Katara had never imagined that she would one day cradle a passed out fire prince in her lap while a top a ten ton flying bison, but she supposed that stranger things had…

...not happened.

Yeah, this entire day was probably the weirdest day she'd ever experienced in her 14 years of life.

Sokka had been stuck to her side since Aang had fallen out of the iceberg, and though Katara often found Sokka to be overbearing and far too over protective, under their current circumstances, she understood and tried taking it in stride. After all, Katara felt equally as protective towards him. She supposed it was a sibling thing--

She glanced at Azula.

--Or at least a functional sibling thing.

Katara didn't think the Fire Nation siblings had ever been acquainted with the concept.

Azula had taken one look at her brother's prone form and scoffed. She left him in the hands of strangers, and then went to sit at the front of the saddle where she berated Aang for having a 'flying' bison who wouldn't actually do any flying.

"Hey," Sokka said, poking Zuko with the blunt end of his spear, "Is he still alive?"

Katara slapped the spear away.

"Would you cut that out?" She snapped, "He's already sick, he doesn't need you bothering him with sticks."

"Whatever," He said, "I'm just glad he's passed out so he can't firebend at us. It's bad enough with Her Royal Bratty-ness over there."

Katara rolled her eyes but silently agreed.

"Are you sure about bringing these three back to the village?" Sokka asked, glancing at Azula and Aang who were bickering in the front.

Katara shook her head.

"Well, no..." She said, "But that doesn't matter. This kid is the avatar and he needs medical attention."

"Right," Sokka said, crossing his arms, "But he's also the son of Fire Lord Sozin… And the current Fire Lord's older brother. Or would he be his younger brother..? How's it work if Azulon is like 90 but this kid was born first?"

Katara snorted, "I really don't think that's that important right now."

Sokka shrugged.

"So what do you think happened to him?" He said, looking at the boy's eye.

She looked down at the boy who was passed out on her lap, and frowned.

"I don't know," She said, "But clearly he didn't get any proper recovery before any of this happened."

She placed a hand to his forehead and grimaced before quickly pulling her hand away.

"What?" Sokka said, noticing the look on her face, "What's wrong?"

Katara shook her head.

"He's-- He's way too warm," She said.

Sokka frowned and scratched at his head, not caring at all.

"What if he dies?" Katara hissed, "The avatar is the only hope we have for ending this war, and I don't think we'd last another 16 years if we had to wait for the next one."

"He's not going to die." Came a scathing voice from beside Sokka.

Sokka yelped and jumped in his seat at Azula's intrusion.

"He's probably not even that warm," Azula said, "Hand him over."

Katara stared warily at the other girl. She didn't trust her around herself or Sokka, and she was having a hard time trusting her with her own brother.

Her mind wandered back to the ice float where the fire princess had burnt her brother just for touching her.

Fire was destruction and it was death, and still the girl had used it against her own blood. Her brother, who had very clearly been recently hurt by fire.

Sokka could bother her to no ends sometimes, but she could never bring herself to hurt him like that. The thought alone made her feel sick.

But Azula was watching her with a cool gaze that just begged for Katara to argue, and she knew that the princess wouldn't just allow her to refuse, so carefully, she handed the boy to his sister.

When situated, Azula pressed her hand against the boy's forehead and nodded.

"He's feverish," She announced, "But you needn't be so dramatic. Fire benders run hot. He should be fine."

"These bandages need to be changed though," She said, scrunching her nose in disgust.

"Air bender," She called, "Did you or my idiot brother think to bring any extra bandages with you when leaving the palace?"

Aang turned to face Azula and smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Um, no…" He said, "We left so fast we didn't really have time to grab anything."

"You brought nothing."

"Heh. Um. Yeah."

Azula narrowed her eyes and shook her head at him.

"Count every blessing that you have, and pray that I don't shoot lightning at you."

Aang scowled, "You can't lightning bend!"

The fire princess shrugged, "Maybe I can, maybe I can't. Do you want to find out?"

Under no circumstances did Katara want to find out. She glanced frantically between the two, and rushed to de-escalate.

"Hey, Azula," She said, "You know, we actually have the supplies at our village to help your brother, so if you could just not shoot any lightning, I think we'd all really appreciate it."

Azula glared at her but backed off and Katara felt herself relax.

"Speaking of the village," Piped Sokka, "You're gonna have to ditch the crown before we get there."

"Excuse me?" Azula said, scowling.

But Sokka didn't budge.

"It's bad enough bringing two fire benders to our home," He said, "If people knew you two are Fire Nation royalty it would cause panic. So lose the crown."

Azula stared Sokka down for a long moment before taking a calming breath which left as fire through her nose.

Sokka and Katara jerked backwards, but the girl made no move to attack. She reached up for her top knot and removed the crown.

She held the head piece in her hand, and though Katara had yet to see the girl express any emotion other than rage and indifference, she thought the blank face on Azula looked rather forlorn.

She pocketed the head piece just as Aang jumped into the saddle to announce their arrival at the village.

Katara risked a glance at Sokka who had again taken up his spear and gripped to it like a lifeline.

She sighed deeply and ran a hand down her face. She had never been so relieved and yet stressed about being home.

She wished that they could have just walked away from the three other children. If they had had the means to, maybe they would have. The three had Appa, and the firebender's fire. They would have been fine.

But that would have been wrong. They were kids, just like she and Sokka. And one of them was the avatar, who was hurt, and needed help. This was the right thing to do, she knew this...

She just hoped that doing the right thing wouldn't get them burnt.

Azula leaned with her back to the igloo where this dingy village's healer was treating her brother. She watched the people who milled about her, and tried not to roll her eyes when they looked in her direction with subtly worse than that of the air bender.

Azula thrived off of the intimidation that other's held towards her. Commanding the respect and rightful fear of others was something she excelled in. It was all very much like a game to her, a game that she thoroughly enjoyed winning, but…

But.

She did not appreciate the wary looks given to her by the Southern Water Tribe.

Not because of any hurt feelings of course, she was above that.

It was that they looked at Zuko the same way.

Zuko.

Zuko, who was currently ill. Zuko, who spent his free time feeding turtle ducks. Zuko, who was soft.

She wasn't a fool. She knew it was because of their status as Fire Nation. She hadn't been out of the ice for very long, and because of her brother and his little air bender friend, she'd been out of the loop for one hundred years. But Azula was sharp, and she knew that the Fire Nation had undergone some drastic changes in the time that she had been gone.

And now being Fire Nation made her a threat.

How rude, she thought. She was a perfectly capable threat all on her own merit.

Azula wanted out of this village as soon as possible. And she wanted to politely inform the next person to look at her funny that they needn't watch her like she was a lit match. Nothing here was worth her flames.

Of course, if she said this, Katara might lecture her about being insensitive again. Azula decidedly did not need to hear any of that again any time soon.

She'd heard enough "Be a good person," and "Practice some sympathy," lectures from Roku growing up before he and her father had their falling out.

"Your brother is doing a lot better."

Ah. Speak of the peasant.

The water bender ducked out of the igloo that she had been leaning on, and walked over to stand near Azula while still maintaining a healthy distance.

In the few days since they had arrived at the village, the water bending girl, Katara, had seemed to warm up just a little to her and her brother. Well, she had warmed up to Zuko, who she had helped in caring for. No one, save for the air bender and her brother when he was well enough, had really tried talking to her.

But she was fine with that. She was more than content standing post.

"You know," Said the girl, "Zuko will be ready to travel soon."

Azula quirked an eyebrow, "Oh?" She said, not missing the girl's subtle message. She wanted them gone.

"Yep." She said, bobbing on her feet, "What're you guys going to do once you leave?"

Azula picked at her nails.

"As for my brother and his air bender friend, I don't know. They'll probably go off to learn the four elements."

"And you?"

Azula frowned, "I'll be going back to the Fire Nation, of course."

Katara's eyes widened, "What? Why?"

"Because I live there, and I'm a fire bender. Are you stupid?"

"But you've been gone for a hundred years, what are you going to do? Just walk up to the Fire Nation Palace and demand that they let you in?"

Azula shrugged, "You'll find that I have a way with people. A hundred years or not, I'm still the princess."

Azula wasn't stupid. She knew it wouldn't be as easy as just going back to the Fire Nation, announcing her return, and settling in as princess as though nothing had ever happened. Leadership would be called into question, because technically, Azula did have a claim to the throne, and that would likely result in internal conflict. And then even if the Fire Nation accepted her easily, she would have to worry about meeting a tragic and untimely end, as she was sure Azulon or his heirs would see her as a threat to their throne.

Returning to the Fire Nation, it was a task that would take plenty of planning, and it would require her to always stay two steps ahead. It wouldn't be easy…

But it would still beat traveling with her dum-dum brother and the stupid air bender.

"What about the war?" Asked Katara.

"The war doesn't concern me," Said Azula, "Not yet at least. I suppose I'll have to handle one thing at a time."

Katara fumed next to her and kicked up snow.

"Typical," she spat, "You fire benders might not all be evil, but you're all complacent! Complacent in every way."

Azula stared at the girl in silence for a moment before shrugging and turning away.

"You may think that," She sniffed, and then walked away; Katara left behind to brood in her wake.

Zuko looked like a kicked rabbit dog when she told him that he and Aang could drop her off in the Fire Nation, and she wasn't sure why. They hadn't gotten along in years, she didn't know why he expected that to change now, but she supposed he was soft like that.

"I'm not your friend, Zuko," She snapped, and she watched her brother deflate.

Sokka, who had been helping them to load up Appa, presumably so that they would leave the village sooner, snorted.

Azula peered at him.

"Do you have something you'd like to say to me, Water Tribe?"

Sokka laughed rudely. "Nothing, nothing," He said, "I just think your 'I hate my brother' act would be a lot more believable if you hadn't just spent the last four days posted outside his door."

"And I think your pitiful attempt at filling your father's role in this tribe would see much more success if your sister or anyone else in this village actually took you seriously."

Sokka's eyes widened and his lips twisted into an unhappy scowl.

"Wha- What? You don't know anything about me, or my father!"

Azula crossed her arms. "A good leader is perceptive and knows her enemies. I know plenty about you."

"Azula, that's enough," Zuko said, just as a new voice said,

"Sokka, are you antagonizing this young lady again?"

The three of them turned to see Katara and Aang approaching with Sokka and Katara's grandmother.

Sokka scoffed, "Me antagonize her?! Gran Gran, all she's done since I've met her is antagonize people."

Azula watched this interaction, and then feigned innocence when the old woman turned her attention on her. She had done this act plenty of times with Zuko throughout their childhood with varying degrees of success. She hadn't always gotten herself off the hook, but the act had always gotten a rise out of Zuko, and she was happy to do the same to the Water Tribe peasant.

Their grandmother gave her a knowing look, and said, "Well, I'm sure that's not true."

Azula smiled sweetly, and Sokka sputtered-- It an amusing sight to everyone else in the group.

When Sokka calmed, he glanced at Katara and frowned.

"Wait-- Katara, why do you have those bags?"

Azula, Sokka, and Zuko turned to look at Katara, who had two bags slung over her shoulder. Katara had a guilty smile on her face as she explained to her brother that she would be accompanying Aang and Zuko on their trip.

"What?!" Sokka screeched, and turned to his grandmother "You're just going to let her go?"

The old woman placed a placating hand on Sokka's shoulder and gave him a calming smile.

"Sokka, the young avatar will have to stop at the Northern Water Tribe to learn water bending, and when he does, your sister will have the chance to train with a master. I know how important this is to Katara, and so do you."

Sokka looked helpless as he glanced between Katara, his grandmother and the rest of the group, and Azula felt something twist in her stomach as she realized that it wasn't jealousy for his sister leaving, but concern. Azula frowned and was quick to stomp the feeling down.

She risked a glance at her own brother and saw him staring at her.

She huffed and crossed her arms, angling herself away from him.

"Fine then," Sokka declared, "If you're going then I am too."

Katara's eyes lit up and she threw her arms around her brother, babbling her excitement.

Azula turned away.