! That's crazy talk, obviously I wouldn't…!" Sokka blushed… but almost on cue, as though to test if that was true, a golden glow began dancing around Azula: the telltale sign that she was shapeshifting, of course. "Azula, don't…!"

She shrank in her frame… and turned into a small dog, too small to be a wolf. It looked like a perfectly ordinary, common stray with dark fur, short, triangular ears and a fluffy tail. Sokka snorted as the others laughed at the sudden levity of the situation: to further enhance the joke, Azula whimpered as any canine might, and Sokka shook his head as he gazed at her far more lovingly than he should have.

"Not a wolf, but close enough, I guess," he smiled, leaning in to pat her head. "You're too cute for your own good, Azula."

Of course, those words were enough for her to come back to her human form with another blast of gold: she stared at him skeptically as she sat on the floor, and he grinned goofily.

"Cute? Truly? I'll be a spider next time, then…"

"Oh, no, please! Anything but a spider!" he exclaimed dramatically, pulling Azula up to her feet as the rest of the group laughed at their antics.

A few minutes later, the five passed by Lee's corridor again, waving in his direction, no longer wearing their guard uniforms, and absolutely covered in blood. Lee grinned awkwardly, waving back as they finally marched to Arl Zhao's rooms – though Jet of course decided to take a detour into a room Ty Lee unlocked on their way there, and they were quite surprised to find a lot of treasures worth poaching in it.

Zhao's quarters were neat and orderly, thus, ransacking them for useful information didn't take that long. Some suspicious documents were stacked neatly on a desk, but the most important ones were in a sealed chest: they were documents with Grey Warden seals.

"What the hell is this…?" Sokka said, frowning as he scanned the documents with uncertainty. "The Grey Wardens…? They've attempted to communicate with the Fereldan crown?"

"Didn't you say that calling Grey Wardens from elsewhere would take forever?" Azula asked, stepping closer to him. Sokka gritted his teeth and nodded.

"The closest ones would be the ones in Orlais… I'd suggest asking those in the Free Marches to come help too, but I doubt they'd be able to," he said, rubbing his brow with his fingertips. "As far as I've heard, most Fereldan refugees have fled to the Free Marches and I doubt anyone would be keen on crossing the Waking Sea to come to a blighted land… especially one where they'll be immediately regarded as enemies."

"Of course," Azula said, letting out a sigh. "At any rate… it seems there's a dungeon connected to this room. 'Tis most likely where we'll find Arl Zhao."

"Off we go," Sokka nodded, rolling the documents together and placing them in the bag Ty Lee and Jet had filled with treasure already.

They didn't have to go too far before coming across a cell door: a guard stood before it, and he gasped upon glimpsing them.

"Intru-…!"

He couldn't finish the sentence before two arms slipped through the cell's bars to violently snap his neck.

The whole group froze in place – they were used to being the ones to perpetrate such violence, not quite as used to just being silent witnesses of it. Whoever hid inside the cell dragged the guard near him, stealing his key to open the door… and then stealing his armor too, dressing himself in it and walking outside with a small smile.

"My thanks for creating a distraction," said the prisoner, bowing his head towards them. "Do you think you could… Sokka? Is that you?"

"I… yeah, I remember you," Sokka said, eyes glowing as he pointed at the man. "You're… uh, from Jader or Montsimmard, was it?"

"Yes, my name is Chey," the man explained, with a kindly smile. "Senior Warden of Jader, but born and bred in Highever, and relieved to be home."

"You were sent by the Wardens… and captured by Zhao," Sokka reasoned. "It's lucky he didn't kill you, but…"

"Surely he would have tried, sooner or later," Chey acknowledged. "He invited me to his estate, I thought I had kept my identity concealed well enough… I was wrong, however. I was sent after we received no word from Queen Katara after Ostagar's battle. I meant to travel here and identify the many men the Wardens lost in Ostagar, but unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to do so…"

"Oh. Are these your documents?" Sokka asked, reaching back into the bag and showing them to Chey. He grinned brightly and nodded.

"Yes, copies of the recruitment and information on the Joining ritual," he said. "They should never be seen by outside eyes, but I trust in their encryption."

"The Joining ritual?" Sokka repeated, eyes wide. "So… with that information, could we induct new Wardens into the Order?"

"Not yet, we cannot," Chey said. "Each Joining requires a single drop of Archdemon blood, and Ferelden's supply should have been in the secret vault where I found these papers… it was gone, however."

"So, until the Archdemon is dead or we find that supply, which Iroh must have taken, we can't expand our ranks?" Sokka asked. Chey nodded sadly. Sokka sighed and shook his head. "So it's really up to just us…"

"From what I've been able to gather before becoming Zhao's prisoner, you have done quite well at fielding an army, even without other Grey Wardens," Chey smiled. "It would certainly help if we could call more of our brothers and sisters here, but unfortunately, it will be up to us."

"Do you know where Zhao is?" Sokka asked, frowning. Chey gestured at another doorway in the dungeon.

"He went down there a few minutes ago," he said. "Unfortunately, I don't believe I can join you in my current condition. I'm in no position to fight by your side."

"Right… uh, go to Arl Arnook's estate. You'll be safe there," Sokka said, nodding in his direction. Chey smiled.

"Thank you, Sokka," he bowed his head before marching out of the room.

"And so… off we go to hunt Zhao," Jet said, with a careless grin. Sokka sighed.

"Let's get to it, then…" he groaned, guiding the others down the large dungeon below.

The dungeon was full of guards, traps, mabari and mages: they found a few people inside cells, and they set them free promptly. They also found a young man, the son of a nobleman, strapped to a torture device – he vowed to convince his father to support Arnook in the Landsmeet, in retaliation for the unjustified cruelty with which Zhao and Iroh had treated him. They only found Zhao at the other end of the dungeon, with two mages and one warrior at his side.

"Well, well, it's Sokka: the Grey Warden and Hakoda's bastard," Zhao nearly spat in their direction, with a dismissive sneer. "I'm surprised Arnook would turn a blind eye and play along with your schemes to break into my estate and murder my men in cold blood… is he losing faith in the persuasive power of his Landsmeet, by any chance?"

"I'm here because Zuko begged to be rescued, actually," Sokka said. "I can't help but wonder whether you pulled this shit by yourself, or if Iroh is in on it with you…"

"Ah, hah, the traitorous whelp summoned you?" Zhao laughed. "He has you under his thumb, does he? Zuko is a fool all on his own, but I suppose you're far worse than he is, if you let him string you along for games such as these…"

He stepped up with a stern scowl, eyes menacing and sharp as his hands clearly itched to reach for his dual daggers.

"You should have left when you had the chance, Warden. Slunk off to the Anderfels to hide with the rest of your kind. This Landsmeet is a farce: Iroh will triumph, and you will die!"

The battle was joined then, and as Yagoda couldn't take out both mages at once, she settled for focusing her Mana Clash on a single opponent while Ty Lee one-shotted the next one. Azula cast one of her new spells on Zhao: a Curse of Mortality, through which Zhao could not hope to be healed by any mages or potions, and which inflicted constant pain and damage across his body. Sokka took to pummeling him while Jet focused on Zhao's warrior ally – a few short moments later, with another of Azula's Crushing Prisons cast upon Zhao for good measure, the man was weakened and dropped heavily on the floor, bleeding profusely.

"Maker… spit on you! I… deserved… more!" Zhao hissed… and then every spark of life faded away.

Sokka let out a deep breath, glaring down the man's corpse. He had no doubts the wretched bastard had committed no end of atrocities while under Iroh's protection – there were many rumors that pointed at him as the artificer of a massacre in Highever, another of the largest cities in Ferelden. It was, all around, better for everyone if he was dead… and yet Sokka dreaded the political repercussions his death might result in. He gritted his teeth, though, and steeled himself.

"Come on. If there's more people in those cells, we'll free them too," he said. "We'd best get back to Zuko at once."

Azula nodded, patting his back kindly as Ty Lee and Jet took off to break open the rest of the occupied cells. They found a strange Templar in one of those cells, a man with a connection to another lady invited to the Landsmeet, it seemed. If this worked out, it meant they'd have at least two more allies secured for the Landsmeet, based on Zhao's absolutely dreadful crimes… three, if Zuko wasn't double-crossing them. Sokka feared he might not be quite so mellow and confident once he was out of his temporary imprisonment.

They reached the room again to find Zuko was ready to go, clad in a guard's uniform of his own. Sokka let out a deep breath and Zuko nodded in his direction.

"Ready to go?" Sokka asked.

"Yes. Thank you for your assistance," he said, solemnly. "Now, then… let's hope to get out of here before any troops attack the estate over everyone you've killed so far."

Sokka nodded, gesturing at Zuko to follow him… and merely a few steps forward, upon reaching the front door of Arl Zhao's estate, they found themselves ambushed by a massive number of guards, helmed by none other than the female knight Iroh had been accompanied by before, Ming.

"Warden, in the name of the regent, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Arl Zhao and his men at arms," she announced. Sokka scoffed, eyeing her skeptically. "Surrender, and you may be shown mercy."

"You know I killed him, then? Really? How are you so certain of that?" he asked. Ming flinched.

"You've left a trail of corpses in your wake!"

"If none of those corpses was Arl Zhao, you have no basis to accuse me of murdering him," Sokka said, with a careless shrug. "You have no true basis to accuse me of murdering the rest of them, either…"

"You're covered in blood!"

"And you know for sure that it's their blood?" Sokka asked, with a dry grin. Ming's patience ran thin by then.

"Enough! Surrender now or we will attack you at once!" she exclaimed.

Sokka thought to take her up on that offer, confident in his team… until he remembered there were two likely inexperienced combatants in their midst, Zuko and Lee. And then his eyes fluttered towards Azula, who eyed him defiantly. She expected him to fight, she was ready for it… but there were far too many troops here, all positioned preemptively: if they attacked as one… they'd kill not only him, but all of them, one after the other. Sokka gritted his teeth as he gazed at her… as he realized he couldn't fathom putting her in danger.

Thus… he raised his hands, but not towards his weapons.

"Fine. I'm the sole responsible party for whatever you want to accuse me of, alright? Let everyone else go," he said. Ming scoffed.

"Not like we wanted anyone else either way. You're the one Teyrn Iroh wants," she said. Zuko flinched behind Sokka.

"You're… you're mad. Sokka…!" Azula gasped, looking at him in terror: he smiled slightly and shook his head.

"Better this way," he said… raising his hand towards her, tapping his ring finger. "You know what to do, right?"

Azula watched impotently as the guards stepped forward to restrain Sokka. Zuko nudged the rest of their group to get going, taking advantage of Ming's particular focus on the Warden to escape before she recognized him among the group… the last to walk away was Azula, dragged by Jet and Ty Lee. Her heart ached as she looked at Sokka one more time, and he offered her a reassuring grin before the guards dragged him away, chained, to prison…

"Arnook! We have a problem!"

Zuko's voice startled the Arl and the other occupants in the Arl's room, Sokka's remaining companions: they had only just tended to Chey, who had arrived a short while ago, and they were startled now to see Zuko was free, and that he had arrived with the group who had rescued him…

Save for Sokka.

"What has… what has happened, Zuko?" Arnook asked: his gaze shifted towards Azula, who seemed moments away from losing her temper.

"The Warden has been captured," Zuko said, earnestly.

"What?!" Arnook gasped. "How could this happen?"

"The fool turned himself in… to ensure the rest of us could get away safely," Azula said, bitterly.

"The question is how to free him," Zuko said, firmly. "He has surely been taken to Fort Drakon. Getting in there won't be easy… I admit, I can't think of any way to do it just yet."

"It must be done. I accept no other answer," Azula hissed, glaring at Zuko and startling him. "Whatever your political ambitions may be, you will not leave him to rot in your damnable uncle's hands. Understood?"

"Y-yes, I didn't say anything else," Zuko said, inching away from her. There was something strange in his golden eyes… eyes that were slightly less vivid than hers, and yet the resemblance between them was uncanny, difficult to ignore, for the prince. The mage before him, however, appeared utterly unconcerned by whatever physical traits they might have in common, right now. "I'm saying we can't simply waltz into Fort Drakon and hope to break him out by force. Subterfuge will be necessary."

"Well… me and Suki could go," Jet suggested. Suki, who had assisted in helping Chey, blinked blankly. "We can pretend to be circus performers."

"Ah… like, from the Circus of Antiva?" Suki said, imitating Jet's accent. He laughed.

"Yes! The famous Broma Siblings…!"

"That's utterly ridiculous," Azula cut them off, staring at Jet in utmost disbelief. "You'll get him, and yourselves, killed with such antics."

"I'm only saying…" Jet smiled, hands behind his head as Suki grinned awkwardly at Azula.

"I can go. Bust down those doors, eh? No big deal, right?" Toph chimed in. Azula grimaced.

"If we're attempting to trick the guards to get inside the fort, that concept is utterly pointless" she said. Toph sighed.

"Boring…"

"Perhaps we could pretend to bring Foo-Foo to the kennels, if there are kennels in Fort Drakon," Sten-Mai suggested, as serious as ever. "Surely it would not be that difficult to bluff about that."

"You're a qunari. There's no way anyone would send a qunari to deliver a dog to the Fort's kennels," Zuko pointed out. Yagoda snapped her tongue.

"Then I shall do it," she said. "Who would suspect a frail, old woman?"

"No… I have a better idea," Ty Lee said suddenly, startling everyone else. She smirked mischievously as her eyes fell upon Azula. "Surely you wouldn't accept anything other than going yourself to save your love, right?"

"R-right…" Azula said, her cheeks flushing, and her heart beating faster upon acknowledging that in front of such a large group.

"Then I have the perfect plan to get us both inside Fort Drakon!" Ty Lee exclaimed, grinning giddily. "Oh, you'll do anything for him, won't you?"

"What…? Anything? Ty Lee, what blighted madness are you concocting…?!"

She learned the answer to that question about ten hours later, when she found herself dressed in a Chantry sister's outfit, standing at the vestibule of Fort Drakon.

"You're… seriously expecting that I will deliver a believable performance as a Chantry sister?" Azula hissed. Ty Lee nodded.

"You're a smart girl, and you've seen how I act for the past months, haven't you?" she asked, nudging Azula with her elbow. "Just pretend to be me, if just for a little while…"

"Oh, marvelous. I'll take to singing songs and rambling about the Maker and the visions He bestows upon me, His very special and one-of-a-kind creation…"

"S-shut up! I don't do that!" Ty Lee blushed. Azula smirked.

"Ah, which part of it? I'm quite sure all of that was spot-on," she said.

"Oi, you two!" one of the guards inside the Fort called for them: Azula and Ty Lee flinched upon being addressed by someone. "What're you doing here? State your business."

"Ah, do excuse us," Ty Lee said, smiling as innocently as she could as she and Azula marched to the door the guards stood by. "We are here to perform last rites for a condemned prisoner."

"What for? Mother Wu is already here," the guard said, puzzled.

"Mother Wu is but one frail woman," Azula said, with a dismissive smirk. "Much prayer is needed here; it would be too great a burden for just one priest."

"Now, more than ever, the Chant of Light must be sung from even the meanest of places. A single voice will hardly reach the Maker's ear over the cacophony of human suffering," Ty Lee said, dramatically. The guard sighed.

"Fine, wait over there. I'll get the captain," he said.

Azula and Ty Lee walked to the left of the vestibule, where some cushioned chairs comprised the waiting area they had been told to stand by at. Azula huffed, looking at Ty Lee with disbelief.

"Fate truly has a sense of humor. A tale like that should have fooled no one."

"Oh, everyone trusts priests. It's only natural that it worked," Ty Lee said, simply. Azula snorted.

"If you truly believe that, you're a bigger fool than those guards," she said, dismissively. Ty Lee only smiled, apparently delighted to see her opinions clashing with Azula's, as they often did.

The captain arrived then, an irritable expression on his face.

"Okay? What's this about?" he asked, scowling.

"We have been sent to minister the Chant for the prisoners here," Ty Lee answered, dutifully.

"How many priests does it take to pray for a handful of wretched criminals?" the guard asked, perplexed and displeased, but he shook his head dismissively afterwards. "Fine. I'm not one to argue with the Chantry…"

Azula was even more perplexed than the man by then: it was fine? They could go inside? Astonishing… and these were the grand guards Teyrn Iroh counted on to keep his prisoners safe? How weren't there constant breakouts from Fort Drakon, considering how easily the two of them had managed to bluff pass the first hurdle?

They marched together past a few closed doors and into the prison's main hall… an odd location for four ballistae to be set up in, and it seemed the nearby guards agreed, as they were discussing the futility of the weapons just then. Another guard stood at the other end of the hall, a female one this time.

"This might be a little more difficult now," Ty Lee remarked. Azula huffed.

"We should have thought this through, far better than we have," she said, bitterly. "If you want to come up with a strategy, be quick about it. If they're taking Sokka for execution right now, I…"

"Don't think about that. Don't worry. We'll reach him before anyone can try to do that," Ty Lee said, reassuringly. Azula let out a deep breath and nodded.

They marched onwards, past the guards on duty, towards the one who stood at the door. Azula cleared her throat, however, stopping Ty Lee from speaking first.

"Are you satisfied with your lot in life?" she asked the guard. The woman frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"They task you with standing here for hours, all day perhaps? What a life you must live. Full of wonder and excitement…"

"That's true, I guess…" the woman said, frowning.

"No doubt your masters prefer that you never think on this. All the better if their peons continue to think themselves free," Azula said, raising her eyebrows. The woman nodded.

"You have a point. This isn't what I had in mind when I signed on with the army," the woman said, shaking her head now. "You know, I joined the army to follow on my father's footsteps, and what do I get? Barracks detail! Would he be proud of that? Yangchen's ass he would… Oh, I'm going to live my life before it's too late. Let someone else guard their stupid door."

And with just that, the woman walked away: as much as that was her intent, Azula suspected the sergeant already had half a mind to abandon her military career and she simply had provided her with the last push in that direction.

"That went… well," Ty Lee said, smiling as she and Azula finally crossed the door that would lead them to the jailcells…

Her opinion on the subject was poised to change then: all guards beyond this door knew they weren't supposed to be there, and they certainly weren't happy to discover them in their prison cells. Fortunately, Azula and Ty Lee had developed quite a lot of skills in fighting multiple enemies: Ty Lee's Scattershot delivered plenty of damage and stunned their foes, and Azula's sleep spell saw all the stunned enemies dozing off instants after taking Ty Lee's arrow. It was only a matter of reducing them, little by little, after that.

Thus they proceeded with that tactic all across the Fort, leaving countless unconscious and dead in their wake. None of it mattered in the least to Azula, who rushed after the signals she could feel emanating from her ring, a magical connection that led her expertly across the prison. The sight of torture racks sent unwanted shudders down her back. After a fiercer fight than the rest at the kennels, they finally found what appeared to be the most secretive of cellblocks so far… and Azula's heart jolted upon glimpsing Sokka, stripped down to his underclothes, in one of the cells.

"A… Azula! You came…!" he smiled, gazing at her with hopeful bliss as the two women rushed to his cell's door: Ty Lee made short work of the lock, and soon Azula had flung herself over Sokka, hugging him tightly before pulling away to inspect any damage to the body she had learned her way with over the past months.

"You're… you're alright?" she asked, nervously. "Did they hurt you?"

"Eh, could've been worse," Sokka said, with a weak smile. "Just one go at the torture rack, bet that's nothing compared to…"

"You should have had none of it!" Azula roared, gritting her teeth and hugging him again. "I'm so sorry… I'm sorry, Sokka."

"Don't be. It's fine," Sokka said, smiling warmly. "You found me. Looks like the ring does work, huh?"

He smiled and raised the hand towards her: there it stood, the wooden ring she had given him. Azula's heart warmed as he kissed her sweetly.

"They let me keep it. They had no idea it was valuable…" he said.

"Well, if you must know… your stuff is right here" Ty Lee, outside the cell, grinned as she opened a chest. Sokka let out a relieved sigh and smiled brightly upon hearing that.

"Then I guess it's time we get out of here, huh?" he said, pulling Azula into a warm hug. "By the way… those Chantry robes look cute on you."

"They do not…" Azula huffed, and Sokka laughed as Ty Lee regaled him with the tale of how his beloved Witch of the Wilds had feigned being a priestess just to have a chance at saving him.

They cut down every guard they came across, far more easily now that Sokka was fighting alongside them as well. Fort Drakon, then, was but another massacre left in Sokka's wake, one he hoped would send a strong enough message to Iroh about what a bad idea it was to underestimate him.

Arnook was delighted and relieved when Sokka returned. He let him know Zuko was a guest in another room, but Sokka had no intentions of speaking with him yet. First, he talked to Chey, who gave him quite a bit of information about the Grey Wardens, including the location of their vault in the city. After that, though, Sokka returned to his room, finding Sten-Mai wasn't there this time – no doubt he was checking Ty Lee was fine and potentially chiding her for not taking him along for the prison break, instead. Thus, Sokka might have a chance for some privacy with Azula… though the bed was ruled out, as Foo-Foo had decided to take a nap on the mattress.

"Oh, well. We can sleep at either side of the dog, it makes no matter" Azula said, yawning. Sokka smiled sadly at her, raising a hand to cup her cheek.

"You haven't slept at all for the past days, have you?"

"I… maybe not. I'm not so frail that sleeplessness might weaken me, however," she said, brushing yawn tears from her eyes. Sokka smiled, taking her hands in his.

"You're not, but we can push Foo-Foo to the foot of the bed and sleep anyway. But first…"

"You need to clean up," Azula remarked, smiling. Sokka chuckled and nodded.

"That I do."

They hadn't washed together too often, usually allowing each other a bit of privacy when it came to that, back in their camp on the road. It would be the first time they'd do it here, however, and while mischievous intent wouldn't be much of a surprise, coming from them, they settled for scrubbing each other conscientiously and then relaxing in water Azula warmed for them, snugly resting against Sokka's flank, her head on his shoulder.

"Your hair down is… quite beautiful," Sokka said, caressing her flowing locks as they fell into the water. Azula laughed.

"Is that so? Well, I shan't wear it this way regardless," she said. "Bad enough that you're distracted with my nose, is it not?"

"I'm distracted with your everything, Azula," Sokka grinned. "You do realize I wasn't serious with that, don't you?"

"Oh, really? You're taking it back now, after all this time?"

"I saw your mother again a short time ago: her nose isn't like yours, silly. I was just trying not to come off as a pervert," he laughed. Azula let out her mischievous giggle.

"What would have been so bad about that, ah? A good first impression, if anything," she said, smiling at him. Sokka smiled warmly too, kissing her lips softly.

"Thank you for today. For coming for me," he said, reaching out to clasp her hand in his, under the water. "I knew you'd come, though. Maybe it was the ring… or maybe it's just my wishful thinking. But I… I knew you would."

"Maybe t'was because you as good as begged me to save you, after you were taken prisoner," Azula smiled. "Now, then… please don't make a habit of this, will you? I'd much rather not have to chase after you every time you land yourself in any form of imprisonment."

"Hmm, and here I liked having you chasing after me… what a shame," Sokka laughed, cupping her face. "I know you don't want to hear this, but…"

"I love you."

He froze, even if the water was warm. Azula gritted her teeth and glanced at him uneasily, as Sokka's lips parted. Her breath hitched as she caressed his chest gently.

"I… I am a fool, yes, for feeling what I do, for knowing the risks and understanding we will be fated to hurt each other one way or another, in the end…" Azula said. Sokka shook his head.

"It doesn't have to be that way…"

"Shush. You… you don't know what the future will bring," Azula said, placing her fingers upon his lips. Sokka raised an eyebrow. "But… perhaps you're right. And I've nearly lost you too many times to… to hesitate about this. It may break me… but I'm finding I'd rather be broken, all in all. I… I love you. I shouldn't, but… I love you."

"The only reason you shouldn't love me is if I'm unworthy of your love," Sokka said. Azula shook her head rapidly. "But I know you're worthy of mine. If I have to do more to prove myself…"

"You don't. You never have," Azula said, shaking her head dismissively. Sokka bit his lip now. "You've… proven yourself in every way that mattered, and then some. You didn't have to earn my love in any way, you truly didn't, I gave it to you because I wanted to, just as you have done the same for me…"

"True," Sokka agreed. Azula let out a deep breath as she gazed at him intensely.

"So… let's just enjoy this, for what it is. Whatever comes next…" Azula said. Sokka smiled.

"Whatever comes next, it's easier to face it with you by my side," he said, warmly.

He took her into his arms and kissed her heartily once again. He did the same as they climbed on bed, barely clad in sleep clothes, and they cuddled together as they fell asleep, comforting each other with their very bodies, in a moment of peace shared between two lovers as the chaotic world around them seemed to slow down, at last.

This is a good place to take a break... :D

Said perception was but an illusion of course: chaos continued to reap its way across Ferelden, and Denerim appeared to be particularly ripe with chaos. Zuko informed them about a complicated situation happening in the Elven Alienage of Denerim, the slums in which the city elves lived. It would be something they would spend the next days dealing with, but Zuko himself posed a problem, too: it was apparent right away that he had no intentions of ceding the throne.

"You have no experience at leading this city, this nation. I've been doing it for as long as my wife… ever since she died in battle," he said, clenching his fists, still stricken by grief upon speaking of Katara. "Your claim may be strong on paper, and yet it's not: however much you may resemble King Hakoda and Queen Katara, you're a bastard child. Even if you truly are the last Theirin…"

"Look, it's clear you want the throne for yourself," Sokka snapped. Zuko winced. "I have no idea if you'll be any good at the job, but I'll just suppose you could be, as long as your damn uncle doesn't interfere with everything you try to do unless it suits his agenda. So… prove to us that you're a better king than I could be, which shouldn't be hard, considering I'm no king to begin with, and I'll back down. I swear I'll back down."

"And why on earth would you do such a thing?" Azula asked, skeptical: she had insisted on standing by Sokka during every conversation he held with Zuko. "His claim is through marriage. That he's more experienced is but a technicality: with the amount of pressure you've had to endure over the past months, you've rallied troops from four different bastions and ensured ancient treaties are honored. By the time this Blight ends, you will be the greatest champion of Fereldan history: this is why he is quite so adamant about making you resign from the contest now. He knows that, once everything is said and done, the whole nation will be chanting your name rather than his."

"And why do you want him on the throne quite so badly?" asked Zuko, cuttingly. "So eager to be queen, are we?"

"I… hah. What a ridiculous notion," Azula scoffed. Sokka frowned.

"Ridiculous… why? We're lovers. I love you. You love me. We should get married if I'm king," he said, simply: Azula's eyes widened. "We should also get married if I'm not, though…"

"That is… no. Foolishness, if I've ever heard any," she said, blushing. "I'll not discuss fictional nuptials in front of your political opponent, regardless. The point is, I have no chance to gain a throne for myself, for my low birth won't allow it…"

"Quite so," Zuko said, with a dry grin.

"Well, now, you and your family aren't much better than that," Sokka pointed out, looking at Zuko skeptically. "Wasn't Iroh, great war hero, a mere peasant on the fields who became a lord because my own father gave him a chance to join him in battling the Orlesian invasion of Ferelden?"

"T-that's…!"

"I'm just saying, you weren't exactly born to the highest-bred nobility out there," Sokka said, raising his hands. "Not like it should rule out Azula's potential joining of the Royal Family, if she wants to join it."

"Ah, sure, and I suppose I shall be the Lady of the Korcari Wilds," Azula said, skeptically. Sokka smirked.

"Totally will make that title a thing. I swear it to you…"

"You're going off-track here," Zuko huffed, hands on his hips. "Look… I cannot simply trust that you'll do well for yourself and be the greatest leader of Ferelden. I barely know you, and yet I know I need you. I need an alliance with you. We're… we're as good as family, through my marriage to your sister. I know asking you to see me as your brother when we're not even friends would be madness… but believe me when I say, I wish nothing wrong unto you. I only wish… to do what's right for Ferelden."

"As do I," Sokka said, simply. "If you're what's best, I have no issue with backing down. I don't even want the throne, dammit, but Arnook thinks I should get it, Azula thinks I should get it…"

"And we're right," Azula chimed in. Sokka sighed.

"Nobody knows who's right or wrong with something like this," he said. "Results will have to speak for themselves, if we ever get any. But the thing is, Zuko, I… I don't even know if I'll succeed, alright? Maybe I'll get eaten by the Archdemon when the time comes…"

"Don't… don't even say that," Azula huffed, panic clear in her golden eyes. Sokka shrugged.

"We live a very dangerous life, Azula, you know it better than anyone. Anything can happen," he said, glancing back at Zuko. "So, how about we strike a deal? We… we don't make any decisions about who will be king during the Landsmeet. I can lead the military forces, you can take the civilians and calm the lords. If I survive, and Azula's prediction comes true… then I'll make you my advisor. You can help me and still do what's best for Ferelden in that role. If I don't survive… then you'll be the only possible candidate for the throne, altogether."

"And if you do survive but aren't regarded as a great hero?" asked Zuko. "If, perhaps, that other warden deals the final blow?"

"Then we can go back in circles and I can just as well leave the throne to you anyway, if you truly want it so badly," Sokka said, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "It's not that I don't care, but… I don't think I'm entitled to a throne. I don't think it's the only thing I can do in my life. I'll… try to be a good man, and a good leader, and I can be those things without being king, I don't think I need a kingdom all that badly. But I do need to do what's right for Ferelden."

"I understand… and I agree," Zuko said, nodding towards Sokka and extending a hand towards him. "Your terms are agreeable. I accept them."

Azula let out a sigh, guessing it was as good as it could get. Hopefully Zuko wouldn't decide to double-cross them sometime down the road…

"It's not what you expected, I know that, but…" Sokka started, as they made their way back to the front gates of the estate, where their friends awaited before their incursion to the Alienage. Azula shook her head.

"I'm still slightly flabbergasted about the whole 'marriage' thing, I suppose t'was obvious you'd decide to interpret our rings that way," Azula said, reaching to clasp his hand in hers. Sokka smiled fondly at her.

"That's the issue, then?" he asked. Azula sighed and glanced at him as they continued walking.

"You would be the greatest king this wretched land could hope to find," Azula said, bluntly. Sokka's eyes widened. "But I have no intentions of forcing that crown upon your head. If you do not wish it, that is your prerogative. You're a Grey Warden, 'tis true… and that means you have countless responsibilities and problems to field. If you believe this is beyond you, it is not up to me to determine otherwise."

Sokka sighed and nodded, mouthing a small thank you to Azula once they stopped before their friends: their newest, disturbing adventure was about to begin.

It wound up, as ever, being more disturbing than they anticipated: Iroh had somehow authorized mages from Tevinter, the lawless blood-magic-prone land, to practice their very forbidden and illicit slave trade by selling elves from Denerim's Elven Alienage to them. It took a long time to dismantle the whole operation, but eventually they did… and while they couldn't save every elf, they certainly saved enough of them and gathered sufficient evidence of Iroh's latest, nefarious crimes as well. Afterwards, a blind templar asked their help with the exorcism of a strange demon in the Alienage's orphanage. The quest resulted in the death of the templar, despite they did succeed at getting rid of the dreadful demon, and they even found an amulet that belonged to a deranged beggar, whose constant rambling finally settled down when her amulet was back in her hands.

There was so much trouble to deal with that Sokka was utterly exhausted by the end of the day – again, he indulged in no physical intimacy with Azula, settling happily for cuddling her in bed…

Knowing he'd do best to enjoy that peaceful moment as much as possible: the Landsmeet would finally happen on the very next day.

Navigating political waters should not be remotely as dangerous as fighting ogres and broodmothers and high dragons… and yet Sokka felt more tense, more stressed out, during the Landsmeet than he had at any other point in his life. Not only did he and his friends have to defeat Ming in battle, at last, right before entering the Landsmeet chamber, but he also had to intervene a few times to counter Iroh's utterly biased claims and lies about Sokka's activities – he even claimed Sokka intended to sell out their nation to Orlais, an outlandish argument from a man who was selling Denerim's elves, literally, to Tevinter. Sokka was careful and thorough about exposing Iroh's worst dealings… and in the end, most the Landsmeet had turned their support to Sokka. Even Zuko had stepped out eventually, declaring his support for the man he called his brother, through his marriage to Queen Katara. That he had stayed true to his pledge surprised Azula, but she didn't let it show as Sokka continued to capitalize on his clear, resounding victory over Iroh…

A victory Iroh refused to accept.

He demanded a duel, one-on-one, between himself and Sokka, or anyone Sokka chose as his champion.

It was no surprise at all that Sokka would decide he would be the one fighting, of course.

"Sokka… be careful. Please, do not be reckless…!" Azula hissed, eyeing him in disbelief as she cupped his face in her hands. Sokka smiled and nodded.

"I'll come back to you. I always will," he said, clasping her hand so she'd feel his ring against her skin. "I know I can take him. I'm sure of it."

Azula swallowed hard and failed to repress the overwhelming urge to kiss him. Sokka didn't pull back, letting that tender exchange power him further, preparing him to face down his most dangerous, wretched foe…

Iroh was at his most serious now. The gold in his eyes spoke of death and carnage… of doing whatever it took for his nation, as he always claimed he did. Sokka huffed, knowing he wouldn't be an easy opponent to thwart.

Thus, they circled each other for a moment before the first one dared attack: Sokka slammed Iroh with his shield, but the man was too strong to be weakened by that. Thus, Sokka let out a war cry that resounded so hard across the room most people winced upon hearing it. He shielded himself from Iroh's blows, stunning him with his shield… then Iroh did the same to him, just as well. They shifted carefully, shielding constantly, unwilling to ever let any openings shine through… but whenever one did, Sokka stabbed at Iroh: the old man's quickness with his shield saved him twice before a third stab struck him in the gut. His movements were more complicated after that: he couldn't fight at his best anymore, and after taking a few more wounds that sundered his armor, Iroh wound up dropping to his knees, with a resigned expression on his face.

"I… I see. I underestimated you, Warden," he said, swallowing hard. "I thought you were another child, playing at war… but you were more than that. I was wrong. There is a strength in you that I have not seen anywhere since Hakoda died. I suppose it… it makes sense, as you are his son."

Sokka winced as Iroh, still bleeding, rose to his feet. With uncharacteristic, unexpected grace, the man spoke the words he surely had never left his lips ever before:

"I yield."

Sokka swallowed hard. He hated Iroh for his choices, he certainly did… but he couldn't be quite so foolish as to take him down now, when he had finally surrendered. He knew what this meant… what his own words meant. He was an enemy… but he was a popular leader of Ferelden, too. He had been the one advocating for unity, after all…

"I accept your surrender," Sokka said: a surprised gasp ran across the public, and Zuko rushed in to take care of his uncle.

"No, no… no need, Zuko. I'm sorry. I failed you," Iroh said, smiling sadly at his nephew as he helped him stand.

"You won't kill him, then?" asked Arnook. "It was meant to be a duel to the death…"

"It doesn't have to be," chimed in a new voice, startling every attendant of the Landsmeet. "There is another option."

"Chey…" Sokka glanced at the senior Grey Warden, who nodded in his direction before announcing his proposal to everyone in the room.

"The teyrn is a warrior and general of renown. Let him be of use. Let him go through the Joining."

"Wait… the Joining? Make him a Grey Warden?" Sokka asked, shocked. Iroh flinched.

"No. You cannot be serious," he said. "I… after everything I've done? That is the fate you would offer me?"

"It is far more generous than death, I presume," Chey said, smiling at Iroh. "The more Wardens there are in Ferelden to face the Archdemon, the better for all of us. If you return what you or your men took from the Grey Wardens' Denerim vault, there will be enough material for one more Joining ritual."

"From what I know, the Joining can be fatal: if he lives, he fights by our side and abides by the order's code. If he dies, then the sentence that most expected for him will be carried out in a different way," Zuko said, gritting his teeth as he glanced at Sokka. "I don't know if it's a gamble worth making, but… you could use this. You could use having my uncle at your side."

Sokka sighed and shrugged, running a hand over his hair. Letting Iroh live was likely the obvious choice, by now… but letting him find a new life as a Warden? A difficult, strange choice to make… yet one he had no choice but to make, too.

"So be it," he said. "Let's try this."

A rumor of curiosity ran across the Landsmeet after Sokka's decision: Zuko stepped up, however, to quell the rising voices with his own:

"Lords and ladies: we have armies to gather," Zuko announced to the public. "And this man, the Warden Sokka, shall be the one leading them. As current Prince Consort, I will step down from the throne should he survive in the battle against the Archdemon! For now, we work together to stop the threat of the Blight! On the morrow, we begin our struggle against the greatest threat Ferelden has ever faced, and we shall triumph, because we are Fereldan!"

Cheers rose after Zuko's declaration. Sokka's heart pounded in his chest as he glanced at Azula, hoping he'd made the right choice… finding, again, a strange expression of distance in her beautiful eyes. An expression of longing, one Sokka couldn't quite understand just yet. But when he smiled, so did she.

The next few weeks were devoted to planning and preparing troops for marching to the final battle against the darkspawn. Chey claimed all signs suggested the creatures would attack near Redcliffe, so that was where troops were being sent, week after week. A group of Sokka's friends, comprised by Sten-Mai, Jet, Toph, Suki, Yagoda and Ty Lee, had taken off to Soldier's Peak once more, carrying the meteorite ore they'd found some time ago. They meant to use it to fashion Sokka a sword of legend, worthy of the Warden-Commander of Ferelden, the title they claimed would be his, regardless of whether he was king or not. In the meantime, though, Sokka stayed in Denerim, organizing the troops along with Zuko, resting whenever he had a chance, and working hard to prepare himself for the potential position of king, if he truly had to take it up, at some point in the future.

It was difficult to fathom being in the same place as Iroh without thinking of him as an enemy to destroy. The old man had undertaken the Joining after restoring the missing components from the vault, and he miraculously survived: he sat beside Azula that day, while Arnook, Sokka and Zuko worked, silently pondering his fate… or so she thought until he glanced at her and asked, suddenly:

"Who was your father, girl?"

"What?" she asked, puzzled.

"Your father," Iroh repeated. "You… look strikingly like my own, long-lost brother."

"Your brother? I sincerely doubt that," Azula said, skeptically. "My mother… took lovers from the Chasind tribes in the Korcari Wilds, as far as I understand."

"Ah. Then my brother truly must be your father. The resemblance is uncanny," Iroh said. Azula snorted.

"Your brother was Chasind, and yet you are not?" she asked. "What sense does that make, old man?"

"My brother was obsessed with the Chasind," Iroh explained. "I never quite understood what interested him so about them, but he traveled south often. One day, a child in a basket arrived for him, sometime after one of his last voyages to the Korcari Wilds. It was Zuko, of course. Then, he left for the Wilds again about two years later and never returned."

Azula's eyes widened. Iroh stared at her, nonchalantly. Her heart's pace quickened.

"Y-you're not saying we're… family?" she asked. Iroh shrugged.

"It doesn't make your claim to the throne any stronger," he said. "You are a mage, an apostate at that, and you were…"

"Raised in a swamp. Yes, I didn't say I hoped otherwise," Azula said, bitterly. Iroh smiled. "But this… makes matters odd. Complicated, even. If I am your niece… Zuko is my brother? And he was married to my lover's sister, which means…"

"Ah. Quite the conundrum," Iroh laughed. "Not too disturbing, I suppose. Siblings who fall in love with another set of siblings. Curious, at that."

"Did Zuko truly love Queen Katara?" Azula asked, frowning.

"With all his heart," Iroh said, gritting his teeth.

"And yet…"

"And yet I let her die, yes," Iroh admitted, closing his eyes. "I will never forgive myself for that, but there was no other choice. We miscalculated the magnitude of the horde's forces, we lacked the strength in numbers, tactical superiority… all means through which we could have attained victory. They attacked when we thought we were ready… and we were not. Had I committed to the battle, all our forces would have perished that day in Ostagar. It was a guaranteed slaughter."

"And one you refused to acknowledge as such, or your political prestige would crumble," Azula said. Iroh sighed.

"You have seen Sokka up close. You have fought alongside him and aided him in his many trials: I have not. I had no way of knowing he would succeed at his task to rally the Grey Warden allies. Even then… I needed to know for sure that he could be a better leader than I was. The duel's outcome proved as much. Anything I say now will be seen as but an excuse, I have no doubt about that… but at the point in which I made the choices I did, I had no way of knowing your lover, as you called him, could prove himself so readily as a capable warrior and leader. It's all the better for Ferelden, I'm sure, that I was proven wrong about him."

"Surely," Azula said, simply.

"Will you stay by his side, then?" Iroh asked. "As his advisor, perhaps? Or…?"

"I don't believe I ought to discuss this with you before clearing it up with him, first," Azula said. Iroh nodded.

"Fair enough. As you would have it," he concluded.

She didn't know how to do it. She didn't know how to tell Sokka the truth, how to explain things… how to address her biggest secret after all this time. It felt like she had waited too long, like she had allowed too much time to pass them by. Her confusing signals had only puzzled him, she knew that… she had to tell him the truth eventually, there was no other choice.

A few days later, the rest of their team returned: Sokka was utterly fascinated with the black blade he was given, with crisscrossing blue details that left him gawking at it in utmost wonderment… and within a few moments, he had decided on its name.

"Space Sword!"

"B-but didn't the smith say the name was Star-…?" started Suki, but Jet elbowed her in the ribs. "Oww…"

"Let the boss have it as he wishes, Space Sword, Star Noodle or whatever he wants to name it," he smiled. Suki grinned back and nodded.

"It's incredible," Sokka smiled brightly. "Thank you so much, you guys! I knew that ore had to be of some use…!"

"Good for it that it was. I was damn tired of carrying it around, along with the rest of its inventory of junk," Toph growled, as moody as ever. Sokka offered her a guilty grin as he focused on his new sword again… but Yagoda stepped up to him by then, startling him.

"We… lost our way, at first," she explained. "The way to Soldier's Peak is quite the maze, as you know. We wound up in Bann Gow's lands and… I found a familiar man there, dying."

"What?" Sokka frowned, lowering his sword at last. Yagoda swallowed hard.

"It was one of Queen Katara's honor guards," she explained. "Bann Gow's men tortured him and they had beaten him to a pulp when we finally intervened. He told me of a chest… with important valuables and treasures, back in Ostagar."

"Ostagar?" Sokka frowned.

"It is fitting that we should return eventually… perhaps we can find Queen Katara's body and offer her a proper burial, if the opportunity arises," Yagoda continued, sadly. "I understand if it's too much, however…"

"N-no, it's… it's fine," Sokka frowned, shaking his head. "It's fine. We… we can do it. Before Redcliffe, we'll go to Ostagar, first. Guess it'll be interesting to bring Iroh there, see if he has any damn excuses for what he did…"

"Surely he had his reasons. None of them are bound to suffice to justify the countless lives wasted in that battle," Yagoda sighed, shaking her head. "But thank you, Sokka. Truly."

"No problem," he said, with a sad smile. "We'll get to it, for sure."

And they did indeed: the battlefield was nearly frozen over by now, to Sokka's surprise, but they found no shortage of evidence of the massacre in Ostagar, and no shortage of darkspawn, still slithering about in the lost fortress. Iroh had very little excuses to share, fortunately, and he lamented not having convinced Katara, above all else, to retreat before committing to the suicidal battle she led their forces to.

Katara's corpse was miraculously well preserved: Iroh took a lock of her hair for Zuko's sake, and then they proceeded to burn her body at a pyre, well after having cleaned the ruins of every wretched darkspawn they had found. They'd recovered her armor, weapons and shield… and Sokka watched solemnly as his sister, whom he had barely gotten to know, was finally given the rest she well and truly deserved. Azula's arm, looped around his waist, offered Sokka further strength of heart as he sent off his sister… as he faced that this would be their last stop before the promised, upcoming, final battle.

To the whole group's surprise, Redcliffe was already being assailed by darkspawn when they arrived: many waves of dreadful enemies attacked the castle, and they managed to field them off until an Alpha Ogre attacked. Their attempts to destroy the damnable creature didn't go so well, but their superior tactics gained them the advantage soon: Iroh dealt the finishing blow to the creature, proving himself still capable and strong, no matter if he was no longer in his prime.

Upon entering the castle, however, it turned out that Chey had urgent news to share:

"The darkspawn sent an advance group to Redcliffe to mislead us: Denerim is where the bulk of the horde marches now," Chey explained. Sokka's eyes widened. "They are about two days away from the capital by now."

"But… oh shit!" Sokka snarled.

"There's more news, however," Chey said, turning towards the fire. "The Archdemon has been sighted, at the head of the horde."

"Maker preserve us," Bann Bato, standing next to his brother, had never seemed more anxious.

"There's no way we can bring all our forces to Denerim that quickly," Sokka said, grimacing. "We did leave some troops to defend the city, but it won't suffice…"

"We will begin a forced march, as soon as possible," Arnook determined. "We won't lose Denerim to the Archdemon, no matter what."

"If we take down the Archdemon, the others will… well, escape, surrender, lose their hivemind. Right?" Sokka asked Chey, who nodded promptly.

"And only Wardens can defeat the Archdemon," he finished. "I will have to speak with you and Iroh about that shortly."

"So be it. When can the army begin to march on Denerim?" Sokka asked, glancing at Arl Arnook.

"By daybreak," he answered. Sokka nodded.

"Ensure that it's so. I won't allow Denerim to fall, I swear it," he said. "As hard as it may be, I'll see to it that we save as many people as we can save."

Arnook agreed immediately, and preparations began. Redcliffe was a hive of activity, but Sokka and Iroh had to walk together, tensely, to where Chey awaited… ready to share news that took both the newer Wardens by surprise.

"One of us must die to slay the Archdemon for good?" Sokka asked, eyes wide. Chey nodded.

"If anyone but a Warden delivers the final blow, the Archdemon's essence will travel into the nearest darkspawn, and it will reform into a full Archdemon once again. If a Grey Warden does it, however… the essence will enter the Grey Warden's body, and the conflicting nature of both entities will result in the destruction of both the Grey Warden and the Archdemon. As the Senior Warden, I will do my best to ensure that it is I who makes the ultimate sacrifice. You are the only Wardens in Ferelden… so it would be best if it's me who dies. Yet, if anything fails… the two of you must be ready to give your very lives to destroy the darkspawn threat."

"I have long discarded my life," Iroh said, simply. "If this is what it will take to protect Ferelden, I shall do it."

"I… I'll be ready to do it, too, if I must," Sokka said, frowning.

It was what was expected of him, he knew that, and yet… his heart churned with displeasure, with bitterness. For once in his life, he felt as though he mattered, as though his choices meant something… as though he could truly be the king and leader others thought he could be. But now…

He suddenly recalled that Azula knew more of Grey Wardens than he had, back when they first met. His eyes widened as he pondered those thoughts upon leaving the room, walking towards his own quarters, dizzy and confused… could this be the reason why she was always so distant? Because he hadn't known he might have to die to end this Blight… but she did?

When he opened the door, he was greeted by the familiar sight of her mostly exposed back as she sat facing the fire.

"Do not be alarmed. It is only I," Azula said. Sokka gritted his teeth.

"Nothing to be alarmed about, is there?" he said. "I… I can't believe it. I… did you know about it? About… about what happens, when the Archdemon is slain? About why a Grey Warden has to be the one who does the slaying?"

Azula swallowed hard but nodded, rising to her feet as she turned towards Sokka. His chest tightened as he gazed at her in disbelief… puzzled by the strange, determined expression in the golden eyes he had grown to love so deeply.

"I did. And I have a way out. The loop in your hole," she announced suddenly. Sokka frowned, closing the door behind himself.

"You… what?" he asked, blinking blankly.

"I know what happens when the Archdemon dies. I know a Warden must be sacrificed, and I have come to tell you that this not need to be," she said, approaching him until she stood at arm's length. Sokka frowned.

"What… does that mean?" he asked. Azula breathed deeply.

"It means I'm offering a way out for all Wardens. This way, no one needs to be sacrificed," she explained. "'Tis a ritual… performed on the eve of battle, in the dark of night."

"So… now?" Sokka asked. Azula smiled a little and nodded.

"Indeed. All I ask is that you listen to what I have to offer and think on it, if nothing else," she said. Sokka frowned.

"I… am listening. Though I'm very confused. You knew about all this all along and you didn't tell me?" he asked, as Azula walked towards their bed, the one they had shared in the past.

"I was not quite sure it would sit well with you, if it would discourage you to know what was expected of you… if you would make the wrong choice out of frustration, if you thought your fate was only to die," Azula explained, sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Alright, I am that impulsive and self-sacrificial, it's true," Sokka sighed. "What is your plan?"

Azula breathed deeply for a moment, then she spoke her mind:

"What I propose is… for you to lay with me, tonight."

"I intended to do so, yes," Sokka confirmed. Azula let out a soft giggle.

"Good to know, but… this time, you must," she said. "I will perform a ritual to ensure… to ensure that I conceive a child, from our joining."

"Wait… what?" Sokka blurted out, frowning. "You… you're not serious, are you? A child? You will perform a ritual to…?"

"Yes. It will be a ritual to that end, and to a few other ends, as well, to protect the child we will conceive," Azula explained. Sokka's jaw dropped, baffled by the concept: a child? She intended to be a mother…? The mother of his children…? "The child will bear the taint of a Grey Warden, much as you do. Once the archdemon is slain, its essence will seek the taint like a beacon… and if I am there when the Archdemon is slain and the ritual is performed successfully, the essence will seek the child, rather than anyone else."

"Woah! Woah, that sounds…! Azula, that could kill the baby, it could kill you…!"

"Oh, you're so certain of that…" she asked, amused. "Evidently, the ritual is designed to ensure that outcome won't come to pass. The child will be so young it will take in the essence of the Archdemon without perishing. The creature's taint will be destroyed, and no Grey Wardens will need to die in the process."

"But… won't the child inside you become a darkspawn, somehow?" Sokka asked. Azula shook her head.

"No. It will be something different: a child born with an Old God's soul," Azula said. Sokka blinked blankly. "I intend to preserve the Old God's soul alone, not the taint that has corrupted it. As the child will be a manner of Grey Warden, due to its heritage from its father, the effect it would have on the Old God's taint would be akin to the one any fully grown Grey Warden would… but with the ritual I intend to perform, the child's life will be small enough to be preserved safely, and its own taint, converted into that of a Grey Warden, shall nullify and destroy that of the corrupted Old God the same way it would if a Grey Warden perished to kill it. Only, without any sacrifices."

"That… sounds good, all in all, but this ritual's starting to confuse me," Sokka said. "It involves… it involves blood magic, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps," Azula admitted. Sokka frowned. "Oh, I know you're concerned I may have made a pact with a demon in order to gain this power but that was not necessary. My mother…"

"You got this ritual from her?" Sokka asked. Azula swallowed hard and nodded.

"Blood magic need not be but another method, another source of magic. Without the tampering of a demon controlling my soul without my awareness, it is not as dangerous as that which is granted through the means most Circle mages gain their power."

"Hell…" Sokka huffed, sitting next to Azula. "So… this is what Ursa wanted from you, all along? Is that why she sent you with me? I always thought… I always thought it was weird, maybe you were right about her needing you to be stronger to do the whole body-snatching thing, but it was about this?"

"At first… yes," Azula said, swallowing hard. "And 'tis… 'tis why I agreed to it, initially. I did wish to leave the Korcari Wilds eventually and no longer live under her influence, but I knew what she intended of me all the same."

"You… you'd talked about this? In case a Blight happened?" Sokka asked. Azula nodded.

"She seemed to sense a Blight was coming. From a young age, she explained what was expected of me. I did not think I was ready yet, when we set out, I said as much… but she must have known that waiting for Grey Warden reinforcements, or allowing the horde to move on to other nations, would have never given me a better opportunity to offer this ritual and salvage an Old God's soul than this one."

"Because it was just… me," Sokka said, eyes saddening. "It was… easy, I suppose. I… I was an insecure idiot, and you…"

"Sokka…"

"Please… tell me this meant more to you than this," Sokka said, gazing at Azula intensely. Her heart pounded in her chest. "That you weren't just…"

"Using you?" Azula finished for him. Sokka clenched up upon hearing her saying those words. "I… should have been. I would have been, yes, if… if you hadn't been who you are. If you hadn't… triggered feelings and emotions inside me that I had never experienced, and… and now I offer you this, more than anything, because I care, Sokka. Because… because you matter to me. Because I love you."

"And you don't want me dead," Sokka finished, with a sad smile.

"How could I ever?" Azula said, reaching for his hand delicately. "You… asked, once. What that demon in the Fade, the Desire Demon that had possessed Yue, had offered me. It… it claimed it could see through me… that it could tell my truest desire was not power. That I wanted… that I wanted to experience love, more than anything. It taunted me, mocking me about how you could easily choose anyone but me… it pretended you could never come to love me for who I was unless it interfered… but I knew better than to let it win. If I had allowed the damnable demon to possess me, you wouldn't have wanted me either, so t'was a terribly obvious and pathetic attempt at manipulation…"

"It was a lie," Sokka said, earnestly. "I do love you. I have for all this time. If you wanted to experience love, to give and receive it, Azula… you have done that with me. I know you have, even if now I'm… confused about a lot of things, but deep down I know that what we've shared… it couldn't have happened if you hadn't loved me at all."

"It couldn't have," Azula said, gazing at him remorsefully. "And I want to protect you. To ensure your survival. But… even if this may appear to be a simple matter, it is not. In order to protect you for good, I have to do something else, after the ritual is complete and the Old God's soul is secured and safe."

"Something else? What… what do you mean?" Sokka asked.

Azula took a deep breath, and it left her again, shakily, as she conveyed her only condition:

"After this is done, you will allow me to walk away, and you won't follow me. I will raise the child on my own."

Sokka fell silent, his jaw dropped. Azula gazed into his eyes earnestly, even if her heart was breaking… and it broke all the more upon seeing how his had shattered just as well.

"Woah… n-no. No way," Sokka shook his head, looking at Azula in utmost disbelief. "No!"

"Sokka…"

"Azula, I love you! You've said you love me too, and I have no doubts that's why you're offering me this!" he said, trembling violently. "We can raise the child together, we should raise it together…!"

"You're going to be king," Azula hissed.

"And a king needs an heir," Sokka retorted. Azula grimaced at his words. "If I do conceive this child with you, it'll be more than an experiment on how to salvage Old Gods' souls, it'll be a child: OUR child! And it'll likely be the only child I ever have, because it seems the taint will eventually render me sterile, so…!"

"Take a wife as soon as I'm gone. You haven't been a Grey Warden for as long as necessary to be sterile yet, so…" Azula said, quietly, and Sokka scoffed in disbelief.

"You've lost your senses for sure. I… I don't want anyone else," he said. Azula huffed, burying her face in her hands. "I want you."

"See, this is exactly what the problem is, when it comes to love," Azula said, leaning forward, supporting her head with her hands, elbows on her knees. "You are not thinking clearly, you are guided by emotion and impulse, all your practicality is utterly absent…"

"I refuse to marry anyone else," Sokka hissed. Azula rolled her eyes and glared at him. "I only want you. You're my partner. You're a leader by my side me! You're…!"

"I'm of common, unacceptable birth to be the Queen of Ferelden," Azula cut him off, and Sokka froze. "Your noblemen won't accept me. The commoners… well, they may be so foolish as to think you're marrying one of their own, 'tis true, and yet as soon as they learn I'm an apostate, they will waste no time turning on you and demanding that Zuko is restored to the throne!"

Sokka snarled, shaking his head… before proposing yet another alternative Azula couldn't accept:

"Then I won't take the throne, and I'll go with you," he decided. Her eyes widened.

"You're… no. You're utterly mad, you can't do this!" she said. Sokka returned her gaze intensely. "You could be the greatest king of Ferelden…"

"I'd rather be a good man… a good father, a good husband if you'd ever see me as one, than be a king," Sokka said, firmly. Azula's heart pounded as she shook her head. "Azula… the only thing that kept me going, without even realizing it all along, was the knowledge that I had you by my side. If you were with me, every challenge along the way… it would be easy. I wouldn't have to fear anything because you had my back and I had yours. Even without my awareness… every future I possibly envisioned for myself involved you!"

"I told you that you'd regret this, didn't I?" Azula said, with a bitter smile, tears blinking in her eyes. "And there we are. Regret having bared your heart to me when you did, regret having hoped for more than I ever promised you… I shall take the blame, if you wish for me to do so. I led you on, I confused you, and I'm the heartless shrew responsible for whatever heartache you may endure… doesn't that make me utterly unworthy of you?"

"Nothing could ever make you unworthy of me," Sokka said, cupping her face. "But I cannot understand what you're trying to do. I simply can't."

"The… the Old God's soul, there's no true way of knowing what will happen, what the child will be like," Azula said, shaking her head. "I need to raise this child away from power, away from political struggles, away from any who might ever realize who they are and how to use that power to their advantage, away so that they may not pose a threat to your own power if the truth of their condition as host of an Old God's soul were ever known. But along with that… my mother wanted this soul. She did, and she… I know you slew her, I know you did, Sokka, but she may have had alternate plans, ways to stay alive, because I doubt someone who has been as hounded and vilified as her could have survived through all those centuries without countless alternate plans for survival. She will come back one day, Sokka… whatever she is, she is powerful, far too powerful, and she will stop at nothing to gain the Old God's soul. If I raise this child away from her so she cannot find me, if I learn how to strengthen them so that they can never lose the Old God's soul against my mother's designs… only then will both the child and myself be safe from my mother. Otherwise…"

"And you can't do that in the Fereldan court. Or so you think," Sokka finished. Azula shook her head.

"I cannot be a burden, I cannot be a problem for you and your people to discuss endlessly. I'm not queen material…"

"That's not up to you to decide," Sokka declared. "You're the most regal woman I've known, whether you have any noble blood in your veins is irrelevant."

"For you. Not for them. Not for everyone else," Azula said, looking at him intensely. "I… I can't stay. I can't remain at your side forever. I never promised to… because I knew this day would come. And I wish it hadn't… I wish we could have been together for as long as we pleased, but if this is to be the eve of your battle against the Archdemon, the only way I can ensure your survival, my love, is by doing this ritual. By… by walking away, when the time is right. I'm sorry, but…"

"I… I don't care if this is a blood magic ritual," Sokka said, closing his eyes tightly, hands reaching for Azula's shoulders. "It's fine by me if… if we have a child. I'm not prepared for it, no, it's coming out of nowhere, seemingly… but I will prepare. I can prepare. But what I can't accept… is never seeing you again. Ask me to give up on anything, Azula… but I cannot give up on you."

She gritted her teeth, shaking her head at his determination. Sokka clasped her hand in his, unsure if she would storm off on him now… or if she would choose, instead, to lie and pretend she'd stay only to leave him later. It would be easier to trick him, he supposed…

Why did she have to leave, though? He had heard her reasons, and he couldn't pretend they weren't legitimate… but couldn't he help her protect the child? His templar abilities might not be that powerful, but he could still provide some assistance, couldn't he?

But Azula didn't want to put him in danger. She didn't want to endanger his position on the Fereldan throne. She wanted to ensure Sokka's future would be the right one… and she was convinced that said future could only be successful if she wasn't part of it. She was wrong to believe that, of course… but perhaps it was time for Sokka to wrap his head around certain possibilities. To think outside his emotions, much as she seemingly wanted him to… and to find an alternative for their future, even if it might be a painful one.

"Your reasons to do this… are because you want to ensure the child is not a danger for anyone. Because your association with me could be dangerous too for my claim on the throne," Sokka said, frowning. Azula eyed him with uncertainty. "And because of Ursa, because you're sure she'll be back but you expect it won't be that soon, right? Otherwise, you'd have to stay and hope we could all help you defeat her again. You… intend to go into hiding, somehow? To fade into obscurity and keep the child hidden so she might not find you quite that easily?"

"Yes…" Azula said, nodding. "And if I stay with you, she'll know exactly where to find me… find us, you, me and the child. If it happens to be a boy… perhaps she won't care to take his body. She didn't with Zuko, so…"

"Zuko?" Sokka repeated, frowning. Azula swallowed hard.

"It seems… he and I may be related. From what Iroh says," Azula said. Sokka's eyes widened. "She sent Zuko back to our father, Iroh's brother, and… and when his brother went back to the Korcari Wilds anew, no doubt seeking Ursa, she finally sired a daughter with him, me, and… and he never returned north."

"Shit," Sokka hissed. Azula swallowed hard.

"If the child were a girl… possessing her body rather than mine would provide her with even more power than she'd gain through me alone," Azula said, looking at Sokka hopelessly. "I do not know of any magic that can guarantee a boy, so… it will be a matter of sheer luck, in the end. If it were a boy, we will be safer. If it were a girl…"

"Alright. Then… say it's a boy. Say she can't possess him that easily," Sokka said, staring at her intently. "What would your plan be, if she comes back?"

"I… would avoid detection as best as I can. I have been looking into developing certain barriers, force fields of a different kind," Azula said. "Those might prevent her from finding us."

"And once the child is grown…" Sokka asked. Azula bit her lip. "Once you've taught him whatever he needs to know for his survival and protection from his… well, grandmother, what then?"

"We would likely have to confront her again, eventually," Azula admitted. "And 'tis quite possible we will find ourselves with the same outcome. I do not know if she will ever be fully killed…"

"But you think, if the child is trained enough, it might be able to field off her attempts to poach the Old God's soul for her nefarious motives?" Sokka asked. Azula shrugged. "If that's how it is… after that point, you could come back."

"What?" Azula said, frowning. Sokka gritted his teeth.

"I can agree… to the ritual. I've said so by now. I'll gladly make love to you as many times as you want me to," he said. "And if you wanted it to happen forever, I'd be the happiest man alive. But if it's only one more night, I… I'll cherish it deeply anyway. Still… I can't accept never seeing you again."

"Sokka…"

"Ten years. If you want ten years, I can give you that," Sokka said, tears in his eyes. Azula's own tears mirrored his. "More than that, I… I don't know if I could fathom it, but if you thought it necessary, I would endure it. Still…"

"Ten years?" she repeated. "If I agree to that… you'll let me go?"

Sokka gritted his teeth, reaching out to touch her face.

"If you're afraid they'll never accept you because you're of low birth… I will change this damn nation in ten years, to ensure they do," he said, firmly. "I will prepare. I will ensure everything's ready for when you can come back with the child. If you wish to marry me by then, I will be thrilled for it. If you don't… i-if you just want to visit and leave, then I'll accept it too, as long as I get to see you."

"You're impossible," Azula said, shivering as she pressed her brow to his. "Now you're being more rational and you're still infuriating because…"

"Because you know you want this," Sokka finished for her. Azula's tears dripped down her cheeks as she nodded, gazing at him hopelessly. "If you… if you find another way to keep both yourself and the child safe… if you find anything that can protect you from her reach, you can come back sooner, too. I just… I just can't bear the thought of living without you for good. If I have to let go now, if you really think I have to, t-then I guess I will, but… not forever, okay? I… I want to know our child, too. If it has dragon scales or tentacles or an ugly smile…"

"It will be a normal child," Azula assured him, and Sokka laughed softly.

"I don't mind if it's not… because it's our child. And if it's the only child I'll ever have… then I'm thrilled that you'll be the mother," he said. Azula whimpered softly, wiping the tears with her fingers. "So… we will lie together now. We will make love. We will do your ritual… we will ensure the child is conceived, and we will defeat the Archdemon. Then… you'll go, if you really have to. And you'll come back, when you're ready to. I'll… I'll always be waiting for you. Always. Even if I'm old and wrinkly when you finally return…"

"Do you expect me to be any better, if so?" Azula asked, smiling sadly at him. "Whatever happens…"

"Know that I'll never stop being grateful to have known you. To have loved you, as I have," Sokka said, earnestly. Azula's throat closed in as she pressed her brow to his again. "If this is our last night together…"

"Then we'll see to making it memorable, shall we?" Azula said, with a fragile smile.

Sokka nodded in agreement: their tears mingled together as they finally joined in a desperate, passionate kiss… one that Azula had to break off, panting as Sokka sought to join their lips again. She whispered softly against his lips when she spoke anew:

"I need to… to prepare the ritual first, damn it…"

"One round without ritual, one round with it…"

"Insatiable Grey Warden…"

"Beautiful Witch of the Wilds," he rebuffed, smirking. Azula laughed and shook her head.

"What a poor excuse for a templar, falling in love with an apostate…"

"And what a troubling situation for an apostate, falling into bed with a templar."

Sokka climbed over her as he pinned her down on the bed: Azula moaned heartily into their every kiss, shivering violently as she clung to him with her very soul. Sokka kissed her fiercely, again and again, as though hoping the intensity of it would ensure to change her mind… nothing would, he knew, but he still had to try…

They were locked inside their room the whole night, leaving all other preparations for the upcoming battle for others to handle. After one frenzied round of desperate, emotional sex, where they exchanged countless tears and many love confessions while caressing and kissing constantly, Sokka wound up falling asleep briefly, taking a short nap before waking up when he picked up magical sensations near him.

Azula stood above a sigil, and lights danced around her. He couldn't see any actual blood anywhere, but he could sense she was changing something in her very body, by the twitches of her face, by the shadows that streaked over her abdomen in particular. Her movements were enthralling, entrancing… and so, Sokka sat there by the bed as Azula's body swayed while she commanded her power expertly. He could have sworn he had never seen a more beautiful form of magic before… a more beautiful woman, ever before. Fully naked as she remained since their coupling, Azula had drawn marks upon her body, light ones, that glowed as power was channeled through her skin and underneath it…

Sokka couldn't help himself: the spectacle before him was impossibly erotic, a sight he couldn't tear his eyes off from. His manhood had been spent a few hours ago, but it reared back to a proper erection as his hand encircled it, as he pumped his cock gradually while witnessing Azula's strange, dancing ritual. Her hands rose over her flanks, over her body, careful not to caress herself, so as to avoid disturbing the sigils she'd drawn upon her skin…

When her eyes finally opened anew, she was greeted by a rather welcome sight: her lover's fully erect manhood stood ready for her, and she smiled as she watched him stimulating himself while taking in the erotic sight of her swaying body.

"Come," she said, softly. Sokka let go of his cock at once, charmed by her words, crawling out of the bed quickly. She smiled as he walked into the sigil carefully, and Azula stopped him right at the spot he needed to be at. "You will hoist me. I shall lean backwards. Once the spell works… all the lights will fade. It will be all the better if… if I conceive while hovering right above this sigil."

"Right… yeah. Anything… anything you want," he said. Azula smiled, caressing his face delicately.

"Come for me, my love. Come inside me," she beckoned him, pulling him closer for a searing kiss.

His hands found her thighs, enabling her to jump on him and wrap her legs around his waist, much as her arms were locked around his neck. She controlled the situation flawlessly… thus, she lowered herself skillfully on his manhood and let out a cry of bliss once their bodies had been joined.

She leaned back, preventing Sokka from devouring her lips or breasts as he was wont to do: she did as much to ensure her abdomen would align perfectly with the center of the sigil. Sokka began thrusting, standing up as he was, and Azula received each thrust gladly, encouraging him with her moans and the light sway of her hips towards his. Sokka let out a fierce groan, one that promised he would devour her thoroughly once the ritual was over. Azula bucked against him again and again, eagerly welcoming him fully inside her, legs spread as far as they might go: Sokka's hands were firm upon Azula's ass, helping him reel her in so he could penetrate her fully, all the way to the base of his shaft. Azula moaned heartily, almost forgetting herself in the throes of excitement, but she didn't let the arousal do away with her rational mind completely: she began mumbling words Sokka couldn't understand, and a magical aura rose around them. He grunted and continued, feeling exhilarant, joyful… powered on by the magic that clouded his perception and affected him, just as much as it affected her: he would get Azula with child, he knew he would, and that the notion would be quite as hot as it was certainly caught him by surprise…

"I'm… I'm close…" he said. Azula hummed to convey she had heard him and thrusted harder: her voice gained strength as she recited more of her ritual's words…

Sokka couldn't take it anymore by then: his climax had never been quite as spectacular as it was that day. Still immersed in the pleasant magic that numbed his senses, Sokka couldn't see the wisps that burst through the sigil on the floor, that drifted in through the light… subtle magical powers surged and surrounded Azula's womb as soon as his seed had spurted into it. He didn't slow down, carrying forward with the recklessness of a man unwilling to waste even an instant of his own excitement… and that, it seemed, was what the magic was counting on: only when Sokka was weakening, his legs pleasantly numbing after releasing himself inside Azula, did the magical forces shine once again… before shooting right towards Azula's womb. One last flash of light blinded them before the sigil and every symbol upon her body faded, and their room was left in utter obscurity.

Sokka's chest heaved as he pulled Azula in: she whimpered softly and moaned as her chest pressed into his… and then she kissed him fiercely, gratefully, cherishing the knowledge that her ritual had paid off. That she had saved the man she loved, or that she would save him as long as the battle in Denerim was successful. She kissed him willfully, passionately, emotionally… and he returned each kiss, mind blinded by pleasure and emotion alike now that the magic appeared to have worked. His chest heaved, and he was still trembling, still hugging Azula snugly as she pressed many more kisses to his cheeks, his nose, his chin…

"It's… done?" he asked. Azula nodded, breathing heavily by his ear.

"Yes… 'tis done," she whispered.

"That… that was…"

"I know. I know it wasn't easy for you, Sokka, but…"

"It was smoking hot."

His remark surprised her, and she couldn't contain a soft laugh as he smiled warmly at her. She shook her head as she cupped his face in her hands.

"I knew it. You have a fetish over mages, you naughty templar…" she hissed. He laughed and shook his head.

"Over one particular mage, maybe," he said, kissing her lips quickly. "I'd never… never known about magic like this."

"'Tis far too ancient for you to know of it…" she explained, a hand on his chest. "From well before the Circles existed. I will… I will protect you, this way."

"I know. And I really want to thank you for that," Sokka chuckled, stepping back until he wound up sitting on the bedside anew, with Azula on his lap. Azula smiled as he kissed her rapidly, devouring her neck greedily. "We… we're going to have a child, ah? Hell, we've made a baby…"

"We have," Azula confirmed, smiling still. "You seem quite joyful about it, too…"

"Our baby… I don't know about that Old God's soul or whatnot, it's our baby," Sokka chuckled, kissing her lips again. Azula laughed, cupping his face still. "I'd say we should do this again… I know we won't have to, but still…"

"I can find other odd sex rituals for other purposes, if you like," Azula laughed. "For… for the far future, maybe."

"For what, growing plants in an orchard?" Sokka suggested. Azula laughed anew, her head dropping on his shoulder. "Maybe as a remedy for soreness…"

"One that makes you sore in other ways, too?" she asked. Sokka snickered.

"How about rituals to give you good luck on the road?" he asked. "Better luck in your studies, or when a big ceremony's about to be held…"

"You're just trying to find excuses for sex, aren't you?" Azula smiled. Sokka grinned and nodded. "Well… I can't think of any other rituals we could do right now, but…"

"That's fine, I'm still very much affected by that one, thank you very much," he smirked, kneading her breast deviously. Azula laughed and moaned, throwing her head back.

"If so… what are you waiting for?" she smiled teasingly at him.

They should have gotten proper rest that night, at some point… but it seemed Sokka was determined to prove the Grey Warden stamina was as powerful as most rumors claimed. It would be their last night together, they knew as much… and so, they wasted none of it. Even when Azula told him they ought to rest, Sokka refused with the stubbornness of a child, ever rekindling their exchanges while she laughed at him, as though there was nothing weighing them down: for one final night, nothing would. The tears they had shed, the laughter they shared, the affection and the countless love confessions… they lasted until the bright stars in the night sky were swept away by dawn, which found them clinging to one another, still.

"We'll be setting out now," Azula said, softly. Sokka nodded, pressing a kiss to her brow.

"You'll stay with me… the whole time. Alright? The march… the battle, too," Sokka said, trailing his finger over her collarbone, brushing against her loose hair. Azula nodded, gazing at him with unusual warmth.

"I'm yours. Whatever foes we must face… we shall face them together, my love," she whispered: words that could have been so difficult to speak before now flowed out of her so easily, after a night spent with no more secrets, no more lies, no more dishonesty. Sokka had finally seen through her, understood her true intentions, and he hadn't shunned her, he hadn't thought she was betraying him… and Azula's heart couldn't soar higher for it. She kissed him again, and Sokka responded without any restraint.

"Say, if nothing was in our way… our positions in society, a bloody Blight, an Old God's soul?" Sokka said, smiling weakly. "Would you… would you stay with me?"

Azula's heart tightened as she reached up to cup his cheek. She kissed him in response, in a show of opening her emotions without holding anything back anymore. Sokka embraced her intimately, and she knew that she would never find an embrace like that one again. That if the day ever came when she found anyone else, anyone but him, the feelings they would elicit would never resemble these. Her forays into human lands and culture had seen her testing the waters of sexual exchanges with men in the past… but nothing had prepared her for the charged difference, the poignant change, that came to pass when feelings were involved. For, if she hadn't loved him, she would have already mustered the strength needed to climb out of his bed and demand he got going, too. She would be thrumming with anxiety over her destiny, over what she had to do to save him from the Archdemon… she wouldn't be tempted to reject reality, to play deaf and blind to the horde just to stay with Sokka in this delightful embrace.

She broke off the kiss with heavy panting, tears springing again in her eyes: it was no surprise to see some in his, too.

"If we… if we live past tomorrow, I will answer that question," she said. "Though… no doubt, you must already know what that answer will be."

"You give my brain more credit than it's due," Sokka chuckled. "What happened with saying I was a stupid templar, eh?"

"Hmm… you're not that stupid, no," Azula conceded, smiling playfully. Sokka snorted.

"Just because I said I would likely have become a raving lunatic if I had stayed a templar all my life?"

"Your self-awareness does you credit and always has," Azula grinned. Sokka chuckled and shook his head.

"Yours doesn't," he said, brushing her hair with his fingertips. "For… no, you don't have the slightest clue of how damn beautiful you are, say whatever you will."

"I don't, then?" Azula smiled. "I suppose you believe I ought to admire myself in that mirror more often, then."

"Probably," Sokka said. "Eventually you'll realize all that gold and gemstones are nothing next to your own beauty, yes."

"Eventually," Azula agreed, caressing his face. Sokka turned his head in her hand, intent on kissing her palm and her wrist.

"We… have to get going. Sun's already… coming up," Sokka admitted, peppering her skin with kisses. "But, fuck, I don't want to go anywhere…"

"You're a commander of armies," Azula smiled. "What will your people say if they learn you'd sooner sleep with your lover than lead them into battle?"

"That I should not be king at all, of course, which means I get to stay here with you," Sokka decided, smirking. Azula snorted and laughed, shaking her head. "You have… the most beautiful face. The most beautiful eyes, and the most beautiful smile… most beautiful laughter, too."

"And you're terribly corny, but… but it seems I love you regardless," she said, smiling warmly at him. "I… I'll never forget this night. I know you won't, either."

"I'll relive it in my head every day of my life, I think…" Sokka said, with a watery smile again. "Until I can finally see you again."

Azula swallowed hard and nodded before kissing him briskly. Sokka responded generously, emotions rushing through their bloodstream, making them high on each other, completely…

A knock on the door, unwanted and unwelcome, interrupted the long, thorough kiss.

"Sokka… it's time."

Arnook's voice drifted through the door, and Sokka sighed in resignation. Azula smiled sadly but nodded: after one more kiss, they finally climbed off the bed, for the first time since Azula's ritual had been finished.

Azula would wear the robes Sokka had found in Ursa's hut: they would help in channeling the Old God's soul perfectly into her womb, where the child was currently growing, no doubt so small it couldn't even be perceived yet. As for Sokka, his new armor and weapons would see him marching at the head of their army clad in a massive armor of red hue – the armor he had acquired from that smith from Denerim. The new sword the others had brought for him would be strapped to his back, along with a shield they had recovered in Ostagar a few days ago… Katara's shield. On his hip, he would carry Hakoda's sword as well, which Katara herself had taken into battle when the darkspawn had rampaged and broken their army: today, as Sokka fastened each weapon, each armor with Azula's help, he did so solemnly, eyes closed as he let himself hope, believe, that he would live up to the example of both his father and his sister… that he would honor them on the battlefield, once he marched to meet his destiny.

Or perhaps he had already met it… and it smiled warmly at him now, cupping his face before offering him one more heartfelt, longing kiss. How he wished he could shed the armor, if just to take her into a direct embrace… but he held her and kissed her devotedly all the same. Azula smiled warmly once she pulled away… hoisting his Order's traditional, winged helmet before setting it in place upon his bent head.

"You're ready now… Grey Warden."

The armies Sokka had gathered joined together as they progressed towards Denerim. Elves, men and dwarves, mages, rogues, and warriors alike marched under allied banners, outfitted for the battle of their lifetime: Denerim was already under attack, and all information they'd learned from the city suggested they were in dire need of help: the first of the darkspawn had already breached the front gates of the city and marched inside, mainly opposed by the guards who remained in Denerim.

The forced march to the city was exhausting, and yet the adrenaline in every warrior's heart ushered them to press on, more so after Zuko, who would not join the battle directly, stepped up to give a rousing speech to the troops, with Sokka beside him:

"Before us stands the might of the darkspawn horde! Gaze upon them now, but fear them not: the man beside me is the long-lost son of King Hakoda, the last of the Theirin bloodline, now risen to the ranks of the Grey Wardens! He is proof that glory is within reach of us all! He has survived despite the odds, and without him none of us would be here! Today we save Denerim! Today, we avenge the death of my wife, Queen Katara! But most of all, today we show the Grey Wardens that we remember and honor their sacrifice! For Ferelden! For the Grey Wardens!"

The troops responded with war cries of their own: shortly afterwards, the armies marched forth and the battle was joined: Sokka led the assault, guiding his team through the breached gates to chase after the darkspawn that had invaded the city. There was no question to be had: they'd find many more creatures deeper inside Denerim, and the battle would not be won until their leader had been slain. The Archdemon, Sokka could tell, was flying above the city, near the heights of none other than Fort Drakon's tall tower. He would have never returned to that prison if he had the choice, but it seemed likely that it would be the best vantage point from which to attack the creature.

But first, the darkspawn on the ground had to be dealt with.

"Charge!" Sokka shouted: all his friends followed his command immediately.

They had grown used to fighting side by side, and their synergy was stronger than ever. Even Toph, ever so chaotic, had developed a keen eye for using their ranged abilities so their allies wouldn't be injured, often offering further strength to the rest of the team by exuding a magical aura that enhanced their abilities. Azula conjured storms of ice, fire and lightning, and Ty Lee ensured the darkspawn would falter within them by stunning them in place with her Scattershot attack. Jet dashed across the fighting territory, fading in and out of sight, ever slipping his daggers through the ribcages of his enemies. Sten-Mai and Suki worked back-to-back, their two-handed weapons dealing devastating, killer blows to multiple darkspawn at once. Yagoda focused on healing her team and on taking out the magical foes in the darkspawn's group, ever resorting to her Mana Clash spell to reduce them to nothingness quickly.

It was a slow and gradual process, but within half an hour, the entrance had been cleared. Sokka checked on Azula quickly, removing his helmet to offer her a quick kiss before focusing on the battle anew: Chey marched towards him, anxious and yet clearly ready to die today. With any luck, he wouldn't need to be a casualty… but Sokka didn't dare tell him as much just yet. Grey Wardens had often resorted to extreme measures in their efforts to fight the Blight… but it was quite likely that the Order wouldn't take kindly to knowing Sokka had found a loophole around the final line of their creed: "In death, sacrifice."

"We're doing better than I expected, we've taken control of the gates by now," Chey said.

"That will likely change quickly," Sten-Mai stated.

"We're outnumbered three-to-one!" Suki huffed: she was halfway through her berserker rage, which infused her with unparalleled strength.

"What should we do now?" Yagoda asked, looking at Chey hopelessly. "You have a plan, I presume?"

"The army will not last long. We need to move quickly and reach the Archdemon," Chey said, looking at Sokka. "Bring Iroh and a few others of your trusted companions into the city. The ones remaining can stay behind to strengthen our defenses and keep the darkspawn out of Denerim."

"What about you?" Sokka asked Chey. He swallowed hard.

"I will chase the Archdemon myself, now," he said. "I will take a group of soldiers and mages to help me find it. Once I do, I will attempt to deliver the final blow as soon as possible. You will have to be at the ready, however, in case anything goes amiss. I want you to target the Archdemon's generals too, there's at least two powerful darkspawn within the city…"

"I can sense them," Sokka said, frowning. "They're stronger than the rest."

"One seems to be by the Market District, the other in the Alienage, perhaps," Chey said, letting out a deep breath. "I know that nothing you've faced so far compares to this challenge, Sokka… may the Maker watch over you."

Sokka nodded as Chey marched off to find his allies in attacking the Archdemon. With that, Sokka turned to the rest of their group, his heart tightening in his chest.

"Well… who knew we'd really come to this, huh? Sten sure thought we wouldn't," Sokka smiled. Sten-Mai huffed but smiled slightly.

"I acknowledge you have surprised me, Warden. I did not know strength like yours could be found in humans…"

"Ehem…" Ty Lee raised an eyebrow, and Sten-Mai smiled.

"Until you both proved me wrong, that is."

"That's more like it," Ty Lee grinned, patting Sten-Mai's hand. "But… who are you bringing with you, Sokka? Chey said you should bring Iroh…"

"Yeah… he'll come with me," Sokka said, nodding. Iroh bowed his head in his direction. "Azula is coming too."

"Of course, we knew that much," Jet smiled. "What of the others?"

Sokka let out a deep breath: it was clear that they'd be at a disadvantage if their team split up this way, but there was no other choice. He shook his head as he glanced at Sten-Mai.

"You will lead the forces in the gates," he said. Sten-Mai nodded firmly. "I expect you'll want Ty Lee by your side?"

"I will stay with him," Ty Lee confirmed.

"Yagoda… with Azula in our group, you should stay with them, too," Sokka said. Yagoda smiled and nodded graciously in his direction. "And as both me and Iroh are warriors… Suki, you should stay here, too."

"Eh, plenty of darkspawn to maul here anyway," she said, punching her own hand as she glared at the gates menacingly.

"Jet… guess you're coming with me, in case we need a rogue," Sokka said, with resignation. Jet laughed.

"Grand! I shall ensure to stab everything you need me to, rest assured, Warden!" he said, just before summoning his wolf companion to aid them once more.

"And Toph…" Sokka said, glancing at her. "Would you rather hurl rocks at the darkspawn in the gates or inside the city?"

"What's the difference?" Toph asked, with a careless, stony shrug. Sokka smiled.

"Alright, stay here. Foo-Foo, you're coming with us, of course," Sokka leaned down, scratching the dog's ears: he barked happily in response, and Sokka rose back to his full height, addressing the group he'd leave at the gates. "It's been an honor traveling and fighting alongside each of you. Once this is over, I'll make sure to buy something nice for all of you. Like… a nice barrel of ale for you, Suki."

"Damn right!"

"And a pretty painting for you, Sten. Also, cake."

"Agreeable."

"I guess you'd love new shoes, Ty Lee…?"

"Ah, yes! Magnificent!"

"And I bet I can get the Chantry to find you nice books too, Yagoda."

"You know just what we love, don't you?"

"As for Toph… maybe a shiny rock would do."

"That sounds perfect!"

Sokka laughed, as did the others. With one last reverence towards his friends, Sokka turned towards his team with a determined frown: his eyes fell upon Azula, and he nodded in her direction.

"We know what we're facing next. Let's see to taking down every blasted darkspawn that dares defile this city, shall we?" he said, before setting his helmet in place again.

They nodded positively, and Sokka led them then into the Market district among the cheers of their armies. Their encouragement infused Sokka with further strength as he ran among the soldiers, to the next gate in the city and the next area they'd need to rid of darkspawn.

As Chey had told them, there were generals of the darkspawn within the city: the dangerous Ogres were bad enough, but the damnable general they came across in front of Denerim's Chantry was a mage, and this time Yagoda wasn't here to deal with him quickly. Azula had to restrain it with Crushing Prison, freeze him multiple times while Jet backstabbed it repeatedly, and Iroh and Sokka slammed their shields to form a wall the general couldn't overcome. After repeated stunning blows, cutting blades, dog and wolf bites and powerful magic, the creature finally faltered, and the weakened fighters took a brief respite before moving on to the Alienage.

The battle there was even worse, if possible: Sokka had to request that one of their allied armies helped them sort through a seemingly endless barrage of darkspawn. The Dalish hunters shot countless darkspawn dead one after the other, but it wasn't so easy with the emissaries, let alone with the general, when it finally showed itself. Again, they were weakened and weary after they defeated the general… but yet again, they had no choice other than fighting on, into the Palace District, this time.

Before they could get there, however, tragedy struck.

They didn't get to see how it happened. They didn't have a chance to witness the fearsome fight in the sky. They could hear the Archdemon's roars, but they couldn't tell what was happening, for it flew too high in the sky. Yet Sokka glimpsed a collapsing, human figure, just as they stood on the bridge that led across the Elven Alienage: Chey had successfully harmed the Archdemon, undoing its ability to fly by cutting its wing, and it had spiraled onto the very top of Fort Drakon. It still lived, going by its ferocious howls… but Chey would not, going by high his fall had been, and how unlikely it was for anything to cushion his fall.

"It… it is up to us, now," Iroh said, frowning heavily and glancing at Sokka. Sokka gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Come. We can't stop now, we have to push forward!"

The others agreed, and they charged ahead: there were so many darkspawn in the Palace District that Sokka started to genuinely fear their friends by the gates had been overrun. A group of Redcliffe warriors took to helping with keeping the darkspawn at bay, but the group of shrieks that attacked them suddenly, the powerful mages among the enemy, and the many traps that they only dodged when Jet miraculously managed to detect and deactivate them, cost them more time than they had anticipated as they rushed up the tower of the dark prison Sokka had wished to never return to.

More and more darkspawn fell to them, and they took brief breaks to regain their strength whenever it was necessary. The oddest thing, however, happened when they found Moku, Chong's adopted son, standing alone in a room of dead darkspawn that, seemingly, he had slain himself.

"But… he is a dwarf. And his vocabulary is comprised by a single word…" Jet said, with an awkward smile: Moku grinned as he leaned down to greet Foo-Foo.

"Puppy!" he exclaimed. Jet blinked blankly.

"Two words, then."

"Well, the enchantment guy has certainly spared us from having to clear this room… but we have a long way to go yet," Sokka sighed, marching towards the stairs. "Stay safe, Moku!"

"Enchantment!" Moku responded, positively.

The upper levels of the prison were just as challenging as the bottom floor had been: at one point they were attacked by a full squad of archer genlocks, perfectly positioned within a room, ready to Scattershot them repeatedly until they died: they had to retreat quickly, and Azula cast her dual storms in the room to deal with the threat they posed. The next corridor they tried was even worse: only Jet's quickness to identify traps on the floor kept them from falling prey to an even more dangerous genlock than the ones they'd found so far, a dreaded rogue darkspawn assassin whose attacks dealt so much damage that Azula had to cast healing spells upon each member of their group constantly.

The final room before reaching the top floor was, perhaps, the worst of them all: two Alpha Ogres rammed into both Sokka and Iroh's shields, knocking them off their feet in the process. A Hurlock Emissary cast a miasma that slowly drained their strength… until Sokka bellowed and made good use of his templar ability to nullify magic: the miasma faded, and he proceeded to smite the Emissary as well: the creature was severely damaged and stunned, although not dead yet. Jet cast his Mark of Death upon it, and Azula and Sokka rained blows upon him while Iroh, Foo-Foo and the wolf held off the two Ogres. The others rejoined the battle against the Ogres once the mage was killed, and they needed another moment to catch their breaths afterwards.

"I… can hear the screaming up ahead," Jet said, gritting his teeth. "The Archdemon… is next."

"Good. We will end this quickly," Iroh said. "As quickly as can be, anyway. Sokka… I will deliver the final blow."

"You won't," Sokka said, eyeing Iroh firmly. "I'll take care of it. I've… prepared a countermeasure."

"For what Chey explained?" Iroh asked, puzzled.

"It's complicated… but yeah," Sokka nodded, pushing himself upright again. "I'll take care of it."

"If you're certain…" Iroh nodded, picking out one of their waterskins and draining it quickly.

"Well, then… I must say, it has been quite the honor, traveling this far with all of you," Jet said. "I can't believe I was actually trying to kill you once, Warden-King. I'm quite pleased that you and my former employer have made your peace with each other now…"

"And I regret having set us all into collision course, when I did," Iroh admitted, looking at Sokka earnestly. "Thus why I'm willing to die to atone, but…"

"Atone by living. By being a Grey Warden and amending what you can of the damage you did," Sokka said, bluntly. "Revenge for what you did… it's meaningless, at this point. I don't think… I don't think it's what my father would have wanted, either."

"He was my best friend," Iroh said, softly. "And I'm pleased that… that as much as you never knew him, you have so much of him inside you. You are a worthy king, and a grand leader. If I live or if I die… It will be under the command of a man worthy of the title of Hero of Ferelden."

Sokka's heart tightened, and he nodded graciously to accept Iroh's words. Jet smiled too, nodding in his direction.

"Aye, I'd rather not die, of course… but I agree. You are a good friend," he said, patting his wolf companion's head gently. Sokka smiled back.

"Strangely, so are you. As weird as you may be," Sokka smiled, turning now towards Foo-Foo. "But nobody's a better friend than you, eh? Go on, then: you're Barkspawn today. And you're going to put the fear of the Grey Wardens into the hearts of all those wretched… uh, do they even have hearts? Curses, I'm just no good at rousing speeches, am I?"

"You'll be better at them soon. Surely sooner than you know," Azula smiled, as Sokka rose to his feet to gaze at her mournfully. "Ferelden will be a fortunate nation to have you for its king."

"It would be more fortunate if… ah, never mind," Sokka said, smiling and shaking his head before placing his hand upon Azula's cheek. "We've seen no end of turmoil, all sorts of gruesome shit that's become the subject of my many nightmares, alongside the Archdemon, of course…"

"Of course," Azula said.

"But I… I'm afraid you were wrong, love. We've come this far now and… and I have no regrets," he smiled warmly, cupping her face with both hands. Azula smiled too, tears glistening in her eyes. "This journey has changed me in a thousand ways… but I'll never stop being grateful for having known you through it. For having fought alongside you… for having become at least a smidge of the leader you believed I could be."

"You're much more than that, as is," Azula said, her throat choked as she clasped his armored hand. "I never knew of love or friendship until my path crossed yours. So now I can only say… that we shall march to our own destinies now. You have an Archdemon to slay… and I shall be by your side once you succeed. For I know that you will…"

"Heh, no pressure," Sokka smiled, and Azula laughed before taking his face in her hands tenderly.

She kissed him without restraint, without holding anything back, caring little for their current company – in all likelihood, Iroh would soon be smacking Jet on the back of his head for ogling them –, for the circumstances, for the world that demanded so much from them, so much more than they were ready to give. But they kissed all the same… they loved, all the same. And every regret they thought they'd feel was insignificant, non-existent, as they held each other closely.

"I… I will be the best king I can be," Sokka said, softly. "But I will… I will try to find you anyway. I will reach for you, whether in life or in death, in reality or in dreams… I will always reach for you, Azula… I will always love you."

She offered him a watery smile, pressing her brow to his.

"Live long… and live well, my love."

The noise above them forced them to face reality anew: Azula and Sokka exchanged one last, quick yet thorough kiss before they turned towards the next door, marching out into the topmost floor of the fort to face their predestined battle…

The Archdemon was larger than the high dragons they had faced, potentially due to the corruption of the creature. It spewed that unsettling purple fire, and its roars tore at their eardrums whenever it released them. Warriors from the city were already battling against it, and to Sokka's astonishment, Arnook was among them. After roaring a war cry of his own, one that infused his friends with further inspiration and strength, Sokka charged ahead: the archdemon screeched, no doubt sensing that he was a Grey Warden… and so, it took to attacking Sokka with acid, with fire, with everything it could muster.

Sokka was relentless and resilient. Azula constantly healed him, and she even resorted to the Force Field at one point, upon realizing the Archdemon was close to delivering potentially lethal damage upon her lover. She healed Sokka again while the others attacked the creature as fiercely as possible… but after a moment, the dragon fled into another landing of the top floor: an onslaught of creatures poured into the roof, summoned by the Archdemon's screams.

"There's ballistae!" Jet shouted, startling Azula. "I'll man them! Keep everyone alive!"

"Go!" Azula responded: Sokka's Force Field disappeared by then and he coughed softly upon being released from the barrier, but he offered Jet a thumbs up before marching towards the less crowded darkspawn entrance: by now, First Enchanter Pakku had joined the fray as well, and he attacked with powerful magical spells while also bolstering the remaining warriors.

"I'm calling in more of our allies!" Sokka told Azula, who nodded promptly.

"Mages!" she said. "They may be able to aid in healing and attacking that creature!"

Sokka pulled out a horn he carried along with his father's sword and blew on it: within a matter of five minutes or so, the available mages broke into the battle, aiding the faltering warriors and attacking the countless darkspawn as powerfully as they could.

Azula had weakened by now: she drained one of her lyrium potions, regaining some of her strength while knowing it wouldn't suffice for the rest of the battle: even with Jet's help with the ballista he was manning, it didn't seem likely that they would take down the Archdemon just yet.

The creature returned to attack and it struck Jet's ballista with its claws: Jet flew off as a result, rolling on the floor and requiring healing potions quickly, as Azula couldn't conjure a healing spell fast enough for him. He clambered to his feet after that, just as Sokka recklessly charged against the Archdemon, hoping to distract it while everyone else dealt as much damage to it as they could from a distance.

It seemed as though the creature was practically invulnerable: it gave away no signs of being worn down, only of being annoyed and outraged by the puny creatures that continued to attack it. Its leg swiped viciously and it flung many of their allies aside – Sokka, by then, called dwarves into the fray as well, hoping they could help find a weakness in the creature's thick hide. The poison and corruption it exuded were difficult to endure, often seeing its opponents racing away and switching to ranged weapons. After a long period of raining all sorts of attacks on the hostile creature, it finally seemed hurt enough – particularly on its wings – that it climbed to its other platform once more. The warriors had understood what Jet had been doing earlier, and they rained ballistae bolts upon the blighted dragon while everyone else took out the new, rushing darkspawn.

The Redcliffe men were the next ones to come to their aid, followed lastly by the Dalish elves: their armies had taken several blows so far, but they remained resolute, focused on duty and duty alone. The many waves of minor darkspawn were fielded effectively with the help of the reinforcements until, finally, the Archdemon was in their reach once again.

"Focus your power on the Archdemon! Attack as one!" Sokka roared, raising his blade towards the roaring, furious creature.

He was reckless enough as to approach it without regard for the flames that it unleashed against him. The many fighters nearby were ranged, or had experience at fighting at a distance, at least: thousands of arrow shafts protruded on its thick hide, same as blades that had been left within the creature's body. It could spew its corruption blasts if it pleased, but Sokka wouldn't stop, he wouldn't have enough with anything short of the Archdemon's death…

The creature stumbled at last, after a powerful blow of Iroh's. It was stunned, despite being as resilient as it was: this was their golden chance, and Sokka cast one final, hopeful glance at the beautiful woman at his side before rushing in.

He drew Space Sword, as well as Hakoda's sword. He approached at a full sprint as the others watched the creature writhing in final weakness… it opened its jaws fiercely, as though to eat Sokka, only for him to shout as he dropped on the floor, sliding underneath the lower jaw, and he stabbed across the length of the creature's neck with both swords.

The archdemon writhed under its wounds anew, but it wasn't over yet. Sokka, breathing heavily, brought both swords together and screamed, bringing them down with as much power as he could muster into the archdemon's skull.

A burst of yellow light shot into the sky at the spot of the stab wound. Azula gasped, stepping forward as to assist Sokka, only for Jet and Iroh to yank her and Foo-Foo back. The four of them watched in utmost amazement and fear as Sokka struggled to finally slay the stubborn creature that clung to its blighted existence as desperately as it possibly could…

Then, an explosion. A massive explosion, so loud and sudden that it almost flung several of their allied forces off the top of Fort Drakon.

It was hard for anyone to tell by then… but not for Azula. She could sense what the explosion was… what it really meant. The corrupted Old God was bursting free of the dragon's body and it sought a new host, Sokka being the nearest one… and yet it passed him by. It passed Iroh too… and it shot towards the woman clad in the possession robes. The woman whose child – if it could be called that yet, with how small it still was – served as a beacon to summon the dark energy into it.

She felt the surge of power pouring inside her, rushing through her body, seeking that one small speck of existence… and the taint failed to survive against the magic Azula had weaved through the ritual. The Grey Warden taint and the Archdemon taint were meant to cancel each other out, that was exactly why Grey Wardens would be the only ones who could kill an Archdemon…

And the cancelling happened perfectly: for a mere instant, Azula was blighted, and after another one, the corruption was gone. She stumbled back, almost losing her footing… and she instinctively reached for her abdomen, touching her flat belly with uncertainty: she could feel something… she could feel something new, something strange and powerful, inside her.

The Old God's soul, pure and untainted, just as she had intended to harvest it.

She gasped as she raised her gaze, suddenly struck with panic: where was he? Had he been blown off the fort with that explosion? Was he…?

A male figure, in a now dented armor, rose to his feet, startling the many delighted forces stationed at the top of the fort. Iroh gasped at the sight of him, and then his eyes shifted towards Azula, accusingly, perhaps… questioningly, maybe. Azula didn't respond to the questions he didn't dare pose, however.

"He lives…" Jet smiled fiercely. "He lives!"

Sokka pushed himself up with the aid of his father's sword, sheathing Space Sword over his shoulder. He breathed heavily as he finally rose to his full height and glanced across the fort in amazement. Not only had he survived with nothing but minor wounds… but the Blight was over. He could see the darkspawn scurrying away from Denerim, from these heights… the roars of victory, the cheers and laughter and joy, for it was over. The Fifth Blight was over…

He turned then, his anxious face searching for Azula in the crowd that closed in around him, with Arnook at its head. He only saw her for a short moment… for an instant in which her smile was tender, sincere and true. Every shred of resentment that had existed between them upon first joining forces had faded into nothingness: they had become part of each other in every way, building a bond that could never weaken or fade away, no matter what might happen in the future…

Too many celebrating warriors, mages and hunters cheered for him, many of whom spat upon the archdemon's corpse, hacking at it further, vindictively… so many that Sokka lost sight of his party before long.

When he finally could look again towards where Azula had stood, she was gone.

The next days were complicated and chaotic in a myriad of ways: the people in Denerim were determined to celebrate and mourn at the same time, rejoicing in living while resenting the darkspawn's attack profusely. Half the efforts in the city, thus, were for recovery, while the other half seemed devoted to gathering as much ale as possible for everyone to rejoice in the outcome of the battle.

Sten-Mai had successfully led the troops at the gates, and none of them had died thanks to his strong choices. A lot of the tension everyone had felt had seemingly faded now that the battle was finally over… but now it had been replaced by a different kind of tension, especially among Sokka's closest friends: none of them knew why Azula had left, as Sokka had kept the truth of their last night in Redcliffe to himself. Most of them seemed to believe Azula would come back… and yet they mostly seemed to say those words for Sokka's sake. He could see in their eyes that they thought otherwise… he, himself, wasn't sure of anything anymore. But to think he had started out on this journey by offering Azula a chance to back out, to not join him… and now that she had finally taken him up on that distant offer, his heart couldn't seem to stop paining him.

He missed her, at every moment of the day. He missed having the chance to ask her what she thought of his new chambers in Denerim's Palace, missed the mischief she'd likely get up to with him between the sheets immediately, as soon as they were installed in the place. He missed her cutting remarks, her devious wit… that wicked giggle of hers was a miraculous, heavenly sound for him. He missed the intensity of her gaze, the companionship, the camaraderie, the affection… he missed her so much it was as though she had always been a part of him. And only now, upon losing her, did he realize how empty life felt if she wasn't part of it.

The coronation ceremony was held two weeks after the final battle against the archdemon. Denerim's Grand Cleric was the one who placed a crown upon a kneeling Sokka's head, to the roars and cheers of a joyful audience. Sokka rose to his feet once more to regard his people, heart racing with uncertainty and anxiety: he would have a long road ahead to make Ferelden a stronger, better place. Never had he truly expected he'd wind up taking this throne, this crown… and yet here he was, gracefully accepting the excitement of a nobility that thrived in a new king of Theirin bloodline.

His friends were among them, of course: he had a chance to speak with each of them after the ceremony, and with Arnook and Bato as well. The last two appeared to have reached a consensus: Bato would stay in Redcliffe for now, governing the town, while Arnook stayed in Denerim to help Sokka with his new responsibilities alongside Zuko, at least for the time being. Sokka agreed gladly with their chosen course of action and embraced the two men gladly.

His friends, however, didn't have the best of news for him: Yagoda and Toph would travel north, to Tevinter, no less. As much as Toph dismissed the squishy lifeforms the rest of them were, Yagoda's explanations as to what they'd found in the Deep Roads had triggered Toph's curiosity about their life before being a golem, a life they had no recollection of. They would travel to the Deep Roads first, in hopes of jogging back the golem's memory and regaining at least a sense of who they had been in the past. Afterwards, they would go to Tevinter, a dangerous place and yet the only location where mages might just help them unravel a method to revert a golem back to human form…

Suki intended to stick around: she had been welcomed into the human army after her performance in the battle of Denerim, and she would take a position as an instructor with them, to train them in dwarven battle techniques. Jet, as well, chose to stay for the time being, but Sokka could tell he wouldn't do so forever: he intended to dismantle the Antivan Crows little by little, in retaliation for every miserable moment he had lived under their thumb. Then, Ty Lee startled Sokka upon revealing she meant to travel back to the Temple of Sacred Ashes with a Chantry committee, to oversee how the new pilgrimages to the Urn would be handled – as well as to ensure that no more cultists remained in the village. Sten-Mai would accompany her there… but then he would return north, something that neither of them appeared too happy about, even if Sten-Mai was adamant that it was necessary. It was time to return to the qunari and bring an answer to the arishok, leader of their military forces, regarding what the Blight was and what extraordinary warriors he had met while in Ferelden – and, perhaps, he would also bring them a few cookies and cakes to make sure the qunari knew what sort of culinary practices they ought to start testing in their home island of Par Vollen.

The last one to be dealt with was Iroh, of course: Sokka appointed him to serve in the city of Amaranthine, Arl Zhao's old, actual jurisdiction, not that far from Denerim. Iroh accepted the post graciously, and he endeavored to set out to his new duties as an Arl and as a Warden leader as soon as possible. Sokka didn't trust him completely yet – and he could tell Iroh didn't trust him either, still confused over how Sokka had succeeded at slaying the Archdemon without dying –, but Iroh had proven himself a true warrior in the end. Sokka would keep an eye on him regardless, but Grey Wardens were meant to start over and live a new life, setting aside the old once they survived the Joining. It seemed Iroh would honor his Warden's oath, after all.

Other matters had to be resolved too: Sokka wanted to grant the Alienage elves the opportunity to choose an Arl of their own, for the Alienage to be improved upon so that the elves would no longer live in filth, shame and fear. He wanted to offer the Dalish elves some lands to settle on too if they accepted such a boon. He wanted to give the Circle mages more freedoms, in the hopes that a less oppressive atmosphere in the institution would be conducive to less desperate attempts to find freedom through blood magic pacts with infernal demons. He also wanted to grant aid to the dwarves, even if there would be no chance to help them with the internal struggles of their caste system… but he offered to send warrior squads to help battle in the Deep Roads and keep the darkspawn at bay, now that they were poised to return underground after the Archdemon had been slain.

All of this, he knew, he'd have to deal with over time. Attempting to force any of these changes right away, let alone all of them, would be met with serious pushback from the new people he'd be likely to meet in the coming days… his overseers, his councilors, everyone who was supposed to have a say upon his rule. Fortunately, Arnook and Zuko would be around to give him a hand: the now honorary prince would advise Sokka in the coming years, and whether this would be a good partnership or not, it remained to be seen…

So far, Zuko had encouraged Sokka to go greet his people after he was done speaking with his friends: the crowds were wild right outside the Palace gates, and he should greet them once he stepped outside…

But something gave him pause.

Something in the form of a small dog sitting not far from Foo-Foo, near Sten-Mai's position by the food area: to the qunari's utter disappointment, he'd found no cake.

The dog was unassuming, innocent and quiet… and something about it brought Sokka to step up and kneel before it. Despite he knew he shouldn't have, that his suspicions might be wrong – and that, if they weren't, the outcome might still not be as happy as he anticipated – he smiled and reached out to pick up the dog.

It resisted at first… then it relented, allowing Sokka to smile fondly at the creature before marching off, with it slung over one of his shoulders, into one of the Palace's rooms: he heard Zuko calling after him, telling him the people were waiting, but he ignored him.

It was no surprise that a sudden golden glow would bathe Sokka once they were safe inside a distant room… that the small figure he had been carrying would shift into a humanoid one, and one he was thoroughly familiar with, too. He laughed tearfully as he set her down, finding a guilty smile and a blush across Azula's face… a smile he kissed off quickly, holding her face delicately between his hands.

"You came… you were here," he laughed. Azula sighed, caressing his cheek affectionately too.

"I didn't mean to be, but… I couldn't help myself. Sentimentality is most inconvenient," she said, with a teasing smile. Sokka laughed: his heart seemed to overflow with joy now, with relief… for she was here. She had come back, after everything… "Though I am curious now: what would you have done if I hadn't been that dog?"

"Oh, I knew it was you…"

"No, no, no, you're not answering my question…"

"I would've cuddled it and kissed it and called it Azula until, after three months of not taking your form, it had become obvious it wasn't you if it did something like, I don't know, peeing on the legs of a table or being frightened by something unassuming and small, or cowered if Foo-Foo took an interest in it, I don't know," Sokka admitted: Azula laughed as he spoke, shaking her head repeatedly as he grinned at her. "But it couldn't be anyone but you. I knew that much."

"Well… I suppose 'tis good that we know each other so very well," she said, her smile softening. "That crown suits you better than I anticipated… my king."

"O-oh, no. Don't call me that…" Sokka grimaced. Azula laughed again.

"Are you being turned on by that, by any chance…?"

"Whenever anyone else calls me that it's whatever, you know? But you?! Oh, goodness, I'll pin you to the wall if you do it again, you know I will…"

"And if I call you Your Royal Holy Highness? Is that at least clearly sarcastic enough to not turn you on, by any chance?"

"Hmm… actually, no. I think that will happen no matter what you call me," Sokka concluded, with a shrug: Azula couldn't seem to stop laughing as she embraced him again. "Fuck, I missed you…"

"I missed you as well," she said, hugging him tightly. "Though I… am not here to stay, as you must already suspect…"

"But you came back anyway. I didn't think you would, but… you did. And… how are you feeling, by the way? Any odd illness, any sign of the corruption of the taint…?" Sokka asked, anxiously. Azula smiled and shook her head.

"The ritual worked perfectly. The Old God's soul channeled into our child, counteracted the taint… and here we are," she said, taking his hands in hers. "I can sense the Old God's soul now, for even if the child is its host, it dwells inside me. I know 'tis there, though I cannot tap into its power… but it worked, if that is what you wish to know. As for if I'm feeling ill over the Old God or just over pregnancy, I suppose 'tis possible I may feel indisposed in the future, but…"

"You should stay," Sokka said. Azula sighed and shook her head. "A-at least until the baby's born or so. I can take care of you, we can make sure you get through this with the least strain…"

"We could. But I mustn't," she said, cupping his face. "The answer to that question you asked back then… I'm sure you already know what it was. If nothing was in the way, Sokka… even with everything that is, I am already yours. I would choose to be with you, yes, if the choice was possible, if it wouldn't endanger you and everything you've fought to achieve. I must do this, but… that being said, I may have found yet another loophole."

"Really?" Sokka asked. Azula swallowed hard and nodded.

"If… if I find enough information on the subject, I will most certainly pursue this avenue of knowledge and magic. A means through which… through which we may meet again more often than I expected we would, so far. It will require for you to… to keep a certain magical object with you, in your room, perhaps…?"

"Which one?" Sokka asked, puzzled. Azula smiled.

"You're quite a terrible templar, I'll say. Most of them would be utterly aghast over the notion of dealing with more ancient magical mysteries beyond their understanding…" she laughed. Sokka smirked.

"How many times must I remind you that I'm really not a templar?" he prodded her nose with his, and Azula nearly succumbed to the powerful need to kiss him right then and there.

"As many times as you please," she said, fingers slipping into his hair. "I will not settle matters pertaining this new magical device for… for some time, at least. I need to learn more of it, like I said… but once I do, I will send word to you. I will… I will see to it that you acquire one of them, one of your own. That way…"

"We could meet again, through this magical solution of yours?" Sokka asked. Azula nodded.

"As many times as we wish. You… you might help me raise the child, even," Azula said, with a tender smile. Sokka's eyes widened. "And you won't need to abandon your kingdom, nor controversially take me as your wife…"

"I don't care how controversial it might be," Sokka pouted. Azula let out a soft laugh.

"You are far too romantic for your own good," she said. "I never thought I'd come back to say any of this, but… I do wish for us to be together, without Ursa finding me, if she has yet come back to a full existence. If that's possible…"

"Then we'll do our best to make it happen. For sure," Sokka whispered, taking her hands in his, kissing her fingers softly. "It's… it's better than thinking we'll never see each other again. I don't know how long it will take you, but… please do this. Whenever you reach out to me, I'll run to you. I swear it."

"Just what I wanted to hear," Azula smiled warmly. "I… I will come back for you. I will send word to you, if my investigations pay off. And if they do…"

"I'll be ready," Sokka said, with determination. Azula let out a soft laugh. "I'll go anywhere with you… anywhere for you."

"You grant me too much power if that's so, my king," she said. Sokka shivered pleasantly upon hearing those words again, and she let out her devious giggle. "Is something wrong, my king?"

"Absolutely nothing, not while I'm holding you," Sokka laughed, pulling her in to kiss her passionately, devotedly, at long last.

They would have to be apart again, who knew if for a few years or a full decade… she had to investigate about her new magical discovery, the ancient elven magic through which communication and even travel across long distances could be achieved in moments. She had to find one of the ancient elven devices through which it was possible, an eluvian, and see to it that one was brought safely into Denerim's Palace, into Sokka's personal vault… and so, they would travel through the mirrors to meet anew, every day if need be. She could come to the Palace if she wished to… he could visit her in whatever new location she settled down at. And then they would see their child grow… they would raise their child, together, so that one day they would come into true understanding of who they were and the power they held. So that one day, whether Ursa came for them or not, they would no longer have to fear whatever wicked hand destiny might still deal them in the future.

But they had hope now… she had brought hope back to him, and it was the greatest gift he had received on his coronation day. The love they shared, a love so powerful as to see them conquering Blights, demons, high dragons, broodmothers, Archdemons and every kind of hazard they'd seen to protect each other, wouldn't falter against this new challenge either: one day, they would meet again for more than a few hours. One day, their lives would finally be shared completely… and they'd both live for that moment, live for the hope of reuniting for good, so that no forces in this magical world would pull them from each other's side ever again.

A/N:

Hope you guys enjoyed it! If there's anything you're confused about, feel free to let me know! And now, here's the character list:

Sokka – Alistair + The Warden

Azula – Morrigan

Ursa – Flemeth

Piandao – Duncan

Ty Lee – Leliana

Mai – Sten

Yagoda – Wynne

Katara – Cailan

Zuko – Anora

Jet – Zevran

Toph – Shale

Foo Foo – Barkspawn

Iroh – Loghain

Zhao – Howe

Bato – Teagan

Arnook – Eamon

Macmu-Ling – Isolde

Yue – Connor

Suki – Oghren

Hakoda – Maric

Chey – Riordan

Aunt Wu – Mother Augustine

Chong – Bodahn

Moku – Sandal

Takase – Branka

Goro – Hespith

Kuei – Bhelen-Harrowmont

Long Feng – Harrowmont-Bhelen

Bumi – Endrin

Ming – Cauthrien

Hahn – Ser Donall

Haru – Jowan

General Fong – Kolgrim

Gow – Bann Loren

Kyoshi – Caridin

Yangchen – Andraste

Kuruk – Calenhad