Chapter 74

Life hadn't become any less frantic at the International House of Lesbians with the arrival of fall in Ba Sing Se. Azula found herself with nary a moment to sit down and reflect, which overall was probably a beneficial development for her. Azula was aware that if given too much time to spend alone with her thoughts, she always tended to come up with all sorts of pessimistic scenarios that were not necessarily rooted in reality. The only thing she wished for was to have a little more alone time with Katara, but they were still as much in love as when they had gotten together almost a year ago. It helped that neither she nor Katara were obsessed with sex, and most of the time they were fine with just kissing and holding each other while drifting off to sleep at the end of another exhausting day. Azula was truly blessed that her girlfriend was so good at communicating her needs in their relationship, as well as staying on top of Azula's needs. All in all, they were doing splendidly.

The three of them, Azula, Yue and Katara, had their birthdays very close to one another. Azula had celebrated hers at the end of August and they had toasted Yue's twentieth birthday during the first week of September. And now, Katara's birthday was fast approaching at the end of September. There would be another party which definitely required a lot of preparation and organization. It was all just a tad stressful, but as long as the result was rewarding, Azula was happy to help out. Besides, this was for Katara, and Katara deserved only the best.

Azula's second year of studying journalism saw her studies structured in a way she found hard to get used to. The few courses they had were all condensed on the first day of the week, leaving the rest of time free for students to undertake their work placements. Azula had found a spot with the Ba Sing Se Herald, being attached to a senior reporter who usually focused on international affairs. And this was definitely a fascinating time for international news, what with the developments taking place in Yu Dao.

The summer riots had reached their crescendo with an explosion that had leveled a large part of the Fire Nation embassy. With the pretense of the Freedom Fighters being backed by the Earth Kingdom loyalists, Fire Nation had then launched a swift invasion to 'protect its interests and its citizens'. Paratroopers had stormed the city, overpowering the paltry military garrison of the Earth Kingdom forces. As with everything else being concentrated in Ba Sing Se, so was the Earth Kingdom military. There were military forts scattered around the western coast, and the major cities all had their garrisons, but everything was seriously underfunded, a rot hastened by corruption having set in. The Earth Kingdom had been caught with its pants down, despite the situation in Yu Dao having been a powder keg for months if not years.

Certainly, Azula was not the only one who had spotted something rather odd about the sequence of events leading up to the Fire Nation taking over Yu Dao. First of all, the casualty numbers for the explosion at the embassy were very low given the extent of the damage. It gave the distinct impression that the essential staff had been conveniently evacuated well before the blast. Also, the reaction of the Fire Nation's military had been unusually swift. It was almost as if those paratroopers had been standing by, ready to jump in as soon as a pretext for invasion presented itself. There were many who saw this terrorist attack as manufactured by the Fire Nation, aiding or manipulating the Freedom Fighters.

The Ba Sing Se Herald had posted several pieces hinting at this possibility, and Azula had even been allowed to put together a short editorial which had been received very well. Apparently, she knew how to spin a good yarn that was still informative and fact based. Still, the Herald was trying to take a more conciliatory stance not to escalate the tensions, but the same couldn't be said about the other newspapers. The Daily Prophet in particular was keen on war mongering, becoming a mouthpiece for a certain faction within the government. As a result, the newspaper had been dubbed as The Dai Li Prophet by the general public, much to Azula's amusement.

Obviously, this brewing military conflict was disrupting lives in both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, not to mention the people of Yu Dao. At the time when the explosion at the embassy had occurred, a Pai Sho qualifying tournament had been taking place in Yu Dao. All the grandmasters, including the legendary Bumi Dhawan, had been safely evacuated to Omashu where the tournament had finished without any further interruptions. The Fire Nation takeover of Yu Dao had also led to Mayor Morishita being placed under house arrest on suspicion of aiding the Freedom Fighters. Azula and her friends had been relieved to learn that both Haru Tamang and Kori Morishita were not harmed during these events. Kori was none too pleased about being under house arrest, but considering that she was locked up in a vast and splendorous estate, it was hardly the insufferable imprisonment. Haru had decided to get out of the city as quickly as possible, relocating to Omashu.

The developments in the Pai Sho world were also rather frustrating. They had all been absolutely incensed about the methods Azula's loathed father had used to defeat and humiliate Zuko. And to further rub salt into their wounds, Ozai had then gone and won the finals, taking back the title of world champion from Piandao Mori. It hadn't been all smooth sailing for Ozai. Until the few final rounds, Pakku Karetak had been tied with Ozai, but Ozai had then pulled ahead, while Pakku had played the decisive games poorly, suffering untimely defeats. Azula had torn up the papers upon seeing the smugly grinning face of her father on the front page, resolving to herself that this was the last time Ozai Nakamura had earned the privilege to call himself the world champion.

The fallout from all of this was definitely not good. Zuko had already been quite demoralized after coming home from Caldera City, and Azula could understand why. He had actually been playing as good as Ozai, if not better, and if not for dirty and underhanded methods, Zuko should have made it through to the finals instead of their father. The way Ozai had acted served as a good lesson that Azula was determined to learn from going forward, but it wasn't really helping Zuko in the here and now. Everyone tried their best to cheer him up, even Azula had mustered the courage to try and be supportive, but Zuko still remained downcast. Acting against Azula's advice to take a break, he had thrown himself right back into the professional circuit, taking part in a tournament in Ba Sing Se which featured a very strong lineup. Unfortunately, Zuko was still reeling from his defeat in Caldera City and the news that Ozai had taken the world title had simply made everything worse. Zuko ended up playing a very poor tournament, getting the next cycle of competition for the title of world champion off on the wrong foot.

In other news, Uncle Iroh had decided to once again retire from the professional circuit, this time calling his retirement final. Iroh had come to the unpleasant realization that the world of Pai Sho had moved on and that his years of focusing on expanding the operations of the Jasmine Dragon had left him too far behind to ever catch up again. Having once sat at the very top of the Pai Sho world, in his advanced age Iroh Nakamura had no interest in struggling in the middle of the pack. To Iroh it must have seemed like a rather ignominious fall from grace. Iroh's retirement had been met with respectful understanding everywhere, except for the Fire Nation where his younger brother had arranged for the publication of several scathing and mocking articles, ridiculing Iroh's failed attempt at a comeback. It was simply yet another classy move by Ozai Nakamura.

Azula, Katara and Yue were looking forward to their last appearance at the U21 finals the following spring. It was going to be a very unusual tournament, what with three defending champions instead of just one. The tournament location, the splendorous resort of Kyoshi Island was also extremely promising. All three of them were determined to claim the title for themselves, but above all, to enjoy two unforgettable weeks of wild fun and games, without forgetting to play Pai Sho, of course.

The three girls had big plans following their final outing at the junior level. Azula was determined to jump straight into the professional circuit and to use the remaining time of the next qualifying cycle to get their ranking as high as possible to reach the top thirty and make the cut for the next stage of competition. Azula knew that she was aiming very high by setting a goal like that, and the two Water Tribe girls felt a little apprehensive about this plan. But Azula felt that if Zuko had been able to pull it off, then all three of them should have no problems achieving it either. Azula had to admit, however, that Yue and Katara were right to be concerned about combining a very aggressive tournament schedule with their studies. It was definitely something that they would have to sit down and plan for carefully, but considering that it was still more than half a year away, Azula had not pressed for them to start planning just yet. There would be plenty of time to iron out the details of just how they would bring down her father from the throne that he was unworthy of.

Still, all of these thoughts and concerns were only peripherally on Azula's mind as she considered her primary task at hand, which was to hit some of the shops of Ba Sing Se to pick out a birthday gift worthy of her girlfriend. To that effect, Azula proceeded towards the garage with the intent of getting into her Chevy Corvette, but before she had managed to do so, Azula noticed Sokka busy working on his own car, the rather impressive looking Lincoln Capri.

"Sokka," Azula spoke in a firm voice, startling Katara's brother a little. "What are you doing?" she asked, noticing that he was working on the car's dashboard. There was a strange looking little box sitting in the driver's seat, some device that Azula hadn't seen before.

"Azula, I'm glad you asked," Sokka recovered quickly, an unflappable grin on his face. "I am about to make my car at least ten times cooler with this lovely little thing," he affectionately patted the little box in the driver's seat.

"Okay, what is it and what does it do?" Azula asked, overcome by sheer curiosity.

"That there is a Stereo 8 cartridge player, and it plays some sweet, sweet music, Azula," Sokka chuckled at her.

"Are you having me on?" Azula frowned. "There's no way you can shove a vinyl inside that little thing."

Sokka burst into laughter at her words. Azula felt like he was having fun at her expense, and she really hated that. She intensified her glare aimed at Katara's brother. "Okay, you don't put vinyl into it, that's why it's called a Stereo 8 cartridge player," Sokka explained. "It plays a special kind of magnetic tape."

"Huh, that's interesting," Azula mused. "And you can buy them at any record store?"

"Well, right now there are only a few albums available because it's a new technology," Sokka said. "Maybe if you knew someone at a recording studio, they could hook you up in case you wanted something specific."

"Oh, I do know a guy who works at a recording studio," Azula immediately thought of Jet. She quickly made a decision. "Sokka, could you install one of these players into my Chevy?" she asked.

"Sure, you just need to pop down to the electronics store and buy one," Sokka said. "Although I have to warn you, they're selling like hotcakes. I got the last one, and they probably won't have a new batch until next week."

"But that's unacceptable! I need one now," Azula demanded. She had already decided on Katara's birthday gift as soon as Sokka had told her about this new music player. Katara always whined about having to listen to terrible songs on the radio whenever they went for a drive, or on a picnic. She could get Katara some of the albums she was crazy about and impress her girlfriend with this new tech. Azula was not someone who cared hugely about pop music herself, she preferred Grieg or Schubert, but she knew her girlfriend's tastes very well by now.

"Well, I can't help you with that, sorry," Sokka replied.

"Actually, you can," Azula said. "Put this one into my Chevy and I'll give you money for a new one you can then put into the Capri."

"Very funny, why would I do that?" Sokka seemed amused.

"You want to do it so that I can impress your sister for her birthday?" Azula tried.

"Right, like I care about you scoring points with my sister," Sokka laughed, then wincing. "Actually, gross, I shouldn't use the word 'scoring' in the same sentence with you and Katara."

Azula considered her options here. Threatening Sokka probably wouldn't work. He was not easy to intimidate, besides, she had a feeling that Katara would not approve. Begging was an option, but Azula viewed it strictly as the last resort. Maybe she could simply try being nice and sweet? It seemed to work for other girls. "Surely there's something I can do to convince you," Azula said. "I know, I will promise to be nicer to Zuko from now on, and you want that, don't you?" she asked, her words supplemented by the expression that Katara usually referred to as 'puppy eyes'.

Sokka's reaction was not quite what Azula had been going for when he recoiled almost as if in fear. "What are you doing?" he asked, looking at her. "Please stop doing that thing with your face."

"What are you talking about? I was being cute!" Azula huffed angrily.

"Well, just… don't, okay?" Sokka whimpered. "In fact, promise that you'll never do that again, and I'll put the cartridge player in your Chevy."

"Err… okay?" Azula blinked. It had worked, albeit not quite in the intended way, but Azula had gotten what she wanted. Sokka spent the next half an hour on putting the new Stereo 8 system in her Chevy. After that, a bunch of yuan had changed hands, and having thanked Sokka for being a seriously cool guy, Azula proceeded on her way to the recording studio in the Middle Ring where Jet was working as a sound engineer.

By the time Azula made it to the recording studio, it was already quite late in the afternoon and the lights in the studio were out, everything appearing dark. Azula was just about to curse her luck and depart when she noticed the faintest of lights coming from a tiny booth by the left wall. "Hello?" Azula called out, having noticed a dark silhouette in the booth.

"Hey, we're closed, you really shouldn't be here," Jet replied, leaning out of the booth. In the dim light, he didn't recognize her at first, but understanding dawned in his face as Azula stepped closer. "Oh, Azula! How are you, babe? It's good to see you again!" he looked pleased to see her.

"Likewise, I'm sure," Azula said. She wasn't here to indulge Jet's flirting, although she did need a favor from him. "I wanted to ask you about something."

"Nope, I'm still happily going steady with Suki, sorry to disappoint," Jet grinned at her.

"You are such an idiot," Azula fumed, blushing lightly. "I wanted to ask you about 8-track tapes. I just got the player installed in my Chevy, and I'm looking for some recordings."

"Oh, you seem to know your stuff," Jet looked impressed with her. Azula was simply glad that she had squeezed some details about this new technology from Sokka. "Did you check the record stores?" he asked.

"I didn't bother, I heard the selection was paltry," Azula shrugged. "I was hoping that as a professional you would have something better."

"Well, you made the right decision, babe," Jet grinned. "Step this way," he led her into another room adjacent to the main hall, walls lined with shelves, containing mostly vinyl recordings. However, three of the shelves were crammed with odd little plastic boxes, less than an inch thick. Jet withdrew one of them from the shelf. It was about five by four inches, perfect fit for her new stereo player. "This is what I have," Jet waved at his collection with pride in his voice. "I also have a few blank cartridges, so pick whatever you like and I can make you a copy."

"Okay, thanks," Azula said, starting to browse the shelves. Even if she was well informed about Katara's tastes, it still took her a while to decide simply because she felt overwhelmed by the rich offer of choices.

"It's not that I want to rush you, but," Jet began, checking his wristwatch after Azula had been browsing for a good quarter of an hour, feeling just as lost as when she had begun. "It's almost as if you're not sure what you're looking for. Maybe I can help you?"

"No, I know what I'm looking for," Azula shook her head. "I know her tastes, but I simply want to find something that's perfect from start to finish, and I've yet to spot it."

"Oh, it's a gift for someone? I wonder who that might be," Jet spoke teasingly.

Azula blushed. She hadn't meant to mention that. Jet probably didn't know about her and Katara, and Azula was all for keeping it that way. "It doesn't matter," Azula snapped.

"Ah, come on, babe, you really think Suki doesn't know that you and Katara are doing the horizontal tango?" Jet laughed. "And if Suki knows, then I will know, too. But don't worry, I can be discreet."

"Yes, I totally believe that," Azula rolled her eyes. "Also, I'm going to hurt Suki, very badly," she nodded with promise in her eyes. "But fine, I need the perfect birthday gift for Katara, but nothing here quite fits. There are plenty of songs she adores, but they're scattered all over different albums. If only you could copy them individually to that blank cartridge."

"What… you mean like some kind of a… mixed tape?" Jet blinked. "Actually, I can do that, no problem. Hmm, how come I didn't think of that myself?"

"Wait, you really can do that?" Azula asked, sensing the potential here. "Alright, this will make choosing that much easier," she smiled, starting to gather the cartridges she wanted to copy songs from.

"Yeah, I can do a lot of things with these magnetic tapes," Jet nodded. "I can also do neat stuff like removing vocals from already recorded songs."

"Is that so?" Azula said. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

"Yes, these are multi-track recordings. Every song consists of several audio tracks, and each can be removed separately," Jet explained. "As for why, well, a lot of people love to sing along to the songs they like, and I guess it's more fun when you don't have to do it on top of the original vocals. It's a growing trend right now. They call it the karaoke."

"I had no idea," Azula confessed. "Katara does love to sing, especially in the shower." She then blushed fiercely, wondering why she had said that. Sometimes she had this embarrassing tendency to over-share. "Also, you will forget I said that, or I will crush your balls with my stiletto heels," she added threateningly.

"Good grief, you are one scary bitch," Jet laughed. "Anyway, I think we have enough for your mixed tape there," he said, pointing at the cartridges in Azula's hands. "But if you want me to make a karaoke track for you as well, I can do that too," Jet added.

"I want that, yes," Azula nodded. "And I know just the perfect track that Katara will love."

On the afternoon of her twentieth birthday, Katara found herself in high spirits, feeling almost unnaturally happy about the way her life had been shaping up as of late. The past few months had been extremely busy, but even some of the worrying developments around them failed to sour her unusually good mood. Everything simply seemed to be going so well for her and she had little reason to complain about anything. She was as happy as ever in her relationship with Azula, and she was thrilled about her girlfriend continuing to mend bridges with her family. Just the week before, Azula had allowed Ursa to embrace her for the first time in more than ten years, and afterwards Azula had enjoyed a warm conversation with Zuko, trying to cheer him up after his painful and unfair defeat to their father in Caldera City. Katara wasn't sure how much Azula had managed to cheer up Zuko, but the most important thing to Katara was that Azula had tried, and Katara had thought that her girlfriend had done very well in her attempt.

Over the past two months, Katara had also been helping out Ty Lee with the search for her sisters who still remained missing, and the search had gone very well. They had managed to find Ty Woo first, and it had been a welcome and pleasant reunion. Ty Woo had actually managed to carve out a decent new life for herself. She lived in the Lower Ring with her girlfriend and worked in the flower shop owned by her girlfriend's aunt. It wasn't the most splendorous life, but it was a happy one, Katara could see it straight away. Since the Watanabe family had moved several times after Ty Woo had left them, Ty Lee's stray sister had been happy to get back in contact with her parents and remaining sisters who were still staying with the family. Ty Woo was also delighted for the opportunity to stay in touch with Ty Lee, and the two sisters were now hanging out regularly. Ty Lee had confessed to Katara that Ty Woo had always been her favorite among the Watanabe bunch.

Two weeks ago, they had finally managed to find the last of the missing sisters, Ty Lum. This hadn't been a happy reunion to begin with, considering that they had found Ty Lum in one of the Lower Ring hospitals, fighting for her life after having been stabbed during the latest turf war. Ty Lee had learned that Ty Lum was part of one of the Lower Ring street gangs, and at first, she had rather defiantly rejected all suggestions about leaving this life behind and returning home. However, a couple of days ago, Ty Lee had asked Katara to accompany her to the hospital, and between the two of them, they had managed to convince Ty Lum to return to her parents as soon as she was released from the hospital. It was a huge weight off from Ty Lee's chest, and Katara was delighted about having been able to help with that.

On the afternoon of her birthday, the preparations for the party at the estate were well on their way. Katara had made sure to invite other guests aside from all the usual suspects already living at the estate. Zuko, Toph, Suki and Jet had all confirmed their attendance, while Teo had politely declined. He had also sent her a thoughtful gift, a medical drama book Katara had been curious to read, so she was not at all upset at the Earth Kingdom boy. Yue, Ty Lee, Sokka and Aang had taken over the preparations at the estate, not allowing Katara to even lift a finger on her special day. And since not being allowed to help was driving Katara stir crazy, the others had chased Katara out of the estate, telling her to seek out Azula. She had then found Azula already sitting in the Corvette, waiting for her with an enigmatic statement that they would be going on a ride full of surprises. And so, half an hour later, Katara was sitting in the passenger seat with wind whipping her hair as they left the walls of Ba Sing Se behind them and headed straight for the picturesque road surrounding the Serpent Lake, Katara's favorite route.

"When will you tell me about the surprise?" Katara whined. Azula had ignored her previous half a dozen requests with a stoic and unshakable look on her face.

"I suppose since we're out of the city, I might as well tell you," Azula finally relented. She then pointed towards the new panel which had been recently added to the car's dashboard. "Do you know what that is?" Azula asked.

"I'm guessing it's some kind of a music player?" Katara mused. "From the way it says play, stop, rewind and eject on the buttons?"

"Well, aren't you clever?" Azula smirked. "Anyway, I seem to remember that you really liked that Shoop-Shoop song, right?"

"Oh, everyone loves it," Katara smiled. "I just wish it wasn't so hetero-normative, like you know all the songs. Remember me going on a rant about how I wished there was a song with lyrics about two girls being in love? The Shoop-Shoop song would have been perfect!"

"Well, it can be perfect," Azula smiled. "Because we can make it perfect ourselves."

"How do you mean that?" Katara asked. She felt a little confused.

"Inside the player is a tape with that song, but without any vocals," Azula explained. "If you hit play, you can sing along with your own, changed lyrics."

"Seriously?" Katara squeaked. Azula nodded, looking smugly satisfied. "Okay, let's do it! But you have to sing with me," Katara insisted.

"What? No way," Azula shook her head. "I have a terrible singing voice."

"You are such a liar!" Katara pointed an accusing finger at her girlfriend. "You have an amazing sultry and sexy voice, and you know it." Azula blushed fiercely at that comment. Katara took great pride in the fact that even after almost a year of being together she could still make her girlfriend blush like that.

"Okay, fine, I actually sang in the school choir until I was twelve," Azula said. Her expression then darkened. "But then my father found out and put a stop to what he considered a huge waste of time."

"Ugh, that miserable asshole," Katara scowled darkly. "Anyway, let's not talk about him. Let's sing instead," she decided, hitting the play button. She was so happy when Azula actually did join in when the song began to play, and for the next couple of minutes, they spent time singing and exchanging loving glances, almost forgetting to worry about going off the road.

Does she love me? I wanna know
How can I tell if she loves me so?
Oh, no, you'll be deceived
(Is it in her sighs?)
Oh, no she'll make believe
If you wanna know
If she loves you so
It's in her kiss
(That's where it is, oh yeah)

By the time the song ended, Katara was overcome with such a desperate need to kiss Azula that she actually unhooked her seatbelt just so that she could crawl closer to her girlfriend. Azula wisely slowed the car down to a crawl while she accepted Katara's affections, the Water Tribe girl peppering her girlfriend's face with kisses, stopping only when Azula reluctantly exclaimed that they were about to crash.

"I loved that, Azula. And I love you, as if I hadn't made that patently obvious," Katara said, gazing adoringly at her girlfriend.

"Yes, almost making me crash the car gets the message across," Azula nodded smugly.

"Sorry," Katara grinned. She didn't feel apologetic in the slightest. "It makes me think, though. Do you think they're ever going to write songs like that and have it be okay with most people? You know, about women loving women."

Azula laughed. "I love you when you are being an idealistic dreamer," she said. "Of course not, but it's nice to pretend, isn't it?"

"I think you're being needlessly pessimistic," Katara frowned. "Is it really too much to hope for that in time people will realize that minority representation is important, and not just for the minorities themselves, but for society at large."

"But we already have representation," Azula replied. "There are plenty of gay and lesbian characters in film, for example. Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, Joel Cairo in the Maltese Falcon, Pussy Galore and her band of Amazonians, and of course, Norman Bates."

"And what do all these characters have in common?" Katara sighed.

"They're twisted and evil," Azula laughed. "Yeah, I know. That's totally us, too. We're out to corrupt this world and everything in it."

"Great, now I'm depressed," Katara glared at her girlfriend.

"Eh, cheer up, Kat," Azula smiled. "I suppose things could change for people like us if the mega corporations of the world found a way to make profit from it. They certainly wouldn't do it for any moral reasons. Anyway, I'm sorry for depressing you, so let's move on to the next surprise I have for you. Press the eject button on the player." Katara did so, and the music player spat out a thin plastic box. "Take it out," Azula spoke. "Okay, put it in the glove compartment." Katara again did as she was told, finding a similar plastic box in the small compartment. "Okay, now put the other cartridge in the player and press play." Katara followed the instructions, at first struggling slightly to insert the cartridge, but eventually the player swallowed it and she pressed the play button. As soon as she heard the first piano chords of her recent favorite song, Katara broke out in a beaming smile.

There's a road I'd like to tell you about, lives in my home town
Lake Shore Drive the road is called and it'll take you up or down
From rags on up to riches fifteen minutes you can fly
Pretty blue lights along the way, help you right on by

As the song was playing, Azula kept slowly increasing the speed they were going at, starting to push past a hundred and showing no intent of stopping. Katara's hair was getting whipped by the breeze, blowing wildly. Azula went up as high as hundred and thirty miles per hour, zipping around the somewhat dangerous lakeshore road, the scenery around Katara becoming a blur. It was around this point that Katara started to scream, but it wasn't all just due to her freaking out. She knew that Azula was a fantastic driver, and even if she didn't necessarily want Azula to go this fast, she also trusted Azula with her life. Katara was simply stuck between feeling absolutely terrified and exhilarated, and it was making her scream until her throat became raw.

Katara was still shaking by the time Azula slowed down and turned off the main road, pulling onto an overgrown country road that had once led to a now abandoned farm. Katara merely looked on as Azula unhooked her seatbelt and then did the same with Katara's belt. Katara let out a surprised little gasp as Azula shifted over to the passenger side seat with her, starting to kiss her ravenously. "And now for the final part of my gift," Azula whispered with such a ferocious, burning need in her amber eyes, that the intensity of those emotions made Katara shiver in anticipation.

'Stairway to Heaven' was blasting on the car's stereo as a good quarter an hour later Katara found herself screaming anew, her throat becoming raw as she cried out her girlfriend's name again and again. As she looked down at Azula's head lightly smushed between her thighs, Katara unraveled wholly and unconditionally. She was definitely getting taken all the way up the stairway to heaven, and it was magnificent.

Once Azula was happy with the result of her efforts, they spent a while cuddling and kissing, wedged tightly against each other in the passenger side seat. Katara would have liked to not be the only one in a partial state of undress, and she would have preferred to return the favor to Azula, but her girlfriend was insistent that this was all for Katara's benefit, and her benefit only.

"That was kind of crazy, but I loved it, Zula," Katara breathed out, reluctantly stopping from kissing her girlfriend. "I don't even know how to describe it, but it was something else." The location was very remote and there was little chance that anyone could walk in on them, but this was still the closest they had ever come to having sex in public. It really was a stretch to call it that, but Katara knew it had most likely played a part in explaining why the experience had thrilled her so powerfully.

"I was sure you'd enjoy it," Azula nodded confidently.

"I'm sure the party afterwards will be amazing as well, but I already know that it won't compare," Katara purred happily, nestling in against Azula's chest.

"Well, obviously," Azula grinned, kissing the top of Katara's head. "After all, you have the best girlfriend."

"It's true," Katara was only happy to agree. "I do have the best girlfriend."

Next chapter: It's the winter holidays again. Be ready for surprises and new developments.

(Also, did Azula and Jet just invent the concept of a mixtape? I think they did.)