Chapter 34
4 Years after the Hundred Year War
Agna Qel'a, Northern Tribe capital
It took Azula and Katara a couple of days to completely recover from the effects their miraculous escape had left upon their bodies. They had spent the first night on the uncomfortable cots at the healing huts, just because Yagoda and the other healers had been deeply concerned about some potential side effects of the hypothermia they had suffered. Come the morning, the old healer had been pleased with their progress, and had allowed them to continue their recovery back at their palace quarters, under the observation of Chieftain Arnook's personal healer.
What followed were a couple of incredibly slow but highly enjoyable days of them both simply laying about and being completely lazy. There had been cuddling, so much enjoyable cuddling, but not anything more than that as their energy levels were not yet high enough to engage in more strenuous activities. Somehow, Azula had managed to talk Katara into for now putting aside the important conversation that she wanted them to have, as Azula would have preferred to avoid it altogether, feeling rather embarrassed about the entire episode.
Azula knew by now that she had overreacted terribly, and had made some astonishing leaps of logic while making completely wrong assumptions about Katara's feelings for her. She no longer had any doubts about the strength of Katara's feelings and about the waterbender's loyalty to her, but Azula was still a little uncomfortable and frightened at how quickly her mind had switched to assume the absolute worst about Katara and that the other girl was only using her and lying to her. She never wanted to think such thoughts about Katara ever again, they had felt physically painful.
Sokka and Aang had stopped by a few times, Katara's chastisement having made them properly humble and apologetic. Azula rather enjoyed their groveling, even if she had to rein in her desire to be mean about it, knowing that Katara would disapprove of that. With everyone appearing eager to put this shameful episode behind them and look forward, most of the time was spent in irrelevant and distracting small talk, Sokka and Aang revealing their plans for the future. Katara's father had appointed Sokka as the Southern Water Tribe representative on the United Republic council, while Aang would serve as a special envoy to the council, acting as a tiebreaker in cases of voting deadlock. It was clear to Azula that Aang had hoped for Katara to move to Republic City with him as his girlfriend, but he would have to remain bitterly disappointed.
Chieftain Arnook had also come to visit them, bearing gifts of reconciliation. The old chieftain was very apologetic about getting himself involved in the plans to break Azula and Katara apart, and sending the princess back to the Fire Nation. Arnook now tried his best to reassure Azula that his relationship with Fire Lord Zuko was highly important to him and that his sister was and always would be welcome to remain in Agna Qel'a for as long as she wished. In other words, Arnook was also doing his own share of groveling, like any politician who had miscalculated a move and had seen it blow up in his face.
There was another upcoming conversation that Azula could tell her girlfriend was dreading, and that was between Katara and her father. Hakoda was still at the healing huts, recovering from the injuries that Azula had inflicted upon him, but at least he had passed on a message of reconciliation through Sokka. Still, a face to face conversation between Katara and Hakoda was imminent, and Azula could not help but feel a little nervous about it, especially because Katara kept insisting that Azula would be present for it, just to make sure that there was no way for the princess to somehow misinterpret what was being said between Katara and her father.
The time for that inevitable conversation finally arrived in the morning of the third day after the incident, with Hakoda showing up at their palace quarters, supporting himself with a walking stick as he moved around slowly. "Sokka and Aang have agreed to take me back to the South Pole later today," he said by a way of greeting. "I thought I should come over and talk to you before leaving, Katara."
"Good," Katara nodded curtly. "I thought you might."
"You do not sound pleased to see me, daughter," Hakoda remarked, sounding saddened.
"Well, that depends entirely on what you are about to tell me, doesn't it?" Katara asked.
"First of all, I was hoping that we could speak in private," Hakoda said. He hadn't for a moment spared as much as a glance at Azula ever since entering the room, simply pretending that she wasn't there, curled up on her side of the bed with a book in her lap.
"No, that's not a good idea," Katara shook her head adamantly. "You know that I'm helping Azula work through some difficult issues, that's the whole reason why we're here in the North. She's making a lot of progress, but in these early stages, I think it's best that we keep as much transparency in our relationship as possible."
"Should I point out that she attacked me with lethal force?" Hakoda frowned, clearly unhappy about Katara's attitude. Azula, on the other hand, wanted to smooch her girlfriend and smother her with kisses. "Are you certain that is progress?"
"That would have never happened if the three of you hadn't showed up here with your plans to break us up and send Azula back to a Fire Nation prison," Katara snapped angrily. "What you tried was really low and despicable, father! You should be ashamed of yourself, instead of acting like you're the offended party here!"
Hakoda actually looked like a slapped puffin-seal. Azula was really struggling not to burst into laughter. Instead, she just pushed the book a little upwards to hide the wicked grin that had settled upon her lips. "I realize that some of our actions may have caused unintended consequences..." he managed shakily.
"May have caused unintended consequences?" Katara threw her arms up in the air. Agni, she was so incredibly hot when she flew into one of her rants filled with righteous indignation. Watching Katara get so defensive of her always made Azula so horny that she now couldn't wait for Hakoda to get lost. Then she would waste no time in throwing Katara onto the bed and pleasure her until the waterbender begged and pleaded for Azula to stop because she could take no more.
"What did you think would happen with this plan of yours?" Katara, in the meantime, was busy tearing into her father. While a good deal shorter than Hakoda, the righteous anger seemed to make her this large, intimidating figure, almost making it seem as if she was dwarfing her father. "You thought I would just go along with your plan? Follow you meekly back to the South Pole? When have I ever gone along with your intentions for me without raising a storm of protests? You know perfectly well how stubborn I can be, and you just expected me to give up on something that is so important to me?"
"Perhaps... perhaps it was too optimistic of me to hope that you would see things my way just because I told you to," Hakoda let out a defeated sigh. "Very well, Katara. Even though I cannot approve of your relationship with this girl-..."
"Azula, her name is Azula!" Katara shouted, clenching her fists.
"Even if I can't approve of your relationship with Azula, I promise that I will not make any further attempts to interfere in your affairs," Hakoda finished sourly.
"Isn't that so magnanimous, after your first attempt almost got us both killed in that blizzard?" Katara growled, making her father wince. "What do you say about that, Azula?" the waterbender turned towards her.
"I think it's very kind of your father to promise not to sabotage our relationship," Azula smiled, a particularly sweet and fake smile. "Why, I believe I will write to Zuzu about this. I think he might put your father up for the Honorary Fire Nation Parent of the Year Award." Hakoda flinched as he shot her a particularly dirty glare, which made Azula even happier. Katara's stare was partly reprimanding, partly amused. Still, Azula reasoned that Hakoda could do with a reminder that the Southern Water Tribe had been rebuilt largely with generous funding from the Fire Nation. He had to understand that treating the Fire Lord's sister poorly might carry with it certain consequences.
"Well, I suppose I'll thank you for as little as that, father," Katara finished, hands planted firmly on her hips. "Now, are there any more generous concessions that you are prepared to make, or was that it?"
"I don't want to be fighting with you, Katara," Hakoda sighed. Now he really did look defeated.
"Not fighting is a very low bar to clear in a relationship with your daughter," Katara scowled. "Perhaps try aiming for supportive next time around."
"I want to support you, Katara, but nothing I have seen about this venture of yours has reassured me that this is a good idea," Hakoda replied. "But I don't want to rehash the same arguments over and over. It is time that I made my preparations for the journey back home. Perhaps some time apart will give us both the needed perspective."
"Indeed," Katara nodded. "So, am I still welcome back at the South Pole?"
"Of course, daughter," Hakoda replied as he turned to leave. "But if you decided to come back home... it would be best if you came alone."
"Ugh! How frustrating that he just had to get that last word in!" Katara fumed once she had slammed the doors right behind her retreating father.
"I completely understand," Azula nodded with a sly smile on her lips. "I can see that this conversation has left you very tense..."
"It has, yes," Katara sauntered over to their double bed, a glimmer in her cerulean eyes. "Are you offering to help me with that, Zula?"
"Maybe..." Azula smirked, starting to casually remove her clothes. "Watching you stand up to your father like that... Agni, it turns me on so bad."
"Well, in that case," Katara turned around, starting to slowly slip out of her clothes as she made her way towards the door, locking it. "There, now we should be safe from any unwelcome interruptions..."
A couple of days later, Azula finally managed to get something crossed off from her to-do list when she and Katara went on a romantic boat ride through the canals of Agna Qel'a, enjoying the amazing sights of the wonderfully illuminated nightly capital city. The best part of it all was that neither of them had to grab the oars and do some rowing, no, instead Katara simply called on her waterbending to effortlessly create the gentlest of waves that slowly carried the boat forward. As a result, the two of them could cuddle up tightly on the boat's bench, enjoying each other's presence, as well as the wonderful views all around them.
"Can we finally talk about what happened back there with my father?" Katara asked at some point. Azula didn't even feel annoyed about the question interrupting the romantic mood. She had felt it coming for a long while, and had already prepared herself in advance. And honestly... she knew that it needed to be discussed, and this seemed like a good time for it. She felt safe and loved in Katara's arms, as ready to open up as she ever would.
"Yes, I think I'm ready now," she nodded simply.
"It was because of your own father, wasn't it?" Katara stated.
"Exactly," Azula replied. She wasn't even surprised anymore that Katara understood her so well. This was becoming so natural between them, and Azula absolutely relished sharing something like that with another person. "My mind just flashed back to me being that young eleven year old girl, with Ozai towering above me with a whip in his hands, screaming at me. I... I wanted to save you from that experience. That was all I could think of at that moment, Kat."
"It's very understandable, love," Katara smiled at her. "But I hope that you can understand that my relationship with my father is not like the relationship you had with Ozai. My father might be pig-headed, but he's never been abusive towards me, and despite the fact that we argue a lot, I know that he genuinely loves me, and I truly do love him in return. You simply caught us in the middle of a very bad argument. That sort of thing happens even in healthy relationships. We're going to have arguments like that as well, Zula."
"I don't want to," Azula frowned at her girlfriend. "It feels wrong just thinking about arguing with you."
"I know, I don't want to argue with you either," Katara smiled, quickly leaning close to place a soothing kiss on her lips. "I'm just saying that it might happen. I might accidentally throw away your favorite lipstick, or something like that..."
"That's not worth arguing over, Kat," Azula smiled back at her. "Anyway, what you're saying is that I misunderstood that situation because I didn't understand the relationship between you and your father?"
"Yes, but it was completely understandable, considering the circumstances," Katara reassured her. "When I cried out in distress and ran over to him to heal his injuries, I wasn't taking his side over yours, Zula. It wasn't about taking sides. I love you, but I also love my father, and I don't want to see him hurt."
"That is different from me and my father," Azula nodded somberly. "I do want to see my father hurt. I now want to see him hurt very badly."
"Would you have preferred that Aang killed him?" Katara asked.
"I think it would have been more merciful," Azula replied. "Aang's punishment was to inflict a fate worse than death upon my father. I don't think that Aang himself realizes how sadistic it is, but then again... it means that my father is suffering every moment of his wretched existence and that makes me happy."
"I can completely understand that," Katara nodded. "You know... that's actually an interesting point you just made. I'm trying my best to hide my bloodbending because of how much other people would fear me if they knew what I could do. And yet, I find Aang's ability to remove someone's bending a lot more frightening and terrible, but nobody seems to have an issue with that..."
"Well, he's the Avatar, the sweet little boy who can do no wrong," Azula rolled her eyes.
"True, I guess," Katara snorted. "Anyway, regarding that confrontation with my father... you misunderstood that situation, Zula, but I made a gross error of judgment myself. I never should have used that word with you, love. I didn't mean it, I swear. I don't want to seek excuses, but I was scared and surprised, and... I just stupidly blurted it out."
"What I did was pretty crazy, I guess," Azula smiled at her. Truth be told, she wasn't mad at Katara for it, nor did she believe that Katara had truly meant it. This was the girl who had willingly placed her life at risk in order to save her. If that did not earn Azula's unconditional trust, then what could? No, Azula knew that it was time for her to throw her remaining doubts aside and just go all in. If she couldn't do that with Katara, then she probably would never be able to do so with anyone.
"Exactly, your actions were a little crazy, but you yourself are not crazy, Zula, and I'm sorry if I made you feel like you might be," Katara sighed. "You're just working through something very difficult, and you're making great progress towards being completely healthy again."
"But I'm not there yet, or else that episode with your father wouldn't have happened," Azula pointed out.
"It's a lengthy process, but you are doing so well," Katara smiled softly at her. "You have changed so much in such a short time already. You're opening yourself to so many positive feelings. And you're doing such a great job empathizing and trying to understand how I'm feeling. Every time you show your affection or are being considerate to my needs, it just makes my heart swell. It's like falling in love with you over and over again."
"Stop that, you're going to make me sob like some lovesick teenager," Azula managed, trying to swallow the lump that was quickly forming in her throat.
"But that's what we are, Zula, a pair of lovesick teenagers," Katara laughed. "It's a beautiful time in our lives, and I intend to enjoy it as fully as I can."
"Alright, is this a setup where you're trying to lead me into agreeing to return to the palace because you suddenly feel incredibly horny?" Azula grinned wickedly.
"Maybe... but don't you feel the same way, Zula?" Katara smirked at her.
"Well... yes, I suppose I do," Azula chuckled as the pair shared another kiss. "Right, I guess you better bring us back to the palace, then. It seems as if I have an insatiable waterbender to satisfy."