Chapter 94

Facing Katara in the thirteenth round had put Yue in a difficult situation, especially as with the corner of her eye she was spying Ozai Nakamura quickly cashing in his default win against Long Feng, the Earth Kingdom competitor not even bothering to offer any sort of counterplay. In the next round, Ozai was sure to claim another free point from Zhao Sakamoto, and it all just felt so bloody unfair when Yue and Katara had to fight tooth and nail for every point.

Yue felt that with her being two full points behind Katara in the standings it would have made sense if they also now made arrangements of their own by throwing their combined might behind Katara in an effort to push her across the finish line in the first place. Considering the help Ozai received from his two cronies, it seemed like the situation called for some strategizing. However, both Katara and Azula had immediately shot this idea down when Yue had suggested it the day before. Katara simply didn't want to descend to Ozai's level, not at the world championship finals, and she insisted that Yue played her as hard as she possibly could. Azula had agreed, but she wasn't so much concerned about the ethics of it all. Azula wisely pointed out that if Yue and Katara would come under suspicion of arranging results between them, Ozai would make sure that the press gave them hell about it, regardless of how hypocritical it would be when coming from him. There would definitely be some public backlash aimed at them if Yue was seen throwing her games against Katara.

And frankly, Yue wasn't completely onboard with the idea herself, even if a part of her thought it to be strategically sound. Yue was two full points behind, but that wasn't an insurmountable gap, especially if she could defeat Katara. Yue hadn't completely written off her own chances of winning the whole thing just yet, as unlikely as it was. Gyatso Jetsun was fading fast and Ozai Nakamura seemed like a mere shell of his former self. In a way, Katara appeared to be her main competitor, and Yue still had to play her girlfriend twice. And while Katara was amazingly talented, the truth was that Yue didn't fear her, she wasn't intimidated the way she still felt when facing Ozai Nakamura. If Yue could defeat Katara in their next two encounters, she would draw level with her girlfriend, and then the path to claiming the title of world champion would be thrown wide open.

And indeed, their match in the thirteenth round proved that Yue was right not to let go of her aspirations too early. Katara had been playing a surprisingly unfocused game from the very beginning and Yue was shocked at how quickly she had gained considerable advantage. Following her devastating victory over Ozai Nakamura in the previous round, Katara had received a lot of praise from the press and the public, and it seemed to have distracted her a little bit. Yue couldn't really blame her girlfriend for having her head caught up slightly in the clouds. Katara definitely deserved all the accolades she got. Unfortunately, all this praise was now conspiring to trip her up in this game against Yue.

Katara seemed to gather herself slightly as the endgame approached, but by then Yue had already made good use of her advantage. Despite Katara's dogged resistance, Yue eventually managed to clear the left side of the board from Katara's tiles, and with some of Yue's tiles already well entrenched on the right, nothing now stood in the way of her bringing in the reinforcements and eventually forming the harmony ring. Katara saw the writing on the wall and offered her resignation with forty-seven moves in the books.

"Sorry," Yue offered with a shy smile as they shook their hands after the match.

"Oh, enough of that," Katara immediately turned to chide her. "I deserved that for playing so poorly. I don't know, I guess I was stuck still thinking about my win against Ozai, I just felt so scatterbrained." Yue smiled at that. She really knew her girlfriend so well, having correctly guessed the reason for her poor play. "Also, it didn't help that I forgot to take my meds earlier," Katara confessed.

Yue's smile faded instantly. Sometimes she failed to understand why Katara was still taking Tofranil because she seemed so perfectly well adjusted. Then again, if Katara felt a little scatterbrained when she forgot to take it during the tournament, maybe it was a sign that she still needed her medication. "Spirits, Kat, how did that happen?" Yue asked worriedly. "You don't normally forget to take it, do you?"

"No, it's very rare that I forget, but like I said, I was really distracted," Katara sighed. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I won't make that mistake again. Besides, this loss will force me to put my feet back on the ground, and I honestly needed that. I'm glad it was you giving me this reality check instead of someone else," she added.

"I suppose that's true," Yue nodded reluctantly. She never truly savored her wins against Katara that much and this victory was no exception. The idea that she had won so easily because Katara had forgotten to take her meds bothered Yue quite a bit. "Do you want to stay and watch?" she asked, pointing towards the table where Gyatso was sitting at, still deep in a heated battle with Zhao.

"No, Gyatso is winning that one," Katara said. Yue glanced at the large display board upon which the moves made in the match between Gyatso and Zhao were being replicated, and upon a more thorough inspection of the situation, Yue had to admit that Katara was right and Gyatso was about to claim victory. It wasn't great news for Katara, because having finally clawed her way into shared tournament lead, she was about to fall a whole point behind yet again.

"I think you're right," Yue agreed with a nod. "I wish we wouldn't have to face the press today. I am really not in the mood for them."

"Me neither. This place badly needs some kind of a secret escape hatch we could use to ditch the press," Katara grumbled. Yue suddenly became a little worried for her girlfriend. If Katara hadn't taken Tofranil this morning, her tolerance for mental torture loving reporters would be greatly diminished.

"I've got an idea," Yue suddenly decided. "Let's wait for Gyatso to crush Zhao after all. Then we can follow them into the press zone and hopefully escape most of the attention. Maybe we can even pull an Ozai and just walk off without facing a single question. We probably won't get that lucky, but as long as we can get away quickly, then I'm willing to try."

"Oh, that does sound like a good idea," Katara gave her a grateful smile, taking Yue's hand in hers, a small gesture that still meant the world to Yue. "Thank you so much for caring, love."

Round 14 results:

Ozai Nakamura 1 - Zhao Sakamoto 0

Gyatso Jetsun 0 - Yue Taqqiq 1

Katara Enuaraq 1 - Long Feng 0

Standings after Round 14:

1.-2. Gyatso Jetsun, Katara Enuaraq – 9.5

3.-4. Ozai Nakamura, Yue Taqqiq – 8.5

5. Long Feng – 3.5

6. Zhao Sakamoto – 2.5

Round 15 results:

Ozai Nakamura 1 - Gyatso Jetsun 0

Zhao Sakamoto 0.5 - Katara Enuaraq 0.5

Yue Taqqiq 0.5 - Long Feng 0.5

Standings after Round 15:

1. Katara Enuaraq – 10

2.-3. Gyatso Jetsun, Ozai Nakamura – 9.5

4. Yue Taqqiq – 9

5. Long Feng – 4

6. Zhao Sakamoto – 3

The first impressions that Hakoda Enuaraq formed of the Fire Nation were not particularly flattering, and it wasn't merely because of his negative preconceptions associated with his former employer, the Nakamura Industries. No, Hakoda's first impressions were unflattering because he plainly couldn't stand the heat of the Fire Nation summer. He had been sweating bullets all the while until getting into the black Cadillac where the car's AC had finally made him feel like a human being again.

Still, despite Hakoda's poor relationship with the Fire Nation heat, there was no other place he would rather be right now than in the Fire Fountain City, on his way to a rented guesthouse on the slopes of the largest mountain of Shuhon Island, supposedly a literal manor overlooking the city below. Today was his beloved daughter's twenty-second birthday, and not having seen or hugged Katara since the winter holidays, Hakoda could not wait to see his little girl again.

Except that she wasn't really his little girl, not anymore, and if he was honest with himself, Katara hadn't been a little girl for a while now. Hakoda was absolutely swelling with pride for both of his children. Sokka had finally realized his dreams of making it in the automotive industry, and he was climbing the ranks and earning recognition fast, his company one of those rare decent employers that seemed to be reasonable at identifying and promoting talent. And Katara seemed to be excelling at her medical studies, somehow managing to combine it with playing Pai Sho at the highest level. And just prior to his arrival in the Fire Nation, Katara had for the first time taken the lead in the world championship finals. It still absolutely blew Hakoda's mind that his little girl was poised to become the youngest world champion in the history of the game that was at least three or even four centuries old. It was just absolutely crazy and he almost couldn't believe that his daughter had become a household name not just in the Water Tribes, but throughout the whole world.

Hakoda turned to his left, briefly regarding the driver of the black Cadillac, taking him to the location of Katara's birthday celebrations. Azula Nakamura was exactly like Hakoda remembered her from their previous meetings. She eyed the road ahead of them like a hawk, going a little above the speed limit. The expression on her face didn't seem to be filled with stress, but it was certainly very intense, but that was simply the kind of person that young Azula was. She had been the one to reach out to him with this opportunity to come and spend time with his daughter, and Hakoda had gladly accepted the offer, without at first knowing about all the conditions that Azula was going to impose upon his visit.

First of all, Hakoda was not supposed to stay for more than two days in order not to distract Katara too much. Hakoda had been a little bemused about being ordered around like that, but Azula had then informed him that he should feel flattered to be invited at all, because she had shot down the idea of Arnook Taqqiq visiting his daughter in the very bud, and knowing that had actually made Hakoda feel good about himself. It seemed that Azula became something of a particularly aggressive watchdog during these tournaments, viciously protecting Yue and Katara from any potentially distracting outside influences. In an amusing sort of way, it actually felt very flattering to be considered good enough by Azula Nakamura.

Of course, Azula hadn't stopped at simply setting time limits for Hakoda's visit. She had also sent him a written letter with a long list of things that he was not supposed to bring up with Katara under any circumstances, and things that were okay to talk about. Hakoda had laughed himself silly at the thought of Azula diligently spending hours to compile such a list for him, but further phone conversations with the fiercely strict Fire Nation girl had made it clear to Hakoda that he was actually supposed to follow said list and that it was not intended as a joke in any way. And having thought about Azula's words some more, Hakoda had actually acknowledged the wisdom in her actions. Katara was on the verge of a unique achievement. She probably needed to be shielded so aggressively, and that made Hakoda feel intensely grateful for his little girl having someone like Azula in her life.

"So, Azula…" Hakoda began a little nervously. He had developed very good rapport with Azula in the past, and truth be told, he cared for this girl deeply. But her intensity still occasionally threw him off. It just made talking to her a little awkward, at least until they broke the ice. "I trust everything has been proceeding well? Katara's results seem to imply that much. And Yue appears to be doing almost just as well."

"I have everything under control, Sir-… uh, Hakoda," Azula replied, blushing at her slight gaffe of once again becoming too formal. "Katara and Yue have everything they need in order to succeed, and I'll make sure that continues to be the case until the tournament is over."

"Okay, good," Hakoda nodded, wondering how to proceed. Azula's answer made him feel rather concerned about the girl. "It must be very exhausting, supporting the girls all the way. They must be so grateful to have you, but I'm a little worried that you might be working too hard."

"I assure you, Hakoda, your concern in misplaced," Azula replied, a little stiffly. "And even if I was feeling a little exhausted, it wouldn't matter. Katara and Yue have what very well might be a chance of their lifetimes. If they faltered because they were not sufficiently prepared or lacked for something… I couldn't forgive myself for failing to provide for them."

The intense conviction and earnestness in Azula's voice felt deeply touching to Hakoda. This girl was clearly willing to put her own wellbeing aside for the sake of her girlfriends. As touching as that was, Hakoda was also worried that it was not entirely healthy, and he suspected that there was another aspect behind Azula's fierce motivation that she hadn't mentioned yet. "Especially when they have the opportunity to defeat your father," he pointed out calmly.

"Yes, I… I would have so desperately wanted to defeat him myself," Azula confessed. "But this way will feel just as satisfying. They both can do it, you know? I am so proud of how well they have been playing, they've both been absolutely amazing," she gushed with pride evident in her voice.

"You have done so much for Katara and Yue, I can see that," Hakoda continued. "I'm sure they are thankful to have your support. Are you letting them take care of you in return? You know that they would love to do it, yes?"

"I know, but I can't allow them to think about me," Azula stubbornly shook her head. "Not until the tournament is over, anyway. Please, don't worry about me, Hakoda. I'm used to pushing myself way beyond my comfort zone. My father drilled that into me. I assure you that I will not collapse."

"That's not what I was getting at, but fine, I won't press," Hakoda sighed. He sensed that he wouldn't be able to convince Azula that she had to allow herself to be taken care of. The girl was just too driven, and the opportunity to humble her own monster of a father too irresistible to pass.

Azula actually looked a little relieved when he stopped bothering her with questions, and soon after, the black Cadillac pulled into a gravel driveway leading up to a splendorous looking two-storied mansion made of white marble. Hakoda didn't want to even start thinking about how much renting such a place would have cost, but he also knew that his daughter deserved it all. And with the lucrative sponsorship deals the three girls had secured for themselves, he was sure that it was well within their budget.

Hakoda retrieved his bags from the Cadillac's trunk, including Katara's birthday gifts, and walked up to the estate doors, Azula staying a little behind to allow him have his moment with Katara. Brimming with anticipation, Hakoda knocked on the doors. Moments later they were opened by a girl who looked rather familiar even if Hakoda hadn't seen her in many years. Katara had mentioned becoming good friends with Suki Arya ever since they had reconnected in Ba Sing Se, and since Hakoda was subscribed to The Harmony Ring, he was well familiar with Suki's lovingly crafted articles on all things Pai Sho.

"Katara!" Suki yelled having flashed him a broad and knowing grin. "Your present has arrived! Come and get it, and make sure you're not carrying anything!"

"Haha, what are you on about, Suki?" Hakoda could hear Katara's voice from one of the side rooms before he had even caught a glimpse of his daughter. When Katara stepped into the view, Hakoda felt like he almost wanted to cry, she looked so beautiful and radiant in her flowery blue summer dress with white wildflowers and a matching garland weaved into her hair. "Dad!" Katara literally shouted at seeing him, bolting like lightning to be crushed in his tight embrace, sobbing happily against his chest. "Spirits, how… what are you doing here?" she asked, still hiccupping slightly, overcome by emotion. "When Azula said that she was going to pick up some more party guests, I expected maybe Sokka and Zuko, but I certainly didn't expect you… oh, but I'm so happy that you're here, dad. It's been so long, much too long," she hugged him again.

"I'm so happy to be here, poppet," Hakoda smiled, gently rocking his daughter in his arms. "As to how I made it here, well, you have Azula to thank for that, she arranged everything," he said.

At that, Katara released him and turned towards the slightly perplexed looking Azula. The Fire Nation girl had been standing by the Cadillac and observing them with a soft look on her face, but now she became the unsuspecting target of another Katara charge. If Azula hadn't been standing close to the car, Katara would have simply bowled her over into the gravel, but now she merely pressed Azula up against the car and began to pepper her face with countless kisses, not stopping until she ran out of breath. When Katara finally released her girlfriend, Azula sagged heavily against the Cadillac's side, taking in ragged breaths of air and looking completely astonished, but also deliriously happy. "I love you so much," Katara simply told her stunned girlfriend. "I'll find a way to repay you for this, I swear," she added before turning back towards Hakoda. "Right, well… come on in, dad, we're just about done setting everything up for the birthday feast. I hope you're starving!"

Hakoda was, in fact, starving. He hadn't eaten a bite since the very morning, and the soggy salad and a packet of cashew nuts served as airline food barely counted as a meal. "That sounds excellent, Katara, but I should give you your birthday gifts first," Hakoda smiled at his daughter. "It might be something that you will want to put down on your feast table."

"Oh!" Katara gave him an excited stare. "I thought you being here was the gift!"

"Yes, from Azula," Hakoda smiled. "However, I brought gifts from myself and Gran-Gran. Something that we thought you might feel nostalgic for, something that would remind you of home," he said, reaching into one of his bags and passing Kanna's carefully prepared package to Katara.

Katara peeked into the package and gasped. "Yue! Come down already! You're going to love this!" she shouted excitedly.

Hakoda could hear the sounds of someone running down the stairs and moments later the white-haired girl stormed into the kitchen, rushing up to Katara and only then noticing him. "Oh, uh… hello Katara's dad," she managed, blushing like mad.

"It's good to see you again, Yue," Hakoda smiled encouragingly. Almost a year ago, back in November when Katara had for the first time brought both Azula and Yue with her to Cape Kuruk to reveal their relationship, Hakoda at first hadn't quite known what to think of it. He had been rather worried that Katara was once again getting involved with the girl who had already disappointed her once before, not to mention that she had broken up with Sokka as well. Hakoda had been somewhat distrustful of Yue, and the fact that he liked the way Azula and Katara fit together already and he didn't want anything to upset that hadn't made him any more accepting of Yue. But Katara had argued quite passionately on Yue's behalf, and Hakoda himself had later spoken with Yue in private. It had not been an easy conversation, and he still felt badly about how stressful he had made it for Yue. It was honestly unsurprising that Yue still felt a little apprehensive towards him, as if he didn't like her and viewed her as a threat to Katara and Azula, even though Hakoda no longer thought that way about the other Water Tribe girl.

"Yue, just look at all these goodies my dad brought for us," Katara said, starting to remove items from the care package, Azula and Suki also coming to join them at the table and observing Katara with curiosity.

"Oh wow, we have hardfiskur!" Yue looked delighted. Katara immediately ripped open the packaging and the two Water Tribe natives grabbed a piece of the hard dried slice of fish each and started to enthusiastically chew on it.

The Earth Kingdom girl, Suki, leaned in to take a whiff of the opened package and then immediately pulled back with a shocked and disgusted look on her face, waving frantically to get rid of the smell surrounding her. "Is that fish?" she gasped, her reaction making Hakoda laugh. "What have you done to it?"

"It's just dried fish, there's nothing disgusting about it," Yue argued while chewing zealously.

"Oh, it's pretty bad," Azula snorted. "You can eat it, of course, but I'm not kissing those mouths tonight," she added. Azula then suddenly froze and turned towards Hakoda, looking mildly horrified. "I'm sorry, I meant no disrespect-"

"Azula, I know that all three of you absolutely love Pai Sho, but I would never imagine that it's the only game you're playing," Hakoda smirked, shaking his head. "Please, try to act as naturally as possible, and try to forget that there's a parental figure around." Azula didn't look like she would be able to forget that, so Hakoda decided to try again. "Look, I came here to spend time with my daughter, certainly, but I would feel really bad if that came at the expense of you not being able to have any fun, so please, try to relax, okay?"

Yue and Azula both nodded at that, although a little hesitantly. If Hakoda didn't know what these two girls had been through in the past, he would have thought them ridiculously skittish. But since he knew that both Azula and Yue had been cruelly betrayed by their very own fathers, the people they should have been able to trust the most, Hakoda knew that he had to be very patient with them.

"Anyway, I guess hardfiskur will be just for Yue and me, but at least this next thing should please everyone," Katara said, pulling out a large loaf of very dark, almost black bread. "Azula, surely you remember this," she said, looking at the Fire Nation girl.

"Ugh, I'm bad at those Water Tribe names, but I think it was… rugbraud?" Azula tried uncertainly. Katara nodded at her. "Ah, okay. Suki, this one is actually good."

"I'd like to try a piece," Suki nodded, looking intrigued. Katara quickly cut off a slice of the thick dark bread and spread general dollops of butter on it before passing a piece to everyone around the table. "Oh wow," Suki said, chewing with her mouth full. "This is weird! I've never had bread that's so… dense? It's strange but really quite good."

"I know," Azula said. Hakoda tried not to grin at the tiny bites Azula was nibbling off from her piece of bread. "It's tasty and doesn't smell of stinky fish," she added.

"Fair warning, Azula, Yue and I will be finishing the hardfiskur tonight," Katara grinned.

"I'll make you brush your teeth twice before I'm letting you anywhere near the bed," Azula glared at her giggling girlfriends.

"What else do you have in there?" Suki asked, peering into the package. The girl from Kyoshi had already finished her slice of rugbraud and she looked eager for more culturally gastronomic discoveries.

"Looks like Gran-Gran has gone on a baking spree," Katara chuckled, retrieving a box of what at the first glance looked like weirdly shaped cookies. "I don't know a single person who doesn't like kleinur. Also, nowadays people mostly just call them twisted donuts."

"They look delicious," Suki's hand was already on its way to grab one of the twisted donuts.

"Yes, they're quite good," Azula agreed. She pushed aside most of the kleinur from the upper layers and then pulled out one from the bottom of the box that was not as contaminated with the sprinkled powdered sugar as the top layers. It made Hakoda remember Azula's slightly odd aversion towards sweets.

"I'm going to call Gran-Gran a bit later and thank her for everything," Katara nodded to herself after they had spent a good while emptying the box of twisted donuts. "Oh, and of course, I should call Sokka and Zuko as well."

"It's still a bit early in both the Water Tribes and Ba Sing Se," Azula reminded her girlfriend. She looked content with only a couple of the twisted donuts, instead helping herself to another small slice of the dark rye bread.

"Oh, I know," Katara nodded at her. She looked inside the package one more time, appearing surprised. "Wait, there's something else here, I thought that was it," she gasped, then retrieving a small cardboard box, inside of which was a clear glass bottle with a black label. "My goodness, dad, did Azula really allow you to bring brennivin?" she gasped.

"I allowed to bring what now?" Azula gave Hakoda a wide-eyed stare.

"Ahem," Hakoda coughed uncomfortably. "Well, we didn't discuss it in detail, but since you have a day off tomorrow, and you have just turned twenty-two, I didn't think there would be any harm. I'm sure you know to be careful with it."

"I'm concerned about this weird looking substance," Azula declared. "Have any of you actually tried it?" she asked. Hakoda raised his hand. "Well, I was asking Yue and Katara, really," Azula said.

"No, I just know that it's very, very strong," Katara replied. "You're supposed to go very easy with it."

"I'll give it a try," Suki said, taking the bottle for closer inspection. "Jet and I weaned each other on rum, there's very little that could top some of the stuff that we tried," she added, looking slightly wistful and sad. "Only 40% alcohol by volume, that's nothing," Suki laughed.

"Careful with it, brennivin is very deceptive," Hakoda felt the need to warn her.

"If you say so, Katara's dad," Suki looked amused as she found a whiskey tumbler and poured herself a generous couple of inches. She then took a hearty swig from the tumbler. Hakoda couldn't stop himself from chuckling as they observed how the expression on Suki's face slowly changed. She looked a bit roughed up having swallowed the swig of liquor. "It's so… thick, and what is that strange taste? Also…" Suki reached out and steadied herself against the table, earning herself a few more laughs. "There's no way it's only 40% ABV. It has a way stronger kick than most rum."

"I warned you that it's deceptive," Hakoda smiled at the Earth Kingdom girl. She was definitely the most extroverted one from this bunch, a very outgoing and likable girl. It was a bit of a shame that things hadn't worked out between her and Sokka, but Hakoda knew that his son was happy in his current relationship, and he had come to fully support Sokka. "Also, the taste you found weird is most likely caraway."

"I suppose I will give it a try as well, only so that I can decide if Yue and Katara can have any," Azula said, also pouring herself a small amount and taking a little sip to taste it.

"Do you see what we have to contend with, dad?" Katara mock complained to her father while pointing at Azula. "She's really whipped us into shape, hasn't she?"

"Well, the results justify it, I suppose," Yue added, smiling.

"Okay, that was… weird," Azula said, licking her lips and appearing undecided. "I can't decide if I love it or hate it," she giggled, slightly uncharacteristically. "I think I need more to decide," Azula said, reaching for the bottle to pour herself some more and almost spilling the drink.

Hakoda immediately decided to intervene. "You know what, I think I'm going to make the call of how much of this you can have," he said decisively. "I think that will be for the best." Azula pouted slightly at him, but then relented. Hakoda had heard from Katara that their parties often involved generous consumption of alcohol, but none of the three girls were particularly used to hard booze so Hakoda decided that this merited careful approach. Brennivin wasn't called the 'burning wine' for no reason.

A few hours and many games of Scrabble later, Hakoda found himself watching Katara, Azula and Yue giggle at the way Suki had just tried to convince them all that the world 'castle' actually began with the letter 'q', but Suki had then fallen fast asleep in the middle of their argument. The girl from Kyoshi Island had ended up consuming most of the brennivin, insisting that she could handle it, and since she wasn't involved in the fight for the title of world champion in Pai Sho, Hakoda hadn't seen any reason to hold Suki back from drinking. She had been handling it well for a couple of hours, but then someone had flipped the light switch and Suki had gone out like a candle. When it came to Katara and her girlfriends, Hakoda had been very careful and had imposed a strict limit of two shot glasses for the whole evening. It had definitely helped to loosen up both Azula and Yue, making them feel less stressed about his presence, but they were also far from becoming drunk which was what they were trying to avoid.

Watching the three girls acting relaxed in his presence allowed Hakoda to make some observations about their relationship. Back in the fall, he hadn't been able to fully set aside his concern that Katara was experimenting with something that wasn't going to last. He hadn't been truly able to form the right impressions about their dynamic, either, because Yue had been absolutely terrified of his disapproval and Azula just seemed so embarrassed about the whole thing that it looked like all she wanted to do was to run away and hide in a cupboard. Hakoda had jumped to the conclusions that he assumed most people who were confronted with this sort of relationship model would jump to, thinking that Katara and Azula had included Yue because there was something missing from their relationship and they were trying to compensate for it. But that hadn't seemed like a satisfying explanation even back then, because Katara and Azula appeared to function together so perfectly.

Hakoda had always known that his daughter had a big heart, and he and Kya had brought her up by instilling compassion as the core value in her life. In Katara's early years, it had usually manifested by his daughter constantly bringing home injured birds and animals found in the forest or at the side of the road. Many of these poor creatures didn't survive despite Katara's best efforts and had to be euthanized by the local vet. Hakoda still felt uneasy when he remembered how hard Katara had cried about some of her failed rescues. She had cried even harder than at Kya's funeral, where Katara had seemed to simply shut down. But despite how much heartache Katara suffered, she had never stopped trying to help. And if there was one thing Hakoda truly admired about his daughter, it was her ability to place the needs of those less fortunate than her above everything else.

For a while, Hakoda had suspected that something similar was also influencing Katara's relationships. He knew that both Azula and Yue were dealing with some very serious past traumas, the Fire Nation girl in particular. He wondered if it was the desire to protect and take care of them that was so attractive to Katara, but having observed them now, less than a year later, Hakoda could not see any signs of actual codependence. Perhaps it had been a slight factor at the start of their relationships, but it didn't seem to be a factor now. The three girls simply seemed to be having a lot of fun together, and Yue appeared to have found her own role in the relationship that was not all about being 'the other broken girl Katara has collected to take care of'. Azula and Katara were opposites in some ways. Azula was intense, driven and pragmatic. Katara was kind, gentle and passionate in an idealistic way. Yue seemed to be right in the middle between the most extreme aspects of the personalities of the two other girls, and she seemed to make them gel even better. The more Hakoda observed their interactions, the more he had to acknowledge that they worked together even better in this three-way relationship, an observation that made him very happy and relieved.

"Azula, how about we take the drunken girl up to her room?" Yue asked, pointing at Suki. "I'd rather not have to clean the sofa after she's drooled all over it."

"Ugh, I'm never letting her forget this," Azula grumbled as between the two of them they dragged the rather limp looking Suki up to her feet and somehow managed to carry her towards the stairs. Normally, Hakoda would have offered to help, but he couldn't resist the opportunity to exchange a few words with his daughter in private.

"So, I know that Azula doesn't want me to talk Pai Sho with you, honey," Hakoda smiled at his daughter. "But I want to know how you're truly feeling with the finish line in sight."

"I'm honestly trying not to think about it, and Azula is making sure that Yue and I aren't over-thinking it," Katara said, smiling back at him. "I'm feeling fine and I think I can do it, dad. I just hope that the enormity of it all doesn't hit me at the most inconvenient moment."

"Well, your grandmother and I are really rooting for you as well, Kat, and we think that you can do it," Hakoda said earnestly. "But regardless of what happens, know that you have already made me the proudest dad in the entire world."

"Oh, dad…" Katara launched herself at him, burying her head against his chest in another happy embrace. As he continued to hold his daughter, Hakoda hoped that their embrace would give her the strength she needed to persevere in what was about to come.

Next chapter: We finally witness the shocking resolution to the Pai Sho world championship finals.