The Sly Sage: I don't mind at all, it was such a pleasant surprise to see such long and in depth reviews! 3 Oh yeah, Gladiator is probably one of the most famous Sokkla fics. I actually did a collab with that author and several other Sokkla writers. I gotta give Seyary props for length and hardwork!

"I need some fluff to help with all that. side note you have mastered making fictions addictive. every finished fic of yours I literally couldn't put down until I finished it in one sitting or passed out midway lol" :D That means a lot to hear. Like it's fantastic to know that I've created a page turner! "Another thing I want to mention when you make OC's you make incredibly fitting story additive OC's." And all of this means a lot too. I've been trying to make OCs that feel like they belong and don't pull a reader out of the story. "I would literally read a story where Azula struggles and reappropriates herself into the small community and just lives there and they don't die." Tbh I've been thinking about making a spin off like this actually. One where she's just chillin' with Hajime and then Zuko comes into the village and just has a lot of questions, mostly about why she has chosen the turnip farmer life. Spoiler alert: it chose her. "I am literally the person who searchs for fics with a filter that turns off OC tags. but if you are writing it... yeah I'd read it..." :'D this is just so so amazing to hear.

"I love the large paragraph followed by 2-5 single line thoughts/dialog. the seperation makes it soo easy to read and also easy to find my place if I get a distraction lol." A big thanks on this as well. :D I like to play with sentence structure so it's cool to see that people find it engaging.

"I could however see her becoming unable to have children due to the trauma of what that gang did to her" I've actually been going back and forth between this and giving her a second chance to have a kid. So no spoilers there because I don't know either xD

"but please don't let her die due to complications with the birth my heart can't take it!(even though it would technically be a good ending it would break me! lol)" Azula has been through way too much to just die if that's any comfort lol.

Since this is a long review, I sent the rest of my response through PM. I wish that Fanfic would have a comments system like Ao3's lol.

She is sick with over-exhaustion, with starvation and dehydration when they find her. She doesn't have the energy to lift her head. She barely has the energy to part her lips when the man brings a waterskin to them. The woman hoists her up and tilts her head and Azula practically inhales the water. Suckling from the waterskin until it is as bone dry as her throat had been moments before. The woman helps her lay back and drapes a cool rag over her forehead.

She falls in and out of sleep and sometimes she finds herself in a state somewhere between. A state where the steady rocking and bumping of the ostrich-horse drawn caravan makes her feel as though she is a drift in the ocean.

It comes with a sense of dread to think that she is somewhere floating in a vast, deep blue nowhere.

Sometimes when she manages to open her eyes the tarp is down and she can see the stars, can smell the crackling of a fire and something sizzling over it. Each time she is too fatigued to ask for a portion. The woman makes sure that she has a drink from the waterskin, even when she isn't lucid-Azula is certain that the woman does so even when she is out cold. She never wakes up to a dry throat.

The man informs her that she is running a pretty decent fever when she comes around enough to sit herself up.

"Where am I?"

"We're nearly across the plains." He answers.

She tries to rub the fog from her eyes, shake the delirium and tiredness from her head. She feels as though she may just topple again. At the soft rumble of her belly, the woman holds out an apple. Azula takes it with eager hands. Only after several bites does she ask, "are we going to a village?"

"Little lumber and fishing town called Badgermole's Hollow." The man answers.

She nods and chucks the apple core over the side of the caravan. "Why are you…" she gestures to the waterskin and the blankets they have her swaddled in.

"Well we very well couldn't just leave you there!" The woman exclaims as though that explained everything. Because the fact is, they very well could have left her, it would have been less of a burden to them.

She recalls how many others have just decided to take her in as though she were a dear friend that they have just reunited with.

And perhaps this is something that the Earth Kingdom-or, at least, the more rustic parts of it-do better than the Fire Nation.

"Who are you?"

The woman laughs, "Min-Ta and this is my husband, Hao-Bai."

"And you?" Hao-Bai asks.

Her mind wanders between Rikka and Azula before she finally settles on, "Azula." She is too tired to keep on top of even a small lie.

She expects a question or two and she gets one, but it isn't the question she had braced herself for. "You trying to get back to the Fire Nation?"

Azula nods at the man. She holds up a bag of coins that she has managed to hold onto. "I can get myself to Yon-Rah." She isn't sure what she will do then; Earth Kingdom coin won't do her anything at all in the Fire Nation.

She lays back down and rolls onto her side, her eyes feel so very heavy. Min-Ta hums softly and carefully drapes another cool rag over her head, "you just rest now, until that fever's run its course."

She rests until they come to a stop that night. On slightly wobbling legs she comes to join the couple at their little fire. Min-Ta's face lights up, "good to see that you're feeling strong enough to join us."

"Have some ale." The man offers.

Azula finds herself a seat and silently drinks. Though it is somewhat bitter, it warms her belly. She isn't sure what sort of meat the man is cooking, but it smells rather divine. She finds herself looking around. The grassland, now mostly behind them sprawls out endlessly waving and undulating beneath the stars. Dew catches in the moonlight and it brings a unique sort of sweet smell.

For the first time she truly deserves the couple and their caravan. They are a clean and well put together duo-it only just registers to her that they have kept her very clean and tidy. Their caravan is well maintained and she notices a second cart next to it. A team of four ostrich-horses graze nearby alongside another two-likely to pull the main caravan.

They have a set of well cleaned and undaunted pots and pans and several other tools.

They themselves are in good condition as well. Hao-Bai is a burly man with a tamed beard. His muscles are so huge that she can see him pulling the caravan on his own if he must. He has a tattoo of a badgermole sitting on a tree stump inked onto his rather hairy chest. He looks as though he should smell musky but instead she smells only a fresh pine resin and the smoke of their fire clinging to his clothes.

His wife is decently muscular as well, her eyes are the brightest green that Azula has ever seen. Her hair is short and braided and she smells of the forest as well. With a second glance, Azula realizes that she is pregnant. She swallows and tries to put her mind anywhere else.

"Do you travel a lot?"

Hao-Bai flashes a grin. "It's part of how we make a living."

"I like to think that we're experts at crossing the plains now." Min-Ta adds.

"I wish I had the skills."

Min-Ta quirks a brow. "If you came from Chin then you made it quite far. Most people don't make it more than a week or so on foot. You have to know at least a little something."

Or she simply has a strange dash of luck to cut through her misfortune. She sets her glass of ale aside.

Hao-Bai leaves the fire for a moment and comes back with a pipa. "How would you like to hear an Earth Kingdom traveling song."

"That sounds pleasant."

Min-Ta smiles. "Hao just loves to show off his pipa skills." She leans in and whispers, "his vocals can use some work."

Sometimes lessons are simple and light.

That night she learns old Earth Kingdom songs.

.oOo.

She sits in the grass with a pipa in hand. She doesn't know how to play it very well, but it keeps her mind busy and it seems to delight the servants regardless. She wonders if she can work out the words to say if she forms them as a song first.

She thinks that she is only stalling but it doesn't seem appropriate to just pound on Sokka's door so late at night, now that she has put off talking to him long enough for the sun to have fallen completely.

"You're playing off key!" The man in question accuses. "You have to tune it before playing it."

"Have you ever played a pipa?"

"No, but I watched Aang play a few times." Sokka smiles. "He, Katara, and Toph are gonna be here soon." He notes more to himself.

"Exactly how soon is soon?"

He shrugs. "I guess that depends on the sailor."

Azula once again finds herself at least slightly perplexed. He has approached her with such ease as if nothing has happened between them at all. As if there were never any tension. She looks up from her pipa and into his soft blue eyes.

She wishes that he would just get it over with, that he would demand to know why she had been leading him on. Instead he asks, "want me to try to tune it for you?"

Azula nods and passes him her instrument. He twists a peg and gives the pipa a strum, repeating this several times until she finally asks, "shouldn't you be mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

Azula shrugs. "You haven't talked to me since…"

"I thought that you'd want some space to think about things."

She nods.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Did you think about them?"

She nods again.

"And…"

"I have decided that it isn't fair."

Sokka's brows scrunch and he sets the pipa aside. "What isn't fair, Azula?"

Absently her fingers reach for the stone until she remembers that it is safely sealed up in Bao. "I still think about Hajime when I'm with you." Even if she doesn't mean to she often finds herself drawing parallels between the two of them.

"I don't mind." Sokka reassures, his hand comes to squeeze her shoulder. "Hajime is important to you, he isn't just going to go away. Yue didn't, even when I was with Suki." He pauses. "She's still here and so is Suki. They were both so different from each other and you're much different than both of them."

She doesn't think that she is different is a good way. And yet Sokka holds her as though she is. "I don't want to compare you to Hajime all the time."

"I don't mind, Hajime was the first person to really love you, wasn't he?"

Azula nods affirmatively. There was Seyhyuk, but that was much different. An example of forced love that was meant to be a friendship. That isn't how Sokka feels.

"You can compare your relationship with him if it helps you navigate a new one."

She is quiet for a while, simply staring at Sokka with parted lips. He laughs and tucks her hair behind her ear. "It you need some more time to think about it…"

"I don't."

He gives her the most delighted grin. "Great, I was hoping that you wouldn't because I've been meaning to give you something."

She tilts her head, "and what would that be."

He tilts her chin up and offers her lips the softest kiss. When he pulls back he is still stroking her cheek with his thumb. She thinks that her face might be slightly flushed. "If you want to take it slower, just let me know."

Azula nods again. "This is fine." More than fine really. It is nice to be loved again. Nice to be kissed again. Nice to have someone who is willing to wait for her and work through her hesitations.

Sokka motions for her to sit on his lap. She picks up her pipa and makes herself comfortable with her head resting against his chest and her hands resting atop the pipa. He cups a hand over hers. She makes a point of ignoring TyLee and Mai creeping about in the bushes.