A/N: The start of school really threw off my pacing and train of thought. I promise to try to continue to improve my writing as I go along, but this chapter, although I really like the action and the plot line, I feel the execution could have been better. Just another heads up, this chapter may be a bit choppy as well as it was written over a long period of time. For those that have commented and given their support of my depiction of Azula, I highly appreciate the compliments, as for me, although she's my favorite character, Azula is probably the hardest for me to try and portray in terms of speaking and thinking. But since she isn't so emotional in the series until toward the end, it leaves a lot open to how she may react and slowly open. Now, without further delay and digression, chapter 11.

Ch11

Despite all the effort the couple had used in an attempt to be discreet, they had underestimated Azula's keen listening skills. She had heard the entirety of Suki's little chat and concern with Sokka. Those two hadn't given any thought or had not noticed her slow her walking pace in front of them to get a closer distance to listen from.

So, that oaf felt sorry for her? He pitied her. How pitiable. As if she was going to open up to him, she thought. Whatever they would try on her, was not going to get them anywhere. Filthy peasants, she constantly thought. The ever blossoming relationship between those two twisted the workings of her inner core. It was beginning to not only annoy her, but their lovey-doveyness was beginning to repulse her.

In the past, the interactions between Mai and Zuko had warranted an eye roll and a sigh of disgust, but these two quickly made her idiot brother's relationship seem docile and tolerable.

"We should make camp here for the night," Sokka suggested, "It's starting to get dark. We still have a long way to go anyway."

The triad came to rest on a generous ledge along the path. The ground which would soon be their camp for the night, was wide with a steep stone incline to the right and a ledge to the left.

Azula took a seat, putting the wall behind her and propping herself against it as her two captors began to diligently set down their belongings. The former princess was not going to sully herself with helping them at all, and they'd be foolish to think she would assist, but what she did not realize that subconsciously her eyes followed Sokka as he diligently went about trying to set up tents and plan their camp spot for the evening.

She fumbled with her bangs as she pondered about the tribesman who insisted on trying to show sympathy toward her. Azula was certain that both he and Suki would be rather bitter or rejective of her presence, even if they were holding her here against her will. The life size doll surely harbored bitterness and spite, but the Sokka had been rather calm and even caring. Especially after witnessing, to her despair, how close and inseparable those two were with each other, the princess was surprised that he wasn't cursing her with every step they took. The reasoning and backing behind his supposed care and concern for her, a prisoner and a convicted war criminal, was puzzling. She couldn't grasp the how or the why, and if the roles were reversed she certainly wouldn't have been as accommodating or as friendly. It was all an act, probably, she thought.

Azula's true matter of business was to find a way to escape the possession of these two. True, they were both non-benders and she considered them inferior to her, but she did not write them off carelessly. The former princess acknowledged from her first hand experiences in the past that they were both at least capable. Recalling her duel with them on top of the Boiling Rock's gondola dealing with both of them would not be too easy for her, given her weakened state of injury. Azula looked Sokka over, his arms upon closer inspection were muscular and his chest and shoulders were broad. She would admit he was a strong and capable man. In terms of strength, she was shorter and petite. She was more nimble and agile, but her acrobatics were never on par with Ty Lee's. And what he lacked in speed and agility, Suki more than made up for, despite being weighed down with so many robes and armor. No doubt Ty Lee had taught that woman how to chi block as well, her bending alone would not win the day for her. With the two of them being a coordinated team, escape would be difficult.

She would need to find a way to turn them against each other. Or atleast weaken their connection. She concluded that if she could do that, it would leave heran ample window to escape during their lack of coordination. Whether or not she could get it done before they reached Omashu was another matter on its own, however. She still had days ahead.

From beside Sokka's side, Suki glared at the idle princess. Watching her sit idly while Sokka and her diligently worked at readying camp irked her to the point she could feel her face steadily heating up like a tea kettle over a burning fire. Suki wondered if the redness in her face could be seen through her white face makeup. Not that she cared really. But coming from her background with the Kyoshi Warriors on their expeditions into the Earth Kingdom during the war, and then subsequently travelling around with Aang and the rest of Team Avatar where everyone helped unload and ready camp, Azula's refusal to help was not making Sokka's request any easier.

A firm hand was felt on her shoulder. She paused in her movements and looked up from her pack, her eyes met with Sokka's immediately. He could see the frustration on her face and could confirm it with her progressively hasty and rough motions as she pulled items from her pack. Once again her makeup accentuated her furrowed brows and her angered frown. She needn't have said anything to voice her feelings; it was literally painted all over her face.

His smile was warm as he silently looked to her, reminding her of his request to try and make peace with their former enemy. His look said it all. "Try and get along with her, okay? Just try," she imagined his voice telling her.

She nodded and closed her eyes for a brief moment. As she exhaled, she felt the frustration draining from her nose and mouth, bringing her back to a calmer state of mind.

Suki drew the canisters for water from her pack and approached the former princess.

"Hey...um, Azula," Suki attempted to connect with a softer, friendlier, voice. "Look," she stammered, "I'm..sorry if I came off a little stern back then. I guess I was still blinded by the past between us."

Azula frowned, her full rouged lips pursing together in a pouting shrug. She did not look Suki in the eye. "I suppose it's only understandable, given our history together."

"I was thinking...Maybe we could try to put the past behind us?"

The very obvious 'subtle' eye roll and accompanying silence from the princess got on Suki's nerves, but she tried to persevere. Azula was still far beyond conversing with the like of these two.

Suki took a deep breath. "Maybe we could..chat a little? Just you and I? We could go get some water-"

The metal canister clanged as it bounced off the ground, rolling to a stop before Suki's boots after being thrown by Azula. "As if I am going to help the likes of you or him! I may be your prisoner, in this present circumstance, but you're a fool if you think for once I am going to stoop down to your level, filthy peasants!"

Suki's blood was boiling at this point.

"And I heard your whole conversation! And all about your pathetic effort to try and connect with me emotionally. Try and get me to right my wrongs," Azula mocked, "In hopes that you can change me or something. It's insulting! As if I would even want help from the likes of you! You can't change an identity!"

The Kyoshi Warrior captain, angrily took up the tin canister. Her face felt like it was going to burst and her clenched fists shook in anger by her sides. She whipped around, her irritated glare immediately meeting Sokka's wince. Their looks and body gestures carried their silent conversation.

"You see? Oh yeah, getting along just fine!"

"Well..ya know..I didn't say it was going to be easy ya know…You're doing great! We just gotta keep at it?"

Suki sighed vehemently and stomped off with a huff, setting off for the river down the embankment and leaving her boyfriend and the snapping prisoner behind. She wasn't expecting much, but she was at the least hoping that she would miraculously get at least silent help with carrying the water back.

Once again the wolf and dragon were left to their lonesome.

"Ya know, one time when we were going through the Serpent's Pass, I was a bit over protective of Suki. Back then, I was too 'overprotective' to even let her set up her mat by the ledge like this-"

"Hey!" Her piercing voice broke the silence abruptly. "You don't need to try and sympathize with me," she barked. "I don't need your pity. Frankly I don't know why you seem to want to care. Your 'help' isn't wanted! It's an inconvenience I have to put up with."

"We're just trying to help you," Sokka sternly returned. "You didn't need to bark at Suki like that! She was genuinely trying to make an effort! Why are you like this?"

"You want to help?" she questioned. "Help me? You, Zuzu, and my imbecile of an uncle have done nothing but 'help' me. It's all been nothing more than a nuisance. I'm still locked up in an asylum, and I still have nothing and no one. I don't want your help with anything."

Sokka let his frustrations vent from the top of his head. "Look...I know the situation you're in," he solemnly began. "Objectively, yeah, your situation sucks. It's terrible. And..I don't think it's fair. That's why I want to try and be there and maybe support you, at the least. It sucks as it is already, but I know it sucks more to face it all alone."

"You know nothing."

"Excuse me?" Sokka asked for clarification.

"What would you know about what I am going through?" Azula snapped. He had managed to strike a nerve. She hated when people who didn't know her at all tried to act and speak as if they understood everything. It was all just another lie, just as everything had been for her. "What would you know of what it's like to lose everything, when you have nothing to lose? Worst yet, to have it taken from you- stolen from you! To be betrayed by those who you once thought were the closest people in the world to you? Your own friends? To find out that after all this time, fourteen years to be exact, they've hated you all along and have been out to get you?"

"To be honest with you," Sokka shakily replied, "In that manner..I don't understand. Exactly as you so fondly refer to me as, I am really just a southern peasant. I don't know what it's like to be royalty or some leader of a huge nation. But I did lose a good amount of people during the war. Loved ones and helpful people throughout the year. At the very beginning of it all, before we found Aang and all that stuff could even have been conceived, I did feel like I was alone. And it sucked. With all that responsibility- all that burden. At the very least, when we were left alone to watch over our tiny and struggling village, I had Katara, and it was hard enough even with her around as support." He paused. "I could only imagine what it must be like to be alone facing it all."

They shared a moment of silence.

"But I truthfully don't think you're as bad as others, even yourself maybe, believe you to be."

Sympathy. It's sympathy, Sokka assured himself. The feeling of unease within him was sympathy from what he had come to learn of the forsaken and exploited former royalty.

Although Azula did not raise her head from the position of her previous staredown with the ground, her eyes indiscreetly looked up to the water tribe member.

"I know it sounds stupid," Sokka continued. He was hoping to elicit some kind of reaction. "And even for you. I'm sure you're probably scoffing at how some 'peasant' is wasting his breath trying to open up and connect to you. To understand you. I don't know if you actually noticed during your trial, but..I was honestly kinda taken aback from your sentence. I felt bad. Something that a year ago I wouldn't have even imagined myself even thinking." Again his unpacking motions paused and he stared aimlessly into the depths of his rucksack. "I want to try and support you," he paused, "Because I don't think it's your fault."

"You're wrong," Azula corrected, suddenly breaking her silence but not shifting her blank gaze. "Everything I did was of my own volition. For my own benefit, and satisfaction. You've heard her haven't you? You and everyone else already know. I'm nothing but a monster."

"Who? I haven't heard that from anyone, surprisingly."

"My mother of course," she hissed, "She's been out to get me since day one! I don't know how she contacted you, but I'm sure she's told you all about me! Ever since! All of you beating me, it was all part of her elaborate scheme to take away everything I had struggled to earn."

"Azula, let's back up a little," Sokka said, confused. "None of us have ever met your mother before-"

"You!" Azula confronted. "What are you doing here?!"

Sokka could see that her gaze was directed toward him, but not at him. As if someone were behind him. He quickly scanned around him, but saw no one. "Are you okay?"

Azula was the sole witness. Standing behind Sokka was the demented apparaition of herself. The same one who had been chasing her nonstop through the swamp. That's impossible! You shouldn't be here! I'm out of that wretched swamp!

The woman, whose long raven hair shrouded half her face, loomed behind Sokka ominously. Azula felt a sudden burst of concern from within her.

"Sokka! Get away from that ledge!"

"Huh-"

The earth beneath him suddenly began to rapidly give way. Kicking off from her heels braced against the rock behind her, Azula took off to her captor's aid. The earth beneath Sokka had crumbled and began careening down the embankment, taking Sokka with it. She dove for him, unable to close the distance, hitting and sliding across the dirt. Just in time, her hand caught his. She came to a stop just at the edge of the new edge of the cliffside, hanging on to her former enemy with just one arm a dozen meters over solid rock. His hand's grip was strong as it tightly held hers. Her golden eyes met his blue ones directly. Why she had dove into action? She did not fully understand herself. True it would have been easier to simply allow him to fall to his demise leaving the door wide open for her to escape with ease, but she felt within her a sudden impulse to prevent such an end. Her body or mind moved of its own accord. It would cause me future troubles if one of the Avatar's companions was suddenly killed on my watch. The world is just waiting to pin this on me.

She was captivated, unknowingly, as she looked upon the startled and scared expression on the young man's face. Although it pained her, she focused on his tight grasp of her hand. His speechlessness was captivating.

"Well," she struggled, "Take your sweet and merry time! It's not like I'm inconvenienced by this or anything!"

Sokka snapped out of his shocked and amazed trance and began to pull himself up with a sigh of relief and a smile on his face.