FOUNDATION DAY
DAY 4
"Ouch...Ouch…It stings…" Azula complained making a grin of pain when Sokka's fingertips touched her wound. "Sokka, it hurts!." she screamed at him.
"I told you, it would!" Sokka said after putting the ointment.
"Seriously, if this leaves a mark… I will kill you!" she threatened him while trying not to think about the stinging.
Sokka's eyes widened, "Why me?! Katara did it!" he complained.
"But it was YOUR idea!" she rolled her eyes annoyed while biting her lip and doing a grin. "Tsk! Great ideas boy," she muttered sarcastically.
"But YOU accepted…" he snorted pissed.
She narrowed her eyes looking at him fumed, "Because you insisted!" The Princess squealed, "You were being so annoying," She grinned her teeth, Sokka put more ointment, pressing more than necessary. "Ouch…!" she complained again.
"Sorry!" he apologized, "Stop moving will you?" he brushed her hair over her shoulder to get a look of the entire wound.
She snorted, "Ouch…" Azula gave him a scary look, "You are doing it on propose, aren't you?" she claimed irked.
"I'm not!" Sokka squealed.
The Princess rolled her eyes, "Then blow…Come on…" she commanded, "It stings…" she said trying to blow air with her hand to her injured neck. Sokka didn't move, he just looked at her. "Come on, blow…," she repeated herself when she didn't see him move, exposing, even more, her neck.
He swallowed before approaching her. He had never been this close to the Princess, -and or some unknown reason-, he was getting nervous for being too close to her, and the worst part was that she didn't even realize of the reaction she caused on him. He didn't know himself, why she was causing such a reaction in him.
Earlier that, day, the Princess thought wise to train her fire bending, as she will usually do. For her luck, most of the training grounds were unavailable, due to the festivals them selfs, and when she found one, Sokka's sister was training with the Avatar.
For a moment she thought maybe to train later, but when Sokka appeared on the grounds, he thought it was a good idea to have his sister against the Princess to testify for his own eyes if she was the prodigy everyone praised her to be.
And also, he wanted to witness an epic Water VS Fire fight.
After an intense match, which extended for hours, and ended with a Katara, with minor multiple burns, which she had already healed, and a completely soaked Princess with a cut in her neck, thanks to one of Katara's ice picks she didn't dodge, both girls declared the match a tie, when a huge explosion of hot steam, send them flying in opposite directions.
Sokka gulped, "I don't know why I am doing this," he asked to try and ignore his notorious redness. "Why Katara can't you heal her?" he turned to look at his sister who was in the back on the room, with the Avatar.
"I told you. We had to make sure she doesn't get it infected. Once the wound is disinfected I can heal he," Katara said, behind him with her arms cross over her chest. "Otherwise, there will be a mark."
The four of them had reached the Royal Nursing, after the little match. To get Katara a little anti-burns ointments, which with the help of her healing powers speed up her healing, and as well as, to treat The Princess cut.
Azula looked at Sokka when her cut stopped stinging and raised an eyebrow, "Huh?... Why are you all red?" the Princess asked the water boy and reached to his forehead. "You don't have a fever...Are you feeling sick?" she made a grin.
His eyes widened. Was he blushing? "W-What? N-No…" he took a step back a little blushed.
"She is right, you are all red Sokka,.." Aang said taking a good look at his friend, "You even have your ears red, are you sure?" the Avatar pointed out.
Sokka embarrassment grew bigger, and he turned even redder, "You even got redder," said Katara. "You must be getting sick."
"Enough!...I'm not sick!" he took a few steps back to get away from them, "Just, do what you gotta do, with your magic water…" he waved a hand, "I have disinfected the wound." he tried to calm himself down, standing at the farthest end of the room.
Katara bent a little water in her hand, which glowed a little bit when she placed her hand in Azula's neck.
"It's all gone now," Katara said to the Princess after using her healing properties. "No marks."
"Thanks," said Azula, getting down from the furniture she chose to sit on.
She was returning the ointments they took back to one of the shelves when the Avatar spoke.
"Sweety, we should go…The sun is setting and I haven't feed Appa today," said Aang to his girlfriend. "I didn't think the match was going to extend so much."
Katara nodded, "Yeah… He might try to steal the dragon food again.…"
"Don't let my father's dragon know that." said Azula smirking, "Or when he comes back, we might be witnessing a breast fight. Seiryū is quite territorial when is about food."
"Huh? Is he?" Katara teased looking at Sokka. And remembering how he used to be so protective with his seal meat.
"Princess,..." the Avatar called her, "When are the dragons coming back?"
She crossed her arms over her chest thoughtful, "They usually come back by the next morning after the solstice," explained Azula, "We should be seeing a few of them in the sky that day."
Aang smiled like a child, "Great! I haven't seen one in ages."
"I haven't seen one, since... ever," Katara said, "Come on. Let's go. Appa is gonna get grumpy." The water bender said to her boyfriend.
"Right. See you." Aang agreed.
"Bye, guys." the couple closed the door behind them.
Azula turned to Sokka who was still standing in the corner. "Are you feeling better?" she asked him, "You don't look too red anymore."
"I'm fine." he crossed his arms and pouted glancing away. He wanted to change the subject. He didn't even know why he had god damn blushed.
She rolled her eyes at his reaction, "In that case, come on… I want to get some flaming fire flakes, and mochi." she took his by the wrist and dragged him.
And he could swear the blushing was back, as well as a hard beating from his chest. He was glad that her back was towards him as they headed towards the city.
The streets were even more crowded than days before, as people from the small villages outside the Capitol city and Harbor city were hanging around to enjoying the festival.
Foundation day is a celebration that it's pretty much about spreading the history of the Fire Nation to the visitors -and even sometimes to their citizens- that come to the Capital every year. Also, is a fun entertained way to teach kids about traditions and history.
Every Fire Lady in history has been in charge of the getting involved in impulsing the arts, sports, and traditions all over the nation.
And, since Lady Ursa got the title officially of Fire Lady 12 years ago, she made sure that every school, will have to instruct at least one hour daily of arts or sports. Also, she got in charge of planning this kind of event, and she had been doing quite an amazing job at it.
This very own festival had her touch.
Previously, it used to consist of mostly puppets plays all over the Capital. Now, as Lady Ursa was a fan of actual theatre plays and an actress herself in her younger years, she made sure, that actual actors from all over the nation, got involved in the festival.
"You know, you make fun of me, of how much I eat… but..." Sokka crossed his arms when they were getting some flaming fire flakes from a food stand. "You are as much glutton as I am." he teased with a smirk pushing her slightly.
Azula looked at him, "What?... Are you implying I should stop eating so much?" she placed her hand on her hips with a frown.
"I didn't say that," he raised his hands in defense with a smirk. "I mean, you are the only girl who can slightly match my appetite, that's all I'm saying. And also, is good to have someone who I enjoy food as much as I do," said Sokka with a smile.
"Yeah well, fire bending requires a lot of calories, and also, that match with your sister left me starving," she said turning her attention to the stand again.
Sokka raised his eyebrows. "Who would have thought the match was going to extend so much?"
Azula shrugged, "She is an excellent master, I'm gonna give her that," she admitted, "Anyways…" The Princess took her flaming fire flakes and offered him some. "We should…" the Princess stopped talking when she saw the amount he took and watched him with wary eyes, which he noticed.
"What?" he asked raising an eyebrow when she made a grin.
"Be careful, these are spicy," she warned him for the bunch he took.
Sokka rolled his eyes, "I can handle it, Princess…" he said before eating all of them. Not even a second later, his eyes widened before getting hot prickle and a red hue in his face.
Azula sighed shaking her head in misbelieve, "Didn't I tell you?" Sokka made a grin of pain. She shook her head, "These are flaming fire flakes… flaming… fire, you knucklehead. Here." she extended to him a bottle of water. "I knew this would happen. So, I told the man to also give me one of these…."
He took the bottle without hesitation and emptied in big gulps. "Smart girl...Thanks," he said painting after calming his tongue. "These are spicy," he affirmed.
"Next time, you should take it slowly. Get used to the taste before, going all in…" said Azula.
He took a little amount this time, and instead of another grin of pain, his eyes widened. "Hey! These are quite good… I mean, after burning my tongue, the taste I can still sense is… pretty good." said Sokka eating more.
"See? What did I tell you?" Azula smiled at him eating some herself, "You are not the only one, who knows about their national food."
He snorted with a grin, "Yeah, yeah...You were right again…" he pinched her cheek slightly.
"Hey!" she raised a hand to punch him and he laughed, "Really? Tsk!... One of these days I'm going to burn your head off." she grunted pouting and Sokka chuckled.
They kept walking through the streets, eating the Fire flakes, while watching around the streets.
"So… What do we do first?" Sokka asked when they finished the bag of flakes. "It's your time to lead the way."
Azula looked around, searching for something interesting or entertaining to do. "Mmmmm…." Her nose trills got the scent of something, and she smiled. "First… Mochi." she pointed a food stand a little ahead from them.
Sokka rolled his eyes, "Seriously, what's with you and mochi?" he asked.
"The same as you and meat, carnivorous boy," she said, "Don't think I haven't noticed. I'm very perspective." Azula stated a little cockily.
Solka shrugged. "Yeah well, I'm the meat-eating sarcastic boy of my tribe."
"Sarcastic?" Azula raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I technically invented Sokkarcasm." he chuckled at his terrible joke.
Azula looked at him with a grin and crossed her arms over her chest. "What a horrible joke...I´m going to pretend I didn't hear it, so the little respect I have for you would not go to waste," she said disgruntled.
"Hey!..." he complained, "Huh? So, you do feel respect towards me?" he teased smirking while placing his hands in his hips.
Azula rolled her eyes and grab him by the shirt and dragging him towards the mochi stand. "Keep talking like that and by the end of the hour it will be none existent," she warned him.
"Oops! My bad. I could've sworn for a moment, I was dealing with an adult" Sokka said quizzically.
The Princess huffed, "Says the one who makes jokes like sokkarcasm…" she rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.
Sokka shrugged innocently, "You have to admit it. It is a good joke." he said nodding.
She denied with her head, "It was not! And here…" she said bitterly and gave him a mochi, "Stuff this in your mouth, so it can be busy, and I can have five seconds of peaceful silence." she said sternly.
He rolled his eyes but took a big bite. "Huh. You know, I kind of get why you are obsessed with them, these are really good." Sokka admitted gazing at the Princess.
She smiled, "When I was little, I could eat an entire box of this by myself… And whenever they were some in the Palace, they had to be a guard from me, of course, I will always find a way to get them, and eat them all…" The Princes uttered, "One time my mother even tried to "banish them" from the palace for a while," she told him, "But, you know how sometimes the forbidden seems more appealing than anything else?" he nodded smiling at her tale and remembering some of himself. "I did some pretty weird stuff to get mochi. And when she realized that, my mother had to lift the ban, and I got to eat them from time to time. Of course, in a supervised amount." Azula clarified the last part.
"Supervised amount?" he asked prying.
"Yeah, like two, three maximum per sitting," she said, "Because, one time I may or may have gone a little overboard with the mochi."
Sokka's eyes widened, "Overboard? How many did you eat? Eight? Ten?" He asked inquisitively and astounded at the same time.
"No…" she looked away eating the rest of her mochi.
"Then?" he insisted, "Come on. Tell me. I wanna know. How many?" Sokka pleaded.
"Around twenty," she muttered.
"What?" Sokka said agape.
"I don't know. I mean, they could have been eighteen, or maybe nineteen. Who counts?" Azula looked at Sokka who was dumbfounded. "Hmmm… Sokka?"
Sokka blinked a couple of times. "Sorry, I just...Twenty. Whoa!"
"Don't judge! I mean, of course, I got tummy ache later, but…Yeah, that's my record." said Azula a little cockily.
Sokka snickered, "So, That's your story with mochi… Now, I'm not so surprised at why you slapped my hand when I got the last mochi on the welcoming feast." he said teasing.
"I was about to electrocute you for it, when our parents came," Azula admitted.
"What?!... Are you capable of electrocuting me for a mochi?" he placed a hand on his chest pretending to be shocking for the revelation.
She rolled her eyes, "I didn't know you back then, jerk… I thought you were just an annoying brat who wanted to make my life miserable." Azula uttered shrugging.
"So… What are you saying is, that you would not electrocute me anymore?" Sokka asked warily.
Azula made a grin, "I´m still not so sure about the annoying brat part. So, I…. wouldn't discard the idea, yet." she teased smirking.
"Azula!" he pushed her slightly in a jokingly way while pretending to be affronted.
"What?..." she restored innocently. "Look... " she pointed at one of the little stages in the Capital.
She took a look at the board announcing the name of the play and the actor's company.
"What is it?" he questioned while looking also at the board.
"This seems like an acceptable decent play to watch" She muttered while reading the name of the actor company. They were from her mother's birthplace, the village from Hira'a, and pretty much the only actors she could stand.
"Huh?" Sokka asked a little bemused.
"Well, we aren't just here for the food right?" said the Princess crossing her arms.
Sokka tilted his head making a grin. "Well…" he wanted to keep walking around, eating, and talking with Azula. Making fun of each other. Listening to more of her silly childhood stories. To know even more about her younger years.
She rolled her eyes, "Fine, we can keep eating all night, but you have to at least watch one play...This one is the story of how my great…. many greats grandfather, defeated Chan's Clan and became the First Fire Lord in history...It's an interesting one. Come on." she dragged him by the wrist to find a couple of seats. "You might learn something new."
The play started a couple of minutes after they took their sits in the first row. It was a pretty good play, it explained the unification of the different Fire Islands, as well as the formation of the first Fire Sages, and also made the mention of the spirits Kemurikages.
It cost Sokka a little bit too much to focus on the play, as they were both sat so close to each other. Their legs and shoulders touching, and whenever Azula brushed her hair off her shoulders, his heart will start racing as her strawberry scent will fill his nose trills.
Sokka got himself glancing from time to time towards the Princess without her even realizing, and Azula didn't look away from the play, enjoying it.
It took the Princess a lot of willpower, not to glance directly at Sokka, whenever she caught him looking at her through the corner of her eyes. She dug her nails on her palms slightly to try and calm her pulse.
Freaking old lady, for getting ideas in my head. Damn it! She thought.
The play ended with the coronation of the First Fire Lord.
And when the curtain closed, Azula got him, looking at her steadily. Her heart started beating like crazy. His blue eyes glowed.
It was until their glances collided when Sokka realized the play was over. Her golden eyes shimmered.
Neither moved.
It was until one of the citizens softly bumped with Sokka's back when he broke off the enchant they were both in.
Sokka gulped nervously, glancing away, "Well… Certainly, the Fire Nation has much more and interesting history than the Southern Water Tribe…" he admitted smiling softly.
The Princess blinked a few times. "Indeed." she agreed, "Most of the history of the Water bender tribes comes from the Northern Water Tribe…According, to what I have read" said Azula.
"Yeah."
A few moments later, they were studying in silence through the main street of the Capital, both trying to act completely oblivious about what had happened just a few seconds before, pretending to be looking for their next food destination, when two known faces popped out between the crowd.
"Oh, Sokka, there you are!" Katara said holding Aang's hand. "Princess." Both bowed slightly their heads towards the Princess.
"Are you two enjoying the plays?" Aang asked while eating some flaming fire flakes.
Azula and Sokka nodded, "Yeah… We just watched the creation of the Fire Nation… Over there." Sokka said pointing at the stage, from where they just left.
"Great! I wanna watch that one, sweety," Katara said looking at the Avatar, "We just watched a Royal Love Story, back there." The water bender pointed in the direction they had come as Azula frowned and tilted her head, she hadn't heard of that one.
"Sorry. A Royal what?" Azula asked inquisitively.
"It's said it was your parent's love story," said Sokka's sibling.
Her eyes widened, "Their what?!" she said open-mouthed, "I didn't even know they were having a play of them…" she admitted muttering with a grin.
"It was by the… Ember Island Players?" Aang said scratching his temple with his hand trying to remember correctly.
"Oh gods!" she facepalmed her forehead.
"What?" Sokka asked.
"They are the WORST ever!" Azula grunted complaining, "Seriously."
Katara smiled sweetly. "It was quite lovely actually… The acting a little bit off..."
"A little?" It would have been quite interesting to see a play about their parents, she dared to admit, but with good acting and an accurate story, which she was certain the play had neither.
Her mother had made sure, every time they got to spend a summer vacation in Ember Island, to also go see a play in the local theater. Sadly, the Ember Island players quite sucked very much, and even though, Love among Dragons was her favorite story ever while growing up, she deeply hated witnessing the Ember actors destroy the story, over and over.
"Sweety, we should go… Look it's about to start," Katara pointed and people were already taking their sits to see them play again. "See you around Sokka...Princess."
"Bye guys..." Aang waved before being drag by her girlfriend.
"Bye." Both said.
"Sometimes they give me oogies," Sokka said grimacing.
"Oogies?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah… You know, when something is too sweet, too cloying…" he explained.
"Ohhhh… Yeah got it," she winked an eye, "Talking about something sweet, come on…" she grabbed him the wrist, all the previous awkwardness now was gone.
Half an hour later, they had decided to take a break from their wondering and sat in a bench a little away from the main street and closer to the Big lake. With an ice cream each.
"After this month is over, I will have at least 20 pounds over…" he said while licking his ice cream.
Azula rolled her eyes. "Just think it will go to your muscles," she said with a hint of mockery, waving a hand busy in her cone.
Sokka smirked. "So, you did check me out…." he teased her cockily with a little push.
She let a sarcastic snort out, "Oh, come on... For someone who spends as much time as you do, flexing your muscles at every reflecting surfaces, I will be blind if I didn't notice." Azula said bitterly.
"But, you didn't say you didn't…" he smirked at her quizzical.
She rolled her eyes, "You know what?..." she took away his cone, "If you are going to complain so much about eating ice cream, then, you don't deserve it." she sticks her tongue out at him.
He reached for it trying to take it back. "Oh, come on…" she looked at him with a frown, "Come on Azula…It's gonna melt!" Sokka squealed and the pouted.
The Princess rolled her eyes and snickered, "Fine… But only because it is indeed melting, here" She returned it to him. "You have something on you face…" she pointed at him.
"Where?" he ran his hand over his face, trying to whip it out.
"There." she pushed his hand slightly and crashed his cone in his face, Azula laughed loud.
Sokka rolled his eyes, "Yeah… yeah very funny." he said bitterly, whipping his face.
It took a moment to calm herself, but when the Princess stopped laughing, she said to him. "It's kind of funny… " she shrugged smiling softly, which caused Sokka's heart to start beating fast. "Okay, let me help you."
This time without second intentions, she approached Sokka to help him clean, but what she didn't count on, was, that he wanted to take revenge on her.
He took the ice cream left in his cone, and without a warning smeared all over her face.
Azula's face was a poem… mouth open in shock, there was even ice cream in her eyelashes as she widened her eyes in surprise. And while she remained in shock, Sokka took even more advantage and smeared the rest of his ice cream all over, in her cheeks, her forehead, her nose.
Her mind was dumbstruck, in shock. Never in a million years, she thought him capable of doing something like that. No one in the world, not even Zuko, has ever dared to do something like that to her.
Now, it was Sokka turn to laugh loud. He even bent backward.
"You are dead meat, water boy!" She grunted at him while knocking him down on the grass, and as her ice cream had more, she also smeared him all over the face with a thicker layer.
Azula took her time to smudge him. She even got on top of him, with her legs at each side of him. Holding him still.
Sokka was also continuing to smear her the ice cream in the face for her annoyance. He will take the ice cream she had smudged on him, to smear her back, and she will do the same. And without noticing, they both end it up laughing, lying next to each other int the grass, looking at the sky.
They stayed like that until the ice cream had gotten all sticky on their faces.
"There goes to waste two good ice creams," Sokka said when they were at the lakeside washing off the scraps of it from their faces.
"And who's fault is it?" Azula asked.
"YOURS!" Pointed out Sokka looking at her.
Azula sticks her tongue out at him.
Sokka rolled his eyes and laughed at her childish gesture and he looked at her while she was trying to wash off her bags that also got a little smudged.
"What?" Azula looked at him raising an eyebrow when she realized is an intense look upon her. "Do I still have something on my face?" she ran the back of her hand over her cheeks.
And then, he noticed a little spot she missed, "Yeah, just…" his hand reached to her cheek.
Sokka slowly wipes up her cheek with his thumb. "There." He looked away a little blushed, after the short moment of their eyes colliding, for the second time that night.
Azula released the air she didn't realize she had been holding, surprised at his action. "Thanks" She muttered, biting her lower lip, hoping the beating of her heart wasn´t too loud for him to hear.
Both returned to their washing trying to hide their respective red faces and being thankful for the lack of good light in the spot where they were standing.
Once done, they both stood up and decided to call it a night, so they started to walk towards the palace.
"Soo…" Azula broke the silence that grew between them with the first question she could think of.
"What?"
The Princess took one of his hands like the most normal thing and examined it with a frown.
"W-What are you doing?" Sokka asked startled, his heartbeat was rising again, just when he had got it to settle.
She pointed at a little scar in his thumb. "Here. What happens to your thumb?" she asked from mere curiosity.
"W-What?" he said a little groggily.
"It's just… W-When you...I kind of notice…" she said trying not to blush.
"Oh… It's really embarrassing, actually …" he made a grin.
"Huh." she smiled mischievously, "And now, I wanna heard it even more."
COLORS IN THE WIND DAY
DAY 5
"The Air Nomad diet is not my thing. I said it and I repeat it." Sokka grumbled making a grin of disgust.
"Well, the vegetarian diet is not for everyone," Aang said while there were having breakfast in the Royal dining. "Just as the Water Tribes food is not for everyone."
Most of the Nomads Festivals were during the day, which Azula thanked. She had gone to bed late the previous night, as she and Sokka stayed talking for a few hours after they arrived back at the Palace.
Still, they had to get up early to her displeasure.
The Colors in the Wind Festival was held at noon. This meant that she will get to have all the afternoon to sleep in if she felt like it, to regain all her lost hours of sleep.
"Agreed," Zuko said, "When I was at your Tribe I lost eleven pounds... And my diet was mostly based in seaweed noodles, and I don't like seaweed."
Azula rolled her eyes, "Zuzu… You have always been picky with food." Azula pointed.
"Yeah… You are the one to talk," he backfired, "You make grins to almost everything that smells."
"Hey! If it smells funny, I'm not eating it," she declared while digging into her rice plate. "That soups from the other day, I'm still not pretty sure about it.
"Yet, you eat it," Sokka said.
"To piss you. I wasn't going to give it to you," said Azula smirking. "But, I will give it to you. Your taiyaki are pretty decent."
"Well, we also have pretty desserts, right?" Aang asked his girlfriend raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, sweety. The fruit cakes are my favorites." They give each other a peck on the lips.
"Oi, Oi ..." Sokka complained with a grin of disgust. "I'm eating here!... Gods have little respect for others. Tsk!" he whined bitterly while digging into his food. His sister and the Avatar made their exchange more dragged on, to piss him off. "Oogies…" he said with his cheeks full of rice while pretending to get goosebumps.
Azula pointed at him with her chopsticks. "Hey. You eat or you speak. Not both at the same time." She scolded him.
Sokka pouted and his sister and Aang laughed.
Zuko smirked, "What? Jealous of other people happy?" he teased him, while surrounding Suki by the shoulders, and kissing her temple, which made the girl chuckle. The Prince smirked again and looked over at his sister. "By the way, aren't you two spending so much time together?" He asked looking at Azula and Sokka.
They glanced at each other across the table and said at the same time. "NO."
"That's what Zuko and I used to say before we started dating." Suki mocked.
"Aang and I too." Katara snickered.
Both Sokka and Azula rolled their eyes. "Can we change the subject?" Sokka asked.
"Buddy, you need to get a girlfriend so you are not so embittered," said Zuko quizzical.
"I'm not embittered!" Sokka replied.
"And Azula you…" he looked to his sister who was looking at him with raised eyebrows with crossed arms and two fingers up with a little blue flame.
"I dare you to say something… I dare you." she threatened him, narrowing her eyes. Zuko shrugged and returned to what he was doing with his girlfriend. "Ugr!..." she said pretending to gag, "I'm gonna throw up…" Azula said standing up at seeing his brother mushy exchange with his girlfriend. She punched him in the back of his neck. "It's too early for this! Stop it!"
"Ouch… What was that for?" he whined like a little kid. The Avatar and his girlfriend snickered as well as Sokka. Zuko gave them a dim look, and they covered their mouths.
Azula shrugged, with no expression. "You annoyed me," she sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And also, you should better fix little Zuko…" she whispered to him but making sure the three people at the other side of the table, and his girlfriend eared it too. "He is starting to show now." she mocked, with a smirk.
The Avatar and company laugh increased at the sight of a dumbfounded future Fire Lord, who looked down at his groin. The was nothing out of the normal…
"Azula!..." he shouted red in embarrassment and fury, at his sister who was walking out of the room. "That little…"
"Zuko, you are on fire," Aang said to him.
"I know! She knows how to piss me off," he said frowning, but he knew these were the consequences of his little trick earlier that week.
"No, darling. You are really on fire." Suki pointed at his shoulder, before patting him, to help extinguish it.
"Azulaa..." he grinned his teeth.
…
"Whoa…" Azula said startled as almost crashing with someone while leaving her chamber.
It was a couple of hours later after breakfast. She had had enough time to take a little -much need it- nap, as well as getting ready and changed into her only fully white cheongsam.
The Colors in the Wind festival required for every attendant to wear white clothes, which symbolized the purity, the cleanliness of the spirit, and the new beginnings.
At noon, the air nomads will climb up to the ceilings of the buildings all around town, where mountains of powered colors will be waiting for them. And using their air bending, they will spread the colors all over the Capitol City, drenching the white fabrics of the attendants.
According to the nomads, people's luck for next year will be determined by the dominant color in their clothes.
"Easy…" Sokka said as they almost crashed in o each other. "Are you okay?" he asked her holding her by the shoulders.
"Yeah…" she took a step back, after regaining her balance. "What are you doing here?" she raised an eyebrow.
"I was looking for you," he said with a side smile.
"Oh… Can spend more than two hours without me?" she mocked placing a hand on her chest, pretending to be touched. "You flatter me, water boy."
He shrugged, "I guess, I have been getting used to being around you." Sokka chaffed the back of his neck, with a little hit of red in his cheeks.
"Well, you shouldn't…" she patted him in the shoulder as they strode down the hallways. Azula had come to that conclusion after breakfast, after realizing the amount of time they had spent together. They better not get used to each other too much.
After all, he will leave and she will stay.
He raised an eyebrow. "What?" he couldn't understand the meaning of her words.
"I mean, don't get used to being around me so much," she explained without slowing down her steps.
"Why? Being around me is that torture for you?" he asked her wary and afraid of what her possible answer could be.
Sokka had been enjoying spending his last couple of days around the Princess. True they had a pretty rocky start, but once he passed that first scabby barrier of her personality, he realized she was someone quite fun and interesting to have around.
Her sarcastic personality, witty humor, and smart talks made her the perfect girl to be around. Not to mention it was for him as awkward being around his sister and her boyfriend, as for her being around her brother and Suki. At least, like that they had each other to be miserable together.
Azula shook her head. "That's not what I meant." She cleared stopping her tracks. "The thing is … Other than myself, you are the only other person in the Palace I´m available to have a full conversation without making me want to pluck my eyelashes one by one."
"Thanks?..." he made a grin, "I think?... But…" he crossed his arms and questioned her. "What about your friends?"
She nodded raising her eyebrows, "Ty Lee does makes me want to pluck my eyelashes, but I'm used to it by now, as for Mai… Since she got married she turned good at advising, but sometimes her gloomy personality is way too much, even for me…"
"Ohhh…" Sokka said, "But still, what do you mean by don´' get used to it…?" he tilted his head frowning.
Azula sighed, "Seriously?" she raised an eyebrow, and he nodded, "Well, you are here only for a month..."
"So…?"
She snorted and rolled her eyes, "Okay… Listen, you are leaving in a month… If we get so used to being around each other, by the time the month is up... getting back to the routine is going to be hard, you know?... " she shrugged, "And also, there is a huge probability we will never see each other, ever again." she said smiling sadly.
"I wouldn't say that…"
"Unless you come to visit," she shrugged, "...or as a diplomatic ambassador for your Tribe, I know. But, other than that…."
Sokka got her point, he knew she was right. Yet, he wanted to be around her for an unknown reason. "Well, I wouldn't mind coming to the Fire Nation from time to time…" he said, "Not only as diplomats but also to…." he stopped himself before he could finish that sentence.
"To….?"
"To see you," he whispered between teeth, with a little blush looking away so she wouldn't notice.
A side smile appeared in her face, and her heart flinched moved by his words. "That's nice to know… and I will be right here waiting for you."
His eyebrows raised and now it was time for his heart to leap. "Really?"
"Yeah…" she admitted, "I'm always going to be here anyway. People around me always come and go, but not me. I'm always here… And will always be." she said with a hit of gloom.
"Oh…" he said a little disappointed as he thought for a moment her words might have a different meaning.
Azula tilted her head as seeing his reaction. "What do you look so gloomy, suddenly?"
"No particular reason." he lied shaking his head, as they walked through the Palace gates.
They kept walking, enjoying each other company for a while now, in the streets of the Capitol at daylight, and when Azula head off a few steps from him, he looked at her more determinedly.
His eyes traced her full body, from the sole of her shoes, till her headpiece. Of course, taking more time than necessary in some to particular zones. Which, if she ever knew he did, Sokka was sure Azula would ripe his head off.
Her white cheongsam with gold details fitted perfectly every inch of her body, her raven hair was perfectly styled and made her natural beauty stand out.
She realized of his snickered analyzing gaze, and blushed a little bit, but managed to hide it with an annoyed frown, and crossed her arms, which she hoped he would mistake for anger. "What are you doing?" She asked scowling, and then she smirked. "I never thought of you as a perv…," she said mockingly.
Sokka raised his eyebrows, "Hey! I'm not a perv…" he denied whining.
"Then…? Care to explain, why were you looking at me like that?" she raised an eyebrow.
He swallowed hard, as he got caught red-handed. "I-I was… just…It's just... " he said with hesitation, scratching the back of his head before taking a deep breath. "You look… pretty." Sokka sounded more acute than what he would have wished.
Azula snorted with a smirk, after rolling her eyes. "I know," she imitated his actions and traced him from head to toe, without deceit. He was also looking for white clothes with small blue details, and she had to admit, he looked handsome. "You don't look so bad, yourself…You seem elegant." she teased, "Maybe even like nobility."
He laughed tilting his head back. "Oh dear lord… Now you are boosting my ego?" he asked jokingly.
She sighed, "You are right… I shouldn't do that," she shook her head, "Your ego must be quite big now, without me intervening, huh?" she smirked.
"Yeah..." he scratched the back of his neck "Well, it's no…"
She cut him off, "But you know what they say." Azula smirked mischievously shrugging. "Men with a big ego, it's compensation for tiny…. You know." she made a grin while playing with her bangs innocently.
"Yeah...WHAT?!" he shriek shocked getting the hidden meaning of her words, while the Princess laughed. "Do you wanna die?" he said grinning his teeth, but a little fun. He gave a step towards her, and she stepped back one, they repeated the same motion, and again. "Stop that! " he whined for her amusement.
"Make me!" she dared him teasingly, before rushing off away from him.
Sokka loved dares, and without a second thought, he went hasting behind her.
As the Princess was smaller and quicker than him, it was easier for her to elude people. And from time to time, she will look over her shoulder to either tease him even more or to just check if he was still behind her. Which he was.
He could identify her among the crowd of people, by her headpiece in her raven hair, and of course, by that beautiful smile, he will get a glimpse of from time to time, whenever she would turn to make sure he was chasing after her. His heart was crazy racing, not only from the stir of the chasing but also from realizing how pretty she looked with a joyful smile.
Azula stopped her steps, when she couldn't get a sigh of Sokka, maybe she had lost him in the number of people. But even when she stretched her neck as she tiptoed to look over the crowd, there was no Sokka to seem.
Then, two arms surrounded her from behind and raised her from the floor.
She squalled a little.
"Got you!" Sokka's voice sounded right by her ear.
Azula chuckled. "From where did you came from?" She asked him, he put her back down and turned to look at him.
"From there." He pointed to one of the surrounding streets. "I knew you were too fast for me, so I thought about something else," said Sokka still catching his breath.
Her mouth opened in protest, "You sneaky cheater." she complained.
"In my defense..." he raised his hands in defense as he shook his head. "It's not cheating, it's outsmarting…"
"Outsmarting my…" she was going to complain, but an extremely joyful Ty Lee appeared between the crowd.
"Azula, Azula, Azula, Azula," she repeated the Princess name while rushing towards her friend, dragging someone with her.
She rolled her eyes and snorted, "What? What? What? What?" the Princess mocked of her friend when she stopped in front of her.
"Not funny," Ty Lee complained pouting, and Azula rolled her eyes. "But, look, look…" she pointed at the person she had been dragging, and the Princess noticed it was a boy with long brown hair. She raised an eyebrow in confusion, was she supposed to know him?
"And this is?..." she made a grin.
"Haru! Dummy…" she gave him a kiss and the cheek and the boy blushed. "Azula this is Haru, Haru this is Princess Azula." she introduced them.
"It's an honor to meet you Princess…" he bowed. At least he had manners, she thought. "Ty Lee talked a lot about you."
"Not good things I hope." she teased with a smirk.
"Azula!" her friend scolded her, which made Sokka chuckled. Ty Lee's eyes landed on him. "Oh, and this is Sokka. He is from the Southern Water Tribe." The shook hands followed by a nice to meet you. "His father is the Chief in the South."
Ty Lee's eyes scanned the Princess and her company, and her eyes widened. "Did we interrupt something?" she asked with a little hit of mischief.
Azula and Sokka looked at each other and shrugged. "No." Both denied in unison.
Neither of them realized that Ty Lee's eyes landed for a moment in their hands, who were brushing each other. None of them found the feeling weird or uncomfortable, as they haven't even noticed.
If anyone saw them from afar, they could think they were even holding hands.
"By the way Azula," Ty Lee said, "Do you have a minute?"
"Now?"
"It's just a second." her friend said.
The Princess and Ty Lee walked a few steps to get a little privacy. "What is it." Azula inquired.
"Did you happen to run into Ty Woo, these past days?" asked Ty Lee.
"We ran into each other on the Moon Festival," said Azula, "Why?" she scowled.
Ty Lee sighed, "Because, the other day she came home sulking and muttering, and I thought I heard her said pretty nasty things."
"Yeah... Probably she was angry because she ran into us, during the festival," Azula explained, to then add, "And she kind of asked Sokka, to ditch me and show her off. "
"She didn't!" Ty Lee placed her hands over her mouth.
"She did," Azula affirmed, "But I told her off. I guess that must have pissed her off a lot." she crossed her arms over her chest.
"She must have got her eyes on him in the feast," Ty Lee scratched her temple, "Anyways. In that case, you know what that means, right?" she crossed her arms and smirked.
"Uhmm….I'm not following…" Azula narrowed her eyes.
"It means, that she is going to try to do everything to get him. So you have to be very careful with your boyfriend." Ty Lee mocked at the Princess.
A faint blush appeared in Azula's face. "He is not..." she lowered her voice, "He is not my boyfriend."
Ty Lee pointed at her face, "Then, why are you blushing?" her friend asked quizzically.
"Tsk…You..."
Ty Lee rolled her eyes, "Fine...You're not yet boyfriend." she teased, going back to where the boys were waiting.
"He is not my…. Tch! Never mind."
"We should go, honey." Ty Lee said holding Haru by the arm. "Let's show you around," she said as an excuse, to leave her friend and her accompany alone again. Not without giving her friend a mischievously smile.
"Sure," Haru said with a smile, surrounding her shoulders and kissing her temple.
"We will see you around guys." she waved at them, and Haru give a little nod towards the Princess before strolling away.
"Pleasure," Haru said before being dragged.
"Bye…" The Princess and her companion said.
"Are they dating?" Haru asked his girlfriend, as soon as they were out of both hearing ranges. "He didn't stop looking at The Princess at any moment."
Ty Lee shrugged with a smile towards him before he proceeded to entwined their fingers. She was going to make the Princess spill it all out, in their next meeting.
"That was weird," Sokka said as they saw the couple walk away.
Azula shrugged, "It's Ty Lee...It doesn't surprise me anymore." she sighed.
Suddenly, a gong sounded and the entire people in the main street stopped what they were doing.
Dozens of air benders included the Avatar ascend to the roofs.
The sound of thrums could be heard at the distance and the air nomads made some movements with their hands following the beat of them. People were looking at the air benders closely, at their movement, and in the air, they were twirling around. When the sound finally stopped, they made one last move… And then the entire air in the Capitol City was filled with the dust of colors.
After the dust finished falling, people reached to the stalls, where the more colored powder was waiting for them to throw to their loved ones and wish them good luck.
People screamed excited and in amusement all around as their white clothes got stained in multiple colors. Everyone was excited to find out their luck for their year.
"I don't believable in these types of things. Like, which color you get determines your luck or fortune-telling, but… I have to admit. It was fun." admitted Azula.
"Me neither." Sokka agreed, "But, yeah it was fun."
"Which colors did I get?" she asked.
"You got...Wait you are a mix of colors," Sokka said, "Lots of blue, red and oh look even pink".
"You also got those, but with a little of purple," she pointed a spot in his back.
"Really? Where…?"
"Here in the back." She pointed him on the spot.
"Wait, how are we supposed to know the meaning of the colors?" Sokka inquired, "Never mind, we can ask Aang later."
"Or we can find out now." Azula pointed to an announcement board.
They walked to the board, to take a look at the meanings of the colors. People around them, still throwing powder to each other.
"Blue means stability, confidence, tranquility, and affection." the Princess read out loud.
"Purple is wisdom, spirituality, vision, and dignity," Sokka read, "Seems decent."
Both agreed to proceed to read their last colors. They both frowned.
Azula let out a sarcastic huff, "That's why I don't believe in this kind of thing." she restored.
"Agreed," said Sokka after reading the meaning of red, walking away from the board.
"Azula?" A messy Zuko appeared between the crowd holding his girlfriend's hand. Both covered in dust. The Prince mostly in red and purple, while Suki in green and pink. "I didn't think I will see you enjoying this festival as it seems so… Messy for your likings" he said.
The Princess shrugged and sighed, "Well, we have to try and I thought I could be fun."
"Nice. In that case…" Zuko smirked, "I guess you will not be pissed if I did this, right?"
"Do what…" she could end her questions when her sibling threw a bunch of colored dust at her face. "You are dead." Azula smiled mischievously.
She reached to the nearest stall and tossed a bunch of powder to her brother, which slammed him right in the face. Azula laughed loudly, remembering their silly fights when they were little, and how much fun they were.
Zuko took more powder, but this time Azula dodged and smacked Sokka instead.
"Sorry, buddy." The Prince said.
"Sorry, nothing. You are gonna pay." Sokka smirked reaching for colored dust.
"Suki help," Zuko called for his girlfriend.
And suddenly, the four of them were acting like little kids. Running around dodging to void being smashed by each other's dust, trying to hit the other one, laughing loudly. It was all against all, then boys versus girls, or it was Azula and Sokka against Zuko and Suki, and lastly, even the Royal siblings got their chance to team up.
Zuko caught his sibling unaware, and once he got the hold of her, he didn't let her go. Zuko surrounded her waist and raised her with a hand.
"Huh? What are you doing, Zuzu?" the Princess squealed, "Put me down."
"Na ha." he smirked, "A little payback for all those pranks during our childhood."
"Don't you dare." she treated him narrowing her eyes.
A mischievous look appeared in Zuko's face. "I already did," And the next thing he did was throw an entire bucket of colored dust on top of her. He shook the dust of his hands with a proud smile. "You look so cute in pink." he mocked.
"You think?" Zuko smirked, "Well...So do you," she said before pinching him and making sure her hand left a pink mark all over his face. "Huh… Who would have thought that pink was your color." Azula mocked while shaking off the excess dust of her.
"She is right Zuko," said Suki chuckling, "It does fit you."
"Haha. " the Prince pouted at his girlfriend.
"Well, I have to admit." Sokka said shaking the dust of him, "Air benders do know, how to be festive."
A/N:
Foundation day: I's a completely invented festivity.
Colors in the wind: I's based in the Holi festival, and Hindu tradition. It's a spring celebration, which occurs principally in India and Nepal.
-Meanings of the colors:
Pink: Romance, love, beauty, and compassion.
Red: energetic, passion, romance and love.
I guess that explains why they didn't want to say it out loud, huh?