Chapter 105
Three months passed in Ba Sing Se, and Yue felt happy and content with the rhythm her life had settled into upon their return home from the Fire Nation. All of them were currently in their final year of studies at the BSSU, although it very rarely included visits to the university itself. For Yue, the final year was mostly an extended teaching practice combined with working on her bachelor's thesis. As before, she was doing her teaching practice at the Five-Seven-Five Academy for girls, and Madame Macmu-Ling had made it very clear to Yue that following her graduation, there would be an open teaching spot for the start of the next school year should she choose to accept the offer. Yue had thought about it for a couple of weeks, before deciding that she really wanted to pursue this path. Her girlfriends had been very supportive of her choice, even if Yue could tell that Azula was a little torn about her decision which seemed to steer Yue even further away from the world of Pai Sho.
Katara had fallen behind on her clinical courses because of all of the mental health issues that Ozai's despicable treatment of her had caused the previous fall. She had plunged right back into her studies with renewed zeal, however. Katara had also at long last made her decision regarding her specialization. She was due to begin her surgical residency as soon as she finished her clinical courses, scheduled to become an intern at the same Lower Ring hospital where she had already become a favorite of the staff and patients alike.
Azula's studies were a bit of a misnomer as far as Yue was concerned, because all Azula had to do in her final year was to maintain her work placement with The Harmony Ring and write her bachelor's dissertation. This wasn't to say that Azula was taking things easy. With three summer tournaments under her belt, Azula had a lot of material to work on for her magazine, and being the perfectionist that she was, Azula treated her duties with great responsibility, making sure that the articles she submitted for publishing were perfectly polished and flawless. As far as Azula's plans for after she had received her journalism degree, the Fire Nation girl kept her cards close to her chest. Yue guessed that it all depended on how Azula did at the world championship finals… although, to get there, she first had to qualify, and there were no guarantees about that.
After coming back to Ba Sing Se, Azula had announced a sabbatical of two weeks from all things Pai Sho related, much to Yue's relief. Even when Azula resumed practice two weeks later, she kept it very light, no more than couple of hours a day. This made it much easier for Katara to live up to her promise and join in for these practice sessions. Yue had watched Katara very carefully throughout those early days, making sure that Katara wasn't doing it against her will, deep inside loathing Pai Sho and everything connected with the game. Much to Yue's relief, even though Katara lacked some of her old passion and commitment, she seemed to be having a lot of fun bonding with her girlfriends over Pai Sho once again. Yue felt the same way Katara did. She still enjoyed Pai Sho, but it had simply drifted away from being the focal point in her life. It still was that for Azula, though, and Yue was determined to support Azula in her Pai Sho endeavors for as long as her girlfriend remained passionate about it. She was relieved that Katara felt the same way and seemed committed to be a part of their shared journey.
Come the second half of October, as the Ba Sing Se Open tournament approached, Azula noticeably ramped up the length of their practice sessions, going from two up to four and even five hours a day. Katara immediately began struggling to last the distance. Three hours seemed to be her absolute limit. Yue also felt her focus starting to slip around that time, but she usually tried to push herself a little past her comfort zone, not wanting to disappoint Azula. Fortunately for her and Katara, Aang was usually around, happy to join in and spend a few hours sparring with Azula after Yue and Katara had been forced to bail. It was good to have Aang still living with them at the estate, although he had recently started to do some apartment browsing in preparations for Mai's long-awaited move to Ba Sing Se. Mai splitting her time equally between the two nations no longer seemed to be enough for the couple and as things were starting to become more serious, Aang understandably wanted to spend more and more time with his fire bunny.
Suki was by now the most common guest at their estate. The girl from Kyoshi Island had become a very close friend to the threesome, much to their shared delight. While Yue, Katara and Azula all thought that Suki and Jet had made a solid couple, Jet had been gone for so long that is seemed unlikely that he could have survived the multiple purges in Yu Dao, and so the three of them kept encouraging Suki to start dating again. Suki's earlier attempts hadn't gone well at all. As soon as things with her dates had started to become physical, Suki had been struck with such overwhelming feelings of guilt that once she had even become nauseous, and throwing up on your potential lover appeared to be a deal-breaker for most. Lately, however, Azula had spotted a particularly cute intern girl at the offices of The Harmony Ring, and the three of them had encouraged Suki to ask the girl out. They had been dating for three weeks now, far longer than Suki had managed before, so things seemed to be trending in the right direction.
Suki still followed the news from Yu Dao, all of them did, but Suki did so in a way that seemed almost religious. Unfortunately, the news coming out of Yu Dao weren't good. Crushed between the military might of the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, the Freedom Fighters had ceased to exist as a political and military entity. In fact, after years of brutal fighting, there were barely any civilians left at all in the ruins of the once great city, leaving just the two armies fighting over piles of rubble. The dream of Yu Dao independence still lived on, however, mostly because of Kori, Haru and the Yu Dao expats throughout the Earth Kingdom. However, it seemed like more of a nebulous dream now that there was nobody really left to physically fight for this dream. The only hope of some kind of independence now rested with the eventual peace treaty between the two superpowers, but there were no signs of that being worked on as the fighting in the region continued. Azula had heard something from her old colleagues in the Ba Sing Se Herald that apparently one of the drafts of the peace treaty involved the creation of an autonomous republic of Yu Dao that would act like a buffer zone between the two superpowers. While that sounded very hopeful in theory, Azula had told her friends to cool their expectations, because the whole plan had a distinct 'too good to be true' feel about it.
This was what their lives were like when the November Pai Sho tournament began, with Azula looking to get back to her tournament winning ways, feeling very positive about her chances with both Yue and Katara behind her once more and determined to support her all the way.
Azula stood by the sidelines together with Toph, nervously following the last unfinished game of the final round of the Ba Sing Se Open tournament, a game that had huge ramifications for her own eventual placement in the tournament standings.
She had enjoyed an amazing tournament, just as she knew she would, because with both of her girlfriends having her back, Azula truly felt unbeatable. She had an astounding record of thirteen wins, one draw against Toph, and one loss against Bumi. It should have been a good enough record to win any tournament, but unfortunately for Azula, Bumi was a tough nut to crack and in the past, she had never managed to place above him in the standings of any tournament. Bumi had an identical record to hers, and he had also drawn his game with Toph. Bumi's only loss had come by default, because instead of showing up for his match of the sixth round, he had assumed that it was the tournament off-day and had taken a fishing trip down to the Serpent's Lake.
Bumi was currently involved in a particularly drawn-out game with Teo Beifong, and the outcome of it would determine the final standings. If Bumi won, he would place above Azula even if they had the same amount of points, because Bumi had won their head to head game. Azula needed Teo to force Bumi to at least a draw, and to give the Earth Kingdom boy a better chance, they had done some extensive prep for two days in a row, trying to get Teo used to playing more unorthodox tactics in order to confound Bumi. The tactic had worked well so far, and the match hung in balance as they entered the endgame, but Azula was not about to start counting her chickens just yet as there was plenty of game left to play.
"Stop stressing, bitch," Toph growled at her playfully, giving Azula a sharp elbow to the ribs. "I think Teo's got him now," she said with more confidence than Azula felt was deserved.
"I certainly hope so," Azula sighed, rubbing her aching side. Toph really didn't mess about. For some reason, everyone had decided to treat her violent displays as gestures of affection and endearment, so Azula supposed that she simply had to roll with it. At least the pain had briefly distracted her from stressing about the outcome of the game, which may have been Toph's intent. The distraction didn't last for long as Azula's palms became uncomfortably sweaty and she began to experience uncomfortable hot and cold flashes. She hoped that Bumi would simply forget that he actually needed the win and would instead agree on a draw, but on this particular occasion Bumi appeared annoyingly focused.
Azula supposed that she should have more confidence in Teo's ability to last against Bumi. Both Teo and Toph had played a very good tournament. Toph had secured the third spot on the podium, and Teo was slated to take the fourth place, as long as he didn't lose to Bumi. Just as Azula had predicted several months ago in Caldera City, both Toph and Teo's Pai Sho careers were trending upwards.
Azula had made sure to keep in close contact with Toph over the past few months. Toph hadn't been back to Gaoling since July, and so they didn't have any new information about the undertakings of Beifong Arms. Work was still ongoing on all the information Toph had already gathered for Azula. Azula had passed copies of all the documents she had over to her former colleagues at the Ba Sing Se Herald to do some digging. Azula already felt quite confident that she understood what was happening behind the scenes, but she obviously couldn't go public with her accusations until they were actually checked and corroborated. Azula was by now fully certain that Ozai was using shell companies to sell military equipment to Beifong Arms where it received some superficial modifications and was then resold to the Earth Kingdom military, allowing Ozai, Lao Beifong, Long Feng and many other rich assholes to make an absolute killing from their war profiteering.
The best way to obtain the necessary evidence according to the reporters of the Herald would be to find an inside source in the Earth Kingdom military who would be willing to spill the beans. Unfortunately, one of the reporters had clearly pushed a little too far with his inquiries, and he had been nabbed by the Dai Li a couple of weeks ago. The other reporters had understandably freaked out about this, worrying that paper trail might lead back to them, and Azula had also received quite the scare regarding the possibility of being implicated. Fortunately, no further reprisals had come, but her reporter friends were now too afraid to dig deeper, so the investigation had stalled for the time being. Azula had grudgingly accepted that she would have to leave it at that for now. She didn't want Ozai, Long Feng or Lao Beifong to learn that someone was looking into them and get cold feet. Not that she expected that her father could ever get cold feet, he was too arrogant and brazen, committing high treason without any fears of having to ever answer for it.
Azula was certain that their best chance to get the necessary evidence was by leaning on Lao Beifong. Toph had let it slip that her father was slowly cracking under the pressure of knowledge that he was committing treason that was leading to dozens and hundreds dying daily. The bloodiest days of the war had seen losses up to several thousand. Toph felt that a sequence of particularly bad news from Yu Dao would be enough to make her father snap, but she had also reluctantly agreed to apply pressure on her father to make him break. Azula had told Toph to wait with that, wanting to be more certain that it wouldn't backfire on them. If Lao didn't break as Toph expected him to, then it was possible that Lao would tell everything to Ozai, and then Ozai might decide to exercise the nuclear option and just remove Lao and his entire family in order to cover all tracks. This was a tricky situation and required delicate handling.
"Told you he was going to do it," Toph said suddenly, making Azula snap out of her heavy thoughts. Up on the stage, Teo and Bumi were shaking hands, the old master from Omashu irately muttering to himself. It appeared that Bumi had actually forgotten to watch the timing clock and had gone over the allotted time limit, giving Teo the win.
"Oh, that's amazing," Azula remarked, feeling both relieved and delighted. She hadn't experienced the joy of winning a big tournament for some time. Sure, she had won the Kyoshi Island tournament in July, but that had been a lower tier event with a fairly average lineup that couldn't compare to this tournament. "I hope that you and Teo are joining us for the celebrations later in the evening. Katara and Yue were so confident about my victory that they rented this posh Upper Ring place for us."
"Eh, sorry to disappoint, but Teo and I have plans of our own," Toph said. She then grinned and playfully punched Azula in the shoulder, although for a playful punch Azula still felt it. "Don't look so glum. You're still my favorite bitch, you know that, right?"
"Charming as ever, Toph," Azula sighed. "At least I'll have you to keep me company for all those annoying post-tournament formalities. I wouldn't want to be stuck with Bumi and someone like Long Feng," she said, shuddering.
"Bumi is kind of scary on his own," Toph laughed. "Don't stand too close to him during the presentation, by the way. Especially if he gets that faraway look in his eyes, that's when he's liable to drool all over you." Azula made a disgusted face. "It's nothing sexual, apparently he likes to daydream about his fishing trips," Toph said.
"That could still be sexual," Azula pointed out. Now it was Toph's turn to look creeped out.
"Whatever, I didn't need to hear that," she sighed, shaking her head. "Anyway, I'll go have a chat with Teo and then we should be off to face the music. Those crusty old clowns of the organizing committee are looking mighty impatient, but screw them, right?"
"Screw them, indeed," Azula agreed readily, turning to follow Toph. As much as she hated all the hobnobbing that usually took place after the tournament had finished, Azula reasoned that Toph's presence could liven things up. Toph was always good for the occasional rude and irreverent remark that would send the tournament organizers and sponsors gasping from shock. Indeed, with Toph accompanying her, Azula felt reasonably confident about successfully enduring the next few hours before she could once again be reunited with her girlfriends.
In order to properly celebrate Azula's victory, Katara and Yue had rented a particularly posh Upper Ring guesthouse commonly used by upper tier diplomats during their stay in Ba Sing Se. They had decided to make it a smaller family affair on this occasion, reasoning that by now Azula would have been tired of the crowds and would prefer a more intimate setting. Aside from the threesome, they were joined by Sokka and Zuko, Ursa and Ikem, Ikem's daughter Kiyi, and of course, Uncle Iroh.
The previous month had not been easy for Katara. She was still some way behind on her clinical courses, and if she wanted to start her residency the following spring, Katara knew that she could not afford to slip behind any more. But her resolve not to sacrifice any of her study time had made it more challenging to really be there for Azula the way she needed Katara to be. Katara couldn't last the entire length of their practice sessions, or at least not as long as Azula wanted to stretch them. During the tournament, she also couldn't help with the prep as much as she would have wanted. At least the organizational challenges were absent this time because they were not away from home, and that had made the entire experience far more relaxed. Also, between her and Yue, Katara felt as if they were helping with the prep just enough in order to enable Azula to succeed, especially with Aang pitching in now and then.
Katara felt beyond delighted that Azula had by now met the requirement of at least six tournaments played in the current cycle, and she had signed off on this requirement with a flourish. Azula was a lock to rank among the thirty best players once the final rankings were published by the end of May, likely to place in the top ten. It meant that Azula was under no obligations to play another competitive tournament until the qualifiers which as always took place at the end of June, although she did plan to play at least one or maybe two local tournaments during this downtime just to keep in shape. At least Katara and Yue would not be under increased pressure to help her during those tournaments, and the two Water Tribe girls could instead focus on making sure that they were ready to help Azula the following summer, when it truly would be needed. With Katara slowly becoming more and more comfortable sitting at the Pai Sho board, feeling some of her old passion returning, she felt confident that come June, they would all be rearing to go and help Azula make it all the way to claiming her father's throne.
Of course, Zuko had a thing or two to say about these aspirations of his sister, himself dreaming to be the chosen one to finally deal a decisive blow that would shatter the myth of invincibility surrounding Ozai Nakamura. Still, as he sat at the table with Azula and the rest of their family, there no longer were any signs of animosity between the two. Zuko now seemed able to bask in Azula's success without experiencing any undue envy or bouts of competitiveness. Katara knew that Zuko's relationship with her brother had played a big part in tempering his rage, and the pair appeared to be in love as much as years ago when they had first started dating. While Zuko didn't take commitment to loyalty to such an extreme as Azula did, it was still a key trait of his personality and it bode well for his long-term relationship with Sokka.
Ursa seemed very happy in her marriage with Ikem. Katara thought that she even looked a couple of years younger than when Katara had first met Azula's mother in Ba Sing Se. She had been in a terrible state mentally, and the side effects of her medication had been very visible in her appearance. Now, Ursa seemed to be thriving at Ikem's side. Katara had learned that Ursa had been very reluctant to accept Ikem's marriage proposal, doing so only after some major cajoling. And Katara could understand the hesitancy given Ursa's traumatic past experiences with Ozai, but she seemed to have no regrets about her decision now. Katara had even caught Kiyi teasing Ursa and her father about gifting another sibling to her, but Ursa and Ikem had denied all such rumors. Even though Ursa was stunningly beautiful for her years, it was true that she was approaching the sunset of her childbearing years, so it was probably a good idea not to make any plans for another child. Still, it was always fun to terrify Azula with the suggestion that her mother might become pregnant at some point in the future.
Katara had ended up sitting between Kiyi and Iroh during the feast at the guesthouse. It had been a good while since she had seen either of them, at least a month, so Katara welcomed this opportunity to catch up with the people she now considered a part of the family. "Are there any concerts in the planning, Kiyi?" she turned towards Ikem's daughter at first.
"There might be a gig coming up, possibly," Kiyi replied. She had chosen a more sedate style of clothing for the evening instead of her usual punk getup and the spiky hair, but still, her makeup was as heavy as usual, the Doc Martens always remained a thing, and there was a heavy chain with a couple of padlocks and dangerously sharp looking razorblades hanging around her neck. "Why, did you want to come?" Kiyi winked at her.
"Kiyi, you know it's not exactly my cup of tea," Katara smiled back at the younger girl. Katara didn't really understand the punk culture, and she often caught herself thinking how weird it was that at her tender age of twenty-three, she was already falling a little out of touch with the teenagers of the day. But she did understand the anger of the younger generation. These were kids growing up to be forcefully recruited into military service as soon as they reached adulthood and couldn't secure study exemption. The anti-war sentiment burned the strongest among the younger generation.
"I would normally mock you for being out of touch, but eh… I'll give you a pass," Kiyi snorted. "But I'm not giving a pass to more of this cake," she said, reaching out to help herself to another slice.
"I think I'm too full," Katara smiled, turning to face Uncle Iroh to her right. "What about you, Iroh?" she asked the old grandmaster. "You have been a rare visitor at the estate as of late. Are there any plans in the making?"
Iroh gave her an amused stare. "Oh, nothing that you'll find exciting, I'm sure," he shrugged. "I have reached that stage of my life when I'm starting to consider writing my memoirs. Yes, that's what I've been up to over the past few months, plotting out a book."
"That sounds exciting, actually," Katara said. "Is it going to be a tell-all book, or are you going to focus more on the Pai Sho side?" she asked.
"I would like to combine the two elements, if at all possible," Iroh replied. "And I don't know about it being a tell-all book, Katara. It's true that the Nakamura family has many dark secrets, but I suspect that anyone looking for something sensational in the book will find nothing but disappointment. Some things are not meant to be shared."
"That's a relief to hear," Katara nodded in agreement.
"Also, I'm hoping to convince both Zuko and Azula that closing chapters focusing on the early stages of their Pai Sho careers would be a nice and fitting touch," Iroh said. "You know, like a passing of the torch from one generation to another."
"Oh, I think that's a marvelous idea," Katara said excitedly. "I'll help you talk those obstinate siblings into it," she added, ignoring the way Azula was scowling at her from across the table.
A couple of hours and several bottles of wine later, the guests had split up to form their own little groups, Iroh sitting down with Ursa and Ikem, while Katara and her girlfriends entertained Kiyi. When Katara spotted Sokka and Zuko getting up to walk out onto the terrace, she made use of the first opportunity to excuse herself and then followed the pair outside. "Sokka?" she asked, startling her brother slightly as he and Zuko had sat down at a table out on the terrace.
"Umm, what is it Kat?" Sokka looked up at her. "And no, we didn't flee the party so that we could come here and make out, thank you for considering that."
"Oh," Katara could only manage, blushing fiercely. It didn't seem as if Sokka and Zuko were in the making out mood, though, so she was sure that Sokka was simply having a little fun at her expense. "Well, I wanted to talk with you, unless this is a bad time," she said.
"It's alright," Zuko nodded at her. "Did you have something important to discuss with Sokka? Should I leave you alone?" he asked.
"Of course not, you are a part of the family, Zuko," Katara smiled at him as she sat down at the table with the pair. "Have you spoken with Gran-Gran lately, Sokka?" she asked. Katara had been very worried about her grandmother over the course of the past month. Kanna had developed pneumonia in early October, and as always, she had tried to treat it with various natural remedies. That obviously hadn't worked and she had been getting progressively worse, until Hakoda had finally managed to talk her into going to a hospital. After a week's stay at the hospital, Gran-Gran was back home and slowly improving, but the whole ordeal had left her severely weakened. Katara knew that pneumonia was very dangerous in her grandmother's advanced age, and she hadn't been encouraged by how weak Gran-Gran had sounded over the phone.
"Yeah, I spoke with her two days ago," Sokka sighed. "She didn't sound great."
"I know," Katara said dejectedly. "I think we should change our plans for winter holidays and go back to Cape Kuruk for the whole two weeks. Just in case…" she added, leaving the obvious part unsaid. "I already spoke with Azula and Yue, and they agreed."
"We're obviously going to do the same," Zuko nodded at her. "But I think your grandmother will be fine, Katara. Sokka tells me that she's made of stern stuff."
"That she is," Sokka smiled fondly. His expression then became hesitant as he looked at Katara, as if mulling over whether to tell her something or not. Katara gave Sokka her best encouraging smile. "Gran-Gran brought up the grandkids again when we spoke," Sokka let out a sigh. "I know I shouldn't let it dictate what Zuko and I choose to do, but… let's just say that it has prompted a… discussion."
"Oh?" Katara immediately became curious. "What kind of discussion?"
"Well," Sokka said hesitantly. "First and foremost, a discussion about whether we even see ourselves as one day being parents to a child. I feel like it's something that I might want to, but Zuko is… less certain, I guess that would be a fair way to describe it?" he said, looking at his boyfriend. Zuko nodded reluctantly.
"Why is that, Zuko?" Katara asked. "You don't like children?"
"It's not about that, Katara," Zuko replied, scowling. "What would I know about raising children? When it comes to being a father, I have only one terrible example to draw upon."
"If you're worried about becoming Ozai, you need to stop that," they were all startled by Azula's voice coming from inside the guesthouse before she emerged on the terrace with them. "You're nothing like our father, Zuko, and you could never be anything like him."
"Thanks, I guess," Zuko said. He then glared at her. "Also, how long have you been standing there and listening?"
"Long enough," Azula admitted. "Do you want me to leave?" she asked, looking a little hurt.
"Just sit down, dumbass," Zuko grumbled, pointing at the empty seat next to Katara, which Azula happily occupied.
"Anyway, if you're worried about becoming Ozai, then there's a very simple rule of thumb to follow, Zuzu," Azula said. "Just think of what our father would do in any given situation, and then do the opposite."
Zuko snorted in amusement. "That might actually be a better advice than you think," he said.
"I think you should listen to Azula on this, Zuko," Sokka nodded, smiling. "Anyway, this is all idle musing."
"Yes, I don't even know how you are planning to become parents," Azula said. "It's not like you'll be allowed to adopt. You can't be legally married, and the Earth Kingdom does not extend adoption rights to single parents."
"Have you been looking into that?" Katara asked, giving Azula an inquiring, yet soft stare.
Azula blushed fiercely. "I was just, uh… researching an article for… the Herald?" she finished unconvincingly.
"Of course, you were," Katara grinned at her girlfriend, Azula looking rather embarrassed.
"Yes, adoption is a no go, so we have been talking about surrogacy as an option," Sokka said. "But that's very complicated as well, because we can't have any legal agreements in place, so if the woman carrying the child decides not to pass them over after all, there wouldn't be anything that we could legally do. So, we'd need to find someone we can trust with this."
Katara noticed that Azula had suddenly become very stiff, turning to look at her with eyes wide. Katara immediately froze, realizing what Azula had been thinking about. "I, uh… I'm sure Sokka didn't mean that, Azula," Katara just about managed to say.
"I bloody well hope so," Azula exclaimed, looking quite disturbed.
Sokka and Zuko exchanged confused stares, then also looking horrified when they realized what Azula and Katara were alluding to. "Spirits no, I definitely did not mean asking you to help with this, that's just… so wrong!" Sokka gasped. "Azula, you are a terrible person for letting your mind even go there."
"Yeah, thanks Azula, I want to bleach my brain now," Zuko shuddered. "What's wrong with you?"
"Stop ganging up on me, it was the way Sokka said that you needed someone you could trust, okay?" Azula snapped, looking affronted. "Oh, and by the way, don't look at Yue either. She's off limits, too."
"We wouldn't dare to mess with your relationship, Azula," Sokka said apologetically. "I'm sorry if anything I said led to that assumption. Although, now I'm curious… the three of you must have had this talk about children too, right?"
"Actually, we haven't," Katara replied earnestly. "It just hasn't come up for some reason."
"Well, I don't particularly care to discuss it," Azula shrugged. "All I know is that I don't want to become a mother. To be all swollen and gross for months simply isn't my idea of fun."
"I'm not sure it's for me, either," Katara shrugged, ignoring Sokka's surprised stare directed at her. Katara was aware that others considered her 'motherly' and thought that she would make a great mom. And there was something about bearing a child that appealed to her on some level, but she also had her career choices to consider. She still dreamed of becoming a pediatric surgeon, and obtaining certification could take up to twelve years. Katara would already be in her mid-thirties by the time she finally became a certified pediatric surgeon. Losing a couple of years on raising a child would set her back even further, and she was very reluctant to make this sacrifice.
"It might be something that Yue wants to do, though," Azula remarked thoughtfully, still looking a little conflicted. "And if she was serious about it, I suppose I would be willing to discuss options."
Katara nodded at her girlfriend. It made sense that Yue would be more open to the idea than she or Azula was. Yue loved children and got along with them so well. "It's definitely something that we should return to discussing in the future," Katara said, taking Azula's hand. "But right now, we're focusing on finishing our studies and helping you take down your father. Call me superstitious if you want, but I don't want to plan beyond that."
"No, you're absolutely right, Katara," Azula said, nodding in complete agreement. "Think of it this way. After I've gone and defeated my father, we will have all the time in the world to decide what we want our future to be."
Next chapter: we're making a time skip ahead to May when Azula and her Pai Sho playing friends learn who will be their opponents in the qualifying tournament before the finals.