Chapter 67
"Do you really want to use all of these?" Azula asked. She was looking at the almost two dozen pastry cases placed on the kitchen table.
"I think so," her mother replied, turning her head to smile at Azula. They were hard at work, preparing the filling for broccoli-salmon quiches. "Our troupe is not a small one. You know that, you've attended our plays. I am so grateful to have these people in my life. I want them all to be properly fed during our winter holiday potluck."
Azula had attended three of the plays put on by her mother's theatre troupe, always accompanied by Katara. She had to admit that the Ember Island Players were a more talented bunch than their name suggested. Also, it turned out that her mother was a far better actress than Azula remembered. And Katara seemed to enjoy the plays a great deal, which was another excellent reason to attend.
"I think you just want to impress Ikem," Azula said, busy chopping up the broccoli and successfully managing not to slice off any of her fingertips. Azula noticed her mother becoming a little flustered, which she thought was kind of funny. Ursa wasn't exactly in her early twenties to blush like a young maiden.
"Fortunately, he has made it clear that I don't need to do anything special to impress him," Ursa spoke softly. She turned to look at Azula again. "I'm so thankful to you for being accepting of Ikem, Azula."
Azula shrugged. "He's alright. And he's a good actor, too." She had met Ikem at the backstage party after one of the premieres. As far as men were concerned, Azula found him pleasantly inoffensive. "I mean, I would probably kick up a fuss if I was younger and was still living with you. But we have our own separate lives and that makes it easier to accept."
For some reason, Ursa looked impressed. "That's a very thoughtful insight, Azula," she smiled. "I think us having our own separate lives also helps us maintain this relationship. I have tried to interfere with your life as little as possible, and I hope that I have succeeded. And it's not that I wouldn't want to be there for you more. I know that you want us to have certain boundaries and want to respect that."
"Yes, it's been fine so far," Azula gave her mother a quick nod of acknowledgement. "Everything is ticking along just nicely at the estate. We handle everything ourselves just fine."
"Katara is simply an amazing friend to have, isn't she?" Ursa smiled at her. "When are you leaving for Agna Qel'a?"
"Our plane departs tomorrow," Azula replied. For the second year in a row, Azula was going to spend her winter holidays in Cape Kuruk together with Katara, Sokka and their family. Now that she and Katara were properly together, as soon as Katara had asked Azula to go with her, she had agreed without a moment's thought. Her decision had caused a tiny bit of drama when Azula remembered that she had invited Mai to visit them in Ba Sing Se. Fortunately, Mai hadn't been angry at the news that she wouldn't even see Azula during her stay. She was mostly looking forward to catching up with Ty Lee, anyway.
"This trip seems very important to you," Ursa remarked innocently. Azula wasn't sure how to react to that comment. It almost sounded like Ursa was teasing her? She hadn't come out to her mother yet, at least not officially. Somehow, though, Azula had a feeling that her mother if not knew outright, then at least suspected the truth. Zuko was hanging out at the estate quite often as of late, mostly with Sokka, and he had seen her and Katara acting lovey-dovey. He had probably told Ursa what was going on. With all that in mind, Azula felt that it was a little silly for her to try and keep up the pretenses, so she figured that she might as well tell Ursa the truth while they were getting along reasonably well.
Azula quickly finished chopping up last of the broccoli florets, then setting the knife aside. She stood up straighter, almost like an army sergeant about to deliver a report. "There's something that you should probably know, mother. I mean, not that it's any of your business, but I suppose I could show you this courtesy of being truthful. You see, even though I was raised believing that this sort of thing was wrong and unacceptable I have nonetheless discovered a certain truth about myself. And I know that you might be disappointed, angry or unsupportive, but frankly, I don't care if you're either of those things because like I said, I have my own separate life-"
"Azula, is this about Katara?" Ursa asked simply, stopping Azula's long-winded rant.
"Uh… yes?" Azula felt her face becoming warm. She turned towards the kitchen doors, about to walk off. "Excuse me while I find Zuko and slowly strangle him to death."
"Hold it, Azula," Ursa exclaimed, smiling and shaking her head. "Zuko hasn't told me anything about your private life, sweetheart. Your brother doesn't really gossip, or at least not with me."
"I don't believe you," Azula glared at Ursa. "You just want to save Zuko from the trashing that he so richly deserves."
"Azula, honey, when you were in the audience last month, you and Katara held hands literally all the way through the play," Ursa explained. "I couldn't stop looking at you, it was so sweet."
Azula made a face. "We really should learn to be less obvious about it," she sighed. They made that resolution almost every week, and broke it mere hours afterwards. There was no burning and ferocious hatred towards people practicing homosexual relationships in Ba Sing Se, however, the etiquette of the day demanded that such unsavory dalliances be kept behind closed doors and never displayed in public. But Azula and Katara were so besotted with each other at this stage of their relationship that they occasionally forgot where they were and had exchanged physical affection in public. Fortunately, nobody had made any comments, at least not yet.
"I wish you didn't feel like you have to hide it," Ursa sighed. "You have been so happy ever since you came back from the Fire Nation. It's almost like you are surrounded by this warm glow. I'm so glad that Katara makes you happy, sweetheart."
"She… really does," Azula said, feeling more than a little awkward. She was so unused to discussing such things with her mother. She didn't really want to continue this line of conversation. All she had wanted was to quickly tell Ursa the truth and then move on. Still, the remark about her almost glowing from happiness was a bit frustrating, because Azula had heard something similar from more than one person. And while being in love with Katara was absolutely amazing, Azula didn't particularly enjoy being so obvious about it.
Ursa seemed to have somehow noticed her discomfort. "We don't have to discuss it at length, of course. But if you were concerned that I would not approve of my daughter being a lesbian, then you shouldn't have worried. Azula, my friends at the theatre troupe are a bohemian lot and they practice many different relationship forms. I have learned to accept and support them all."
"Right, okay then," Azula shrugged. She hadn't considered this angle at all, and she now felt rather foolish. It also made her realize that she didn't necessarily know her own mother all that well. She had a lot of notions about her mother planted in her mind by Ozai, notions that were completely inaccurate.
"Will you slice the salmon, or should I?" Ursa asked. Azula was grateful that her mother also seemed keen to move on.
"I'll do it, you just keep beating those eggs," Azula replied.
They worked in silence for a while, but it was a comfortable silence. "How are your studies progressing?" Ursa asked some time later.
"Perfectly well," Azula said. "Your idea about investigative journalism was a very good one. I feel like it's really something that speaks to me, you know? There is both the fact gathering and deduction, followed by the creativity of turning it into a compellingly written article. And to succeed, you have to be good at both."
"I'm happy you're enjoying it, Azula. I had a feeling you might," Ursa smiled softly.
"I really am," Azula nodded. She liked most of her courses, the basics of fostering essential writing skills, the methodology of investigative journalism and even the public relations courses. The only course she scoffed at was the law and ethics of journalism. To Azula those seemed like annoying hurdles standing in the way of an excellent story. Also, next study year would involve professional practice in the shape of a work placement in one of the local Ba Sing Se newspapers. Azula was really looking forward to that, even if she would have to quit her Jasmine Dragon job. She had known that it wasn't forever, nor had she wanted it to be. "Anyway, that's the salmon all sliced up," Azula said, having finished her task. "Do you need my help with anything else?" she asked.
"I don't think so, honey," Ursa shook her head. "The oven should be hot enough, now I just have to pour in the filling and we'll be good to go. You could…" she said, hesitating slightly, almost as if being a little worried. "Check up on your brother?" Ursa finished.
Azula frowned. It was true that she and Zuko hadn't gotten into any big fights as of late. Still, they hadn't become that much closer, either. With Zuko visiting the estate often, however, Azula had at least become more comfortable with his presence, so she figured that she could endure his company for a brief while. Still, before leaving the kitchen, Azula hesitated, remaining standing by the doors. There was something that she had been meaning to tell Ursa, but so far, she had lacked the courage. This visit was going quite well, however, so she felt that this was an opportune moment.
"Mother?" she began cautiously. Ursa immediately looked up at her, with all of her attention focused on Azula. "I'm sorry about what you went through during my visit to the Fire Nation. I think I did the right thing by not telling you about it, but I'm sorry for what you and Ikem had to deal with." Azula still didn't know quite how Ursa had learned about her meeting with Ozai. She supposed that Iroh must have slipped up and told Ursa something he hadn't been supposed to say. Ursa had absolutely lost it at the thought of Azula facing her father. She had ended up overdosing while spending the night at Ikem's apartment and her boyfriend had been forced to call the ambulance. Azula was impressed that Ikem hadn't fled for the hills after having to deal with that. He seemed to be really serious about Ursa, though, which was good. Azula no longer wished misery and eternal sorrow upon her mother. There were things that Azula would never forgive fully, but she thought that they could still have something resembling a functional relationship.
"Thank you for saying that, honey," Ursa gave her a smile that seemed slightly bittersweet. "I really appreciate it."
Azula gave her mother a brief nod before turning around and walking out of the kitchen, entering the large living room of Ursa's four room apartment. She found Zuko sitting at the table with a Pai Sho board in front of him, newspaper laid out across the board and having knocked some of the tiles away. Azula sat down at the table opposite to Zuko, but she decided against starting a conversation. After all, Zuko seemed to be busy. He had taken one glance at her before going back to the newspaper, deciding not to bother her with awkward and torturous small talk. Azula was rather grateful to her brother for it. Besides, it also gave her a few moments to reflect on what had been a very intense and very happy month of her life.
Her relationship with Katara was progressing well. For some reason, Katara hadn't yet decided that this wasn't what she wanted, so Azula supposed that maybe she wasn't doing terribly. They had plunged into a much more intimate relationship without much forethought, slightly faster than Azula figured they would and at first it had made her worried, but she needn't have had any concerns. The intense and deep bond they had built over the years meant that very little adjustment was actually necessary. The only real change was that they switched to sharing the same bed. Azula's anxiety had reared its ugly head at the very start of their sexual relationship, but with Katara being so soft, supportive and understanding she had made Azula feel comfortable with sharing their bodies in very short time. Katara's patience and encouragement was helping Azula to open up in ways she couldn't have imagined beforehand, and frankly, it was beautiful.
Azula felt as if a month later she was finally comfortable leaving the incident with the horses in the past. Katara had been nothing but amazing and understanding ever since they had gotten together properly. Azula's resentment had faded quickly and they were on their way to also rebuild the damaged trust. Yue had also felt terribly about hurting Azula, and the white-haired girl had gone out of her way to make it up to Azula, still now and then surprising Azula with the softest of hugs. Ty Lee hadn't really changed her attitude towards Azula too much, but Azula did not expect that from her old friend. Azula had been angry first and foremost with Katara, and then Yue, because the two Water Tribe girls knew about everything she had gone through the best.
Shortly after she and Katara had gotten together properly, Azula had requested a small change in their living arrangements. She had insisted that Sokka and Yue swap rooms. First of all, Ty Lee's constant sneaking downstairs or Yue's sneaking upstairs tended to disrupt Azula's extremely light and fragile sleep. Secondly, she and Katara both just didn't feel comfortable having sex with only a couple of doors between them and Katara's brother. And even though they tried to remain discreet, the truth was that neither Katara nor Azula always succeeded at controlling the volume during their encounters.
By the end of November, the first installment of Ozai's payments had landed in their bank accounts, sparking wild celebrations. Azula had splurged quite a bit on designer clothes and other luxuries she missed from her old life, and she had also treated her friends to plenty of niceties, but she had also put a decent amount into the estate fund. Azula had been thinking about buying a new car, but with Sokka moving in and making the Lincoln available to them all, it was no longer a prime necessity. Still, Azula had grown attached to Iroh's Corvette, so she had worked out a monthly payment scheme with her uncle and within two years, the car's ownership would legally pass over to her.
Also, way back in November, Sokka had driven Yue and Ty Lee to a village just beyond the outskirts of Ba Sing Se, where they had managed to track down Ty Lee's remaining family, her parents and two of her sisters, Ty Lin and Ty Lao. The rest of her sisters had left the family nest by now, forced out by poverty, and Ty Lee's next project was to find them all. Still, the five thousand yuan sent by Ozai were immediately put to good use. Ty Lee gave the money to her parents and her father had invested it in a new suit, just so that he could attend job interviews in Ba Sing Se without being mistaken for a vagrant and thrown out. He was due to start at his new job as a bank clerk with the turn of the year, so the fortunes of the Watanabe family were finally trending upwards.
"Uh… so," Zuko said awkwardly, finally setting the newspaper aside after they had spent a few minutes sitting there in silence. Zuko seemed to be under the mistaken assumption that she was looking to engage him in a conversation. "How's, uh… everything?"
Azula rolled her eyes. A sarcastic remark snapping at Zuko about how he sucked at this was at the tip of her tongue. However, the visit was going well so far, so she decided to swallow the acidic reply. Besides, she liked the thought of later being able to tell Katara that her visit with Ursa and Zuko had gone well. Azula knew that it would earn her a lot of particularly passionate kisses. For some reason, Katara was really invested in Azula getting along with Zuko and Ursa, far more than Azula herself.
"It's fine, Zuko. I'm doing okay," she instead answered simply. She really hoped that she and Zuko would never reach the stage where they would start talking about their feelings, their complicated past, and all the shit that she was desperate to never rehash again. "So, your tournament kicks off tomorrow?" she asked quickly, eager to change the topic of conversation to something more comfortable.
"Yes," Zuko nodded. The Ba Sing Se invitational was a fairly big deal among the Pai Sho professionals, attractive both for its sizable prize fund and the ranking points on offer. Zuko badly needed the latter if he was serious about being among the thirty best professional players by the end of next May. It was the cutoff point that determined who made it through to the qualifying tournaments for the main championship event. The top thirty players would then be broken down into five groups of six players each, and each group would then contest a single ticket to the finals between them. It was a brutal slog of a system which ensured that only the best players made it through to the finals. However, it was also a system that favored the reigning champion, because they would keep themselves fresh and well rested, while the challengers exhausted themselves in bloody struggles to qualify.
"Were you trying to calculate what you have to do to qualify?" Azula asked, pointing at a scrap of paper next to the Pai Sho board, covered in numbers.
"I was, yes," Zuko sighed. "I discovered that I really hate this system. You can never be completely sure that what you have done will be enough, well, unless you pretty much win every tournament you take part in."
"I think you can be reasonably sure," Azula said. "May I?" she reached for the scrap of paper. Zuko shrugged, allowing her to take it. Azula spent a few minutes checking Zuko's calculations, making a few corrections here and there. She noticed that Zuko was frowning when she did so. Azula decided to ignore that reaction. It wasn't her fault that Zuko sucked at basic calculus. "Well, I think you'll be safe with at least two more finishes on the podium. That should do it," Azula reasoned.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too," Zuko nodded. "But it took me more like thirty minutes to figure it out, instead of three. How did you do that?" he asked with a frown.
"I've always had a head for math, don't you remember, dum-dum?" Azula smirked.
"Seriously, dum-dum?" Zuko laughed. "When was the last time you called me that?" he asked. They both froze at that, realizing the answer to that question. Alarm bells immediately began to ring for Azula. This was bringing back her memories of a time she didn't want to revisit. It seemed like Zuko was having very similar thoughts.
"That was… a long time ago," Azula spoke uncomfortably. She really wanted to get back to a safer topic, like Pai Sho. "Anyway, think you can make the podium this time?" she asked quickly.
"I'm not sure," Zuko shrugged. "With Bumi and Piandao headlining the tournament, it's pretty much a race for the third place. And there will be a lot of strong grandmasters competing for the podium, but we'll see. I think I have a fair shot."
Azula knew what Zuko meant by saying that the first two places were already reserved. Bumi had been Ozai's fiercest opponent over the years, and her father truly loathed the eccentric grandmaster from Omashu. Bumi was always there or there about when it came to the finals, usually the biggest threat to her father. Piandao was the reigning world champion, even if there was a lot of talk about how he only held that title because Ozai had been unable to compete following his mysterious injury. Even if Azula still had the occasional nightmare about the assault, at least the traumatic event had the upside of robbing her father of his treasured world title and forcing him to go through the whole qualifying process, which was something he undoubtedly found very demeaning.
"I think you can do it, yes," Azula said. She hadn't actually meant to act encouraging towards Zuko. She had simply taken into account Zuko's previous tournament results before making a purely logical estimation of his chances, that was all there was to it. Also, Azula was feeling greatly encouraged by Zuko's moderate success after turning pro. Azula knew that she and Katara were both as good as Zuko, and would probably eclipse her brother in a couple of years, so this boded really well for their Pai Sho careers.
"I suppose we shall see," Zuko said. He looked a little happier at her words. Azula felt conflicted about that. She hadn't meant to make him feel better, but she kind of didn't hate that it had happened anyway. "By the way, with Uncle Iroh away, I asked Yue to be my sparring partner," Zuko added.
"You're so lucky that she agreed. Yue is an amazing sparring partner," Azula nodded approvingly. Zuko already knew that she, Katara and Sokka were about to depart for Agna Qel'a. Besides, he would have never asked her to be his sparring partner anyway. Not that she wanted that or anything. And he had asked Yue only because Iroh was unavailable, traveling to Kyoshi Island for another tournament held there. It was a very good idea for Iroh and Zuko to play in different tournaments. They both needed to climb the rankings to make the cutoff for the final qualification, and playing in the same tournament would have meant that they were likely to lose important ranking points by tripping each other up. This made Azula wonder if perhaps once she and Katara had turned professional, they would also have to target different tournaments, and that thought saddened her. If there was one thing Azula loved most about Pai Sho, it was trying to outdo the girl she loved.
"Yeah, I've heard that about Yue," Zuko said. He then appeared to hesitate a little before speaking up again. "Hey, listen… so, I wanted to thank you for being cool with me hanging out at the estate so much. I know it's probably not what you really want."
Azula sighed. She had hoped that Zuko wouldn't start going all emotional on her as soon as they stopped fighting, but apparently there was no chance of that. "Ugh, whatever, Zuko," she shrugged. "You haven't really gotten in my way, so I don't really mind, okay? Besides, it's not like I can forbid you to come and go as you please. The estate belongs to our uncle, in case you have forgotten. If he discovered that I had thrown you out, I'd probably end up on the street myself."
"I wouldn't visit if I knew that you had a serious problem with it," Zuko said apologetically.
"Well, I don't, so it's not an issue and we can stop talking about it," Azula shrugged.
"I didn't mean-" Zuko began, but much to Azula's relief, he was distracted by the sudden ringing of the doorbell.
Ursa stepped out of the kitchen to open the front door. "Azula! Your girlfriend is here!" she yelled a moment later, then running back into the kitchen.
Katara slipped out of her trench coat and took off her beret, kicking off her boots before stepping into the living room, slightly red in the face. "Did you tell her?" she whispered to Azula, blushing.
"I tried to, but she already knew," Azula sighed. "That was so embarrassing."
"You told her, didn't you?" Katara pointed an accusing finger at the sputtering Zuko.
"I most certainly didn't," Zuko protested. "I don't even care enough about your thing to gossip."
"Ursa said she saw us holding hands at the play," Azula told her girlfriend.
"Damn it, I was so sure that she wouldn't be able to spot that," Katara cursed. "Ugh, and here I thought we were being so subtle!" Zuko snorted at that, looking amused. Katara glared at him a little. "Oh well," she shrugged. "At least now I can do this without worries," Katara leaned in and kissed Azula on the cheek. Zuko made a face.
Azula immediately decided to jump at the opportunity to really gross out her brother. She turned her head and pulled Katara in for a brief kiss on the lips. "Okay, I'm out of here," Zuko said, rising from his seat.
"Hey, don't go! We promise not to do it again," Katara pleaded with him.
"I make no such promises," Azula sulked. Katara playfully punched her shoulder. Zuko let out a heavy sigh and sat down at the table with them.
"Getting ready for the tournament?" Katara asked, pointing at the Pai Sho board. Zuko nodded. "I'm sorry we won't be here to support you, but I know that Yue will help you a great deal. She's an amazing sparring partner and great for bouncing off ideas. Azula and I will make sure to follow the tournament from Cape Kuruk, won't we Azula?"
"I guess," Azula shrugged. She could think of hundred and one more exciting things to do together with Katara than following her brother's Pai Sho tournament. But Azula supposed that she was somewhat curious about how Zuko and their uncle would do in their respective competitions.
"How do you think Uncle Iroh will fare at the Kyoshi tournament?" Katara asked. "We spoke to him yesterday before he left for the airport, and he seemed quite confident."
"He has been getting back into tournament shape, so I think he'll do really well," Zuko replied. "He could really do with a win. There's a good chance of it happening, too. Kyoshi lineup isn't as strong as my Ba Sing Se tournament."
"Yes, I read that both Haru and Hahn are playing at Kyoshi Island," Katara nodded. "I hope that Haru does well, but I don't wish the same for Hahn."
"Haru is probably going to fare well, but Hahn… that guy is hopeless," Zuko laughed a little. "He really should just quit and stop getting himself embarrassed again and again. He doesn't seem to realize that while his family's wealth can get him invitations to tournaments, it can't ensure that he'll actually win any games."
"He deserves that embarrassment and more," Azula shrugged. She really loathed that rich young asshole for everything he had put Yue through, because as far as Azula was concerned, Yue deserved only the best. At least Hahn was unlikely to win any accolades at the professional level of Pai Sho, with the possible exception of the wooden spoon award. Haru was doing much better, though not as good as Zuko. He was consistently finishing in the middle of the pack and had no real chance of making the world championship qualifiers, but it was still a solid first season among the professionals.
"I really hope that both you and Uncle Iroh make it through to the qualifiers," Katara said. "To have a chance to face off against some of your childhood heroes…" she added dreamily. Azula winced, glancing at Zuko. Her brother also looked uncomfortable. Katara realized her mistake immediately. "Oh, I'm sorry, that was thoughtless of me. I should have realized who your childhood hero would have been," she sighed. "I mean, I used to idealize Pakku, and I have since learned that he's a rather unpleasant and bitter old man. But that doesn't really compare to you guys…"
"I can't wait to face off against him, though, you're right about that, Katara," Zuko nodded. "Unfortunately, our father has been limiting himself to playing tournaments on the Fire Nation soil, so he's been denying me the chance to face him."
"Maybe you will go up against him in the qualifiers," Katara wondered. "It would be so tense and thrilling if both you and Iroh were in the same group with Ozai."
Azula frowned at that thought. She was absolutely certain that if Zuko went up against their father now, he would be completely destroyed. The same would happen to Iroh, even if during his peak years he had been more than a match for Ozai. But Iroh's golden days were long behind him, while Zuko was some ways from reaching his peak. "I think if you both end up making it through, our father will probably arrange things so that the three of you are all in the same group. Knowing Ozai, he is probably eager to teach you a lesson," Azula said.
"Let him try," Zuko exclaimed brashly. As far as Azula was concerned, Zuko had very little reason to feel confident when it came to facing Ozai. Azula knew that Ozai would be particularly motivated to humiliate Zuko, and knowing how ruthless their father could be, Azula had no illusions about him succeeding in this task.
"I've heard that in the past there have been many complaints about the qualifying brackets being drawn unevenly," Katara remarked.
"Considering the influence our father wields in the International Federation, you can be absolutely sure that all of the draws have been rigged to make things easier for Ozai," Azula rolled her eyes.
"It's pathetic," Zuko spat. "If he really is the best player, he wouldn't need to resort to such tactics."
"Even the best player doesn't want to leave anything to chance, right?" Azula said. "Our father's actions make complete sense. Why do some of the best grandmasters tend to get placed in the same bracket so that only one of them limps through to the finals? It's all to make things easier for Ozai, of course. And this year he has to go through the qualifiers himself. Come June, just watch him draw the weakest opposition and avoid facing masters like Bumi, Pakku or Gyatso." Azula privately thought that in her father's eyes, Iroh and Zuko were a part of this weaker opposition that he would love to face and destroy, but she elected not to say that.
"I thought that while life might not always be fair, perhaps at least Pai Sho would be left unspoiled, but apparently, we can't even have that," Katara sighed unhappily. Azula frowned at Katara's words. She felt sad that some of Katara's idealism was already starting to get slowly stripped away. "Anyway, Zula, we should probably be on our way. Remember, you still have to do your packing." Azula let out a heavy sigh. She had hoped that if she delayed her packing long enough, Katara would eventually do it for her. "No, I'm not doing it for you," Katara glared, correctly reading her thoughts.
"But you're so much better at it than I am," Azula whined. "Besides, you always come to my help anyway after I try to pack twice the stuff that the suitcase can hold."
"Well, I'll be happy to come to your help again, but only after you've first put in an honest effort on your own," Katara replied. Azula sighed. It seemed like she would get nowhere with Katara on this. Zuko was smirking at them, probably taking delight in her misery.
"Fine, let's just be on our way then," Azula huffed, turning around to leave.
"Alright, bye Zuko, and good luck with the tournament," Katara waved at Zuko as she turned to follow Azula into the foyer.
They were in the process of getting dressed when Ursa came out of the kitchen, carrying with her a cardboard box tied with a string. A cloud of pleasant aroma wafted from the kitchen in Ursa's wake, assaulting Azula's nostrils and taste buds, making her salivate as she realized that she was actually quite famished. Ursa pressed the box into Katara's hands, smiling when the Water Tribe girl gave her a questioning stare. "It's the result of our combined efforts," she smiled, proudly pointing at Azula. "I hope you'll enjoy."
"I've no idea what it is, but it smells delicious," Katara returned the smile. She turned to face Azula. "If you have saved me from the cooking duty tonight, Zula, then… well, I'll be really happy with you." They both blushed at that. Ursa merely grinned at them like an idiot. Azula was really tempted to say something rude or insulting to knock her mother down a peg, but she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. Besides, she knew that Katara would not approve of it. "Anyway, thank you so much, Ursa, but we should really be on our way now," Katara said, smiling at Azula's mother.
"Goodbye, mother," Azula nodded, turning to leave and almost running into Katara who had chosen to stand in her way. Azula shot her girlfriend a questioning stare. Katara nodded towards the living room. Azula made a face, but Katara remaining unmoving like a rock. Azula sighed and walked up to the doors to the living room. "Goodbye Zuko," she said.
"Oh… bye!" Zuko replied, sounding surprised. "Have a nice trip, you two."
"Thanks, Zuko, we will!" Katara replied, finally deeming it acceptable to leave. Azula supposed that she should tell Katara off for pushing this friendliness and civility way too far, but… maybe Katara wasn't wrong to do that. Maybe she was pushing Azula to do something she actually wanted to do, but didn't necessarily always have the courage for, like showing more emotions than she had been taught to be acceptable.
"Can I drive, please?" Katara asked once they were back outside the apartment building, standing next to the Chevy Corvette.
"No, my mother gave you the quiches to safeguard," Azula replied, getting into the driver's seat while ignoring Katara's pouting.
Katara quickly got into the passenger seat, but as Azula was about to start the ignition, she reached out and took Azula's hand in hers. "Wait," Katara said softly. "Can we talk for a moment?"
"Umm, okay," Azula replied, removing the key from ignition. She wondered if she was in some kind of trouble. It was where her thoughts always seemed to go whenever Katara said something similar, expecting the worst, expecting Katara to have become bored or annoyed with her. Azula hoped that with time something would change and this wouldn't always be her first reaction.
"It seemed like you had a good visit with your family," Katara smiled at her. Maybe she wasn't in trouble after all. Azula let out a breath of relief. "You did some cooking with your mom and actually sat down and talked with Zuko."
"Eh, you're always making such a big deal out of it," Azula rolled her eyes. Her cheeks felt warmer, though.
"I can't help it, Zula. Just as I can't help feeling really proud of you," Katara said, reaching out to place her free hand around Azula's nape and pulling her closer. They began to kiss, slowly and gently at first, but then quickly forgetting about everything else around them, snapping out of the magical spell only when the cardboard box slipped from Katara's lap and fell down, startling them.
"I wish I'd understood why you care so much about me getting along with my mother and Zuko," Azula said as they slowly parted.
"Probably because I get on so well with my family, and I want you to have that as well," Katara replied.
"We could never have that sort of warmth, Katara," Azula shrugged. "But I guess we can learn to tolerate each other, at least."
"You're too pessimistic, Azula," Katara smiled. "I saw some genuine warmth there today."
"You're delusional, Kat," Azula rolled her eyes. "That was just all the heat from the oven."
Katara laughed before playfully punching Azula's shoulder again. "Anyway, are you ready to go on a magical winter holiday with me, love?" she grinned.
Azula smiled back at her girlfriend as she turned the ignition key and the engine roared to life. "You better believe I'm ready," Azula replied. This would be their first winter holiday as a couple, and Azula for one couldn't wait to experience it.
Next chapter: Azula, Katara and Sokka visit Cape Kuruk, while Mai comes to Ba Sing Se and Zuko's Pai Sho tournament begins.