CW: Child abuse. Sorry, but we all knew this was coming. However, there's a silver lining in the way of Azula's changing mindset.

Chapter 26

Roughly two weeks after returning from Ba Sing Se, Katara was well and truly back to her old routine between attending school, helping out around the house as much as she could, and keeping up her Pai Sho practice, which included lengthy phone conversations with Yue. Her silver medal had been noticed by the general public, and the press had reached out to her for comments, but the interest had waned a lot quicker than following her winning the U15 title two years ago. Again, Katara wasn't really chasing fame, she was in it for the love of the game alone, and the priceless friendships she had established through it.

On just another regular Tuesday morning in mid-April, Katara was busy working in the kitchen. She was preparing some PBJ's to help herself and Sokka through the long day at school, when the phone rang out at the Enuaraq household. Katara paid no attention to it, assuming that it was one of Gran-Gran's acquaintances. Kanna had a lot of friends in the tightly knit community, and all the village women near her grandmother's age loved a little bit of gossip now and then. So, Katara was rather surprised that shortly after answering the call, Gran-Gran stepped into the kitchen and turned to her granddaughter.

"Katara, there's a girl on the phone, asking for you," Gran-Gran told her.

This really surprised Katara. Yue never called her in the mornings, especially not on a school day. It was probably that Earth Kingdom girl Suki who was lately calling Sokka quite often and Gran-Gran had simply misheard who she had asked for. The whole thing with this Suki girl was bothering Katara quite a bit. She didn't think that Sokka should be spending so much time talking with another girl behind Yue's back, and she had told him so in no uncertain terms. Sokka had responded that Yue knew about his friendship with Suki and had no problems with it. Katara had not believed her brother and had checked with Yue. Much to her surprise, Yue had confirmed that she indeed had no problems with Sokka talking with Suki. Katara had thought that Yue had sounded a little weird about it, however, so she really didn't know what to think about it all.

"Are you sure she's not asking for Sokka, Gran-Gran?" Katara asked, quickly finishing up the construction of the PBJ's and wrapping them in a plastic film.

"I'm sure, sweetie," Gran-Gran smiled at her. "She sounded very official when asking for you, using both your first and last name. I wish to speak with Katara Enuaraq, please. Put a smile on my face, she did."

Katara knew only one girl who spoke like that, but could it really be Azula? She hadn't called in the days following the tournament, and Katara had been dying from anxiety to hear from her Fire Nation friend. But when Azula still didn't call, Katara had become resigned to the fact that Azula would probably end up never calling her, same as the previous year. It had made Katara quite depressed. She had truly believed that they had connected for real during this year's tournament.

"Hello?" Katara asked, having picked up the handset. Her hand was trembling slightly from the anticipation.

"Hi," she heard a quiet, slightly subdued voice on the phone, still unmistakably belonging to Azula.

"Oh thank the spirits, it really is you," Katara breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I'm so glad to hear your voice again. How are you, Azula?"

There was a lengthier pause before Azula replied, and for a moment Katara began to fear that the call had disconnected. "I've been better, Katara, but you needn't worry about that," came the eventual reply, completely failing to reassure her. "I'm going to be fine."

"But you're not fine right now, I can hear it in your voice," Katara insisted. She was certain of it, too. Azula sounded weak and tired. It felt really wrong in someone so full of energy and zeal like her Fire Nation friend. "How bad was it?" she asked, referring to the punishment that Azula had clearly received from her father.

"It wasn't good," Azula replied, confirming Katara's worst fears. Azula always downplayed the way her father mistreated her. If she admitted that it wasn't good, then it must have been horrendous. "It didn't help that the news came in about Zuko winning the U21's. My asshole of a brother just had to compound my misery."

Katara winced at the other girl's words. She disliked the idea of Azula hating her brother simply for doing well. But when his success resulted in Azula getting punished, it was easy to see why she would further resent Zuko for his achievements. And it had been an impressive achievement, despite the lower prestige of the U21 age bracket. For someone to win it in their first year was quite amazing. Not many from that upper age bracket had made the switch to the ranks of pro players, so the lineup had still been very strong.

"I'm so sorry, Azula," Katara managed, struggling not to tear up. "It just upsets me so much that I can't do anything to help you."

"You can talk to me," Azula said. "I thought that was the purpose of why you wanted me to call you. By the way, it's already helping me, just… just by taking my mind off things, you know?"

"Do you want to talk more about what exactly happened with your father?" Katara asked carefully. Azula always became so evasive about it, and pressuring her to open up over the phone would probably be close to impossible. Katara couldn't well make puppy eyes at the other girl over the phone.

"Sorry, but I really don't," Azula sounded insistent. "Can we talk about something else instead?"

"Of course, we can talk about anything," Katara said quickly. If this was helping Azula, then she was willing to talk about whatever, even if it meant avoiding the crux of the matter.

"How is school?" Azula asked. It was an odd thing for Azula to ask, but it just showed how much she wanted to move on from talking about her father and the violent outburst she had endured.

"Oh, as boring as ever, I'm sure you know the feeling," Katara replied. "What about you? How are you going to handle school now?"

"I'm not going to return to Li and Lo's boarding school this semester, even once I get better," Azula said. She sounded really down about it. "So it's going to be private tutors again. Maybe I can go back to Li and Lo's in September. Hopefully I'll have my car back by then, too. And be able to drive it."

"Ugh, that's terrible, I'm really sorry to hear that," Katara sighed. "I wish things were better for you, Azula, I really do."

"Things will get better, don't worry about it," Azula tried to sound reassuring. It didn't really work. "By the way, I was trying to figure out the difference in time zones before calling you, but I'm not sure I got it right. It should be evening where you are, right?"

"Uh… not quite, you got it the other way around," Katara chuckled. It was rare for Azula to make mistakes like that. It showed just how badly off she was after enduring her father's punishment. "It's actually a quarter past eight in the morning."

"It is?" Azula sounded embarrassed. "Ugh, now I feel like an idiot. Shouldn't you be in school?" she asked.

"My classes start later on Tuesdays," Katara lied smoothly, ignoring her brother who was jumping up and down nearby, pointing at his wristwatch and gesticulating wildly. Sokka's finals were coming up shortly, and he was becoming quite stressed about his graduation. Katara fully sympathized with her brother, but she wasn't going to hang up on Azula, not when the other girl badly needed her.

"Katara! We're going to be late for class!" Sokka whined at her.

Katara covered the handset with her palm to stop Azula from overhearing her. "It's Azula," she hissed at her brother. "The class can wait! In fact, just go without me!"

"But how are you going to get to the school, dumbass?" Sokka glared at her. He was making a good point. Ever since Sokka had gotten his driver's license, they had stopped taking the school bus and Katara was now relying on Sokka for transportation considering that their school was almost a forty minute walk away from their house. Still, Katara merely shrugged at Sokka in response to his question. She could afford to skip a class or two. It was not a big deal to her. All Katara knew was that she couldn't ditch Azula.

"Ugh, I guess I can afford to miss out on PE for the first time in my life," Sokka let out a resigned sigh, slumping into one of the chairs in the living room, determined to keep waiting for her. Katara was tempted to tell him to go and lay about somewhere else where he couldn't listen in on her conversation with Azula, but since Sokka was trying to be accommodating for her sake, she didn't want to appear ungrateful by ordering him around.

"Well, I suppose we should work out a better time for me to call then," Azula said, Katara finally being able to direct her full attention at her friend. "That is, assuming you still want me to call."

"Of course I want you to call!" Katara exclaimed heatedly. "I was really looking forward to talking with you again. As for when to call… well, what time is it in Caldera City right now?"

"It's a quarter past five in the afternoon," Azula said. "Hmm, this is going to be tricky. What time do you usually get back from the school?"

"It depends on the day, but usually between three and five in the afternoon," Katara replied. "Generally, any time past five is safe to call. Although, that would make it awfully late for you, wouldn't it? An hour past midnight, I think."

"That's right," Azula said. "I think I can manage that."

"Are you sure?" Katara couldn't help being worried. "Won't your father be angry about you staying up so late?"

"Probably," Azula replied. "But he's absent more than half of the time. And even when he's staying at the Caldera estate, I'm sure I can manage to make a call without him finding out."

"Only if you're sure about it, Azula," Katara didn't relent. "I would really hate it if instead of helping you I would only get you into further trouble."

"It's going to be alright, Katara, stop worrying," she could tell that Azula was smiling on the other end of the line, the thought of it warming Katara's heart. "This estate has four phone lines. There's one phone in the upper floor office that my father never uses. I can sneak in there to use it without him being any wiser. Trust me when I say that I wouldn't take any additional risks, not after-… I mean, I'll be very careful, I promise."

"Alright, I trust you," Katara sighed, finally giving up. It sounded like Azula really needed this, especially now. And Katara had begged her friend to call. Now that she had done so, Katara didn't want to discourage her, even if there was a slight risk of being discovered and getting into further trouble. She had to hope and pray that the risk was worth it.

"Thank you," Azula replied, sounding grateful. There was a moment of silence before she spoke up again. "So… what do regular people usually talk about on the phone?" she asked uncertainly.

Katara chuckled at the question, even though it also made her feel a little sad. There were so many things that she wanted to get Azula to open up about, but it was clear that Azula was reluctant to do so, and Katara's powers of persuasion were clearly limited across the landline. It seemed that they were stuck mainly with small talk. Or maybe… "Hey, I have an idea," Katara spoke up suddenly. "I also speak to Yue on the phone almost every day. We talk about a lot of stuff, but we also have several long distance Pai Sho games running. We each have a day to decide on our next move, so it's slow going, but it's also really fun. Maybe we should try something like that?"

"I think that's a very good idea," Azula agreed instantly. "Hmm, I have the whole evening free while you should be off to the school, right? How about I decide on a few opening moves and then call you in the afternoon when you've returned from the school?"

"That sounds perfect," Katara grinned broadly at the thought that Azula was going to call her later in the afternoon. Even though they were still talking on the phone, Katara already couldn't wait for their next conversation.

"Also, this is actually a great excuse I could use with my father if he ever catches me talking on the phone late at night," Azula continued. "I can just tell him that you're my sparring partner and this is all a part of my training."

"That's very crafty, good idea," Katara said, hoping that Ozai Nakamura would actually accept this explanation, something she was not necessarily confident of.

"Well, I am exceptionally smart, after all," Azula was only happy to compliment herself in a way that made Katara smile.

"Azula?" she asked, suddenly thinking back of something that had happened in Ba Sing Se. The story of Chan and Ruon-Jian's beating was sure to leak at some point, if it hadn't already. Katara was certain that being honest with Azula about what had happened was the right way to go. If she were to find out the truth from someone else, Azula might become angry with her, and Katara was desperate to avoid that. "There's something you need to know about what happened in Ba Sing Se, at the tournament's after-party," she said with a sigh.

"What is it, Katara?" Azula sounded calm on the phone. It seemed as if she had no idea what Katara was referring to.

"I'm talking about the whole mess that happened with Chan and Ruon-Jian at the start of the tournament. What you told me to keep quiet about?" Katara began. Azula remained silent for the time being. "I'm sorry, but I simply couldn't let it slide. I told Yue and Sokka about it." Nearby, Sokka was gesticulating wildly at her with a frantic 'what on earth are you doing' look in his eyes. "We exacted a little Water Tribe frontier justice on them," Katara finished, deciding to ignore her brother.

"Wait a minute," Azula spoke up, sounding perplexed. "I was on the same plane to Caldera City with them the next morning. They were absolutely fucked up. They were both wearing those casts on their noses… splints, I think they're called? And Ruon was using a cane to get around. Are you telling me that the three of you did all that damage? I mean, they were absolutely wrecked."

"Well, it was mostly Sokka, to be honest," Katara chuckled. Sokka let out a loud groan of despair at her indiscretion. "He went absolute beast-mode on those assholes. Yue and I just kicked them in the nuts for good measure."

Azula burst into laughter on the other end of the line. "Agni, you three are my favorite Water Tribe savages in the world," she giggled. "You didn't have to do that for me, but honestly, it makes me feel so much better knowing that you did."

"So you're not mad at me?" Katara just needed to be sure. "I did promise that I wouldn't tell anyone about what happened that evening when you got drunk."

"Well," Azula began to speak, then hesitating. "Normally, I might be a little angry and disappointed, but you did it for such a satisfying reason that I can't be mad at you. Just… just try not to make a habit out of telling my secrets to others, alright?"

"Of course, Azula, I would never do that. I'm really sorry," Katara apologized profusely.

"No, don't apologize. You made a good judgment call there and I approve wholeheartedly," Azula uttered quickly. "It's just that I've had some bad experiences with people breaking my trust. You haven't done that, because I don't consider this episode as a betrayal of my trust. So, I guess you don't deserve my suspicion and paranoia. I'm just generally having a hard time-"

"Trusting anyone at all," Katara finished for her. "I understand, Azula. That's why it means so much to me when you do entrust me with something. And I promise to never make you regret trusting me."

"Alright," Azula said simply, sounding satisfied. "Anyway, I really wish I could have been there to see Chan and Ruon-Jian getting pummeled. I would have thrown a punch or two, myself. Also, I know I often give your brother a hard time, but I have to say, hearing all this, well… I think I'm starting to like him."

Katara burst into giggles at that. "I am so telling him that!" she exclaimed, glancing at the perplexed looking Sokka.

"No!" Azula protested. "Don't you dare!"

"Aww, come on, I think he knows it already," Katara sniggered.

"Ugh, fine, do as you wish," Azula relented. "You guys are weird," she added with a sigh. "Anyway, how is your brother? I think you're supposed to ask these questions about family members and stuff, right? It's probably polite."

"Haha, yes it is," Katara grinned. "And Sokka is doing just fine. He's just freaking out about his upcoming finals, even though I keep telling him that there's no reason to stress about it."

"Azula is asking about me?" a wide-eyed Sokka blinked at her. "Why is Azula asking about me?" Katara rolled her eyes and decided to ignore him again.

"Does he have any plans for college?" Azula asked. Katara was a little surprised at the interest she was showing. If she didn't already know that Azula was into girls just like she was, Katara would have started to suspect that maybe she was sweet on her brother. Sokka certainly seemed to be developing that assumption.

"Ah, no… not at first," Katara replied with a sigh. "Our family just isn't wealthy enough to send us both to college, so as much as I would like my brother to get a good education, right now all the extra cash goes into my college fund. It's making me really guilty at times, but hopefully with time we'll find some options for Sokka as well. My father was in talks with the local forestry union about some vocational programs Sokka could apply to. He's eyeing a job at the local sawmill."

Azula did not speak for a long time, as if trying to digest all this information. "I wish I could truly understand how much of a struggle everyday life is for your family, Katara, but the truth is, I guess I am only capable of a very surface level of understanding," Azula replied eventually.

"It's okay, I don't place expectations on you to immediately understand and empathize," Katara smiled. She had long since stopped being angry at Azula for not getting the struggles of the lower class. It really wasn't her fault. She was locked in her ivory tower with few opportunities to learn about the life outside of it.

"Thank you," Azula said in response. There was a prolonged pause before she spoke up again. "I should probably let you go now or you might miss the start of your classes."

"Err…" Katara managed meekly.

"Oh," Azula realized quickly. "You've already missed a class, haven't you?"

"It's alright, I can afford to," Katara replied, trying to sound reassuring. "But you're right, I should run now. Sokka is looking like he's about to snap, too. He's waiting for me."

"Oh. Sorry," Azula said, sounding embarrassed. "Alright, then I'll call you in the afternoon with my opening Pai Sho moves. Talk to you later."

"Bye!" Katara exclaimed as Azula hung up the phone and Katara did the same, much to her brother's relief.

"Good grief, you sure can blather on and on and on!" Sokka glared at her. "Can we go now? Please?"

"Yes, yes, stop your nagging and let me just finish dressing, will you?" Katara exclaimed, quickly grabbing her parka and putting it on in front of the mirror, making sure that she was otherwise presentable for school. "Did you pack the sandwiches?" she asked, reaching for her backpack with the textbooks.

"Of course I did," Sokka retorted, forcefully pushing her towards the doors and out of the house, not letting Katara waste any more time. "I can't believe you made me miss class because of Azula Nakamura!" he exclaimed as the two bickering siblings got into the old Powell truck.

"Come on, it's just PE, stop crying about a missed game of boring dodgeball," Katara sighed. "I certainly won't be sad about not getting struck in the face by some of your more annoying classmates." In a low population area such as Cape Kuruk, it was a common practice to lump together kids of different ages just to create more respectable class sizes. This meant that Katara ended up having a lot of classes together with Sokka. It wasn't a great solution in PE, where the older boys often made it a habit to headhunt some of the younger and prettier girls like Katara when playing dodgeball, a game that Katara had grown to truly detest.

"Alright, fine, as long as we don't miss algebra," Sokka grumbled, stepping on the gas pedal. The Powell truck crawled out of the driveway, accompanied by Naga's barking. "Why'd you tell Azula about the beating we gave to those assholes, anyway?" he asked as they began the ten minute drive to the school.

"I just want to be very honest and transparent with Azula," Katara replied. "She has a real problem trusting other people. I don't want to make her feel like I'm hiding something from her." She looked over at her brother. "Don't fret, Sokka. She's not going to misuse this information in some nefarious way."

"It's not about that," Sokka replied. "You talked a lot about me afterwards. I just don't need the complication of her falling for a charming Water Tribe lad, you know?"

Katara rolled her eyes, fighting the temptation to smack Sokka. Considering that he was driving, that would have been potentially dangerous. "Oh, get over yourself, hot shot!" she groaned. "What, you have to date all the girls I end up befriending? You are so full of yourself, Sokka."

"Are you saying that she's not into me, then?" Sokka frowned.

"No, she's not. Deal with that crushing disappointment," Katara snorted. She wasn't going to explain why Azula couldn't be into Sokka. Azula hadn't come out even to herself yet.

"I'm not disappointed, I'm relieved," Sokka shrugged. "As long as you're right about your claims, and I don't know how you can be so sure."

"Oh, trust me," Katara smirked, a knowing grin on her lips. "I'm sure."

Having concluded her phone conversation with Katara, Azula remained sitting in the comfortable office chair, in no hurry to return to her room. Almost a week after the beating she had received, moving about still brought her so much pain. It hadn't even been a particularly severe beating, at least at first, until she had stupidly opened her mouth to blurt out something about the bronze medal still being worth something after her appalling start to the tournament.

Ozai had truly lost it at that point. He had grabbed her medal and used it instead of his leather belt. Azula usually endured her father's violent outbursts stoically, crying and whimpering quietly. But this time, she had screamed and begged her father to stop, it had hurt so much. When Ozai finally relented, he seemed a little shocked and disturbed by his handiwork. The family doctor had been summoned instantly to tend to the many lacerations left by the sharp edges of the medal.

Once again, the family doctor had been shocked by the state in which he had found his patient, having to tend to almost a dozen deep lacerations and discovering some bruising to Azula's ribs. While the old man treating her was always kind and sympathetic, Azula knew that he would never dare to stand up to her father and report Ozai's actions to the authorities. He had lost his doctor's license in a disgraceful affair of selling prescription meds on the black market. With his reputation in tatters, he was completely reliant on the paychecks of Ozai Nakamura and he would never turn on his benefactor, no matter how much he sympathized with Azula. At least Azula was now slowly on the mend and the doctor had reassured her that none of the cuts would leave noticeable permanent scarring.

In the past, following such beatings, Azula would always fall into the mindset of assigning all the blame for it to herself, for being a failure in the eyes of her father. She had spent years convincing herself that all of these bad things happening to her were of her own making. Wasn't she an incredibly privileged heiress of a successful multimillionaire? Was doing her utmost to please her father truly such a high price to pay for this life of luxury and comfort she was enjoying? Shouldn't she expect having to make some sacrifices if she wanted to prove herself worthy of one day inheriting her father's empire? The answers to all of these questions had seemed obvious. The onus was on her to do better and to stop disappointing her father.

Her first reaction still was to blame herself, but lately, she was starting to seriously question it. The image of Ozai's infallibility had begun to crack when Azula had learned the truth of what had happened to Ty Lee's family. Then there was the car accident and her father's reaction which proved that he saw her more as his property than an actual human being with its own needs and desires. Her complaints about being treated unfairly brought more and more punishments upon her, all of them further souring their relationship. But what had happened in Ba Sing Se had been the final straw. When Azula had seen the unconscious Jet, being carried away by the paramedics, the blinds had finally come off and she had finally realized the truth. Her father was a violent and evil sociopath. There was no way around that stark truth. How could her mother have abandoned her alone with this monster? The realization of her father's true nature also filled Azula with even more burning hatred for her mother, and by extension, also with intense dislike for Zuko and Iroh. They had gotten out safe and squeaky clean, leaving her in this abusive and toxic hellhole.

Azula now needed to find a way to survive living with Ozai. The beating she had recently received suggested that it might not be easy. Thankfully, following the violent beating, Ozai had been staying away and their only interactions had been a few short phone conversations. It seemed that on some level her father realized that he had gone too far, but Azula did not believe that it was out of sympathy or concern for her. It seemed more that Ozai was horrified that he had damaged his most valued property too harshly. He was trying to rebuild the burned down bridges, too. Every day, Azula was sent flowers and expensive gifts. On the phone, Ozai had told her that she could have her car back at the start of the summer, and that there would be other perks and nice surprises if she were to behave acceptably from now on. Azula had numbly agreed with everything her father had said, uttering meaningless words of gratitude, anything that she guessed he was eager to hear. She needed Ozai to think that he had succeeded in breaking her, and that she would be as obedient as before. She was not going to rebel in a way that was going to get her killed. And she was going to try and find a way out of this situation.

There was one ray of light still left in Azula's life, and it had revealed itself following her phone conversation with Katara. She had struggled so much with herself before even making that call, but not because she hadn't wanted to talk to Katara. Azula just didn't want to bring all this darkness and misery surrounding her into Katara's life, and she was still determined not to discuss anything Ozai related with her friend. But even this one phone conversation had shown Azula how much she had needed it. Katara had been instrumental in helping Azula realize the true nature of her father. Katara had done it through her compassion, understanding and acceptance, through introducing her to true meaning of friendship, and through her stories about her father and her family, which further helped Azula understand that Ozai's treatment of her was definitely not normal or acceptable.

Because of what had happened with Jet and Ty Lee, Azula was obviously still worried about having Katara in her life even as a friend. She was trying to reassure herself that Ozai would not try anything as long as Katara remained only a friend. After all, her father had encouraged her to cultivate friendships with other girls, and to have a regular sparring partner. Katara was ticking all those boxes, so Ozai couldn't really complain, could he? Besides, Azula wasn't even interested in having anything more than friendship with Katara. Just because Katara was intelligent, passionate, loyal and very attractive… in other words, perfect in every way save perhaps for the lack of upper class pedigree, it didn't mean that Azula was smitten or anything. The butterflies in her stomach when she thought about their next phone conversation didn't mean anything at all. It couldn't mean anything. Not while her father remained such a menacing threat not only to her, but to everyone she cared for.

Next chapter: Let's see what changes the summer brings.