The Gaang had reached Ember Island late the previous day and after a quick snoop around the premises had a good night's sleep at the Fire Lord's expense.

It was well on its way to noon when the house began stirring again.

Sokka, under the tyranny of his stomach had been the first one up and was preparing food in the kitchen, when he was joined by a shaggy looking Azula, the sleep weighing heavily on her eyes and her hair hadn't quite figured out which orientation to be in.

"Hi!" she had greeted him sleepily as she entered the small kitchen that probably had served as a break room for the help by the looks of it, furnished only by a few chairs and an unvarnished table, aside from the cupboards and the stove.

Sokka yawned as he fried some eggs and mystery meat as well as boiling some porridge for Aang. "Hi!"

"What's the plan for today?" Azula asked as she sat down by the kitchen table.

"Thought I'd go out for some intelligence and supplies." Sokka said as he flipped the eggs.

"Why do you need to get the former when you have me?" Azula said with a grin and winked wickedly as Sokka looked in her direction in a moment of confusion, but shot a wink right back at her upon getting the joke.

"No but it would be nice to know, if we can rest and recuperate for a while or if the next week is going to be us whipping ourselves into shape for a desperate final battle." Sokka replied, almost half asleep.

Azula spun around in her chair, stretched and tilted her head backwards until she was looking at Sokka upside down. "Hey, guess who's birthday is coming up soon?"

Sokka yawned again and said nonchalantly, "Katara's" before he looked Azula in the eyes, "And yours too, I recon."

Azula nodded; "That's right, maybe you could take a girl shopping."

Sokka chuckled and leaned in over the table as Azula spun around again to meet his gaze; "I'd love to but seeing as we're wanted criminals and you're not the most inconspicuous individual in the Fire Nation at the moment, I don't think that's a very good idea."

"No body knows who I am around here, and those who know, only know me as trouble." Azula contorted herself around again. "I'd like to get some lipstick and make-up again, I'd like to feel pretty."

Sokka had returned to the food and just scoffed at Azula who spun around again with a frown. "What?!"

Sokka turned his head away, "You're beautiful as it is."

Azula blushed a little before composing herself again, "Well thank you Sokka, but I want to feeeel pretty, you know."

Sokka smiled and flipped a portion onto a plate and handed it to Azula. "Alright, because it's your birthday."

"Well, not quite yet!" Azula pointed out as she grabbed a spoon and began to eat.

She took a few bites and smiled at Sokka, "You know, you could have had a promising future as my personal chef if things had turned out any differently."

Sokka looked around at the kitchen surrounding him in feign surprise, "Wait, what do you mean could have?"

Azula laughed. "I guess you're right."

Suddenly Zuko entered the the kitchen, "Right about what?"

Azula grinned at her brother; "That Sokka thinks you're a flaming hotman."

"Both you know I was with Mai!" Zuko said solemnly, as he thought of his girlfriend.

"Well, technically, you did leave her to join a group of guys." Sokka teased.

"What? We're equal parts guys and girls!" Zuko exclaimed.

"Well, before your sister decided to join, we had Haru, Teo and the Duke, plus Toph is kind of a Tomboy and Katara kind of a mom so… Your case isn't looking too good buddy." Sokka said grinning and Azula began to giggle.

Zuko just put his arms up; "Alright, well, I am wanted for sodomy anyway, so might as well do the crime!" he then pointed to Sokka; "And if I'm a Hotman, then you'll be my Hotboy!"

The kitchen filled with hearty laughter, and Sokka passed Zuko some breakfast.


Sokka and Azula had gone to the town in search of supplies they had found out through several round about ways and reading between the lines of propaganda letters that their mission had been a stunning success, there was no way the Fire Nation would have the capability to destroy the Earth Kingdom now, at least not in the total way that the Fire Lord might have hoped, which of course was cause for celebrating but after a lot of expensive shopping Azula finally had to ask; "Where did you get a hold of so much money?"

"Oh… A lot of hard work and good investments, plus me and Katara are independently wealthy, like Toph!" Sokka said as nonchalantly as he could.

Azula cocked her eye at him sensing his dishonesty "You scammed people didn't you?"

"Yes." answered Sokka without missing a beat, but afterwards raising his pitch a bit; "But in our defence, we were scamming the scammers."

"How noble of you." responded Azula with a side eyed glance at him.

Suddenly something jerked at Azula's shoulder and spun her around which caught Sokka by almost as much surprise as her and he found his hand instinctively wander to his sword as he spun at the heel. "I thought I recognised you!" said a young man who was both taller and more broad shouldered than Sokka, even as his hand dropped from his sword, he couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated at the prospect of fighting this guy barehanded but if push came to shove he'd probably take the beating than let it degenerate into lethal combat. "You're the girl who trashed my place!" said the man.

"Chan? How have you been?" Azula said nervously trying to feign a smile. Before Chan could answer, Sokka had stepped between him and Azula.

"Who the hell are you?!" asked Chan poking Sokka in the chest.

"So- Lee, Sorry, I'm Lee and this is my girlfriend… Leeee-aaa." said Sokka bumbling his way through the confrontation.

"Lea, I knew that!" scoffed Chan as he leaned in on Sokka who tried to keep his cool to the best of his abilities.

Azula stepped forward; "Lee, Chan and I met at a party earlier this summer, before we got together."

"Right, have you told your boyfriend how we made out on my porch!?" Chan asked before he turned his head to Sokka to look him in the eyes tauntingly, "...Before she started bending flames at me and being all weird?" Chan then had a look of recollection, "In fact, she was always weird."

"Huh!" exclaimed Sokka nonchalantly.

Sokka took a glance at Azula who was blushing so red her she practically radiated. "Well, that's my Lea for you, if she as much as whiff of the cork, she's out."

Chan stood silent for a moment before he took a threatening step forward and continued, "Yeah, but... Anyway, someone has to pay! My dad almost pulled me out of the Naval academy to become a stoker on his flagship!"

Sokka's face lit up as he recalled the name.

"Hey, your dad is Admiral Chan! My dad has mentioned him!" Sokka said with a friendly tone hoping to de-escalate the situation.

Chan once again was taken a back and had to rile himself back up, why wasn't this guy biting, he wasn't even showing fear, he was just dodging his verbal attacks, so he pushed Sokka in the chest with the palm of his hand, "I've been grounded the entire summer thanks to your stupid girlfriend and her friends!"

Sokka felt a surge of rage go through him and started to think about where he should hit the man first for most effect, but decided to try appeasement one more time and mustered a cheerful tone, "I know that feeling bro, back in Ba-" Sokka paused as he thought about his answer before continuing, "It doesn't matter where, Lea and her friends had me grounded too." Sokka laughed and took a light hold of Chan's arm, "Oh, you wouldn't believe the amount of trouble she has gotten me in, it's amazing that we aren't wanted though out the Fire Nation and the worl-" Sokka stopped upon seeing Azula's face and got the message and let go of Chan who looked so baffled it was like his brain had dropped out, Sokka cleared his throat.

"Junior! You can hang out with your friends after your penance!" A man came walking up to the trio, half a head taller than Chan and looking twice as broad at the shoulders appeared behind Chan and Sokka, obviously Chan's father, Admiral Chan.

"These aren't my friends, father!" Chan responded respectfully, his demeanour having changed nearly instantly.

Sokka turned around and bowed, "That's right, we were just chatting with your son about… Girls." Sokka paused as he thought about his answer; "And the trouble they get us in."

Chan the elder looked down at Sokka inquisitively, clean shaven with piercing golden eyes, they looked like they saw right through him: "That's what they do, son, as my own son found out the hard way earlier this summer." he glanced at his son who hung his head in shame.

The elder Chan continued, "I see you have a battle ribbon sewn on to your clothing, which battle did you take part it may I inquire?"

Sokka looked down at what he thought to be an insignificant decorative patch to his sleeve. "Oh that, uhm, that's my great grandfather's, sir! He fought in Admiral Sokka's last stand."

Chan raised one eyebrow, "Oh really? I should warn you that it's not technically allowed to wear other people's awards, but I will make an exception if it's to honour one's ancestors. Have you thought about joining the navy, if you haven't already that is?"

Sokka swallowed and wondered what would be the best way to get himself out this situation. "I've thought about it."

"Excellent, my own son is starting his third year at the Naval Academy and though I've tried to encourage to come on as an engineering officer on my ship to get some combat experience before the war is over, but boys being boys, it's either up top with all the action or nothing at all." the Admiral said solemnly and shook his head before he raised his gaze and looked deep into Sokka's eyes as if probing for something.

"I'm sure the war will go on, I mean it's done so this far." Sokka said with a nervous laughter.

"Well my boy, I shouldn't be telling you this, but since you're a naval prospect with a family naval tradition like my own, the Fire Lord has decreed that the Water Tribes must be brought to heel by summer's end, so get down to the recruiter, before the war passes you too, son. Just make sure you ask to be part of the Eastern Fleet."

Sokka hoped the terror in his eyes hadn't been to obvious.

"Thank you, Sir!" said Sokka as the Admiral and his son began to walk away.

Sokka turned heel and grabbed Azula by the arm.

"You were right, Trouble is a name that suits you, but this was worth every torturous second." Sokka said quietly to Azula ear.

Azula gestured with her thumb and index finger holding them a mere inch apart, "I was this close to zapping them away."

Sokka laughed half-heartedly, "I was counting on it."


Aang was in the process of feeding Appa with Katara washing a black as coal Momo in a tub, a equally blackened Toph was just sitting on the porch enjoying the warm sun on her filthy skin, when Azula and Sokka came running from around the corner of the house.

"Aang, we've got terrible news!" yelled Sokka before the pair stopped about half a Bison's length from Appa and Aang. "And in fairness some good news."

"Okay, hit me with the good news first, set the mood." Aang said optimistically as he air bent some loose hay into a bale for Appa to eat.

"Well… Our plan succeeded and the Fire Nation won't be able to complete the destruction of the Earth Kingdom, and with no fatalities."

"Sounds to me like great news." said Katara trying to hold down Momo as she scrubbed him.

Sokka looked around at the blackened Toph and Momo, just then a really wet Zuko came walking up from the beach in his swimming trunks, his face looking a shade darker than usual with black rings around his eyes as if he hadn't slept for days. "What's happened here anyway?" he inquired.

"Oh, we just helped Zuko sweep the chimney." said Toph with a self satisfied grin, her white teeth practically glowing.

Zuko didn't look very pleased. "Well, at least we won't have to freeze at night, even though the living room is a mess." he said as he passed Azula.

"What are the terrible news then?" asked Katara impatiently.

"The Fire Nation is going to attack the Water Tribes, heavily implied when the Comet arrives!" exclaimed Sokka.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Sokka and Azula.

"How do you know this?" asked Katara in shock.

"We ran into an old friend of Azula." said Sokka and everyone's eyes popped out in fear. "Don't worry, he didn't know… Recognise..." Sokka turned to Azula, "How exactly were you acquainted."

Azula giggled nervously before she spoke, "Well Ty-Lee and Mai got themselves invited to a party and me and Zuzu joined in incognito and we… Sort of trashed his house."

"Wait, you saw Chan?" exclaimed Zuko.

"And his father." Answered Azula, "And in an attempt to lure Sokka into the navy, he went and spilled state secrets, as dimwitted as his boy, it would seem."

"Did you make sure you weren't followed?" asked Zuko alarmed.

Azula took out a small pocket mirror and started applying some more lipstick. "Yes, Zuzu, subtly too, might I add." she said in a vain tone as she moved her mirror around as if she couldn't get enough of herself.

Sokka gently poked Azula in the arm with his elbow, "Clever, this one." he said as he winked at Zuko, and Azula couldn't help but give her cavalier a smirk as his smile rose to his cheeks.

"Okay, so we know the source is at least plausible. What are we going to do about it?" asked Zuko with a frustrated tone. "We know next to nothing now?"

Katara released Momo and got up, "That's not exactly true, when we were in the communication tower, I peaked at some of the fleet movements, I think I could draw at least some of them up if I had a map."

"And that's how I know you're my sister!" Sokka said enthusiastically to Katara.

"What does it matter, the comet is nearly here anyway, our only hope now is for Aang to confront and kill the Fire Lord!" Zuko said in frustration which took Azula aback.

"Wait! Are you suggesting that Aang kill dad?" she said somewhat shocked.

Aang too looked at him in horror.

"Oh come on Azula! If Aang doesn't do it, Father is going to put him in a position where it's either Aang or him, don't be so naive!"

"Zuko, I've never consid-" Aang tried to interject.

"What, Aang? That you'd have to put down a rabid dog?" Zuko yelled turning to Aang for a second.

He then turned to Azula and pointed at her, "And you, the Golden child, once he found out about your lie, you became the same as me in his eyes."

Zuko lowered his arm, and grinned at his sister, "I've been curious… How does it feel? Being a disappointment, I mean."

Azula was now visibly upset with a tear forming at the corner of her eye but instead of pity, something else rose within Zuko as he smirked and added, "At least Mother loved me."

The tension in the air became thick but before Azula let anything else show on her face she turned heel and left. Sokka turned his towards her, "Azula, wait?" but she was already nearly out of his field of vision and he scrambled to go after her.

"Yeah, run and cry, that'll make Father love you!" yelled Zuko after his sister, before whispering to himself, "And I'm the dumb one..."

Katara rose to the occasion, "What the hell is the matter with you?!"

Zuko scoffed, "I am my father's son after all." But he also felt a sting in his own statement, and guilt over having said it to his sister but in the heat of the moment, all the old conditioning had boiled to the surface, Azula had shown weakness, a month earlier, guarded by a fortress their father's approval, she wouldn't have batted an eye at doing the same thing if in his shoes. It didn't make it right, but it had felt good.


Sokka tracked Azula to a small cave, more of an outcrop in the cliff on the villa grounds where she was sitting curled up and crying.

"GO AWAY!" She yelled at Sokka not even lifting her head, but Sokka crawled forward on his hands and knees.

"What is this place?" asked Sokka curiously.

"It's where I come to be alone! Get out!" she yelled through her cries.

"Azula, I'm sorry!" Sokka said in an attempt to comfort Azula.

"Sorry about what? It's me who's been stupid!" Azula said angrily. "Of course, you guys had no better plan than to kill my father!"

Sokka hung his head, to him it had always been so obvious that it didn't bear mentioning and it had been so much easier without someone putting a human face on him, if it was just by showing concern for him.

"As if it would make any difference anyway! The military will just choose another Fire Lord through their ranks, someone just as cruel and deadly." Azula lamented.

Sokka went to sit next to Azula and put his arm around her. "Can I ask you a sincere question?"

"Like my objection would stop you?" Azula said adding a single mocking laugh "Ha!".

Sokka just nodded and asked; "What's your suggestion?"

Azula raised her head, her eyes swollen with tears and looked Sokka in the eyes; "What?" she asked with a mixture of confusion and anger.

"No, I mean it, what is your alternative?" Sokka asked matter-of-factly.

"I don't have one, okay! But that doesn't mean I'm just going to concede to killing my dad!" Azula yelled in Sokka's face.

Sokka sighed in frustration "I wasn't asking you rhetorically but if you want to save your dad we need a realistic alternative." Azula in turn hung her and continued to sob silently. Sokka pulled her in closer and started caressing her cheek with his free hand. "We'll figure something out, I promise, even if Aang has to pull out a new form of bending out of his rear to take your father's bending away."

Azula laughed at through her tears at Sokka's comment. "That might bring him down a notch but what are the odds of that happening?"

Sokka gave a slight chuckle and shook his head, he was glad he had made Azula feel better even if they hadn't figured out a solution to their problem. He looked around the tiny cave and decided to switch topics. "What is this place anyway?"

Azula lifted her head, "Isn't it obvious? It's where I came as a child when I wanted to be alone, you are the first person who's been able to find it." Azula turned her head to look Sokka in the eyes, "Or cared enough?" As she smiled Sokka acted on pure instinct and kissed Azula on the lips and didn't dare to break it as her hands rose to caress his face and he could nought but respond in kind, there was none of the primal lust that had dominated their previous encounters, but inevitably, that too followed and Sokka grew bolder.

As Sokka reached his hand inside Azula's tunic, she pulled away from the kiss and smiled, "I think you're a bit late, nothing is going to happen today."

Sokka proceeded to kiss her neck and whispered into her ear, "I think I can make something happen." as his hands explored her body.

"I'm sure you could, but let's not." Azula said, pulling Sokka back by his wolf tail and kissing him.

His triumphal look turned to sadness worried that he had done something wrong, and Azula began to blush a bit, "I'm sorry… It's just that..."

Sokka began looking even more like a question mark and finally Azula had to look away in embarrassment, "My moon's blood is upon me, okay." In the corner of her eye she could see the boy's cheeks light up red, "Oh..." And then he leaned in for a kiss and gave out a laugh of relief.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so forward." he said apologetically.

"Oh, don't be, normally..." she leaned into his ear, "I kind of like it." she then proceeded to bite him softly on the neck while letting out a quiet roar.

Sokka in turn threw his arm around Azula and pulled closer in.


The days were growing shorter, even near the Arctic circle, indirectly heralding the arrival of Sozin's comet. Azka watched from the cruiser's open bridge at the gathering storm of fire and steel, the Grand Fleet as the Fire Lord has christened this new formation, the sledgehammer of the Northern Water Tribe. He had counted counted over nearly a hundred individual ships in an attempt at trying to get a sense of the scale of the operation.

He knew that the Southern Raiders were getting reinforced by a squadron of battlecruisers and a few Air Ships of the Fleet Air Arm under Vice-Admiral Ching, but what he didn't know was that on the first day of the Comet's arrival, every capital ship not undergoing refit or repair would be in the Northern sea, a few of the ships were veterans of Admiral Zhao's disastrous campaign, but this time, there would be no underhanded tricks that could anger the spirits, this would be as brute force of a campaign.

With any hope he thought, the Northern Water Tribe would see the light and futility in resisting a force almost twice the size of the one that had nearly brought them to their knees.

One of Azka's lieutenants came running to him, "There is an urgent message from the Fire Lord."

Azka turned to look at the man and saw he was carrying a sealed scroll, which he opened.

Azka struggled somewhat to read the small print on the scroll, it wasn't good news and he turned to the Lieutenant, "There has been a change of plan, we won't be getting support from the airships."

The Lieutenant looked northward, "I still think we can pull it off, sir."

Azka's head dropped, "I know you will..." he turned to lieutenant, "But I've been ordered to stay behind."


The sun had already set when Sokka and Azula came back to the house hand-in-hand, Sokka had made up his mind that he could grieve the loss of his wife while letting a new person into his heart, life in war was simply too short live by conventional rules.

Appa was sleeping under the trees in the yard with Momo as they walked in through the main entrance into the main hall, where they found the others in the living room warming themselves by the fireplace, the windows had been blacked out so no one could see the light of the fire from the outside but it was now illuminating the pair as they stepped into the living room.

Toph had sensed their presence long before they stepped into the room but chose this time to acknowledge their presence, "Had fun, you two?"

The rest of the Gaang turned their heads towards the couple, and a look of shock and anger rose to the faces of Zuko and Katara, "What is this?!" they shouted in union.

Azula giggled and rose slightly on the balls of her feet to peck Sokka on the cheek before turning to her brother, "Well, we've decided that we actually kind of like each other and we're going to try and enjoy each others company without pretence from now on."

Zuko turned his eyes from Azula to Sokka, "You're a big brother too… So I hope I don't have to be explicit but I just want you to know."

Sokka nodded with a smile. Katara crossed her hands with a dower look on her face and said nothing. Aang just smiled, "I personally think its great." Katara gave Aang a dirty look and scoffed.

The silence was again broken by Zuko as he turned to Aang, "This doesn't change a thing, you will have to face the Fire Lord and when you do, he will force you to kill him."

Sokka and Azula sat down next to another on Aang's side of the room. "What if we just forced him to abdicate?" Offered Sokka.

Zuko scoffed, "Impossible, my father is as pigheaded as he is stupid, he would sooner die than surrender."

"The apple doesn't fall far then." said Azula looking at Zuko who raised his gaze to meet hers, "You're the one to talk!" he shot back.

Azula shook her finger, "Pigheaded, not stupid." Azula leaned in towards him "Why do you really think father gave you that scar?"

The tension in the air became so thick it could be cut with a knife, or fire.

"I suppose father has told you his real reason." Zuko said in a soft but venomous tone.

"He didn't have to… You blame father for something he had to do and then you didn't stand and fight."

Zuko scoffed, "Had to? Don't make me laugh."

"Zuzu, Father's power rests with his generals, whom you disrespected, he had no choice in the matter after you refused to apologise, and you sealed your fate further by refusing to fight."

"Because I didn't know I was going to fight my own father?" Zuko spat out in rising anger..

"Exactly, an even bigger insult to the general staff!" Azula said with a self-satisfied smile. "Surely it must have occurred to you? Surely, Uncle must have said something."

Zuko stood up and marched out of the room in fury.

Azula relished in her verbal victory over her big brother. "To be honest, I actually enjoyed watching dad take him down a peg. Of course I didn't know…" She gestured with her hand over the left side of her face "That it would be that bad."

Aang turned to Azula; "So… Are you saying the Fire Lord would be amendable but it's his generals who-"

Azula shook her head; "No, no, no, I'm saying the two things play off each other."

"So can't we try pulling off what you did in the Earth Kingdom?" asked Katara, to which Aang and Toph responded in unison with an enthusiastic "Yeah!"

"Impossible." responded Sokka.

Azula turned her head to Katara, "Your brother suggested much the same thing, firstly, we have no institution like the Dai-Li. The closest thing would be the Gendarmerie and it has been loosely described to me as a long circle of accountability, even if you could get to the director-general and his deputies, there are people who's sole job it is to watch them for signs of corruption and report directly to my father."

The others sat in silence as Azula paused her lecture on the inner workings on the Fire Nation.

"Then we have the Army and Navy, though they work hand in glove professionally, there is no formal chain of command between them except for the institution that is the throne and last but not least, the Imperial Guard which is totally independent from the rest of the branches."

Azula scanned the room for reaction before continuing. "And each branch has individual operational initiative." She quickly scanned the room for confused looks which she found, "That means that as long as the overarching mission is not compromised, each commander has the authority to operate freely on his own, so that even in the event of a decapitating attack, the Fire Nation military can remain approximately eighty percent combat effective, believe me, we hold yearly war games to test our readiness."

Toph interrupted, "Okay, so the Fire Nation is a really tough nut to crack, is there any way to beat them outside of open battle?"

Azula leaned back, "Possibly, that's what we need to figure out, we would have to get a lot of people from a lot of different branches behind us, and we don't have those connections any more."

"But I know someone who has..." Zuko had returned and was leaning against the door frame. "Uncle would know."

Azula scoffed, "Uncle is disgraced and a known traitor."

Zuko remained unmoved, "Uncle is still a well-respected man outside of the halls of power."

Azula sulked, "Those halls of power are the ones we need to get into, dumb-dumb!"

"No, you said it yourself, everyone operates independently." Zuko responded.

"I think they'll draw the line at high treason!" Azula reminded.

Sokka was holding his fingers in a scholar's cradle and quietly contemplating.

"Can't we just evacuate the North and South Poles until the comet passes?" Katara suggested desperately. Sokka spoke, "That would seem to be our best option at he moment but with the comet so close, I'm betting a blockade is already being set up and messenger hawks don't like the arctic regions even if we wanted to warn them." He lifted his solemn gaze towards Zuko, "In which case, we're just going to have to trust that your Uncle has pull within the Fire Nation."

"Which he doesn't." interjected Azula.

Sokka turned to her; "I think we're going to have to go talk to Admiral Chan again."

"Sokka, even if Zuzu was right, Uncle is imprisoned in the capital, reportedly having lost his mind." Azula said with a slightly annoyed tone. "Let's just go to bed."

"That's not true!" interjected Zuko, "Uncle broke out on the day of the eclipse."

Azula raised her head at Zuko cocking her eyebrow and then looking around the room to confirm her suspicions by reading the puzzled looks on everyone else's face, and pointed towards her brother, "I thought you said you interrogated him!" Azula let out a grunt of frustration, then turning to face him, she added, "Anything else your holding out on us, Zuzu?"

There was a moment of silence before it was broken by Toph, "Where is your Uncle?"

"I don't know, but I know how to find him." Zuko said self-confidently.

Sokka got to his feet, "Well regardless, me and Azula are going to shake some information out of the Admiral to see how we proceed."

Azula snapped her head towards Sokka, "Me?!"

"Of course!" Sokka said winking at her. "If things go badly, you're my back-up plan."

Azula smirked and raised her hand in a gesture for Sokka to help her to her feet.

"The rest of you, continue scheming." Sokka said as he pulled Azula to her feet.


Azula and Sokka knocked on the door of Chan's villa.

Chan the younger answered the door, and his face dropped as he recognised who it was, "You two! What are you doing here? ...And at this hour?!"

"We're here to see your father." Sokka said brashly.

"We're about to have supper!" Chan replied annoyed.

"Perfect!" Azula said stepping inside and looking at the newly refurbished hall. "I see someone cleaned up our handy work."

Sokka pushed Chan aside and stepped in, "Thank you for inviting us in!" Sokka proclaimed loudly.

A voice echoed from another room; "Junior! Who did you invite in?!"

Sokka took Azula by the hip and walked forward; "Just your son's friends from the market."

Chan grabbed Sokka by the shoulder and jerked him around and grabbed him by the collar before hissing, "What are you doing?!"

Sokka raised his hands as a sign of passive resignation and with a smirk said, "Just play along, man."

Chan pulled Sokka in closer threateningly, "And if I don't!"

Azula began to examine the glued vase next to the wall, "Are those stoker positions still open?" she said casually as she began to tip the vase with her finger.

Chan let go of Sokka and with a begrudging look gestured for Sokka and Azula to follow him to the other room where a small table was set. The Admiral and his wife where seated next to one-another and looked carefully at their unexpected guests.

"I thought you said these weren't your friends." Chan the Elder said coldly.

"Casual acquaintances." led Sokka with smile.

The Admiral's gaze shifted towards Sokka.

Sokka and Azula took a bow before Sokka continued. "I was hoping to speak with you, sir. About the coming campaign."

The Admiral broke a piece of bread to have with his bone broth and beat soup. "I don't discuss such matters at the supper table."

"It is a matter of some urgency." Sokka retorted.

The Admiral took a bite of his bread and a spoonful of soup as he continued looking at Sokka with a penetrating glance. His wife, a distinguished beauty in her own right with predatory eyes just like her husband's looked up and down their guests, her eyes fixating on Azula, "Girl, you look familiar, have we had the honour?"

Azula controlled herself at the prospect of having been caught, "I wondered the same thing, Ma'am but Ember Island isn't a very big place."

"Quite, does your family own property on the Island?" she asked inquisitively.

"No, me and my fiancé are celebrating our engagement here." Azula said with a smile as she grabbed Sokka by the arm.

The Admiral swallowed his food after what seemed like an eternity of chewing, especially for soup, "What's this matter of urgency that can't wait until after supper."

Sokka looked at Azula as if looking for advice in her eyes before turning back to face the Admiral, "Well… Sir, what if the Water Tribes just decide to evacuate and scatter in the face of our forces?"

The Admiral just swallowed the bite of bread he had just taken without hardly chewing it at all, "I'll just assure you that it won't be a problem."

Azula stepped forward and spoke with a regal tone, subtle, yet commanding, "I'd like to have something more concrete, what are you planning to prevent the escape of the Water Tribe savages, or will they be free to rape and plunder our coasts for the next decade, like the days of old?"

The Admiral chuckled as he laid down his spoon, "Your fiancé has scared you with too many stories of the bane of his ancestor, Miss. Chief Arnook is no Sokka and Hakoda is in our custody."

Sokka's heart skipped a beat at the prospect of his father being recaptured, but Azula interjected, "There have been rumours of his escape."

The Admiral narrowed his eyes before he smiled, "Malicious rumours, probably has more to do with him being transferred to the Boiling Rock from which there is no escape."

Sokka heart rate returned to something approximating normal, considering the circumstances, there was a chance that the Admiral was bluffing, but it seemed like he was operating on outdated information..

The Admiral then put his hand on his heart and bowed his head slightly but maintained a steely eye contact with Azula, "I swear on my honour as an Officer, there will be no escape by the Water Tribes."

The Admiral picked up his spoon and proceeded to scoop up some soup, and the room was as quiet that the slurping sound emitted by the Admiral's lips could have been as thunder.

"Was that all?" Asked the Admiral coldly.

Sokka and Azula looked at one-another, Sokka moved his lips as to speak but Azula shook her head.

"My son will show you the door."

Sokka turned to look the Admiral in the eye and asked half in a panic; "What's your opinion on Prince Iroh?"

The Admiral's and his wife's eyes narrowed on him and they took a quick glance at each other, before the Admiral spoke, "He is a traitor of course, what a foolish question." He gestured for his son to come over and he whispered something into his ears and Chan the younger quickly left the room, as his wife stood up to leave.

"Close the door, Love." He said to his wife as she exited the room.

He looked up and down Sokka, lingering on a bit on his sword, "Whomever sent you, son, I hope you send my disregards as I feel more than a little bit insulted at having my honour questioned on the eve of battle." The Admiral sighed, wiping his mouth with a napkin, "...But in trying times such as these I guess there are certain redoubling of efforts." He gestured for the pair to sit in his wife's and son's chairs which they duly did.

"Do you play Pai-Sho?" asked the Admiral with a stern voice.

"Yes, we both do." responded Sokka and he noticed a visible glimmer in the Admiral's eyes as if he was suppressing a smile.

"Care you to play a round?" asked the Admiral almost hopefully.

Sokka looked at Azula who mirrored his look of puzzlement before he turned back to the Admiral. "I really don't think this is the time." and with that the Admiral's eyes narrowed again and his tone changed subtly, "Of course not, I hope you can still have a glass of wine despite being on duty?" he said, pulling out a pipe from his pocket and started packing it.

"Yes, sir." answered Sokka, and the door opened with Chan the younger carrying two glasses and a bottle of wine which he proceeded to pour to his guests.

The Admiral sat leaning over the table with the pipe, "One you wouldn't happen to have a light?"

Sokka looked over at Azula with a hint of nervousness, but she hadn't broken her gaze from the Admiral, "We're not Fire benders, Admiral." Sokka said hastily.

The Admiral then stowed his pipe in his pocket and leaned back. "Well, I hope I haven't spilled any state secrets worth arresting me for." said the Admiral to Sokka.

"Just everything the enemy would need to know to plan a counter offensive." Azula said angrily, as if she was Crown Princess again. She picked up her glass and drank, "We ought to drag you out of here in chains."

The Admiral chuckled, "What would be the chances of there being enemy spies on Ember Island, Miss?"

Azula leaned into her role, she was in her natural habitat again so much that it frightened Sokka a bit, who couldn't help but think this was a prelude to some gambit to get her back into her father's good graces. "More than you'd think… Admiral."

"I suppose… What were the odds of you two being agents of..." The Admiral gesticulated with his hand waving it around his wrist in a circle..

"The Secret Gendarmerie." said Azula unblinking, "We've watched your family for months, and believe me we're older than we look."

"I see…" The Admiral stared at Azula.

Sokka moved his head to speak, but Azula managed first, "You've told us about your opinion on Prince Iroh, what do you know about his reputation among your subordinates, we'll know if you're lying."

"Because if you do, we'll arrest you tonight." Sokka added sloppily.

Even so, the Admiral didn't break eye contact with Azula for a second but she in turn could tell he was going to be evasive, "The man is a legend and unfortunately, you can't just break a legend with accusations of treason by a man who is unfortunately regarded as a usurper by far too many."

"One is too many." added Azula coldly.

"Quite, but we either face reality or put our heads in the sand and play pretend." the Admiral responded.

"Or you could root out such treachery." Azula spat venomously.

The corner of the Admiral's mouth lifted in smirk. "That's a part of facing the reality, there's also the problem that we are in the middle of a war and some of these men are our most capable officers."

Sokka's eyes lit up at this comment and was just about to ask when Azula beat him to the punch and demanded; "We want names!"

The Admiral just smirked. "You can have all the names you want, after the battle, but before that you can take me away in chains and throw me in a dungeon, war doesn't want for one man after all, no matter how strong, brave or high ranking." He took raised his glass to his lips and emptied it, "Otherwise I think we're done here."

The Admiral got up in one quick move that instinctively had Sokka reaching for his sword. Azula slowly raised her gaze, "I decide when this interview is over."

"On the contrary, Miss, I'd sooner cut off my own tongue than continue." he looked over at Sokka grasping the hilt of his sword with scornful look that showed nothing but disdain for the young man, "Whomever you stole that sword from, was more of a man than you could ever hope to be."

Sokka felt a sting to his pride; "I- I didn't-"

The Admiral just smirked scornfully. "Arrest me or get out, spare me the courtesy, you lanky pansy."

Azula shot back her chair and rose, "We'll show ourselves out."

Sokka got up from his chair and followed Azula out of the room. "Just for the record, I didn't steal this sword."

"Ha!" the Admiral huffed loudly and scornfully, "Piandao doesn't make swords like that for the likes of you, so that kind of narrows it down."

At that Sokka just decided to turn heel and leave.

As they exited through front door, Azula gave Sokka a quick peck on the cheek, "Next time, just let me handle the interrogation."


Nothing much to say, I really enjoyed writing this Chapter especially Azula, both her interaction with Zuko and her interrogation of the Admiral which was a nice chance for her to play Crown Princess again in all but name.

Though Admiral Chan gets name dropped a couple of times in the series, this version is pretty much an original character, and of course, he couldn't be a pushover, even as a non-bender.