The blue sky above held no hopes or answers for the Captain. He sat on the Royal Barge's main deck, his gaze lost in the horizon as he waited patiently for his men to return, knowing they'd come back bringing no good tidings. He had already sent five expeditions into the mountains, and none of them had been useful. The latest one had been unsettling, even, because the soldiers had told him there seemed to have been a struggle on the mountain's high road, and that someone had fallen down the mountainside, given the way the trees had been shattered and burned in that direction…
If that had been the Princess, he could kiss his life goodbye.
It was his job to protect Azula, and he had always done so in the best way he could. Azula herself had given him the honor of becoming the Captain of her guards, and he had always held that privileged position with pride and joy. But with every second that went by he felt more undeserving of said title. He had failed Azula on their mission, he had been too late to reach her and help her defeat the Rough Rhinos and now he had even lost her. He was the most inadequate guard ever.
Other guards were lounging on the deck as well, thirsty and tired but too upset over the disappearance of their Princess to care for their own health. The group of scouts returned to the ship once again, bearing no important news judging by their bowed heads. One of them approached the Captain.
"Nothing… nothing at all. If she wasn't the one who fell off the slope… then she must have been abducted by spirits or something. There's no trace of her."
"Let's hope we get abducted by them too," muttered the Captain, disheartened. "It would be for the best for us. I can't face the Fire Lord and tell him we lost his daughter…"
"But we'll have to…" said the soldier.
"How? We failed our mission, failed the Princess, failed our nation…"
"So you're saying we're going to cast ourselves out of the Fire Nation? We're going to become exiles?" asked the soldier, surprised.
"That… no, of course not," replied the Captain, sighing. "We'll have to go back… and tell the Fire Lord what happened. He'll kill us, that's for sure… but that's all we deserve for failing to protect the Princess."
The soldier gulped and nodded, obviously not comfortable with the thought of being slain by their nation's leader. But on the other hand, the Captain seemed pleased with his realization. Facing the consequences of his actions would be terribly painful… but the Fire Lord would have every right to punish them for losing his daughter. His death, at the very least, would be just what he deserved. He wished his life had turned out differently, of course, that he hadn't failed his Princess… but everything was over now. He couldn't change the past anymore.
He stood up from where he had been sitting and looked around the river bank. They had been at the Kuaisu River for days now, waiting for Azula's return just as she had ordered in the letter she had left behind for the Captain. But it had been to no avail. He could wait and wait for ages and she still wouldn't turn up. Azula was gone now… she was gone. The time for waiting was over, and the time for mourning had begun anew…
"W-what's… what's that?" asked the soldier the Captain had just been talking to.
The Captain eyed the soldier with confusion for a moment before turning towards whatever had caught his eye. The Captain removed his hood and mask as he stared into the sky, his confused look growing more pronounced with each passing moment. Something was soaring in the air… something he couldn't quite recognize. It was long, as if it were a snake of some sort… was it a snake? But a flying snake… could only be a dragon.
As if they didn't have enough problems as it was.
"It's a… dragon," muttered the Captain. "It's a dragon! Get ready to fight if it's hostile! If not, allow him free passage!"
"A dragon…?" asked another guard, staring at the creature. "A dragon?! How do we even fight a dragon?!"
"If we're lucky, we won't have to!" gulped the Captain, aghast.
Dragons were fearsome fighters and firebenders… even the Princess would have struggled to defeat one. Perhaps they were amongst the best trained soldiers of the Fire Nation, but they hadn't been trained on how to beat a dragon… and let alone one without wings. How was it even flying? The Captain shook his head in disbelief at that pointless question. The dragon could be doing anything it wanted to do, that wasn't the issue at hand. The problem came with the part where he was supposed to defeat that magnificent creature…
And given the direction the dragon was flying in, he would have to fight against it, no question. The Captain struck a stance, waiting for the dragon to unleash fire upon them as it came closer and closer… wait, was there someone on that dragon's back? The Captain's stance grew unsteady as he stared at the creature with disbelief, and he stared at its rider with even more incredulity. This had to be a dream… a really stupid dream. It could not be happening…
The dragon was flying too fast, and his rider struggled to slow his descent to no avail. In the end, she had to jump off the saddle. She collapsed on the ship's deck as the dragon crashed and twirled just a few feet away from where she had fallen.
"Still have to work on that landing," said Azula, breathing heavily as she stood up.
Xin Long also got on his feet, trying to shake off the impact of the crash. He stumbled, feeling a little dizzy, yet he sent reassuring feelings towards Azula, letting her know he was fine.
It was only then that the Princess decided to look around herself. She was slightly amused by the shocked expressions on the faces of the guards who weren't wearing their masks at the moment. She sought out a particular face amongst the crowd and she found him to her right, a few steps away from where she was.
"Long time no see, Captain," she said, with a dangerous smirk that promised the reprimand of the century.
"P-Princess… P-Princess… a dragon? A dragon?!" he asked, staring at the creature in utter awe.
"Well, at the very least you react appropriately at the revelation," said Azula, as Xin Long approached her and nuzzled her shoulder. "Yet I have a great amount of things I need to convey to you now, and none of them revolve around Xin Long."
"P-Princess…" said the Captain, finally turning towards Azula. He fell to his knees, apparently about to faint of relief. "You're safe… y-you're alive!"
"No thanks to you, though," grunted Azula, glaring at him.
The Captain would have felt guiltier at her words, but he was still having a hard time giving credit to his own eyes. It was her… it was Azula! He had taken her to be missing in action, nearly certain she'd be dead… and here she was! She didn't look so good, her usual perfect hairstyle was quite messy, her clothes and armor looked rugged and not as majestic as before… and he couldn't ignore there was an odd scent coming from Azula. When had she last cleaned up? Ah, the Captain could hardly care for that at this point. It was her! She was alive, and she had a dragon with her! His Princess lived!
"I am very sorry, Princess… I never…" he whispered, smiling as he gazed at her. "I never thought it would be so hard to capture the Rough Rhinos, and I never intended to take such a long time to reach you!"
"I can't blame you for either thing, though…" muttered Azula, having become too familiar with the unpleasant sensation of failure to make the man feel even more miserable than he already did. "Catching the Rhinos was no easy feat after all."
"No, it… what? W-wait… you caught them?!" asked the Captain, bolting up to his feet.
"What was the whole purpose of this journey, Captain?" asked Azula, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't come to the Fire Nation Colonies looking for a dragon, even though I found one."
"B-but… how? W-where are they?"
"Sokka is leading them here right now," said Azula, patting Xin Long's snout. "We defeated them in a village. The villagers helped us tie them down and some of them are escorting them, along with Sokka, through the mountains. Nevertheless, it's a very long journey on foot and as much as I believe those villagers have good intentions, they're no soldiers. Therefore… I need you to send a group to find them on the road and bring them back safely to the Barge. Am I clear?"
"You need me to send a group into the mountains?" asked the Captain, surprised.
"Yes, that's what I just said. How many times will you make me repeat myself?" grunted Azula, glaring at the man. "Take the train-tank, will you? It'll be faster to find them if you do. Of course, Tai Wei have to be extra-careful while driving, the roads in those mountains are unexpectedly dangerous…"
"It will be done, Princess!" said the Captain hastily, bowing down to her and gazing up at her figure in awe.
"What are you looking at?" Azula asked, growing irritated.
"I just… I'm so relieved you're fine, Princess," said the Captain, smiling.
"Well, you should be," grunted Azula, walking through the ship. "Get going! Any explanations you want can wait until the Rough Rhinos are secured."
"Yes, Princess!" said the Captain, nodding "And… what about you? Where are you going?"
Azula stopped before reaching the door that would lead her inside the ship. She turned towards the Captain and flashed him a smile that was quite an unusual sight on her face. A hopeful, joyous smile…:
"I'm going to take a bath."
Azula sighed in relief as she sank into the tub's warm water, her hair floating in the water after she had brushed and cleaned it. She had scrubbed the filth of six days off her body as hastily as possible, and now she floated in the water amongst bubbles and the scent of soap. Finally she could start feeling like herself again…
Xin Long had stayed on the deck, eyeing the soldiers warily given that most of them seemed terrified of him. Azula had let him know that her men meant no harm, and that he could trust them… but the dragon seemed to have been infected by some of her more mischievous traits. He would lie down on the floor and pretend to be safe to approach… but as soon as a soldier took one step too close to him, he'd grunt and the guards would flee, terrified. Xin Long chuckled in a curious manner whenever that happened, having learned from Azula and her memories to express his amusement through laughter. Right now he was toying with the food the soldiers had offered him, considering whether to eat it or to get picky just to tick them off. Azula had tasked her men to take good care of the dragon, and the creature seemed to be quite intent on making fun of them while they performed their duty.
Yet he was also confused by whatever Azula was doing, dipped in water as she was. The Princess reassured him through her thoughts, letting him know she was just cleaning up. Xin Long seemed to fail to understand the purpose of what she was doing, but he didn't question her. He picked one of the chicken legs they had brought him, sniffed it and gulped it down in one go, spitting out a bare, scorched bone only seconds afterwards. The bone flew straight at one of the nearby soldiers, poking him in the back. The man jumped and looked at the dragon in shock, knowing he had done that intentionally. Xin Long merely rolled on the deck and gave the man a reptilian smirk.
Azula smiled at Xin Long's impish deeds, knowing she had been quite a bad influence on the creature without meaning to. That knack of being amused at the expenses of others was something he had definitely picked up from her. She looked up at the ceiling, still having a hard time believing everything had been sorted out… what day was it? She frowned as she tried to decipher it, and she sat up when she finished her calculations. If everything was as it seemed, then maybe… Just maybe…
She got out of the tub despite having longed to spend most the day in the water. She couldn't stop smiling as she dressed herself in clean clothes, placing another set of armor on her shoulders. She fixed her hair quickly, tying it up with a half-knot and placing her golden headpiece before it. She gazed at herself in a mirror and smiled confidently at her reflection. Finally, Princess Azula was back.
She walked out of her cabin and headed to the main deck, where she found a couple of soldiers still gazing at Xin Long warily. They stood up firmly and bowed down to her upon seeing her.
"What day is it?" she asked to the nearest one, who jumped at being addressed directly by the Fire Lord's daughter.
"I-it's the thirteenth day of the month, Princess…" muttered the man nervously.
Azula nodded, her eyes lit with determination and certainty. She had two days… in normal circumstances she wouldn't have bothered trying to reach Garsai at this point in time, it would be virtually impossible for her barge to cross the entire continent in such a short time span. But on a dragon…
"Did the Captain set out already?" she asked.
"Yes, Princess. He took a group of guards and left to the woods on the train-tank an hour ago or so," said another soldier.
"How long should it take for him to reach the Rhinos…?" muttered Azula, frowning. "Well, no matter."
The soldiers were slightly confused upon hearing her talk to herself like this, and they grew even more uneasy when she approached the dragon. Azula patted Xin Long on the snout, and the dragon suddenly nodded in her direction, as if agreeing with something she hadn't even said… and before they knew it, Azula was sitting on the saddle on the dragon's back.
"W-what are you doing, Princess?" asked the men, compelled to approach her but too scared of the dragon to make a move. "Where are you going?"
"I'm off to keep an eye on my gladiator," she said. "He's leading the Rough Rhinos down the road, see…"
"Y-yes, but you needn't leave! The Captain will find him soon enough…"
"And once the Captain finds him, I'll take the slave to Garsai," grunted Azula. "As soon as the Captain brings the Rough Rhinos into the ship, set your course towards the Fire Nation. I'll catch up with you as soon as I have a chance."
"B-but Princess, we just found you again…" started one of the men, walking towards her. But it was too late: Azula had already made up her mind.
Xin Long took off right away, and Azula held on to his saddle as the dragon flew into the skies. She didn't bother saying farewells to the soldiers, invested as she was in this battle against time… they could make it to Garsai. They would make it.
They caught sight of the train-tank progressing through the mountain after flying for over twenty minutes. The machine's progress was far more efficient than Azula had thought it would be, it had already passed by the site where she had confronted the Rough Rhinos and it was close to reaching the first village by now. Azula carried on flying, ushering Xin Long to speed up in hopes of finding Sokka and his procession now.
Xin Long gazed around himself in awe, enjoying the way the air buffeted him. The open space was truly pleasant for him, the world around him held so many wonders he didn't quite understand. Trees extended below him, mountains rose before him, the sky was covered with white clouds and other creatures flew far in the horizon…
Azula was surprised when Xin Long sped off out of his own accord towards a hawk. The bird flew off, intimidated by the dragon's size. Xin Long slowed down again, seeming slightly disappointed by the hawk's response. They were both creatures of the sky, so why was he so afraid of him? Perhaps it was because he could spew fire. In that case, he should find others like him, others that would enjoy flying alongside him…
Azula gritted her teeth when she sensed the dragon's thoughts. Xin Long was startled by the unexpected grief he felt emanating from his rider. Azula sighed and patted his neck, biting her lip before muttering.
"I'm sorry, Xin Long… but there aren't others like you."
The dragon seemed to understand what she meant, although he didn't grasp why she was so upset about the matter. Azula closed her eyes and brought forth her knowledge about dragons and their fate, letting Xin Long understand the truth about her forefathers and about the demise of the race of dragons.
Xin Long saw everything she showed him, realizing that Azula's family had destroyed his kin… and even though he felt a pang of pain in his soul, the dragon asked Azula not to feel responsible for the matter. It had been her grandfather, and not her, who had ordered and enjoyed the dragon slaughter. Xin Long wished he could know others of his kind, but there was nothing to be done about it as it was. The way he saw it, he had spent his entire life alone… and even though those dragons might have been related to him, he had never really known them or thought of them as his family. Azula, on the other hand, had bonded with him and given him a new world… he knew what was in her heart, and he knew she would never hurt him in the way Azulon had hurt the other dragons. She was his family now, and he was glad they had found each other.
Azula nodded and placed her head on the dragon's scaly neck, relieved by the dragon's response. She had dreaded the moment when Xin Long would understand the truth behind her family's wrongdoings against the dragons… she had feared Xin Long would abandon her, horrified, and seek revenge against the Fire Nation for that treason. But instead, he was the one telling her to calm down. Instead, he was relieved that she hadn't kept the truth from him. He saw her for who she truly was, and he knew that if she'd had a choice, she wouldn't have allowed the dragons to die out as they had. Xin Long genuinely believed in her.
"But… there's no need to despair," she said, smiling. "We can find others… we'll find others like you, Xin Long. If you were hidden in the mountains, then there's a chance there will be more dragons in the world. We just have to know where to look."
Xin Long seemed to grow hopeful at Azula's words. It would be very nice to find others of his kind… although he wasn't going to put himself to the task right now. He had Azula with him… he wasn't alone anymore, and that filled him with happiness. He would stay beside Azula for as long as she needed him. As soon as he had a chance, he would fly into the mountains and seek other dragons. Azula smiled and nodded at his resolution, truly thankful by the dragon's partnership. It was astounding that he was as understanding as he was… She embraced his neck and Xin Long continued flying, as they both enjoyed the one-of-a-kind closeness between a rider and dragon.
Sokka had been quite surprised to wake up in the bed, with no memories of how he had gotten there, and his surprise had only grown after Azula had asked him to escort the Rough Rhinos through the mountain road. Sokka had secretly wished Azula would allow him to rest for a little longer, since they were only starting to regain their energies… but the Princess had given him his orders and flown off on her dragon, to seek the Captain and get him to meet with Sokka halfway through the mountains. Sokka had been slightly unwilling to go with her plans, not wanting to take care of the Rough Rhinos virtually by himself… but he had complied when Azula told him she would fly back to him to keep tabs on the Rhinos as soon as possible.
The villagers who had tagged along with him were strong, though innocent in their own way. They were ten, and they had brought five carts on which they had strapped down the Rhinos. The villagers pulled the carts in pairs while Sokka led the way through the wilderness. The men chattered, asking Sokka questions about the dragon and about working for the Fire Lord's daughter. One even asked if he was truly working for her, or if he was involved romantically with her somehow. Sokka kept most responses as short and unrevealing as possible, unwilling to let the villagers know more about the true nature of the relationship between him and Azula… as much as he believed these men were kind-hearted, he was certain that kindness would fade away if they knew he was actually her slave.
Sokka frowned as he walked through the mountain, wondering when had things taken such a turn… a few months ago he would have jumped at the opportunity of being set free from the chains that bound him to Azula. If they knew his status as a gladiator, the villagers with him would likely encourage him to go against her, to stand up for himself and refuse to be her slave… but he didn't want them to. Why didn't he? Why would he choose the life of a gladiator over a life of freedom…?
Unknowingly, now he was a gladiator out of his own free will. He had the choice to leave. He could find a new life for himself… he recalled the huge conflict he had with Azula back in the Fire Nation, and he remembered well enough that she didn't want anything else to do with him. He could have been free from her influence back then… and yet he had crawled back to her and followed her through the entire Earth Kingdom. Back then he had been convinced it was out of a sense for doing things the right way… but now he realized what it really was: he had genuinely wanted to be with Azula. And he didn't want someone to tell him to leave her once he had a chance… no, he didn't care for having that chance. He was bound by honor, and by his own wishes, to stay by Azula's side, to support her and help her out whenever she needed him. And he was doing so right now, by dragging the Rough Rhinos through the forest…
He couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of himself at those thoughts. Perhaps he didn't agree wholeheartedly with Azula on many things… well, on most things, but the thought of working alongside her filled him with a joy he didn't recall having experienced before. Something had changed inside him during their time in that forest…
Sokka was surprised to spot a long, snake-like creature hovering several feet above them during noon. He figured Azula would reappear eventually, but he thought it would take her much longer to do so. He wondered if she would come down to the ground… given that she hadn't descended yet, he doubted she would. It seemed she was just watching from afar, probably waiting for the moment when they would run into the Captain… although Sokka figured it would happen on the next day, at the very least. There was too much distance between them, and the Captain couldn't be going that fast, could he…?
Three hours later, after passing by the second village on their way through the mountains, Sokka discovered he had guessed wrongly. Azula had vanished for a while, she probably had landed because the dragon had needed some rest… and she reappeared a just a few seconds after the train-tank came into view on the road ahead of them.
Sokka felt somewhat foolish when he saw the machine. Of course the Captain would be able to get here quickly if he used the tank…
"Woah! W-what's that thing?!" asked one of the villagers, shocked as the train-tank stopped a few ways away from where they were.
"It's a train-tank," said Sokka, beaming. "But what matters most is what's inside it."
A hatch was opened on one of the wagons, and a group of Royal Guards climbed off the machine. Sokka had never been so pleased to see the men in the red outfits.
"Captain! It's been so long!" he exclaimed, tears in his eyes as he waved at the man with golden trims on his clothing.
The Captain couldn't believe he was actually relieved to see Sokka again, still in one piece. He needed a great amount of explanations regarding whatever adventures Sokka had lived with the Princess in the forest… but as for now he had more important matters to tend to.
"Secure the Rhinos and place them inside the train-tank," Azula ordered from the back of Xin Long. The villagers jumped at the sight of the dragon, not sure of what was more terrifying, whether the soldiers, the machine, the creature or the Princess in all her splendor.
"Well, looks like someone got revitalized," said Sokka, raising an eyebrow at Azula's getup. "Changed clothes and all?"
"I had the chance to clean off six days of filth," said Azula, looking down at him. "No way I wouldn't take it."
Sokka chuckled as the Royal Guards passed by him and headed towards the prisoners, taking them from the carts and carrying them back to the train-tank. The villagers seemed intimidated by the guards, their minds obviously scarred by the years of fearing Fire Nation soldiers… they really had a hard time believing these men weren't here to harm them.
Once every Rough Rhino had been placed inside the train-tank, Azula turned towards the villagers and nodded in their direction.
"I will make sure to send my thanks for your cooperation as soon as I have an opportunity to do so," said the Princess, bowing her head towards them curtly. "And I'll seek to make amends for the Rhino's pillaging of the villages, if it's possible."
"S-sure…" said one of the villagers, gazing at her in awe along with the rest of his fellow folk. Sokka could help but smile at their reaction.
"You look terrible," said the Captain, approaching the gladiator.
"If you had any clue of what I've been through, you'd think I look way better than I should," said Sokka, grinning.
The Captain smiled too and he patted Sokka on the shoulder.
"I have no idea what you went through… but I'm relieved you did as I asked. Thanks for watching over her, gladiator."
"You can just call me Sokka, you know?" said Sokka, chuckling. "And in turn, I ought to call you by your name! What is it, by the way? I realized I didn't know just a while after you took off…"
"Why, such blissful reunion," Azula interrupted their conversation, glaring at them. "Could you keep your pleasantries for later, Sokka? We really don't have much time to spare."
"Huh? Why don't we?" asked Sokka, confused. "We're finally about to go back… if anything, we should finally catch a break from everything now!"
"Not at all," said Azula, smirking at him. "You and I have somewhere we need to go, and we can still make it there if we take off now."
"What are you…?" Sokka asked, confused, before the realization seemed to hit him on the head with the force of a hurricane. "Wait… Garsai?! Y-you mean to get me to my fight?!"
"I know we had both given up on the opportunity to reach your fight on time… but we can make it on Xin Long," said Azula, smiling confidently. "So long as we leave now, that is."
"B-but… I'm going to get killed!" Sokka squealed. "I used to be in great conditions before and I still lost against earthbenders! Imagine how badly I'm going to fare now!"
"If you think you're going to get killed, then you probably will be," grunted Azula. "Quit with the negative attitude, will you? If we survived a forest for five days, you can face off against an earthbender and survive him also."
"You seem so sure…" gulped Sokka, approaching the dragon.
"W-wait… what about us?" asked the Captain. "What are your orders, Princess?"
"Take off to the Fire Nation," said Azula, extending a hand towards Sokka and helping him onto the saddle. The Captain watched them with incredulity. "We'll meet you halfway there, just as we did here."
"B-but…" muttered the guard, worried before shaking his head and bowing down towards Azula. "As you command."
"That's more like it," grunted Azula, glaring at the Captain.
She patted Xin Long on the neck and the creature blasted off towards the sky immediately. Sokka was about to hold onto Azula to keep his balance on the saddle, but he decided not to on a second thought. His hands grasped the saddle's back, hoping it would help him find enough support to fight off the momentum. Azula leaned down on Xin Long's neck as they gained even more speed, dashing rapidly into the west…
Garsai's Jade Range was one of the most unique Gladiator Arenas. Instead of sporting the traditional sand or earth pit, the Jade Range's fighting grounds were covered by a film of emerald grass. Fighters were less prone to being knocked off their feet on these stable terrains, and the sunlight that gleamed through the open ceiling of the dome wouldn't blind them as it did when it reflected against the sand. Due to these conditions, the Jade Range was thought to be the one arena where the best fighter was certain to prevail.
But that might not be the case today. The Twin Hammer's sponsor was slightly relieved to see that he might be about to take an easy win through a forfeit… although he hadn't been too worried about the fight's outcome for a while. Accepting the Princess's challenge had seemed too bold a move at first, but when he heard the Blue Wolf had lost most his fights abroad he had felt quite hopeful. And for the seat beside him to be empty only fueled those hopes further. The Twin Hammer wasn't in his best shape lately, another earthbender had broken his leg in a fight and it hadn't mended properly… thus the Twin Hammer had lost several fights, and his sponsor was more than pleased to see that streak end even if it only through a forfeit.
"Ten minutes have passed now…" said a staff member, approaching him on the balcony. "Are you willing to wait five more minutes, or shall we call the forfeit now?"
The Twin Hammer's sponsor snorted with derision. There was no chance the Princess would make it into the city and all the way into the Arena in five minutes, considering her Royal Procession hadn't even been seen leaving Ba Sing Se. He nodded with condescendence, finding some delight in delaying the unavoidable result.
The staff member left him, and the sponsor just smiled to himself for five minutes. It seemed the Princess could only pretend to play this game for so long…
"The judges have an announcement to make!" called the man at the Jade Range's bullhorn.
The public seemed restless, knowing that an announcement at this point in time could only mean a forfeit. Many had come expecting to see the Princess's fighter eagerly, and it was the biggest let-down for this fight to result in a forfeit…
"Due to the absence of one of our fighters," started one of the judges, taking over the megaphone. "We have decided that this fight shall be awarded to…"
He was interrupted when the megaphone man shrieked unexpectedly. The Twin Hammer's sponsor frowned and looked at the judges' balcony to find the megaphone man pointing at the sky in utter shock. The judges' faces showed that very same distress quickly, the expression on their faces mirrored that of the megaphone man. The Twin Hammer's sponsor frowned and looked towards whatever might be so surprising…
His skepticism froze on his face when a massive black dragon landed heavily in the middle of the Jade Range's grass pit. Everyone jumped at the sight of such terrifying creature: the judges' shrieked, the sponsor jumped and toppled over his chair, and a great portion of the audience fled the Arena altogether. Yet the dragon kept calm, not minding the chaos nearby so long as his rider patted him on the neck reassuringly. And to the Twin Hammer's sponsor's utter shock, said rider was none other than…
"P-Princess… P-Princess Azula?!" said one of the judges, staring at her in utter shock.
"Pardon my delay," she said, lifting her head towards the judges' balcony. "I'm usually one to be punctual, but circumstances were against me on this occasion. Nevertheless… here I am, and here's my gladiator. Shall we?"
"T-the… that's a… t-the dragon can't… c-can't be in the fighting ground, Princess…" said another judge, shaking as he pointed at the creature.
"Ah, naturally," said Azula, smiling and turning towards Sokka. "You're up now, Sokka. Do your best."
"Don't I always?" Sokka asked, smiling back at her and jumping off the saddle. "Let's hope this wasn't a big mistake, Azula!"
Azula would have told him off for being so pessimistic, but she knew well enough that the odds weren't in their favor this time around. She nodded at Sokka and ushered Xin Long to leap out of the sand pit. The dragon used his mysterious flight abilities to climb up to the roof of the dome, from where both he and Azula would be able to watch the fight.
"I hope this isn't a bother…" Azula said to the judges, who were right below her.
"It… it's fine, so long as the creature… s-so long as the creature behaves," said the leader of the judges, notoriously terrified but somewhat reassured to see Azula seemed to control the creature perfectly. His common sense told him to stay as far from the creature as possible, but it also told him not to upset the Princess or her steed in any way… he had expected this to be a common, typical day until the risk of getting scorched alive by a dragon had appeared. He truly hoped to live past this unexpected turn of events…
"I won't bring him into the arena on future occasions, you can rest assured," Azula called back to them. "But given how late I was, I really didn't have a choice…"
The judges were restless in their balcony, and only the most curious members of the audience had suppressed the urge to flee in hopes to understand what surreal event was happening in the arena: this was certain to be a great tale to pass on to their acquaintances later.
The Twin Hammer's sponsor stared at the dark creature on the dome's roof in utter disbelief, unable to believe he was actually witnessing what he was witnessing. He gazed down at the fighting area, discovering the creature had left a few gaps where it had landed… and by those holes stood the Blue Wolf. He didn't look too intimidating, but the sponsor figured nothing would seem intimidating after a dragon…
But the gladiator seemed ready to fight, and he was waiting patiently for the gates of his opponent's stand-by room to be swung open. Suddenly the Twin Hammer's sponsor began regretting having accepted extending the waiting time for five more minutes…
"T-the gladiator will be allowed to fight…" said a judge on a megaphone. "What time limit shall we give the battle?"
"I believe my fellow sponsor should choose," said Azula, sighing. "We are late after all. It's a small price to pay for it."
The Twin Hammer's sponsor gulped and gestured at the judges for ten minutes, hoping to get out of the Jade Range as quickly as possible. Chances were he would have a kick out of telling other people about the dragon later, but right now all he wanted to do was run away.
Nevertheless, he knew he would have to wait for the battle to conclude before taking off. The judges reminded Sokka to use only five weapons, and he nodded promptly before dropping a handful of his bombs and keeping only one for the battle. Once he was done with that, the wooden grid was drawn back and the Twin Hammer entered the field.
The man was tall, broad and dark-skinned, his face was bearded although the top of his head was cleanly shaved. Sokka picked up on the man's limp even though he was doing his best to mask it. His right leg had been wounded… and it probably had healed badly.
"The time limit shall be of ten minutes," declared the megaphone man, his voice shaky instead of enthusiastic. "G-get ready, fighters… and start!"
Sokka didn't move as the Twin Hammer roared and stuck his hands into the ground, only to bring them back up holding a pair of makeshift earth hammers.
"Huh… neat trick, that one," said Sokka. "Twin Hammer indeed, aren't you?"
"I used to work with metal hammers, boy… stupid rules won't allow me to use them, so I make do with what I can," said the Twin Hammer, grinning. "So? Ready to perish?"
"Not really, no…" said Sokka, shrugging carelessly.
The Twin Hammer seemed shocked by Sokka's response, mostly due to how genuine it was. Most gladiators would just counter his bravado with more bravado… but this youngling would merely shrug him off as if he weren't even interested in the fight.
"You should be!" said the Twin Hammer before planting a foot on the ground, rising a tower of boulders from the ground and striking at them with his hammers, sending them all Sokka's way.
Sokka brought forth Space Sword and cut through each rock as if it were child's play, without putting much effort into his motions.
"Sorry, I'm a little tired," said Sokka, yawning. "I would be a little more into it, but it's been an exhausting week, you see…"
The Twin Hammer bared his teeth and continued flinging rocks at Sokka to no avail. The Blue Wolf evaded some of them and sliced others in half, now growing a little more taxed by his efforts.
"You see, I was back at Ba Sing Se and I just had the brilliant idea to go chasing a band of criminals…" started Sokka, talking as if the Twin Hammer were an old friend to share his stories with.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" the Twin Hammer shouted, jumping forward towards Sokka and attempting to strike him with the makeshift weapons.
Sokka leapt back and smirked slightly when the Twin Hammer found himself landing on one of the gaps on the ground left behind by the dragon's talons. The ground wasn't as close as he had expected it to be, and pain had shot through his right leg after his misstep.
He shouted out as he struggled to stay on his feet, lifting his earth hammers and throwing one of them at Sokka. The swordsman evaded the blow again.
"And well, you see, we fell down this nasty slope and we were stuck in a forest living off komodo rhino meat for five days, you hear me? Five days! Can you believe it?" said Sokka, walking off carelessly as the Twin Hammer tried to regain his stance.
"Shut… shut up…" grunted the Twin Hammer, glaring at his opponent. "SHUT UP!"
"And then we went into this cave and we found the dragon!" said Sokka, spreading his arms cheerfully before looking at his rival in surprise. "Wait, you don't want to hear it?"
"When did I say I did, you blockhead?!" shouted the Twin Hammer, throwing earth at Sokka rashly.
Sokka pouted as a batch of grass flew overhead, dropping some soil on his already filthy appearance.
"Well, then, what's the point of this if you don't want to talk?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
"This is a gladiator fight! If you want to talk nonsense go find a politician!" shouted the Twin Hammer, trying to throw more earth at Sokka but failing in his attempt. His leg was killing him… such a simple impact, just one slip of his foot, and it would cost him the fight?!
"Well, given that you're not much good a fighter, I figured you'd rather talk…" said Sokka, raising an eyebrow. "But if that's the way you want it…"
Sokka withdrew the bomb from his belt and threw it to the ground. Dark smoke covered the whole fighting ground, hiding the two fighters from the public's sight and each other's. Sokka smirked when he heard the Twin Hammer trip and fall again due to his compromised vision. He owed the fight to Xin Long for leaving those gashes on the ground. It seemed everything was going according to plan…
Until the Twin Hammer, in a fit of frustration, anger and madness, began pounding at the ground with his massive fists.
The entire building shook with the strength of the earthquake the earthbender was producing. Sokka's confidence faded away when the grounds underneath him cracked and shifted, some chucks of earth rising while others sank. Sokka jumped, trying to escape the unstable grounds, but everything around him was shifting. At this rate, the Twin Hammer would bring down the entire enclosure.
Xin Long grew restless on the top of the dome, and he began floating to avoid being bothered by the instability of the shaking building. He nearly asked Azula to leave and forget the pointless battle below, for he found it too boring, but the Princess was completely invested in it. She stared down at the dissipating smoke, dreading that might Sokka have fallen to his rival…
But to her utter relief, he was still struggling to escape being buried alive by the intense earthquake. Just watching him jump from side to side filled her with anguish and hope on even amounts. He could do it this time around, Yes, yes he could, he had been doing too well to lose at this point…
Sokka's mind was filled with similar thoughts. There was no chance he wouldn't be able to beat an injured man when he had already driven him to such desperation. He could do this, he knew he could! As a matter of fact, he had to. If he didn't stop the Twin Hammer, the man would tear down the entire city in his fit of anger. All Sokka had to do was get close enough…
And thus, instead of trying to escape him, Sokka jumped forward, avoiding spikes and slumps of earth as he tried to reach his enemy. He hacked off some large chunks of earth and kept moving towards the place where all the shock waves were coming from, the spot where the Twin Hammer was slamming his enormous fists on the ground…
Time seemed to slow down as he finally reached the gladiator. He had to cut down a tower of earth with his right hand, and by doing so he wouldn't have enough time to strike the man with his sword… hence he pulled out his club and brought it down powerfully on the Twin Hammer's brow.
The earth stopped shaking, and the rumbling sound that accompanied it fell silent as well. A cloud of dust floated level to Sokka's waist, product of the intense earth movements of just a moment ago. Sokka was panting, staring at the unconscious man before him…
It took him a moment to realize what had actually happened. His eyes snapped wide open at the reigning thought in his head.
"I beat an earthbender…" he muttered, smiling. "An… an earthbender!"
The megaphone man spoke nervously when he finally found it in himself to make the announcement that had to be done.
"T-the Blue Wolf wins!" he declared. He took a deep breath before setting down the bullhorn and walking away from the judges' balcony.
"Where are you going…?" asked one of the judges, surprised.
"I'm calling it a day," said the megaphone man, shaking his head. "And I think you guys ought to do the same."
There were two more fights left for that day… but the judges found themselves welcoming the advice more than they usually would. After all that destruction, there were little chances that anyone would be able to fight in the Jade Range any time soon anyways…
"I beat an earthbender!" Sokka squealed, sheathing his weapons. "I beat an earthbender!"
Almost by instinct, he sought out his sponsor, in hopes to see her reaction at his great accomplishment… and he wasn't disappointed at all. Because neither was she.
Azula couldn't stop herself from beaming down at him, relief washing over her, telling her that she hadn't been wrong, for once, to give Sokka another chance. Because in doing so, he had become the man he had been before… their time in the woods would go down as one of the lousiest periods of her life, but she knew well enough that without it, without having allowed Sokka to convey to her everything he had to say, he would have never turned back into the fighter she had hired to work for her.
She knew it now… it really wasn't impossible for him to beat earthbenders. Granted, it would be hard, but he could learn to do it. The truth behind his losses and failures was that he had been in such an emotional turmoil that he had been unable to fight properly. He had even mocked around his opponent in his strange psychological play again! When was the last time he had done such a thing? Azula couldn't help but smile at him, knowing her rational side begged at her not to show such feelings of delight towards Sokka, but she could hardly help herself. Her gladiator had returned.
Sokka didn't miss the way she was smiling at him even though there was such distance between them. His chest seemed to be set ablaze with pride and joy… because he hadn't let her down. No, his time of disappointing Azula was over. Their eyes clashed together, just like they used to long ago… no, it was different this time around. They both were prizing the other in ways they hadn't done it before… She was reveling in Sokka going back to who he had always been, while Sokka was cherishing the look on her face above everything else. Beating an earthbender seemed a meaningless feat next to making Azula smile in that manner. He would go to the ends of the earth if just to keep that smile on her face.
And as ever… he was down below, and she was above, out of reach. Once more, they were the turtle and the hawk. But the hawk had returned, even after he had hurt her. They were still worlds apart… but that didn't stop them from staring at the other with admiration. That didn't stop them from holding each other in the high regards they did. Maybe they belonged in worlds apart… but that wouldn't hold them back from reaching out to what should be out of reach. What was so wrong about doing so?
What was left of the audience had been celebrating Sokka's triumph, but he had been too busy gazing up at his sponsor to notice. The magical eye contact broke off as he looked around himself and raised a fist in the air, feeling genuinely victorious for the very first time, although it had little to do with having beaten his opponent. Azula chuckled and shook her head at the sight of his enthusiastic celebration, allowing him to bask in his joy for now, but aware that his exhaustion would take a toll on him eventually. After all, they had flown for two days to get here, on top of all the tiredness they already were suffering from…
"It's really over now," she said, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. "Everything is done, at last."
Xin Long looked up at her in mild confusion, still wondering what the fuss was with that random-looking fight between their fellow companion and the weird man who could shake the earth. He was even more confused by the joy he could sense from within Azula… what was the nature of the bond she had with that boy? It was definitely nothing like the one she had with him, Xin Long could tell as much… but what it was, he didn't know.
All he knew was that Azula seemed to prize her bond with Sokka just as much as she prized the one between the two of them.
Sokka dropped on the tavern's seat with no subtlety whatsoever, still smiling cheerfully. After his fight, Azula had dragged him through the city in search for a bathhouse, because Sokka's smell was starting to remind her too much of that homeless man they had met once in the Capital…
The stench still held on to his clothes, but at the very least he looked much better when he came out of the establishment. Afterwards they had decided to fetch something to eat. Azula wasn't interested in the pleasantries and questioning she knew she'd be subjected to by the town's mayor if she went to him as scheduled – and since she could make use of the winnings from the fight against the Twin Hammer, she decided they should go to the nearest food store she could find. She wasn't too fond of it being a tavern, but she didn't feel like looking for a better establishment. She rather doubted there would be anything up to her standards, but she could still make use of her current tolerance of living a commoner's life. Her time in that forest had driven her to realize that peasants didn't have it as bad as she had always thought…
"Wow, I'm so tired…" said Sokka, smiling. "That bath was a great idea, but it just reminded me of how exhausted I am."
"It's been the most chaotic week ever…" said Azula, dropping on the seat before him. "I feel like sleeping for a month."
"A year sounds more like it," said Sokka, chuckling. "Where's our new friend right now?"
"He's off hunting," said Azula. "We're having dinner, so he's having his."
"Makes sense," said Sokka. "Say… how do you know all those things about him? Is there a sort of telepathic link between you two or something?"
"It's quite ironic that you'd say it sarcastically…" said Azula, smirking slightly as Sokka's mouth opened up comically.
"S-seriously?" he mustered after a moment. Azula still seemed amused.
"Yes, seriously. I doubt you'd understand if I tried to explain it to you, though," said Azula, as a waitress brought their meals and drinks to them.
"Always underestimating the power of my brain…" muttered Sokka, shaking his head. "Anyways, after being stuck in a forest for ages, after two encounters with a band of criminals, after facing a dragon in his own domains and after beating an earthbender for the first time… The occasion really calls for a celebration of some sort! So cheers!"
He picked up his pint of rice wine and drained it quickly as Azula raised an eyebrow in his direction. Sokka eyed her, confused.
"You're not drinking?"
"Not that stuff, I'm not," she grunted.
"Oh, back to the refined Princess, are we?" Sokka asked, teasingly.
"You think she ever left?" Azula inquired, making Sokka chuckle.
"Ah, true enough," he said. "Even when eating rhino meat you would do it so gracefully it would look as if you were just having a snack in the palace or something."
"And you'd know about how I eat snacks in the palace…?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow.
"W-well, no, I mean… it's just an assumption!" Sokka said, making her chuckle quietly.
"Always one to jump to conclusions, aren't you…?" she said, looking at her dish with utter joy as she tasted the first dumpling. She was returning home slowly, but surely, and the improvement on the food quality seemed to be a metaphor of it.
They ate silently, too desperate to quench their hunger to find any room for trivial conversations. Azula suspected she would spend weeks trying to smother the desperate appetite she had developed after being stuck in that forest for so long. She was likely to put on some weight at this rate, but at the moment it didn't bug her much. Sokka, on the other hand, had no such worries about the future. He was too busy ravaging his meal to stop to think about anything else.
Sokka asked for a second round of both food and drink, Azula requested nothing else. She sat on her chair, going over the past few days in her head while Sokka finished his food. At long last he leaned back on his chair and smiled brightly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as his plate lay empty before him.
"Now that's a meal… I missed real food," he said, cheerfully.
Azula would have told him off for not using the handkerchief next to him to clean up, but there were other matters on her mind at the moment, matters that drove her attention away from his lack of decency and towards other issues…
"You okay?" he asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
Azula felt compelled to lie and claim nothing was bothering her. Lying to cover up what was going through her mind seemed a good idea, but something convinced her that it wasn't. Perhaps Sokka's inner turmoil had been soothed… but the same couldn't be said for hers.
"Not quite… there are a few things we need to talk about," she muttered.
"Is it what you were going to tell me in the stables?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.
"W-why, that…" Azula froze on her spot at the reminder of that unfinished conversation.
"Or is it you don't remember what it was yet?" Sokka asked.
"I… I do, but that's not… there's a lot more to be said before that," Azula whispered. "You… you told me your side of the story, didn't you? It's probably time for you to hear mine."
Sokka froze on his spot, not expecting her to say those words. Unease and nervousness took over him … but he nodded, letting her to open up to him if she truly felt like doing so.
"Back when this whole mess started… well, I didn't see it coming in the slightest," muttered Azula. "I'd been convinced that whatever we had was meaningful, important to you… when I saw you in that fight I couldn't believe my eyes. I wanted to think you were just manipulating her somehow, trying to make the fight easier by distracting her through your flirting or something… but then you said otherwise when I was in that waiting room with you. And… I lost it. I became desperate. I didn't know what I was doing or what the purpose of my actions was… I just wanted… to open your eyes and make you see me for who I was again, to get you to stop looking at her and come back to me…"
Sokka had already thought this to be the true intent of her actions, the true meaning of that kiss… but hearing her admit it was almost as if he had never known it in the first place. He dropped his gaze, unable to continue looking at her in the eye. Azula wasn't meeting his gaze either… doing so would have made giving this explanation far more difficult than it already was.
"It was probably the wrong reason to do such a thing," Azula said. "Yet… just as you said, I actually don't regret it. It was… unexpectedly exhilarating."
Sokka smiled and nodded, agreeing completely with that statement.
"What I said… well, I blurted it out mostly out of frustration. I thought that, if we could kiss this way, then maybe you wouldn't want to go back to her. In a way… I really wanted to keep you to myself even though I had no right to do so."
"I'm your gladiator," said Sokka, frowning. "I'm supposed to answer, first and foremost, to you. You'd given me too much freedom as it was…"
"I never expected you to be like any common slave, though," Azula admitted. "It was a lot more fun to walk beside you than to stride ahead just to remind you that you belonged beneath me. Perhaps you do… perhaps you're supposed to be inferior. But I never wanted you to be. When I thought you'd leave me, when I thought you'd run off to the next woman's arms… I knew I couldn't stop whatever it was you felt towards her, but that didn't hold me back from wanting to stop you anyways. That kiss was my last resort at that point in time… my last resort to make you see me for who I truly was, to make you realize what you could have with me if you only decided to give us a chance. But I guess what I said didn't help illustrate my goal. I just… I was so… angry, and jealous, and… I still couldn't believe you'd done what you did."
"I… I understood for a moment, I think," muttered Sokka. "But then I started coming up with the worst case scenarios, and I convinced myself that you were out to get me…"
"In a way, I can hardly blame you for thinking that way…"
"Well, I disagree. If I'd only opened up to the possibility that perhaps you hadn't been trying to ruin my life, we could have talked things through later. But I jumped to conclusions and, well…"
"And thus you said everything you said," muttered Azula, her chest aching at the memory. "I'm glad you didn't deny having believed everything you told me that night. I half-expected you to claim you had been too drunk to make any sense out of what you'd been saying…"
"I believed it back then. I don't anymore," said Sokka, looking up at her. Azula still didn't meet his eyes.
"It hurt, though… it really hurt. And I was too angry at you to be honest about my true intentions as well," she whispered. "Your fury only helped fuel mine. At that moment… I actually wanted to hurt you with my words far more than you were hurting me with yours. But given the result, I lost against you on that particular fight. I felt as if I were breaking, shattering into a million pieces… I spent the next days looking back on the matter and realizing I had to move on from it. You were still my gladiator, and I was still your sponsor, we had to play that part no matter how much you seemed to hate me."
"I figured the hate was two-fold… wasn't it?" Sokka asked, surprised.
"Not at first," Azula admitted. "After that night, I… I actually hated myself far more than I could hate you. I blamed myself for the outcome, for being stupid and delusional regarding you. I had no reason to prize our relationship as I had. You were a slave, what did it matter what you thought of me? You spent two years loathing me from afar, and that didn't keep me up at night. It was stupid to grow so conflicted and troubled just because you still felt the same way towards me now… feelings, emotions, they're unreliable and useless. All they can bring in the long run is pain, and I'd known that from long ago. Why had I allowed myself to fall again into that useless vortex of pointless agony brought by feelings, I didn't know. By the time I could think of this whole matter rationally, all I could do was blame myself for it. I felt so stupid… my father had always told me emotional attachments were futile, and yet I'd gone off and gotten attached to you as I had. That was no fault of yours, it was all mine… and I was willing to live with that, but I wanted to move on from this mess while it seemed you didn't."
Sokka lowered his head again and sighed.
"When I went to you on the stand-by room to tell you what I knew of the Savage Hook… and you brushed me off as you did, I only grew to despise myself further. How could I ever feel anything for someone as thick-headed as you were? I guess it was then that I started hating you. I actually… I actually wished the Hook would kill you as I went to the sponsors' balcony. After all you'd said and done… I felt it was all you deserved. If it happened, I would be rid of you and of all these mixed feelings and find peace once again."
"Harsh… but I get it," muttered Sokka.
"Needless to say those wishes faded into oblivion as the battle unfolded," Azula admitted. "As the Hook hurt you more and more, I realized I didn't want you to sustain any pain at all. I watched you struggle in that fight, claw your way to survival as he kept injuring you, and even though I'd been hoping you'd die at first, I knew I truly wanted you to live. That wish for your death had been merely an attempt to relieve myself from the pain I was feeling… I hadn't meant it. And watching you collapse and struggle like that taught me just how thoughtless I'd been to dare wish for your death. To my relief, you won, but then you said what you said. You asked if I was glad you'd been hurt that badly… and I snapped. I couldn't believe you. My anguish, my grief for your sake… it felt like such a waste in that moment. All my concern over you… what had been the point of it, really? You hugged me and apologized, but I didn't know what you felt so sorry for. And honestly, at that point, it didn't matter. I wanted you out of my life. I couldn't stand having cared so much… for all that care to go to waste. I had trusted you… I had believed in you. I had even…"
She found herself unable to whisper the last few words. Her entire being forced her not to say it, because the minute she said it, it would mean it was true. And she didn't want to accept that fact as true, not even now.
"And you just threw it all right back at me, as if it had been meaningless to you," muttered Azula. "As if you could just replace me with a random girl you had met in the sand pit… as if that was all I ever meant to you. It hurt so much… and I refused to let it hurt me anymore. I was done trusting you. I was done with you altogether."
There was a burning feeling in Sokka's throat. Her words brought back all his regrets at full force. Knowing now just how innocent most her actions had been… Azula had never been involved with anyone before. This had been the first time she had found herself invested in a relationship… and he driven her to discard everything she had felt. He had made her believe that emotions were truly useless, that trust was for fools…
"And yet…" said Azula. "You convinced me to give you one last chance. I kept regretting having given it to you, certain that whatever came from keeping you around would merely result in more pain for me. And I'm not one to bask in feeling miserable. I'm not one to bask in feeling anything, honestly. My best ploys always come when I'm level-headed… and with you around, I was anything but level-headed. So I kept pushing you away, being harsh with you, glaring at you, ignoring you… all in hopes that the day would come when I wouldn't have to make any efforts not to give a damn about you anymore. Of course… it was useless. I deluded myself thinking it was working until we ran into that woman, June… and all the pain came back at ten times its previous intensity. It drove me mad to the point I couldn't even bend properly when faced against the Rhinos. But then you saved me… and then you spent five days saving me. You told me what you had needed to say, and I found I actually wanted to hear it. I was relieved by your honesty, and glad to know that I had meant something to you after all. It killed me inside to think you hadn't cared… it was a pleasant surprise to discover otherwise."
"I was stupid to think you were the one who hadn't cared." muttered Sokka, sighing. "I'm sorry, Azula…"
"Still on with the apologies, don't you ever get tired of saying the same phrase over and over?" she asked, with a weak smile.
"It doesn't feel like saying it once will show just how much I regret it all," muttered Sokka, looking up at her shamefully. "I know there's nothing I can do to make up for the pain I caused you…"
"Perhaps not," replied Azula. "Yet you saved my life time after time. I wouldn't have survived that rhino's attack, and I surely wouldn't have survived being stuck in a forest for five days. Without you I would have truly been lost… and that's what I wanted to tell you in the stables. I… I'm really grateful for all you did. Without you, well, I'd be dead for starters, and I would have never found Xin Long, and I'm certain I wouldn't have caught the Rough Rhinos on my own. I had wanted to get rid of you… but now I'm more than glad that I gave you another chance. It's been worth it, even though it hasn't been the smoothest ride…"
Sokka stared at her, almost unable to give credit to his ears. An earnest smile appeared on his face as his eyes glistened. He didn't feel worthy of her gratefulness…
"Thanks… for everything, Sokka," Azula muttered, her cheeks reddening a little. "I really would have been lost without you."
"Huh… you were lost with me anyways," he said, chuckling and taking a sip from his drink. "I… I'm really glad you've come to see things like this, Azula-…"
"Nevertheless…" she said, making him freeze where he was. Her previous flush had faded away from her face. "I'm grateful, yes, but… if I understood anything in that forest after you told me everything, it was just how thoughtless I was. You were right to refuse being with me, though I'm certain there should have been a less painful way to get the point across."
"W-what do you…?"
"You were right, Sokka. I don't know what was I thinking when I genuinely thought that it was an option… that there was a way for us to become more than what we were. Because… there isn't. There shouldn't be. Us… it can't happen, Sokka."
Hearing Azula say those words knocked down Sokka's previously joyful feelings. For her to admit it meant the fact was validated completely… they weren't supposed to be together. And she knew it just as well as he did. He had been certain of it, his actions had been aimed towards making her understand they weren't meant to be… but for some reason, he had held on to the hope that she wouldn't care, that she would still want to be with him. Hearing otherwise was unbearably disheartening.
"And that's why… despite all you did, despite I owe you my life, my dragon, my honor and more…" said Azula, her hand balling into a fist over the table. "… I won't forgive you for what happened back then."
"W-what…?" Sokka's eyes opened wide in shock, totally confused by what she was saying. Was the whole purpose of this conversation to tell him she could never forgive him…?
"Don't get me wrong…" said Azula, sighing. "I could forgive you. It's not like I can't… but I won't do it. Because doing so… it will mess me up again. It will lead me into the stupid mindset I was in before, it'll convince me that we can be together. Forgiving you would mean opening myself for another round of that poisonous, vexing confusion we were subjects to."
"But it doesn't have to be that way…" muttered Sokka.
"I know," said Azula. "Which is why I want to put this past us. I want to go back to the Fire Nation alongside with you, my gladiator… but just as a gladiator. That's what you're supposed to be, after all. I want us to go back to our stupid arguments, yes. I want to find people for you to spar with, I want to tell you off for saying dumb things, I want to watch you win in the Arena against fearsome enemies. But I don't want to let myself make the same mistake of…"
"Misunderstanding the true nature of our relationship," said Sokka, nodding. "I get it."
"I can't slip up again, Sokka. And neither should you," she muttered. "It's too painful… we make a good team as we are. There's no need to look for something else…"
"I know… and I agree," said Sokka, nodding. "This is actually a better outcome than I ever thought we'd get… goes to show that talking things through is a good idea, huh?"
"It seems like it," said Azula, smiling weakly. "I suppose it's no relief for you to know I'm not forgiving you, but…"
"I get your reasons, though," said Sokka, smiling back. "It's a good idea. Should keep us from making the same mistake again."
"Hopefully," replied Azula, staring into Sokka's eyes.
Just by looking at each other right now, they knew the previous conversation had been virtually useless. Forgiveness or not… it wasn't going to be enough to stop them from succumbing to what they felt. Because they still felt the same way towards the other… if anything, those feelings might have just been revamped after this hectic week. Resisting them… was it possible? Could they do it? Could they keep their relationship as steady as they wanted it to be…?
But thinking about it this way wouldn't help at all. If they were going to leave the past behind them, they'd better do it with more enthusiasm than this, or at least that's what Sokka thought. It ought to make the whole matter easier to deal with. He smiled and stretched out his right hand towards Azula, taking her by surprise by his gesture.
"What…?"
"Well… we're back to sponsor and gladiator now," he said. "I half-expected you to discard me after your mission ended, because I really wasn't much use until we were lost in the forest…"
"True to a certain extent, perhaps, but still…"
"I'm relieved you didn't decide to do that," said Sokka, chuckling. "And I figure we should seal the deal again, right? And we'll seal it with no more instability now. This time… gladiator and sponsor, for real. We're off to the top, and we're going to get things done! So… are you with me?"
Azula was startled by his strange enthusiasm. She could sense his underlying disappointment, which seemed to correspond with how she felt about casting aside the possibilities of them being together. The regret would always be there in the back of her mind… that question poking at her, making her wonder just what it would have felt like to kiss him again, this time without despair, guilt or confusion… making her wonder what it might have been like to wake up in his arms one day… making her wonder just how it would have felt to give herself to him completely. Deep down, that was all she wished for… but it was a fleeting urge she'd have to muffle until it was gone. There was nothing else she could do about it.
She stretched her hand towards his, and the contact nearly felt electric as she shook his hand. She accepted his proposal silently, closing off the door that led towards becoming what she truly wished to be with him…
"I'm with you," she said, nodding softly. "Gladiator and sponsor, as it always was supposed to be."
Sokka clearly wasn't happy about the development either. His chest ached and burned as he resisted the urge to pull her towards him and kiss her, as he tried his hardest to contain his feelings towards her. Bottling things up had never been his policy… but in this case, it was the single thing to be done. It had to be done, for both their sakes. For the very first time they agreed on something… and thus he would do his very best to make their renewed deal endure everything that tried to shatter it. He owed it to Azula. He refused to cause her more pain. This time he was going to do things right, and if shutting away his heart was the way to do it, then so be it.
Azula and Sokka left the establishment a short while later. They went to the edge of Garsai, where they reunited with Xin Long. Azula had decided it would be safer to meet up with the dragon outside, given that most the city was in quite an uproar after sighting the creature when it had landed on the Jade Range. For Xin Long's sake, it would be best if he stayed away from panicky citizens.
They mounted the dragon and flew into the night without further ado, hardly speaking at all. Azula sighed and closed her eyes, enjoying the freshness of the night air, yet feeling a sense of loss within her chest… that feeling would subside eventually, she knew it would. Once they were back home and she realized their relationship had returned to what it used to be, she'd stop feeling so badly about the conclusion they had reached today…
Her resolution threatened to crumble down to pieces when she felt something on her shoulder. She turned slowly to find Sokka's face next to hers… he had fallen asleep.
She couldn't help but smile at the sight of his sleeping face. It had been too long since he had last truly rested, hadn't it? Yet feeling him so close to her was almost like a form of torture by now. He was right there, but she couldn't have him. He couldn't have her. They wanted each other, they both were aware of it… but nothing could be done about it. They couldn't be together.
But nevertheless… one last slip up wouldn't hurt much, would it?
She reached out for his hand on the saddle, taking it in hers as she leaned down towards him, kissing his lips softly for the last time. Again, it was a kiss full of emotions she wished she weren't experiencing… it made her wonder just how good a decision had it been to miss the chance of kissing him again one day without feeling such sorrow. But for now… just for now…
The tears that burned in her eyes forced her to interrupt the kiss. She pressed her forehead against his, still holding his hand. It was over for good now… it had to be.
Xin Long sensed her sadness, completely confused by what it meant. Azula smiled at the dragon and stroked his neck reassuringly with her free hand. She would be fine one day… she knew it. She was sure she would be, as soon as she found the way to stop loving Sokka.