Chapter 32

The first three days of the tournament flew right by Azula and the small group she had come to consider her friends. Hanging out together in her penthouse suite and practicing Pai Sho together made a profound impact on them all, and they were off to great starts in the tournament. Azula, Katara and Aang had perfect records after three rounds, Yue was only slightly behind, having drawn her game with Teo Guyuk, while Toph was a further half a point behind, courtesy of a dramatic and hard fought defeat at the hands of Kori Morishita. Still, viewed as a group, their performance had been stellar even despite Katara's concerns that they were going a little too hard on the drinks. She was clearly wrong, because the results spoke for themselves.

Azula was definitely over the moon about the chance to hang out with Katara in particular, but there were Complications. Azula wasn't always the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to figuring out her own emotions. Some people might even say that she was embarrassingly oblivious. But some things were obvious even to her. It was the previous year in Ba Sing Se that she had started to notice some things about Katara, things she had dismissed at the time. Knowing what her father would do if he knew that his daughter even entertained romantic notions about another girl was a powerful deterrent that helped Azula to brush these wayward thoughts of hers aside.

It was now more than year and a half since Azula had last seen Zirin, and her feelings for the older Fire Nation girl had faded. But a young and passionate heart apparently could not remain unmoved for long. When Katara and Yue had shucked their bathrobes and remained standing in front of Azula in their sexy white bikinis, Azula knew that she was in serious trouble.

Azula actually found Yue just as physically appealing as she did Katara. The white-haired girl from Agna Qel'a was infuriatingly gorgeous. But Azula could not imagine having a bond with her the way she had with Katara. Katara always made sure that Azula felt like she could tell her everything and that she wouldn't be judged for it. (Of course, Azula couldn't really tell Katara everything, but that was beyond the point since it had to do with Azula and her father, not with Katara.) Yue was the fellow rich glamour girl that Azula wanted to impress, instead of opening up to about her problems and insecurities.

Of course, at the start of the tournament, Katara had been a bit annoying, trying to catch her for a one on one conversation and press Azula for more information about where things stood with her father, about her plans after turning eighteen late in the summer, and about all the other things that Azula couldn't and didn't want to talk about with Katara, not without greatly worrying or endangering her best friend. And Azula didn't want to spend two and a half weeks with a freaked out and worried Katara Enuaraq. She wanted to hang out with a relaxed and fun-loving Katara, and so she had done her best to reassure Katara that she had a solid plan to make a clean break with her father once she came of age. Azula wasn't sure whether Katara had believed her, but she seemed to be a little more relaxed and hadn't pressed the issue since that talk, so it seemed as if Azula was in the clear.

Now Azula simply had to make sure that nothing else happened between her and Katara, especially something that could have serious consequences. Azula knew that she wasn't great at reading the signs when it came to Katara, or anyone else for that matter. Katara was very affectionate towards her, and she liked to touch a lot (and that was more than fine with Azula), but it wasn't really the way Azula remembered as accepted even in her own family before the divorce, when it had still been somewhat functional. So, on one hand, Azula felt as if Katara was probably really into her, but then again, she kept noticing that Katara was the same with Yue, and to a lesser extent with Aang and Toph. And Yue was just as affectionate and touchy-feely with Katara. Even more confusingly, Yue was becoming pretty comfortable with putting her arms around Azula and occasionally cuddling up to her (again, Azula was totally cool with that). But it all just seemed to suggest to Azula that maybe Katara wasn't actually into her romantically, and that this level of affection was just normal for Water Tribe girls in general.

This explanation made a lot of sense to Azula, but it also made her feel a touch disappointed, especially when she felt her own infatuation towards Katara growing. Azula desperately hoped that she could keep it reined in, but she wasn't sure how good of a job she was doing. The amount of times she had been caught staring at Katara – and quite a few times at Yue – before turning away, red in the face, suggested that she was terrible at keeping her emotions at bay. All the drinks they were consuming also tore down the social barriers and loosened the tongues, so Azula was sure that she had already blurted out something inappropriate and incriminating on a few occasions.

All this underage drinking they had engaged in had been fairly low-key up to this point, but of course Katara, being the self-appointed mom of the group, had raised a stink about Toph taking part in the drinking. Azula didn't understand what the problem was there. Toph was already fifteen, which seemed as good as an adult to Azula. Besides, surely Toph was the one who knew what was best for Toph. Not that Katara could seriously do anything about it if Toph decided to have a glass of wine or champagne with them. Azula had no illusions about Toph being well capable of wrestling Katara. She could just imagine Toph slinging the Water Tribe girl over her shoulder before tossing her into the swimming pool. There was no messing around with Toph Beifong, and seriously, Azula loved that about the younger girl.

At least there were no issues with Aang drinking because he would just flatly refuse to accept the offered booze. But at least it didn't make Aang a dull stick in the mud. Somehow, even without alcohol, he remained very hyper and excited. Maybe it had something to do with hanging out with four highly attractive girls, but he certainly didn't act about it in a creepy and obnoxious way like most boys probably would. Azula wondered if maybe he wasn't into girls, but she didn't feel like it was her place to ask. In any case, as far as she was concerned, Aang was a pretty cool kid and she was perfectly fine hanging out with him. Anybody with a pet yak had to be awesome, Azula figured.

On the evening of the third round, ahead of the tournament's off-day, they had really cranked up the entertainment and the flow of booze in the penthouse suite. Azula had found a book of cocktail recipes and they had made a group effort of putting together some of the more interesting cocktails. None of the recipes they had tried to put together ended up looking as they were supposed to look judging by the pictures in the book, but they had all ended up being delicious. Also, the trouble with cocktails was that while they did not seem like they packed a lot of punch, they had a tendency to sneak up on the unsuspecting drinkers. The four girls had soon ended up fairly plastered, wearing stupid and drunk grins on their faces, hugging and laughing like idiots.

It was a good thing that Aang hadn't been drinking, because Azula had proposed the incredibly stupid idea of sitting outside by the pool. Aang had quickly herded them all back inside, because it was very likely that one of them would have just passed out into the pool and possibly drowned. Instead, they ended up splayed out on the cushions in the large living space of the penthouse suite, giggling drunkenly as they desperately tried to remain awake.

"We should play something!" Yue suddenly exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Toph echoed drunkenly. "Let's practice some Pai Sho!" she added with a loud chuckle, since it was so obviously a terrible idea. They'd probably end up misplacing half of the tiles. Or try to eat the tiles, thinking they were candy.

"What's a good game to play when you're drunk?" Azula asked. "Not that I'm drunk, but the rest of you certainly are."

"Well, truth or dare, obviously," Toph replied.

"Alright, let's do it!" Azula exclaimed with all the enthusiasm of a drunkard. "How do you actually play it?" she sought to clarify.

"Wait, you've never played truth or dare?" Yue asked, sounding disbelieving.

"Well, no," Azula replied. "It sounds like some lower class entertainment that I wouldn't know about. There's obviously nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying."

"Well, the way we've usually played it involves taking an empty bottle and spinning it. Whoever the bottle neck points towards has to choose between a truth and a dare, and the one who spun the bottle then gets to ask their question or put forth the dare," Katara explained.

Azula suddenly decided that she wasn't actually very keen on this game, especially the part where one was supposed to tell the truth, because that sounded kind of scary and dangerous. But Toph and Yue in particular seemed really excited about playing it, so Azula decided to go along with it. She supposed that she could just keep choosing dares when it came down to that part.

Soon enough, an empty bottle had been found (and there were plenty of those to choose from), and they drew lots to decide who would do the first spin of the bottle. Aang won the drawing of lots and to Azula's complete lack of surprise, the neck of the traitorous bottle ended up pointing at her after Aang's spin. "Alright, Azula!" Aang cackled. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Azula crossed her arms on her chest.

"Alright," Aang mused, looking thoughtful. He then seemed to get an idea. "So, I heard you boasting earlier about how flexible you are. I dare you to do the splits right now, in front of us."

"Pfft, easy peasy," Azula shrugged, getting up to her feet and doing some cursory warm up to stretch her quads and hamstrings, before settling into the position and slowly lowering herself into a perfect split. "Satisfied?" she asked, turning to look at the group.

"You've completed the dare!" Aang announced happily. It was only then that Azula noticed that Katara and Yue were both eyeing her with heavy blushes coloring their cheeks. Azula immediately felt a little self-conscious and pulled out of the splits, rising from the floor.

"I'm remarkably near sighted, my vision is even blurrier than normal after all those cocktails, and I'm also not at all into girls, but even I could tell that looked seriously hot," Toph commented. "Also, it should be illegal to attempt that while wearing a bikini."

"I'll say," Yue managed, having recovered as she took a large swig straight from the bottle of Chardonnay. Katara nodded at that, plucking the bottle from Yue's hands and taking a big gulp as well, washing down the blush coloring her cheeks.

Azula tried to ignore reactions of the others as she sat down again. "I guess it's my turn," she said, taking the bottle and spinning it. It landed on Katara. "Right," Azula began, a little uncertainly. "Truth or d-"

"Truth," Katara replied almost immediately, looking at Azula with those soft cerulean eyes of hers.

"Of course," Azula nodded. There were a lot of things she wanted to ask Katara and hear a truthful answer, mostly about what the other girl truly felt towards her. But then again, Azula didn't really want to know the truth if the answer was that Katara was romantically into her. That would just hurt to know, because they couldn't be together, not when Ozai remained such a threat and the whole world was just so fucking unfair. So, she wasn't going to ask about Katara's feelings for her, especially not in front of everyone. But Azula also wanted to ask something a bit spicy instead of something lame like 'what's your favorite color'? "Right, so… how many boys have you made out with?" she asked, failing to come up with anything more interesting.

"Right, well that's an easy one," Katara laughed. "The answer is none!"

"Seriously? That's boring," Azula frowned. "I mean, I can understand why you wouldn't want to, but I thought that maybe you would have still tried."

"No, I didn't feel pressured to do that. I mean, quite a few boys have tried to kiss me, but it didn't go well for them," Katara laughed. Aang's smile faltered, but only for a moment before it returned. "Anyway, have I answered to your satisfaction?" Azula nodded. "Right, here we go," Katara spun the bottle. The bottle neck ended up pointing right back at Azula. "Truth or-"

"Truth," Azula misspoke. "No, fuck! I meant dare!"

"Sorry!" Yue grinned broadly. "No getting out of this one, truth it is!"

"Ugh, I hate you all," Azula groused. She wondered why she had misspoken like that. Was it because Katara had become synonymous with the concept of truth somewhere in her subconscious? That was the sort of explanation one could arrive at only while seriously inebriated, and it also seemed as likely as any other explanation.

"Alright, I'm going to put the same question right back to you," Katara grinned. "How many boys have you made out with?"

"Umm, one," Azula ground out reluctantly.

"Oh, really?" Yue looked intrigued. "Are you bi? I thought you were a raging lesbian just like Katara here. Maybe we can be bi buddies?"

"I am neither a bi nor a lesbian!" Azula protested, but her words were met only with amused laughter.

"Come on, Azula, you can't lie when you've made the choice to speak the truth," Katara winked at her. "Anyway, you have to tell us about that time when you tried to date a boy. What happened?"

Azula really didn't want to remember or talk about what had happened with Jet. That entire episode still made her a little sick when she recalled seeing the boy being carried away by the paramedics. "It was last year in Ba Sing Se," she finally said reluctantly. "I went on a date with this boy, Jet. He was a waiter in a restaurant I went to with my father. It was… nice? We kissed, and I thought that maybe I could make it work. But then my father's thugs showed up and beat him within an inch of his life."

Everyone suddenly became silent and looked shocked, except for Yue who broke out into giggles. She quickly stopped upon seeing the reaction of the others, giving Azula an incredulous stare. "Wait, you're not shitting us?" she blinked. Azula shook her head. "Spirits, that is so fucked up! At least I didn't have to fear my dad doing that to Sokka when we were dating. Shit, I'm so sorry, Azula."

"It doesn't matter," Azula shrugged. "Can we move on with the game?" She took the bottle and spun it again, having received nods from the others. It settled on Aang.

"Alright, this is probably a terrible idea, but I'm going to tempt fate by saying dare," the Air Nation boy grinned. Azula grinned back at him before pushing the bottle of rose Zinfandel she had been nursing towards Aang. "Yep, it was a terrible idea," Aang sighed.

"Come on, don't be a wuss," Azula urged him. "I'm not daring you to drink the rest of the bottle, just take a good swig. It's not going to kill you."

"I really don't want to, but… here goes," Aang for some reason pinched his nose before raising the bottle to his lips and taking a swig. Aang had clearly expected the experience to be horrible, but afterwards he licked his lips, looking as if he would gladly take another swig. Azula reached out and quickly took the bottle back. "That was really good, sweet and fruity! I expected it to taste awful!"

"Why would you expect that, Aang?" Yue laughed. "Wine is both tasty and good for you."

"Well, the only time I had alcohol was three years ago when Zuko tricked me into trying some beer from a can," Aang replied. "It tasted so bitter, ugh, vile stuff!"

"Of course, it would have to be Zuko," Azula rolled her eyes. "I can just see him drinking the cheapest and most disgusting beer. Anyway, the bottle is not spinning."

"Oh right!" Aang quickly spun the bottle and it ended up pointing at Toph.

"Truth," Toph stated.

"Alright, let's see…" Aang mused. "Ah, I've got it! Toph, tell us what qualities you are looking for in a boyfriend."

"Oh, very smooth, Twinkletoes," Toph laughed, elbowing her best friend. "I'll tell you what the most important thing I'm looking for in a boyfriend is. I would want him to have more hair than you do!" Everyone broke into laughter, including Aang himself. While they were still busy laughing, Toph spun the bottle and it ended up pointing at Yue. "Truth or dare, Moonmaiden?"

"Haha, Moonmaiden?" Yue laughed. "Also, give me a dare."

"Awesome. Alright, let's up the ante a bit, while we're all sauced and stupid," Toph chuckled. "I dare you to kiss one of us here. Anyone at all, but I mean a real kiss, not a wussy one!"

"Oh damn, shit just got real," Yue said. She looked a little uncertain at first, but Azula could see that she was eyeing Katara, as if trying to gauge the other girl's reaction. Azula tried to do the same, but for once, Katara wasn't giving anything obvious away. She seemed eager, but also nervous. Seriously, if Yue and Katara were into each other, Azula thought that it would solve a lot of her problems and she wouldn't have to worry about Katara wanting something romantic with her, and then she wouldn't have to fear Ozai hurting Katara. But at the same time, why did the idea of Yue kissing Katara kind of… hurt a little, somewhere deep inside her chest?

But then, suddenly, Azula was no longer thinking about Yue kissing Katara, because quick as a lightning, Yue had moved up to her. The next thing Azula knew were Yue's lips crashing against hers in a kiss that took her by complete surprise. For the lack of better ideas, Azula decided to kiss Yue back and… well, it felt damn good. Yue was up there with Zirin, tied for her best kiss so far. And still, as they parted, the first thought on Azula's mind was whether kissing Katara would feel even better. For some reason, she was convinced that it would trump all of her other past experiences.

"Alright, that was… something," Toph remarked, looking impressed. Aang looked a little out of it, and probably not from that one sip of wine. Azula was mostly interested in Katara's reaction, and it was difficult to ascertain. Azula was relieved that Katara at least did not look angry, but she did look quite surprised.

"I'd say that fulfilled the dare," Yue smirked. Toph could only nod at her. The spinning bottle stopped at Azula, because of course it did. "Dare, right?" Yue asked with a mischievous look on her face. Azula nodded. "So, if I told you to kiss anyone here, would you just kiss me back?" Yue asked.

"I guess that's for you to find out," Azula replied. She kept glancing at the slightly nervous looking Katara. Damn it, she definitely wanted to kiss Katara, she just didn't think that it was a good idea to do so. Maybe it would be smarter to kiss Yue. She was locked into an arranged marriage, so it should be safe to make out with her. "So, is that your dare, then?" Azula asked after Yue had kept silent for a while.

"Hmm… no," Yue shook her head a moment later. Had she noticed that Azula had been looking at Katara almost the entire time? Did Yue think that Azula was going to kiss Katara and she didn't want for that to happen? Well, that was odd. "I'll just dare you to polish off that bottle of Zinfandel you've been nursing. Down the hatch it goes," Yue snickered.

"Is that wise?" Katara asked, sounding worried.

"Bah, don't worry, I can take it," Azula scoffed. She was pretty drunk and finishing off a little more than a third of the wine bottle all by herself wasn't going to make it any easier for her to remain awake, but Azula wasn't someone who backed down from a challenge. She brought the bottle to her lips and glugged the rest of it down. "There, that wasn't so… ooh, woah…" she suddenly felt very warm, but also very unsteady, gripped by an irresistible urge to lie down.

"Looks like Azula's about to go down for the count," Toph laughed.

"Nonshense, I'm perfectly s-s-shober…" Azula somehow managed to utter. That was pretty much her final memory of the evening.

"Is she going to be alright?" Aang asked as the group of four exited from the elevator on the fifth floor where their respective rooms were located.

"Yes, she'll be fine," Yue laughed. "But she'll probably have to deal with a light headache in the morning. By the way, Toph, do you know what to do if you're hangover?"

"I ain't some novice at this, Moonmaiden," Toph scowled. "Pickles and pickle juice, that's my kind of hangover cure."

"Eww, that is gross," Katara winced. "I'll stick with orange juice and Tylenol, thanks. But hopefully, I won't have any hangover."

"Well, you didn't drink as much as Azula did. Or even Toph or I," Yue smiled at her. Toph and Aang had by now disappeared inside their own rooms, leaving the two Water Tribe girls to walk down towards their rooms at the very end of the corridor. "Kat?" Yue asked once they had finally reached the end of the hallway and Katara was already reaching for the door handle.

"What is it, Yue?" Katara stopped and smiled at her, in that special way that had lately become so important to Yue.

She took in a deep and steadying breath to calm her nerves before speaking up again. Being pretty wasted certainly helped with the anxiety. "I was wondering if you would like to stay up for a bit with me," Yue managed. "What do you say? Please?"

"Sure, although I must warn you, I'm pretty sleepy, so I might not be a good conversh-… ugh, person to talk with," Katara chuckled drunkenly, agreeing without much thought. Yue opened the doors for her, welcoming Katara inside her quarters. Soon they were sitting side by side in Yue's bed, their backs against the wall, talking silly nonsense while Yue tried to work up the courage to get to what she really wanted to talk about with Katara.

Ever since that cursed winter holiday, Yue had felt that she had not only broken up with Sokka, but that she was also in danger of losing Katara as well. Oh, they had remained just as close and friendly with their constant phone calls, but… something had changed because of that stupid, untimely and ill-advised kiss that Yue had attempted in that early hour of late December night. Katara had never been angry with her during their many years of friendship, and she hadn't been outwardly angry with Yue even then. But Katara had been quietly disappointed in the way Yue had acted, and in many ways, that had felt so much worse.

This fear that she might have made a mistake that could ruin their relationship had made Yue finally understand and acknowledge something that she had tried to deny for so long. It wasn't just Katara who was in love with her. She was in love with Katara. Yue knew that she should have realized and acted upon it a long time ago. Then again, they would have faced the same problems and worse than she had faced with Sokka. Her father would have never approved of her being involved with a girl from a poor family.

Still, lately Yue had been thinking more and more about her future, and she had come up with a scenario where she could both retain her inheritance and possibly have a relationship with Katara. Katara wanted to study medicine after graduating high school, and for that purpose, she was looking to enroll in the BSSU. But Agna Qel'a had a very prestigious medical college as well. Yue was prepared to use some of the funds that would be available to her upon coming of age to cover the cost of Katara's studies and also to rent her a posh apartment in the capital of the Water Tribes. Yue reasoned that she could manipulate Hahn into either becoming disinterested in her or simply push him towards other women, which would leave her free to see Katara as much as she pleased. She and Katara had been friends for so long. Yue figured that nobody would suspect them of having a relationship of a completely different nature behind closed doors. It seemed like a pretty good deal for them both. Katara would get to live comfortably, enjoy a relationship with Yue, and have a chance to pursue the career she wanted. It was a great offer. Now Yue just needed to somehow work up to making said offer.

And Yue was determined to do so without any further delays because another fear had popped up its ugly head as of late. The previous few days, Yue had observed the way Azula and Katara were acting around each other, and it was spurring her into action. The two girls were clearly hitting it off very well, making Yue become a little jealous. Azula would probably never admit it, but Yue was convinced that Azula was already head over heels in love with Katara. As for Katara, it was harder to pin down what her best friend felt towards Azula. There was clearly great fondness with the potential of it blossoming into something more… which was why Yue felt like she needed to act fast.

"Kat?" Yue asked softly, after they had been chattering a while about some inconsequential nonsense. "I hope you are not angry at me for kissing Azula earlier," she said.

"I'm not angry," Katara shrugged. "But I'm a little confused. Why did you do it? I didn't think you were into her."

"I'm not. I'm into you, Kat," Yue said, blushing. "It's just that… after what happened during the winter holiday, I wasn't sure how you felt about me trying to kiss you."

"I wasn't happy then, but Yue, that's long since in the past," Katara smiled at her. "Come on, you know how I feel about you. That hasn't changed."

Yue felt instantly relieved, letting out a sigh she didn't realize she had been holding. "Spirits, I thought I had ruined what we have," she said.

"You haven't," Katara replied, still smiling. "Though I don't know what you're referring to by 'what we have'. Are you talking about our friendship or… something more?"

"Do you still want something more with me?" Yue asked hesitantly.

"Of course, dummy," Katara sighed. "But you can't give it to me, I know, I know. I am aware of all the reasons of why we can't be together, alright?"

"What if I told you that we can be together?" Yue asked. "And that I want it, too?"

"Are you serious?" Katara turned around in the bed to stare at Yue, wide-eyed. "You're not just saying that to mess with the drunk old me?"

"I'm being absolutely serious, Katara," Yue spoke earnestly, also turning to face Katara with burning intensity in her eyes. "It has taken me an unforgivable amount of time to realize that I want to be with you, alright? I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

Katara's eye shone with tears at Yue's words. "Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that this dream would come true," Katara whispered. Her arms snaked around Yue's waist and she pulled the other girl closer, into a searing kiss. As their lips crashed together, Katara leaned down onto the bed, pulling Yue on top of her as they continued to trade heated kisses.

"I probably wouldn't dare to say something like this if I wasn't seriously tipsy, but…" Katara whispered shyly, holding Yue close against her. "Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"

Yue's breath caught in her chest. "Only if you're sure, Kat," she whispered at her… girlfriend? Did she dare to use that word?

"Am I sure…" Katara's eyes were full of soft, all encompassing warmth. "Yue, I've been sure for years…"

Next chapter: An important detail in Katara and Yue's would-be relationship may have not been properly communicated. We'll see whether it causes some tension the morning after…