Cheers greeted him as he stepped into the sand. He had no idea of why he had so many supporters now, but they were most certainly rooting for him since the squeals had begun when he was announced. Just as he had been told to do back when he was in the Amateur Arena, he raised a hand to salute the crowd and was rewarded by even louder screams.

After listening to the applause for a moment, Sokka started processing the details of the fighting area. There was more furniture here than what there had been on Ember Island, such as complex systems of ladders and ropes, a stone well that seemed to be completely out of place at one side of the Arena, and sharp, metallic spikes were dangerously placed around the edge of the pit. Sokka walked amongst the objects, doing his best not to trip on anything.

The other gladiator was already at the center of the Arena, glaring at him menacingly. His shaggy light-brown hair was slightly disheveled, and he used a red bandana to keep his bangs out of his surprisingly large eyes. There were thick, red stripes on his cheeks, explaining the first half of his name, and his black armor with some golden embroidery finished clearing up why his gladiator name was the 'The Red-Striped Hornet'.

Sokka looked up towards the stands. The Grand Royal Dome seemed large enough to hold a crowd of at least a thousand people. The judges' balcony stood to one side of the building, opposite to the sponsors' terrace, just as it had been at the Ember Crater. But just above the sponsors' balcony there was another large balcony, more opulent and magnificent than the other two. It was empty, and Sokka assumed it was destined for the Royal Family's use. Since Azula was here today in quality of sponsor rather than Princess, she was sitting in the lower balcony next to a plump, bald man. Her cold gaze was set upon him, and he could see in her eyes the expectations she had for him. Sokka nodded towards her in acknowledgment before turning again to face his rival.

"Are you ready, gladiators?!" asked a man with a megaphone just like the one at the Ember Crater. "The time limit on this occasion is fifteen minutes, just as your sponsors decided!"

Sokka looked at Azula briefly again, wondering if setting the limit at fifteen minutes had been a good idea… it sounded like a very short time span to him, but there was nothing he could do about it regardless. The gladiator in front of him snarled, making him wince in surprise. He wasn't too built; in fact, he was surprisingly thin for a fighter. He was already wielding his knives and his glare was slightly terrifying, though Sokka didn't think anything else about the gladiator was quite as menacing as his face.

"Get ready… START!"

Rather than jumping into attack right away, just as Sokka expected him to do, the Hornet kept glaring at him, his hands unsheathing two knives and holding them steadily in a threatening fashion.

"Hey there," said Sokka, smiling in a friendly way. "What's up?"

"What'd you mean 'what's up'?" grunted the enemy with a shrill and rasping voice. "Don't you remember what you're here for?!"

"Sure I do," said Sokka, smiling when he realized this fighter was at least a little more rational than the Spawn of the Volcano. "My name is Sokka. What's yours?"

"None of your business!" he yelled, lounging at him with his knives.

Sokka avoided the blow, but the gladiator attempted to deliver a second slash towards him right after he had jumped. He failed to hit Sokka, but evading the attack this time took the Water Tribe man a lot of effort, and he ended up collapsing on the ground. Sokka kicked dirt into his rival's face and jumped away, getting steady on his feet once more as the Hornet stumbled, coughing and spitting up sand.

"You asshole!" yelled the Hornet. "You're cheating!"

"Hey, there are no rules that say you can't toss dirt into the eyes of your opponent," said Sokka, folding his arms across his chest as he smirked smugly at his rival.

The Hornet wiped his eyes clean before getting ready to attack again.

"C'mon, make this stupid fight worthwhile!" he grunted, running at him with his knives held up high again.

"You might want to change that form of attack, you know?" Sokka said, evading each blow with more ease than before. "It's really reckless, you've got no style at all…"

"No style is my style!" yelled the Hornet, trying to stab Sokka on the face.

"And that's plain stupid!" said Sokka, ducking and driving a fist into the Hornet's chin.

The Hornet stumbled backwards, having bitten his tongue when Sokka punched him. He spat out blood, grimacing at the bitterness of the taste in his mouth.

"See?" said Sokka. "Having no style means you're open for those attacks! Work on your stance and your offensive, will you?"

The Hornet yelled in rage and attacked him again. Sokka frowned as he evaded the attacks as he noticed there was a sound foreign to his fight with the Hornet… it seemed that people at the stands were actually laughing at them. He wasn't particularly bothered by that, but he did wonder what was so amusing about their fight.

"Would you quit being so thoughtless?" he asked, sighing as he kept avoiding blows. "I faced better fighters back in the Amateur League…"

"WHAT?!" screamed the Hornet, his eyes blazing with rage. The Hornet gritted his teeth, grasped his knife steadily in his right hand and tossed it straight at Sokka's shoulder. He managed to avoid it just in time, but the Hornet achieved his goal to stab him on the uncovered portion of his arm with his remaining weapon.

Sokka stumbled back and held his hurt arm with his other hand. The wound didn't feel too deep, but it was somewhat painful. It was finally time to get serious, was it?

"How about that, dog?!" yelled the Hornet, grinning mischievously. "Did your Amateur buddies hurt you like that?!"

"Nah, they didn't," said Sokka, smirking as he finally withdrew his sword and boomerang from their scabbards. "They were way stronger than that!"

With this last statement he tossed his boomerang at the Hornet, who ducked as he unsheathed another knife. Sokka tried to run him through with his sword, but he failed to reach his enemy, who evaded the blow by twirling to the right. The Hornet laughed when Sokka stumbled forward, trying to get back on his feet clumsily, but Sokka smirked as he turned to look at his foe.

"What'd you think you're aiming for, you…?!" started the Hornet, trying to make fun of Sokka but failing when a boomerang came flying straight towards his head.

The blow made him lose his bearings for a moment, and Sokka caught the boomerang when it rebounded towards him.

"You're damn gullible, you know that?" he asked, chuckling.

"Argh!" growled the Hornet, taking his knives and attempting to attack Sokka again.

"C'mon, can't we be reasonable about this?" he asked, as he wielded his sword and moved it in a horizontal arch to keep the Hornet at a distance.

"Quit underestimating me!" yelled the Hornet, tossing another knife. Sokka struck it down with his sword, to the Hornet's surprise, and he pierced a part of the Hornet's armor next.

"I don't think I underestimated you, pal," he said, grinning. "I actually estimated you just as I should have."

The Hornet looked terrified now as he realized his opponent was far more powerful than he was. He gave out another cry of war as he jumped forward, trying to slash Sokka's armor somehow, but Sokka ducked and knocked his opponent down by tripping him. The Hornet rolled on the ground and jumped up again, picking up one of the knives he had dropped earlier. He lunged at Sokka again, attempting to stab him several times, tossing one knife and slashing at him with the next, but the Blue Wolf's defense was impeccable.

Sokka had managed to push the Hornet all the way to the well. He aimed his sword at his neck once he had him against the stone walls that comprised the water pit.

"Sorry about this, really," said Sokka, smirking slightly. "Want to keep fighting or do you want me to get this over with?"

"Y-you…" grunted the Hornet, and to Sokka's surprise, the Hornet attempted to kick him in the leg. But the kick wasn't just a desperate last resource: attached the tip of his right boot was the last of the Hornet's five weapons, another deadly knife.

Sokka couldn't avoid the blow completely, but his armor kept him safe from getting wounded. Still, the metal plate over his thigh crashed against his skin painfully, prompting him to gasp in pain and jump to put some distance between himself and his foe.

"Hey!" he yelled, after getting out of the Hornet's reach. "That was damn sneaky!"

"Yeah, it was," said the Hornet, smirking. "Have a problem with that?"

"Of course! It was such a low move!" said Sokka, fixing his armor.

"Yeah, just like yours when you kicked sand at my face!" yelled the Hornet. "Now we're even!"

"You're one damn wicked boy, you know that?" asked Sokka, wiping the sweat off his brow as he glared at the Hornet.

"No, I'm not!" yelled the Hornet, enraged. Sokka blinked in surprise at his reaction.

"Why are you so worked up over that?" he asked. "Got a problem with handling the truth?"

"That's not the truth, you asshole!" yelled the Hornet. "I'm not a sneaky boy because I'm a GIRL!"

The realization stunned Sokka. He was left to stare at the Hornet with his jaw hanging open quite ridiculously. Even his blood seemed to slow down at that unexpected revelation.

"Y-you're a… y-you're a girl?! How can you be a girl?!" asked Sokka, and the Hornet grew even madder.

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" she yelled, running at him with her knives in tow.

Sokka didn't have it easy this time to avoid three knives, seeing how the Hornet was using both arms and her foot to attack him. But he didn't use his sword to fight back anymore. He was only defending himself now.

"W-why are you a girl?!" he yelled, thoughtlessly.

"What'd you mean why am I a girl?!" squealed the Hornet. "I had no choice on that, you idiot!"

"B-but nobody said you were a girl!" Sokka insisted, as he avoided a blow that passed dangerously close to his cheek. "You don't even look like one!"

"Well, sorry for not being a preppy cute princess like your sponsor is!" yelled the Hornet. "But she should've damn told you I was a girl before you got into this fight! It's too late to surrender now, you dog!"

"Don't call me dog! I'm a wolf! W-wait…" said Sokka, jumping backwards as he looked up to the sponsors' balcony. "You knew she was a girl?!"

Azula couldn't do anything other than glare at him in rage. His performance so far hadn't been half as great as she expected it to be, but now he was embarrassing her in front of the entire crowd by yelling at her like this. To top it off, it was also embarrassing that his fighting now was only comprised of resisting the Hornet's attacks without trying to inflict any damage on her. What was the matter with him?

"Your gladiator is a little strange, Princess… if I'm allowed to say so," muttered Hosang, chewing up on Fire Flakes right next to Azula.

Azula didn't reply to his comment, her blazing eyes fixed upon the sand pit. What was that fool trying to pull this time?

Sokka would have kept yelling at his sponsor if the Hornet's jabs with her knives weren't claiming his attention. He jumped back and parried some of the blows with his sword, but he still restrained from attacking.

"What's the matter?! You afraid of me now?!" yelled the Hornet, her teeth gritted as she pushed Sokka back when both her knives collided against Space Sword.

"I'm not afraid, I just don't want to fight a girl!" said Sokka.

"You WHAT?!" yelled the Hornet.

Azula clasped the edge of her seat brusquely, her knuckles turning white. What was that supposed to mean?

"I don't want to!" said Sokka. "I refuse to, in fact! I won't hurt a girl!"

"Gee, that's a gentleman," Ty Lee whispered to Mai in the stands. The gloomy girl simply raised an eyebrow, not caring at all for Sokka's manners.

The Hornet glared at him furiously before clasping her weapons with even more strength and she yelled loudly, her strength revamped after his last statement. She started moving her arms at such speed that Sokka had a lot of trouble keeping up. Regardless, he managed to keep the Hornet at bay somehow, avoiding and parrying against her dangerous and deadly blows.

"Yet he's pretty good no matter how strange he may be, I won't lie." admitted Hosang, sucking on his fingers. Azula would have found his activity disgusting if she hadn't been busy glowering at her gladiator. She couldn't believe he was acting like this… he would end up losing the match at this rate and he didn't seem to care. She brought a hand up to her forehead as she wondered why had she been foolish enough to look for a Gladiator with a brain… a thoughtless fighter could have been way more useful than Sokka was at this point.

Sokka scrambled into one of the systems comprised of ropes and ladders, trying to get away from the Hornet, who managed to toss a knife at the right spot to cut the rope Sokka was dangling from and, effectively knocking him to the ground. Sokka took the chance to run all around the sand pit and the Hornet followed, yelling at him non-stop.

"Be a man, you wuss! Fight me!"

"I'm being a man by NOT fighting you!" declared Sokka, still running.

Eventually he realized he couldn't keep up at this rate. The time would end eventually and he was still doing nothing other than running around in circles. He stopped briskly as he turned around and he ducked, stepping on the dagger on the Hornet's foot and lifting her above his head, throwing her into the air and forcing her to drop her weapons when she landed heavily on the ground again.

"There! Stay put!" yelled Sokka, kicking the Hornet's weapons away.

But the Hornet refused to surrender. She yelled again and leapt up, her lips curled into another snarl. Sokka didn't foresee her movement and he could only wince as she crashed her head against his unprotected jaw. The blow shook him, his teeth crashing together in a very unpleasant manner, and his momentary lost of focus gave the Hornet a chance to push him to the ground.

They rolled around, struggling as the fight became even wilder. The Hornet bit Sokka's hand, forcing him to let go of Space Sword and prompting him to yell out loud as he tried to get her off him. Sokka managed to push her away from him and he sprinted around the sand pit again, avoiding the obstacles while feinting, trying to shake off his pursuer. The Hornet kept yelling at him, cursing at him more and more until she finally caught up with him, pulling at his clothes and forcing him to come face to face with her once again.

"FIGHT ME!"

"How the hell do you want me to say it?!" Sokka grunted, their hands locked together at the level of their shoulders as they pushed each other. "I-won't-fight-a-girl!"

The Hornet's wrath only increased every time he said those words, and she pushed him even harder than before, trying to trip Sokka up with her feet. Sokka avoided getting knocked over and managed to keep her at a distance, until she began pushing with impressive strength, using her legs to propel herself. When she was close to him again she locked her jaws around his wrist, making him yell, outraged and pained. Against his better judgment, Sokka began smacking her head, trying to loosen her teeth's grip before she cut his hand off with her teeth...

"The time is up!" yelled the megaphone man, startling both fighters. "The judges will decide the winner shortly!"

Both Sokka and the Hornet stared at the judges' balcony in surprise. They hadn't realized the fifteen minutes had been spent so fast. To them, it hadn't felt like they were fighting for that long. And since he was wondering when the fifteen minutes had passed him by, it took a moment for Sokka to realize he was still being bitten by a girl who didn't look like one.

"Hey! Let go of me already, the fight is over!" he yelled, pushing the Hornet away. Luckily for him, the Hornet complied with his wishes and she unclenched her teeth, spitting in the sand as she glared at him.

"You're a coward!" she yelled. "You didn't want to fight me because you knew I'd win!"

"There was no way you would have won... if I'd never found out you're a girl," said Sokka, rolling his eyes. "Damn, how come are you a girl? It's ridiculous!"

"You're a jerk!" said the Hornet now. "Maybe if you were half as smart as you act like you would have noticed I was a girl before fighting me!"

"Well, maybe I would have noticed if you'd told me what your name was!" Sokka retorted.

"My real name's Smellerbee," she grunted. "And I bet you wouldn't have known I was a girl even if you'd known my name!"

"Yeah, it's not much use, actually..." Sokka mused, frowning.

"Well, whatever!" said the Hornet, smirking. "I'm damn sure you'll learn your lesson when the judges say who's the winner of this fight!"

Reality struck him with the force of a huge wave crashing against a cliff shore. His pathetic performance in this particular fight had probably cost him the match indeed. Never before had he lost in an Arena, but it seemed everything would change today... but how was he to be blamed by the outcome? Everything was the Princess's fault! She should have told him his opponent was a girl! In fact, why didn't she? He looked back at his conversations with her through the journey to the Capital and not once did she say his rival gladiator would be a female. Since when did women fight in gladiator Arenas, for starters? He had been at Hui Yi for two years and not once did he fight a girl. How come were there girls in the Superior Gladiator League? He couldn't piece together this confusing riddle... and he was certain he could hardly be blamed for his response when he discovered his rival was a girl. It was the right thing to do, it was what he had been taught to do by his father down at the Southern Water Tribe: lifting a hand against a woman was the lowest thing a man could resort to. And even when Sokka was in the worst position he could be in right now, by being slave in the enemy nation, he refused throw away his integrity.

Or so he had wanted to think…

When he snuck a peek towards where the sponsors were, he found himself gulping. He had never imagined Azula could look so mad... things would always work out for her one way or another, but this wasn't likely to end well and she knew it. The deadly glare she was sending his way was far more terrifying on its own than all the screams and snarls the Hornet had voiced out during their fight in attempts to intimidate him. He lowered his gaze, slightly ashamed even though he didn't know why he felt this way. He had been certain he wouldn't let her down today... discovering otherwise was, for some reason, disheartening.

"The judges will announce the winner now!" said the man with the megaphone, handing over the loudspeaker to a man in his mid-sixties. After clearing his throat, the second man began talking very slowly.

"After much deliberation due to the unusual nature of this encounter, it took the jury a long time to reach a conclusion. Sponsors, both your gladiators gave out a stupendous performance..."

"Why won't he get to the point...?!" groaned the Hornet, biting her thumb's nail anxiously.

"But a winner must be declared regardless. Therefore, due to the effectiveness of his attacks and defense, and despite his lack of fighting drive during the second half of the fight, the winner is the Blue Wolf."

Both Sokka's and Smellerbee's mouths fell open comically at the exact same time.

"Hey!" yelled Hosang at the sponsors' balcony. "That's not...!"

He stopped complaining when his mind supplied him with a logical explanation as to why his gladiator had be found inferior to the Blue Wolf. Of course, the Hornet never had a chance to win if she was facing the Princess's gladiator... how could the judges dare pronounce him as a loser if he was sponsored by the Fire Lord's daughter? It had been a lost fight since the beginning...

"May I inquire as to why is my gladiator being presented with the victory when his performance was as lacking as it was?" Azula's voice roared through the stadium before people could break in celebration cheers to honor the triumphant gladiator.

Everyone fell quiet when the Princess spoke, even the Hornet, who seemed to be about to break into an all out protest over her defeat.

"As I already explained," said the judge, speaking in the same slow monotone as before. It seemed that talking to the Princess wouldn't alter his demeanor in the slightest. "The Blue Wolf proved to be more effective as a fighter than the Red-Striped Hornet. He inflicted far more damage with less attacks and defended himself efficiently from her blows in numerous occasions. The Hornet was more ferocious and determined, but her skills were inferior to the Wolf's. This is why the judges have concluded that the Wolf has won on this fight."

Azula's eyes narrowed in disapproval, but she didn't debate his logic. The people in the crowd, rather than cheering, began muttering amongst themselves, and soon enough the Arena's stands were full of chatter. Both gladiators were led by a few uniformed men back into their respective stand-by rooms to exit the sand pit while Azula tried to keep her anger at bay in the sponsors' balcony.

"Well, that's that, I guess," said Hosang, sighing. "Your gladiator won, Princess! Congratulations!"

With this, he handed her a bag of money. Azula hesitated before taking it.

"I apologize for my gladiator's disgraceful behavior," said Azula. "Your gladiator should have earned the win if only because of the way mine acted."

"Oh, no worries," said Hosang, shrugging and smiling. "It was just a fight. At times you win, at times you lose. It's the way this business works."

"Right," muttered Azula, massaging her brow with her free hand.

"But I do have to say…" Hosang began. "That your gladiator might not be cut out to suit your expectations. It happens often, not every newcomer is able to handle the Superior League. Perhaps you ought to look for a better fighter, one that doesn't have any strange ideas like this one. You are the Princess, you can afford the best fighters without a problem, can't you?"

"I guess I could," said Azula, as Hosang stood up with difficulty from his chair. She frowned at the thought of getting another gladiator… could she really do that? Should she do that? After Sokka's ridiculous performance, she actually felt inclined to do so.

"It was my pleasure to fight you," said Hosang, grinning. "Maybe we can do it again sometime!"

"Perhaps," was Azula's evasive answer, and Hosang bowed to her, leaving the room.

She sat by herself for a while, her brow contracted firmly. She couldn't help but feel cheated somehow after Sokka's pathetic act. How had he dared…? She couldn't understand the logic behind his actions no matter how she looked at them. She truly didn't want another gladiator, searching for one would be a bother, but she might not have a choice if this was the way Sokka was going to behave from now on.

She stood up and walked down towards the stand-by room, her scowl warning everyone who crossed her path to stay as far away from her as possible. Sokka was taking off his helmet when Azula stormed into the room.

"What… what the hell was that, you pathetic fool?" she asked, trying her best to keep calm, but failing to do so. Her voice shook despite she was avoiding raising it as much as she wanted to. Yelling at him wouldn't make the situation any better.

"What do you mean what was that?!" Sokka replied, glaring at her. "You're the one who owes me an explanation! Why didn't you tell me I'd be fighting a girl?!"

"Why the hell should such a thing even matter?!" she said.

"It matters!" growled Sokka. "I'm not about to go out there to beat up girls!"

"Why the fuck not?!" she screamed now. Yelling wouldn't improve the situation, but it sure as hell made her feel much better, and the same applied to cursing.

Sokka was taken by surprise by her coarse word, but his determination didn't falter.

"B-because girls aren't supposed to get beaten up!"

"Says WHO?!"

"Says any moral code in any other place in this world other than in this foul nation!" yelled Sokka. "You think it's fine for me to go around injuring girls?! Well, it's not! I'm not a lowly creep who'd do something so pathetic! Yeah, I should have lost this fight, but it's only because of you! I didn't fight her properly, just like I'll never fight a girl properly! I'm not about to become some sort of monster just because you want me to!"

The word he used made her wince in rage. Sokka was taken aback by the dangerous look on her face. She looked like she was truly about to electrocute him.

"Funny you say that, you useless sack of dung…" she grunted, unable to keep her fury in check. "Why the hell did you fight me, then?"

Sokka blinked in surprise when she said those words. He stood silently, thinking of the answer to her question.

"Yes, I figured you'd conveniently forgotten about that. Why, then, 'Mr. Moral Code'? Why do you refuse to fight girls yet you're fine with fighting me?! Do you think I have a penis down there, by any chance?!" she yelled angrily.

"N-no! Of course not!" said Sokka, grimacing.

"Then say it! Why didn't you care when it came down to me?! Why, is it because I'm your enemy? Or is it because you think that I'M the monster?!" she bellowed, screaming out loud the one word she hated the most.

Sokka was completely startled by her reaction. He never expected her to act like this.

"You have nothing to say now, smart mouth?!" she asked. "You're a disgrace, you useless savage… yeah, yeah, behave as if you were all glory, morals and honor, but you know what?! You're just as bad as Zuko! You know nothing about true honor!"

"W-what are you…?"

"You said Piandao had talked to you about honor, didn't you?" asked Azula, her voice growing shriller. "Well, damn, it seems his words were a complete waste on you! You've disgraced yourself out there by refusing to fight for such a pathetic reason, you disgraced me as your sponsor and you disgraced your opponent too by acting as if she were inferior to you! What the hell does it matter if it's a girl?! She was fighting to her damn best, while you weren't even trying! What the hell do you even know about honor?! You don't understand anything about it! You're just a pathetic slave… a useless savage…"

Sokka clenched his fists and teeth as he shook his head.

"You don't get it. I never said I thought she was inferior…"

"Then why?" asked Azula, still angry. "Why do you say you refuse to fight girls?"

"Because back when I was with my Tribe I was taught to take care of girls, to protect them! Not to fight them!" he said, shaking his head. "I didn't get it at first, sure! How was I supposed to take care of a crazy waterbending sister? But then I grew up and I realized I have to protect girls, not to hurt them!"

"Well, damn, it looks like you're facing the biggest predicament of your life," said Azula, rolling her eyes. "Because that girl out there, the Hornet, she's not just a girl. She's a warrior, a gladiator just like you are. And by refusing to fight her you're showing you're a scumbag just like all those sexist assholes I've known and abhorred for my whole life! You wanted to protect the Hornet? That's, oh, so nice from you, but she was out there, fighting you! And you're just trying to protect her… do you know nothing about respecting your opponent?! One second you were there, fighting to your utmost and the next you were claiming you wouldn't hurt her because she's a girl! Do you have a clue of how humiliated she must be right now?! Do you have any idea of how lowly that was?! Girls CAN FIGHT! You know it damn well, don't you?! You've got a huge scar on your stomach to prove it! But then it turns out that you're not fighting girls because you want to protect them… yeah, what a great man you are indeed…"

"Azula, I just…" he said, her name slipping off his mouth without his thinking of it.

"Save me your bullshit," she grunted, still irked. "You're just like them, damn you. And here I was, believing you were any different. What you think is a courteous behavior is nothing but foolishness, it's nothing but humiliating. And I won't stand for it. If you ever dare do something like this again, I will strike you down. I won't care about all the goals I wanted to achieve through you, and I already don't give a damn about how sad your Tribe will be if you never return home. If you can't honor your rival in the right way next time, be it a man or a woman, I'll be more than happy to make sure you pay for it with your life."

With that threat, she stepped out of the room, leaving him frozen on the spot. Her harsh words rang through his brain several times and he seemed unable to register it all, especially the fact that she had been angry enough to curse. It was something so unlike her, to use such a crude vocabulary… and why the hell was he focusing on that, though? He shook his head in disapproval towards his own actions, ashamed of himself even though he didn't know why he felt guilty about this. He had been taught not to hurt girls… he had stuck to that principle for his entire life, yet for some reason he couldn't stop thinking Azula was partially right, if not completely right. He'd had no reserves about fighting her back in the South Pole; even when he had been training against her on her barge he hadn't held back. Why had he forgotten his ethics when faced against her? He probably had because he had known there was no chance he could have hurt her, she was too powerful for him to damage. In his eyes, the Princess was superior to any woman or man, she was powerful beyond compare. A lowly savage like himself was nowhere near her league, no matter in whichever aspect he wanted to compare himself to the Princess.

Yet he feared she was right. The Hornet had wanted to fight him properly, she had yelled at him to take her seriously but he had refused. Clearly, he was superior to her and he proved it during the first part of the match, but afterwards he had undermined her, humiliated her by deciding he wouldn't fight anymore. She must have thought he was ridiculing her... but even if he felt guilty about this, if anything set him apart from the Fire Nation people, it was that he meant to do the right thing no matter what. Was it right to stand by his decision of not hurting a girl? Or was he a fool for disdaining his opponent just because she was a female? Both of them were gladiators, slaves to their own sponsors, and she probably despised the Fire Nation as much as he did. What made her so different from him?

Back when he was at Hui Yi there had been a non-verbal agreement between the gladiators of respecting each other both inside the Arena and in the barracks they spent their free time in. They didn't have a choice but to fight each other and they knew it; by the end of the day, many of the faces they had grown used to seeing around the fireplace would be gone for good. They still had to fight, though, and they would do it properly, since it was the only way to give your opponent and brother in arms a proper death. In a way, some gladiators were actually happy to die by the hands of someone who respected him after enjoying a good battle against him. It was a code that all Amateur Gladiators abided by, and it was something that Sokka had forgotten immediately when faced with combats that weren't lethal. He remembered said code now and realized that he had to carry the same relationship with professional gladiators than he did with the amateur gladiators from Hui Yi. He wasn't used to fighting girls, seeing how there never was a female gladiator in his former fighting site, but their gender didn't matter. Refusing to fight them could result in the death of him. He had no doubt that, if the Princess was as deadly as she was, there would surely be female gladiators who, without breaking a sweat, would tear him down if he didn't take them seriously. He had been truly lucky this time to face an opponent like the Hornet: on the next opportunity he faced a girl he might not live to tell the tale if he didn't fight back.

Sokka had no idea how long he had stood there, alone, in the stand-by room, his gaze still set on the spot Azula had been standing at. He shook his head, his latest thoughts vanishing from his mind momentarily as he walked into the hallway, hoping to catch up to her to apologize for his performance. Yet when he arrived to the Dome's vestibule, he couldn't find her anywhere.

"Hey, Wolf!" exclaimed Shoji from behind the counter.

Sokka turned to him, surprised. Maybe the boy had gotten the chance to see if the Princess had already walked by.

"I heard you won and I already made the calculations," said Shoji, smiling at Sokka when the gladiator approached him. "Your new position is 402! Congratulations! It's not your definitive position, but it's a rough draft of what it'll be by the end of the week..."

"Uh, great," said Sokka, not caring all that much about his new rank. "Did Azula walk by here at some point?"

"A-Az...?" mumbled the boy, astounded to hear someone speaking of the Princess in such familiar manner. "Yeah, she left the Arena not too long ago. She kinda stormed off, though, so I couldn't tell her about your new position..."

"Huh..." Sokka sighed, and then he shook his head. "Thanks. I'll see you around, I guess."

"See you!" replied the boy, cheerfully.

Sokka wasn't surprised when he exited the building to discover the palanquin was gone; it would have been a surprise had it still been there. He had no idea as to where he was in this large city, but he was fairly certain that he could make his way back to the Palace. Grateful for Piandao's insistence about having him remember every possible detail about anything, Sokka managed to reach the Fire Nation Royal Palace by walking down the same roads the carriage had coursed earlier. But when he arrived to the gates, he was greeted by a most unpleasant surprise.

The Captain of Azula's Royal Guards seemed to be staring at him, although Sokka couldn't tell for certain if he was or wasn't due to the mask covering his features. The man's arms were folded across his chest, and his body language spoke clearly of irritation and disdain.

"Hi there, spooky guy," said Sokka. "Sorry it took me so long to get here. Is Azula down at the bay already and she forced you to wait for me here?"

"No," replied the guard, his voice deeper than Sokka recalled it to be. "The Princess is extremely disappointed in you. I hadn't seen her so angry in a long time. She ordered me to take you to Shu Jing, and she will remain here, in the mainland."

"W-wait, WHAT?!" Sokka stammered, aghast. "She told you to do that?! Why?!"

"I would have guessed you understood the reasoning behind her actions. It speaks poorly of your wit if you don't realize she is thoroughly displeased by something you did. You must have shamed her terribly during your fight at the Arena..."

"Wait, but that's just...! But she'd always come along! Why should she...?"

"Back when you fought at Ember Island, she had no choice but to take you back to Shu Jing, but she has no obligation to do the same thing on this occasion," replied the Captain. "Which simplifies my job, to be honest. I feel far more comfortable by taking you personally to Shu Jing while she stays safe in the Palace."

"B-but... I need to talk to her," Sokka blurted out suddenly. "I have to... I have to make things right!"

The Captain raised an eyebrow, trying to process what the gladiator was saying. Just as Sokka attempted to convince the guard to let him see Azula again, a familiar carriage stopped at the edge of the Palace.

"What's the matter?" asked Ty Lee as she stepped down from the vehicle. "Is something wrong, Sokka?"

The gladiator turned around, surprised by their arrival. Ty Lee walked towards them with Mai right behind her, and they both seemed puzzled upon why Sokka was at the gates of the Palace.

"The Princess commanded me to take him back to Shu Jing," said the Captain. "Though it seems he refuses to go."

"I… I have to talk to her, that's all I need!" Sokka begged. "Just let me go to her for a little while, I have to…!"

"Whatever you need to say is irrelevant at this point, she said so herself," said the Captain, still firm upon obeying his orders.

"What's going on, though?" asked Ty Lee, still puzzled. "Is she mad at you for some reason?"

"She… she wasn't happy with my performance in the fight," muttered Sokka, remorseful. "She took it really badly."

"Why? You won!" said Ty Lee. "Isn't that what matters the most?"

"It should be, seeing how she's the Princess and all…" said Sokka, sighing. "But I guess I did a few things she considered insulting because I didn't fight the Hornet as I should have."

"Oh, she's upset by that?" asked Ty Lee, her eyes opening wide. "But I thought it was such a gentlemanly thing to do!"

"Yeah, well…"

"She doesn't see it that way," said Mai, understanding immediately what caused Azula so much displeasure. "What you did… I see. No wonder she's angry."

Sokka gulped, scared at the way the girl had read both him and Azula thoroughly despite having so little information available to her. Ty Lee was still confused, but she shrugged.

"Well, if she's mad there's probably no way you'll get a chance to talk to her," said Ty Lee, shrugging. "But we can give her a message from you if you want us to."

"What?" said Sokka, surprised, but he frowned, still wanting to see Azula for himself. "But I…"

"You're not going to get any luckier than this," said Mai, folding her arms. "You only have one opportunity to get your words through to her at this point."

Sokka sighed and looked at the Captain, who seemed to approve of this course of action.

"You really won't let me talk to her, will you?" asked Sokka.

"She ordered that you'd be taken away to Shu Jing as soon as possible, so no, I won't," said the Captain, firmly.

"Damn… fine," said the gladiator, rolling his eyes in irritation as he turned to Mai and Ty Lee and gave them his message.

Azula was sitting in a living room of the Palace, her long nails tapping on a fine table as she tried to calm down her anger through a semi-meditative state. She shouldn't have been so gullible, so naïve to believe he was truly any different. What he said back then only had one meaning: he wouldn't have restrained from killing her because she was his enemy, she embodied everything he loathed and he would have welcomed with open arms the opportunity to slay the Fire Lord's daughter. She had been a fool to think he could have a different take upon the sexism that she kept trying to fight against… he was a man, after all, and a pretty shallow and dumb one at that, for all she knew. Why should he have been anything other than what he clearly was?

She shook her head as her disappointment increased. Maybe she really should get herself another gladiator, a strong one who would simply kill anyone in his way instead of someone she could have a complex relationship with. She needed someone who would simply be her fighter, nothing other than that. That was all she required. She had been stupid to take the very first option she had been presented with just because she thought he would be something different from what he really was…

"Azula…?" said Ty Lee, knocking on the door. Azula's eyes flickered towards her quickly, and since she didn't say anything, both her friends entered the room.

"We ran into Sokka at the Palace gates," said Mai, making Azula's frown grow even deeper.

"He wanted to talk to you," said Ty Lee, smiling weakly.

"Why, I have nothing to say to that imbecile," Azula replied, her voice coated with a venomous tinge. "So spare me the lecture or whatever it is he wanted you to tell me."

"It wasn't a lecture…" said Ty Lee, but Azula shook her head.

"I don't want to hear it, Ty Lee," she declared, between gritted teeth.

"But…"

"It's not something that will take so long to convey to you, Azula," said Mai. "Fact is, you might even want to hear it even when you think you don't."

"Oh, please…" said Azula, rolling her eyes.

"It's just one word," said Ty Lee, prompting Azula to turn to her, her glare still as fierce as it had been when she had been dealing with Sokka directly.

But Mai was the one to talk instead.

"Sorry," she muttered, staring at her nails without much interest in the subject at all.

"What?" said Azula, taken by surprise, her frown losing its rage and earning a quality of utter confusion.

"That's the message," said Ty Lee, smiling. "He just wanted to say 'sorry'"

Azula's eyes were still blazing with anger, but now she was extremely perplexed. He was sorry? He regretted what he'd done…?