Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. If I did . . . Well, I do not own it, so my opinion is not relevant. I just hope you are enjoying this story I have here.

Betaed by Zim'sMostLoyalServant

As Time Goes By Part II

Azulon, the Dove's Kiss:

The four officers were enjoying themselves. They sat about the table in their private room in the gambling house's upper floor, their blades set aside to better relax around the table as they sipped sake. Their usual room, one of the best in the building and reserved unofficially for the third day of every other month and, as the owner was deep in debt to one of them, it came with all the amenities a middle aged man of power and leisure could want. As per their long established routine, they had concluded their business earlier and now treated themselves to dice, alcohol, and food.

There was some concern on the Princess, but she had been enlightened on how things worked in the city and had had backed down. Even a royal girl was still just a girl, after all. They weren't unreasonable; having even a casual enemy in royalty was dangerous, like with the last general they had agreed to offer her a cut of their profits to sooth any ruffled nerves. There had been some argument on the percentage but the matter was settled, and with a toast to the Fire Lord's health they had left behind business to reward themselves for their contributions to the glorious Fire Nation.

They turned their attention from the dice and piles of coins as the door opened to reveal a veiled geisha carrying a tray laden with four fresh bottles of Sake.

"We didn't order more, or one 'a you," the fattest officer smirked.

"The master sends me to you with his regards, he values your patronage," she whispered audibly as she bowed forward, kneeling and placing the tray on the table.

"Toji knows what I like, but aren't you stuffy with all that cloth?" The youngest one who had a stringy beard asked, as he reached for the bottle only for the girl to nimbly pluck it from the tray and refill his saucer. He smiled as she produced a pair of dice in between her fingers with a flick of the wrist.

"One piece shed for every roll. Han or Cho?" She asked, eyes narrowing above her veil. They didn't notice, leering at the game and thinking of the reward. Bets were placed, the dice were rolled, more pale skin was revealed, and she refilled their saucers with each roll.

Finally, the geisha was stripped down to her chest bindings, surprisingly billowing underpants, and her veil.

"Han," she stated mutely. The men gave a sigh of some frustration, one even grumbling tease as he lifted his saucer to find it dry, when she removed her veil.

"Don't I know you?" The elder among them asked, leaning forward to focus with blurry eyes.

Mai didn't answer his question. Reaching into her shorts, she withdrew a throwing knife and in one smooth motion let it fly. When it ripped into the old man's throat, she was already on top of the table. Drunk and flatfooted, the young one and the other one could only shout in confusion as she cut them down with her second blade. Pivoting on her heel, she saw the fat one come to his feet drawing his sword. Her second and last knife buried itself beneath his chins before the tip cleared the sheath.

She was cold as she retrieved her knives, uncharacteristically ignoring the mess her hands became pulling them out of the warm corpses. She retrieved the veil from where it had fallen, concealing her identity, and because she was cold, she grabbed the robe from her geisha outfit.

Toji waited outside to show her quickly out. She would be back in her own quarters when he raised the alarm at the agreed time. For his ignorance and cooperation his debts would vanish.

An hour later Mai laid down in her bed expecting the usual insomnia that had plagued her since childhood. It came sure enough, a familiar pest that was almost a friend, but the cold was new. And it was most unwelcome in the night.

Azula loved it when things went according to plan. The Princess-turned-General would never admit it, but she had not expected things to turn out as well as they had. Mai assassinating the cabal of corrupt officers that had so much influence in the city underworld and corruption in the government had gone as expected. After all, Mai was not only chosen for loyalty, but competence. And as expected, chaos had erupted with various underworld factions and members of the government – corrupt and otherwise – blamed each other while trying to take advantage of the power vacuum.

Azula had used her status and budding power to help the city fathers crack down on the criminal element while purging their ranks of bought men. Well, purging the ones not brought into the fold. Azula also now served as patron to some less than reputable characters in need of protection.

The public blame for the officers' death was laid on the heads of Earth Kingdom rebels. They had executed some prisoners that had been lying around in the dungeon for the crime. In the end, those in the new order of the city had benefited from the deaths and thus did not see a need to ask questions despite knowing better.

The role of the Third Army in crushing the flare up of gang violence had seen her star rise among the people. The masses may be filthy, but their support was vital to her long-term goals. She had also established the beginnings of cooperation with the city fathers, making it clear she would support them, rather than undermine their authority like her predecessor. The underworld assets were a bit distasteful, but she doubted anyone could wipe out organized crime, so it was better to control it, curb its excesses, and grow powerful with it.

All in all, she was well on her way into making Azulon as a whole a base of support for her personally. And as Azulon was the jewel of the Colonies, her influence would spread in time, and quicker than normal if she had anything to do with it.

As for the Third Army, the deaths of the leading men in corruption had allowed housecleaning aplenty. Most other big players had decided it was too hot in the kitchen and retired home or requested transfers. That faction had basically fallen apart with the parasites either trying to play innocent, align with others, or quietly being purged as old grudges ran their course.

Combined with their role in restoring order in the city, the brief crisis had given some pride back to the tarnished army. And more importantly, she was here to take credit for it in their eyes. Not even close to the intensely loyal deadly war machine that would secure Zuko's throne, but every great strategy begins to unfold with a single move.

Azula wondered if she was more brilliant than she thought, looking over personnel scrolls trying to determine appropriate long-term replacements for some of the now vacant postings.

Rather, she was trying to look them over; Ty Lee kept glancing at her and looking away. The General would never claim to see auras, but she didn't need to in order to tell that the girl she was trusting with her life was agitated about something.

On the one hand it was likely something stupid she didn't want to know about it. On the other, Ty Lee would annoy her by not telling until she asked. Why was it that the most worthy people for her companionship had to be strange?

"What is it Ty Lee?" Azula already regretted asking it, rolling up her scroll. Ty Lee blinked in surprise, looking at Azula as her friend turned her attention on her.

"I didn't say anything," Ty Lee responded with genuine innocence. Azula rolled her eyes before dignifying that with a reply.

"Please, you were fidgeting so much you either want to say something or you need a chamber pot. So either go or say what you feel you need to," Azula stated. Ty Lee rubbed her forearm with her free hand; she was feeling guilty about what she was going to ask. Azula tried to list what the acrobat could have done that she needed to confess. What she did say wasn't on Azula's list.

"I'm really worried about Mai," Ty Lee blurted, sighing in relief as if the weight was not just metaphorical in getting it off her chest.

"Mai?" Azula responded, some surprise creeping into the one word question. Ty Lee was able to catch it from long-term association with the Princess and gave a frown, albeit it was a cute little frown, appearing on her face for a moment.

"Yes, Mai's depressed," Ty Lee continued. Azula rolled her eyes and opened her scroll up again.

"Mai's always depressed, if she's happy it's a cause for concern," Azula answered.

"Well, yeah. But this is worse than usual," Ty Lee pressed still with that same expression.

"Mhm," Azula answered, clearly paying hardly any attention now.

"She doesn't boss the troops around like she has been and she isn't even doing a good job on what you tell her to do," Ty Lee insisted. That got Azula's attention; Ty Lee took a step back as those predatory eyes swung to regard her.

"What?" Azula demanded. Ty Lee wondered for a moment why she wanted her scariest friend's undivided attention, but recalling Mai managed to gather herself.

"Well, wasn't this something Mai is supposed to be doing?" Ty Lee asked pointing to the personnel scrolls. Azula realized her pink acrobat was right; this was something she had told Mai to do. Things had been so busy she had just taken what was on her desk and done it with little regard. The slip up on her part was only slightly less infuriating than the apparent laziness on Mai's part.

Mai was meant to be the person she could trust and count on if nothing else, unreliability was unacceptable!

"I think it started when..." Ty Lee began helpfully. She was cut off as Azula's hand snapped up in a clear gesture for her yojimbo to be quiet.

"I can guess. Where is Mai now?" Azula inquired, seeming to have calmed down. Ty Lee hesitated, knowing a suddenly calm Azula was the worst kind of Azula.

"Probably in her room; she hasn't been getting out much," Ty Lee answered quickly. Azula nodded; without further words she rose from her desk and set off from the room. Well, Ty Lee was certain if anyone could force someone out of a funk it would be her friend the princess – she just hoped fire wasn't involved.

Azula knew she had been inexcusably overlooking Mai when she opened the doors in to her right hand woman's chamber. The place was a mess, not sloppy or anything, but it clearly had not been dusted or refurbished in sometime; what's more, the scent of alcohol was in the air. She spotted Mai rolling off the bed, looking like she hadn't cleaned or changed for the day at all.

"Its polite to knock you know," Mai stated. Azula frowned and turned to close the doors behind her.

"Mai, explain yourself," Azula demanded, walking to stand before the pale girl sitting on her bed.

"Where to begin?" Mai asked rhetorically. She began to reach for a sake bottle on her nightstand but Azula smacked her hand away from it, earning the princess a scowl.

"Since when are you a drunk?" Azula inquired icily.

"Since I found out what it's like to be a murderer," Mai answered. Azula was again surprised; she had guessed the mission had something to do with this, but to have it laid out so… The General had guessed Mai would have no problem ridding the world of such hog-like men. Was she wrong?

"They got what they deserved, if anything the world is better off without them," Azula responded, hoping to put the matter to rest quickly.

"Easy for you to say, you knew you would benefit from the being dead," Mai rebutted.

"I've killed too, or are you to sotted to remember that?" Azula asked, growing irritated.

"That was a battle, and they would have killed you. Those men, even if they had been sober, would have never stood a chance. They were just alive and then all dead in a minute," Mai groaned. Azula frowned at her friend; a part of her wanted to comfort Mai and tell her this was her fault, another though was upset that Mai was not nearly as strong as she had thought.

"Mai, this is pathetic.

"Don't interrupt, adjutant. You knew those knives of yours are meant for killing. If you wanted to fight without killing you should have pursued a martial arts like Ty Lee. All these years you act emotionless and detached, only to let you heart show now? I expected better.

"You knew I was asking you to go to war, and you knew I wouldn't just be fighting the enemies of the Fire Nation. And you knew I would use all of your talents, you're too smart to claim otherwise.

"If you want to keep some kind of innocence or honor I won't stop you, but I won't keep you either. The Mai I see as a friend is one of the few people strong enough to stand up to me, a warrior who can pin a fly to a tree across a field, and can act without hesitation. This weak girl shirking her duties to wallow in her misery like a pig in mud… I want nothing to do with this stranger.

"If you're not willing to pay the price for being your own woman, then crawl back to your mother and father. Keep your conscience clean being married off and popping out a brood of children while your husband runs your life. A life without power means having to never take responsibility; the power to make your own way means having to live with what you do.

"Tomorrow, be ready to tend to your duties, or have your resignation ready," Azula declared, turning and opening the door to flood the room with light from the hallway. She didn't look back as she closed the door, because she could not be certain her apprehension was hidden well enough.

The Dawn Runner:

Iroh was having tea with Katara when his nephew knocked. He knew it was Zuko for two reasons. One, the men rarely disturbed him in his quarters; for most matters they went to Lt. Jee, despite the association that comes with close quarters they were still hesitant to bother him. Secondly, his nephew had a distinct knock that Iroh recognized even though his nephew was probably unaware of it.

The General called out that he could come in. Katara sighed, guessing it was the Prince and that the closest thing she had to pleasant distraction was about to be soured. Then a smiling Zuko opened the door and walked in. A smiling Zuko.

Iroh, having known him since his birth, was familiar with the phenomenon, but still raised a curious eyebrow at the rare sight. Pleasant surprises were like spices, not essential to a good meal, but they could make a good dish into an excellent dish.

For Katara though, the Prince seemed to embody grim moods and frustration like her brother had foolishness. Granted, it was a small smile, but nonetheless it was clear he was actually happy about something rather than just pleased. Surely the world was tilting and the ocean was dripping off the edge into the void.

"Prince Zuko, your spirits seem high. Would you care to share the reason for your fine mood over some tea?" Iroh offered. He was curious; it couldn't be something to do with the Avatar, a new lead would have his nephew in a frenzy fit to get out and push the ship to make it go faster.

"Sure," Zuko acquiesced. He took the empty side of the tea table closest to him and let his uncle set and fill a cup for him. He really was in a mood to take tea so easily, especially with Katara present, both the General and the secret Waterbender thought.

Despite accepting a seat he gave no apparent attention to the tea, handing a scroll they had failed to realize he was holding to Iroh. As the General unfurled the scroll and read, Zuko took a sip of his tea. His expression didn't change, no sign of whether he found it pleasing or not. He acknowledged Katara's attention with a look and a nod that while not exactly cutting edge etiquette was polite enough.

"Is it news?" Katara asked the General. Looking up from the scroll, the elder Firebender clearly did not share his nephew's enthusiasm but he mustered some cheer.

"There has been a great victory on the Frontier, the great fortress-city of Kosin has fallen to the Third Army lead by General Azula," the General stated. Zuko was oblivious to any indiscretion on his Uncle's part, supplying more without prompting.

"The victory took fewer casualties than all the failed attempts by other commanders; they even managed to unhinge the line advancing past the secondary defenses. Even now, with Earthbenders halting the advance, this new bulge undermines the Earth Kingdoms hold on the entire province," Zuko outlined with naked pride.

Katara would have found it irritating if she didn't know him better, taking such pride as if it was his own achievement. As it was, she knew he was happy for his sister achieving something with her martial endeavors. She wondered how many lives had been ruined and ended in Kosin for this "great victory". Whatever the number, the reminder of the war was unwelcome, her tea tasting bitter on her tongue.

"It is always good when an objective is achieved with minimal losses. Azula deserves praise for that," Iroh raised his cup to the words. Prince Zuko grinned a bit wider, lifting his own cup to his uncle's in the toast.

'Minimal is far from none, dear nephew. This victory will mean less to families who lost their sons, glory is never enough to make up for the loss,' Iroh wanted to say. But he knew it would mean nothing to Zuko, it would only drive a wedge between him and the young man whose black mood had lifted even if only for one day.

"To Azula, the next great general of the Fire Nation," Zuko announced, lifting his cup.

"To the swift end of the war," Iroh supplied something he could sincerely drink too. Uncle and nephew touched their cups gently before drinking. Iroh sipped, thinking on his own wartime with weariness, while Zuko drained his cup, imagining Azula adorned in armor surveying the broken city, planting a banner atop the rubble that was once some grand structure. The smile he wore with that thought was one common to young men.

Katara watched them, pushing her own cup aside; it was another moment that reminded her she was out of place. No matter how much time passed she was still among the enemy; however kind they could be, the roles would never change.

Somewhere in the Occupied Earth Kingdom:

Someone had once said no plan survives contact with the enemy. Jet had to respectfully disagree; most plans don't survive contact with the enemy was more accurate. Looking over the sacked supply train he grinned, twitching the piece of straw in his mouth; this was one of those exceptions.

It was morning, but not early morning in the woodlands this road cut through. Night and sunset or dawn may be considered good times to attack, but the Fire Nation shared this opinion. Strike the enemy when he doesn't expect and you take a great leap towards victory in the battle. And the scents in the air spoke of victory.

There was a time the scent of blood and smoke would have dredged up unwelcome memories, but the scents in the air no longer touched him as anything more than informative. His freedom fighters had grown since his successful destruction of the barracks town; their reputation had gained them contact with and recruits from other resistance groups across the occupied territories.

And since the Fire Nation no longer had a real presence in that valley, he had left to try and drive them out of the rest of the continent. That had been what had first brought him to the attention of the masses and the various resistance groups. It was fitting to destroy the Fire Nation and its collaborators with water of all things, and with zero losses for his Freedom Fighters.

And today he proved once again that he wasn't just talk like other so-called Resistance leaders. Never mind honor – victory is victory and against the Fire Nation and its cronies he would use whatever worked.

"Too much stuff for us to carry Jet," Pipsqueak called out to him. Jet turned slightly to the large broad young man leaning out of the armored wagon. Supplies were always good; he found the masses couldn't be relied upon to support the cause. Still, he would sooner plunder from the Fire Nation than his backsliding countrymen.

"Take what we most need, burn the rest," Jet told him. He proceeded, knowing his men would follow his orders; he had never given them reason to doubt him after all. Supplies denied to the Fire Nation were nearly as good as supplies for his own men.

His expression darkened as he saw two people kneeling off to the roadside under the watch of a stoic looking archer and a wild looking youth in a lightly armored outfit that was once an Earth Kingdom military uniform. Smellerbee had dropped the face paint at some point for some; he didn't pry into what his Freedom Fighters did so long as they continued to serve the cause well. She was much more clearly a woman now, hardly feminine but at least she was not mistaken for a boy now.

Jet scowled at the two prisoners under the watch of two of his most valued Freedom Fighters.

"I said we needed one hostage," Jet addressed his friends. The tone wasn't angry, irritated definitely, but he wouldn't get angry unless they offered a poor excuse for this lapse.

"She's not Fire Nation Jet," Smellerbee answered gesturing to one of the prisoners. Jet looked down on them, shifting his grass piece as he tapped the pommel of one of his swords.

One of them was a young man, around an age with him. Never seen battle before today – he still stank of peace, even shivering in a soldier's uniform. The woman was older, closer to thirty than twenty, quite beautiful probably if not for her smeared make up and formerly dressed hair all tossed about on her shoulders. Her clothes, while tainted, were unmistakably aristocratic, Earth Kingdom aristocratic.

"Prisoner?" Jet asked Longshot. The archer gave him a look.

"I see; why would you be traveling with foreigners?" Jet asked. Both prisoners cringed as the wild warrior before them seemed to grow more dangerous.

"Please, I can be ransomed," she begged clasping her hands and staring at the ground.

"This was going to the fort, there is only one reason a woman would go there. You collaborating whore," Jet stated icily.

"Please, I have-" she continued to beg, never seeing the sword that lopped her head off. The boy soldier cried out as the head rolled toward him. Smellerbee averted her eyes, clinging her sword tight for a moment, while Longshot watched sadly and as silent as ever. Jet turned his attention to the remaining prisoner.

"You get to keep your life, but you head back the way you came or you will die before you reach the fort. You live to spread the word – nowhere is safe for the Fire Nation, or for traitors," Jet told the youth, pressing him back with his bloodied blade never quite touching him. The boy nodded and Jet gestured with the blade for him to go, flicking some of the blood on his face.

As the boy dressed in a man's uniform ran, Pipsqueak and the others lit up the wagons stacked with the bodies of their foes. It stank like pork and smelled like victory; Jet was smiling again as he stepped over the headless mother-to-be, not wasting a thought to the Fire Nation cub that had been inside her.

Azulon

:

All could agree it had been a fine banquet, despite the awkward circumstances. General Azula's return to the city was welcome; despite only having commanded Third Army for two years she had already gained great stature in the public eye. The Third Army itself was mostly gone from the city, stationed again at the front where it was winning glory yet again. True her achievements had yet to truly rival those of her predecessors, but just glancing at her one could nearly feel the truth that they were witnessing a new legend unfold.

Such awe and her long absence made her rare returns all the more valuable. And this was no routine matter of meeting with officials and the like; she was on her way to attend her father's wedding. The Fire Lord's wedding would mean a public holiday; banquets for the cream of society, parties for the merchants and tradesmen, and street festivals for the commoners. Tonight was just a taste of what was to come.

Sadly here was a certain lingering sourness that had marked the night's festivities, the guest of honor, Crown Prince Zuko. The Crown Prince was a strange character in the play that was the high society of the Fire Nation. Despite being the heir, little was known about him beyond the fact that he had failed to retain the Fire Lord's favor in the face of his sister's brilliance, and his indiscretion with a slave girl had seen him all but banished.

To one child the Fire Lord gave a single vessel and a quest that verged on the absurd. While to the other he granted an entire army and the opportunity to prove her worth in conquest.

A meeting between the legal heir and the heir the masses wanted was certain to be awkward as the Royal General hosted her technically higher ranked brother. The Prince was well on his way to being a man; he was already tall and powerful like his father, whose features showed prominently in his face. Clearly rumors of indiscretion on the late Fire Lady's part were unfounded. The greatest difference between the Prince and a young Ozai was how he held himself.

The Serpent Prince who had held such sway in the court was a master of intrigue and back dealing, his eyes severe and calculating, every motion calculated. This Wandering Prince, as he was called, had power and seemed irritated at the ceremony where he was obliged to thank his rival for the throne and present a gift that would have to be delivered by her to the wedding in his place. The Prince claimed to the public he could not stray from his search for the Avatar, but rumor had it that the Fire Lord had not even extended an invitation to his heir. And then there were those that said the Wandering Prince still mourned his mother and resented the coming marriage as disrespectful.

The handsome willful prince; despite the awkwardness, it was a pleasure for the well-connected guests to see him. An oddity is an object of interest regardless of class.

With the final words spoken to the guests, the siblings bid each other a good journey and retired. Their escorts as they rose told the world of difference between the royals. Zuko was accompanied by his storied, but spent, Uncle who had spent the evening sampling tea and chatting with old comrades from the Third. And by a nervous Lieutenant Jee, who had been dragged along for some reason to a gathering above his station. By contrast, Azula was accompanied by the two elegant noble women that served as her yojimbo and adjutant, and a gaggle of officers vying for her favor.

Little did the guests know they had been treated to quite the performance that evening. Or that the truly intriguing event of the night was yet to unfold between the two royals gracing their city.

Dressed all in black, the Prince laid on the bed in the chamber his sister had vacated. Her rank gave her the finest quarters and his rank obliged her to surrender them to him for his visit. It wasn't her actual chamber though. He could barely feel her presence in the room; he would bet anything she resided in some military building surrounded by her martial power.

Zuko was restless – granted, he had been restless throughout the last two years of fruitless searching. Frustration did not begin to cover what he felt when training or his studies were not occupying his attention. He studied geography and the history of Water and Earth hoping to find some clue as to where either nation might harbor the Avatar, or how he might use them. He had legally plundered the library of many officials on the Continent, using his authority as crown prince to commandeer the scrolls. He returned them when he committed them to memory; or rather he sent them back by courier. Uncle had commented he was becoming quite the scholar of foreign cultures.

His training came next; finding the Avatar would mean nothing if he was merely crushed in that first encounter. Uncle was strong, but his crew was nothing spectacular. Even if the Avatar was as old as the Mad King (as some mocked him), those mockers forgot the Mad King had in the space of one day escaped a steel coffin and single-handedly taken back his city. And when the Fire Nation returned to claim it again, the King had collapsed the city destroying the army opposing him utterly, while escaping to fight another day.

He wasn't at Azula's level yet, but he had no doubt she continued to advance. A pity they could not spar; it would be interesting foreplay if nothing else, he grinned lecherously in the dark. A giggle alerted him to someone else's presence in the darkness.

He sprang to his feet, cursing himself for being snuck up on. The intruder mistakenly thought he was gong to cry out, as a hand smacked over his mouth and stayed there. He smelled cherries and felt the strange combination of a fighter's strength and callous free hands.

Ty Lee, his sister's pet. Dressed in dark gray no less, she gestured to the window and he took her meaning. He followed the grey pixie as a black shadow on the walls and rooftops of the compound, silent and unrecognized.

The trip to the meeting place was unorthodox to say the least, but while not an acrobat of Ty Lee's caliber he was able to keep up with his sister's justified paranoia. Than again, when she led him into a less inhabited branch of the palace and indicated a door, he found himself wondering if they had been cautious enough.

Still, life had taught him cynicism was the beast medicine for arrogance.

Then Azula opened the door just enough to pull him through and into a kiss that became an embrace. It had been so long.

He had known he was hungry, but starvation had made him forget. The first taste made the lacking come to the fore. She affected amusement, greeting him in a simple red robe when they let each other breath; her hair was down, her face already cleaned of make up. Bare under the silk she wore, he knew without having to see. Yes, she affected her teasing as he stepped away from the threshold and Ty Lee closed the door behind him, shutting out everything in the world but Azula.

He recalled how earlier he thought sparring would make for good foreplay; but that was just stupid. Her eyes told him she was just as hungry as him, and there was no reason under the sky she would let him delay.

No issue there, he wasn't going to wait. Forcing his hand under her loose collar her cupped her shoulder. His free hand pulled the silk away and the robe fell to the floor. She didn't resist him picking her up; she made a sound of amusement at it. This was new, he was stronger than last time, and he would show that in more ways than this trifling, Zuko thought as he lowered her onto the bedding.

"Azula," Zuko stated, looking up at the ceiling.

"Hrh?" she responded, her own face down on a cushion next to him. Zuko couldn't help but smile at that; he liked to think he was the only one Azula was willing to show such a human reaction too.

"I've been thinking," he elaborated. Azula rolled to her side, propping herself on her elbow with a hand on her head, giving him a nice view and her attention.

"Congratulations," she told him with a too serious tone. He gave a soft bark of laughter to that before looking more serious and sitting up.

"Have you thought about what will happen after the war?" Zuko asked her. Azula frowned at the back of his head; this was out of the blue.

"Well, the Fire Nation will have the entire world under its thumb and we will essentially be able to do as we please. The Earth Kingdom won't last more than ten years, then I suppose we will focus on those rebel infested territories and building up the navy to destroy the North Pole at some point," Azula speculated, reclining herself on the cushions. She couldn't see Zuko frowning.

"That may be how the war ends, but what do we do after it ends? Except for King Bumi I don't think anyone remembers a time the world wasn't at war," Zuko insisted.

"I imagine it will be like the occupied territory only larger. Well, we would likely want to empty the North, it's just too troublesome to fight Waterbenders in a country made out of their element," Azula decided.

"But the occupied territory is only good for Colonials and the collaborators, and do we really want to wipe out another nation?" Zuko demanded. Azula frowned, now sitting up; this was not how she wanted to spend this rare visit.

"And what would you do?" Azula asked. It was meant to be rhetorical before she got him back to "business" but she could see it was the question he had been waiting for. Personally, while she wouldn't want to be the one to do it, doing to the Continent what had been done to Azulon Province seemed like a good method for securing Fire Nation dominance.

"Our great-grandfather had a vision Azula, he didn't start the war for the sake of war. I've been reading his scrolls, old ones about his time with Avatar Roku and after as Fire Lord. Roku was his best friend, since before Roku was revealed as the Avatar. Sozin's single regret about following the path of his vision was becoming Roku's enemy," Zuko told her.

Now he had her attention, as she didn't know much about Roku; history painted him as a traitor and condemned him for destroying a wing of the old royal palace. How did Zuko know this? Uncle she guessed, as a former Crown Prince he would likely have been privy to the unaltered history of the Fire Nation in his heyday.

"Sozin didn't betray his closest friend or destroy the old peace just so the Fire Nation could burn the rest of the world to the ground. He saw that the world had stagnated outside the Fire Nation. The Air Nomads were so concerned with enlightenment they didn't bother trying to improve or change the physical world, either wandering aimlessly or wasting their lives meditating on mountains to no end. The Water Tribes are barbarians never looking beyond bending and old customs for solutions and treating their women as second-class citizens. And the Earth Kingdom is a mess of conservative stagnation, class boundaries, and misogyny.

"Sozin believed the world was only prevented from collapsing by the Avatar forcing the status quo. He wanted to replace the old order with a new one, the nations united under a single government to bring all the resources and skills of the nations towards common goals. The Fire Nation alone has achieved so much, imagine what three nations united could achieve," Zuko proclaimed. Azula hit him in the face with a cushion, deliberately ending his moment.

"Nice speech, now you just need to convince them to let go of a century plus grudge and be friends. Not to mention get our people to see the enemy as no longer the enemy and concede the privileges of being the conquerors," Azula told him.

"Well, yeah, but I refuse to think the war's end should be followed by even more tyranny and genocide. Sozin didn't even believe in slavery," Zuko defended, abashed by her frankness.

"The war isn't over yet; I need to become a lot more famous and powerful before it does. Otherwise, you won't be Fire Lord and make those pretty ideas something close to reality," Azula leaned in. Zuko smiled at the backhanded compliment, before bolting straight as her hand slipped between his legs.

"Now enough talk," Azula commanded him.

South Pole, Dawn Runner:

Zuko stood on the observation deck of his ship, his cloak hanging loose around his armored frame as he surveyed the frozen wasteland stretching out before him.

The South Pole… it was just as desolate as his studies had led him to believe, deathly cold water and ice-choked land filled the landscape. It was hard to believe a civilization had once thrived in this place.

He could see why the Southrons had once taken to raiding and settling the coasts of the Fire Nation; what man would readily accept this wasteland as his inheritance?

No man now, as it turned out. The Southern Raiders and their comrades had never succeeded in destroying the Southern Water Tribe, but they had stripped them of their benders over the generations, and finally driven them to flee. The South was empty save for the odd Fire Nation outpost to make sure it stayed that way.

He had scoured what he could of the known world these past years; the only places he hadn't searched were the frozen north of the Rump Earth Kingdom, and this empty place. The Avatar had to be here, surely if he was living among the enemy they would have sent him into battle by now, they could not afford to withhold him, even if the power of the Avatar was only half of what legend recorded.

Movement on the deck below drew his attention – Katara. She was more heavily bundled than him or the other Firebenders. Strange that he and his people were better equipped to survive this place than the ones who lived here. Azula would consider it another sign of Fire's superiority but Zuko was a bit intrigued by the idea. Had they relied so much on their benders to make this land livable?

He dismissed the line of questioning from his thoughts; he had more important matters to address than the society of a dying civilization. Zuko could all but feel a tingle in the air, he had felt it with the pirate attack and his faithful meeting with Azula; something was happening here.

His prey was close; he willed it to be so. Zuko had studied what he could of the other three bending arts, knowledge he would need if he was to have any hope of defeating a master who could call on three elements.

"Soon Avatar," he whispered to the wind, obsession lighting his eyes.

Not that far away another young man prone to obsession was on the hunt. Sokka of the Water Tribe made his way through the icy shore scouring for signs of prey. The Water Tribe commander was a tall if skinny man, who had unsuccessfully tried to grow a beard only to settle for a thin mustache. The mustache did not add a great deal to his appearance, but facial hair had become a point of pride for him at some point.

"Yet another great installment in the legend of Sokka, reduced to hunting for food while my men prepare my ambush plan. Those penguin traps should have worked, it's not my fault they took all the food. You would think being a war hero would earn you some margin for error, but no, the universe just loves kicking me were it hurts," he griped to the deserted landscape.

Despite his remarks he knew his men were loyal, after all they had agreed to come on this unsanctioned mission. They had known for a while that the Fire Nation's crown prince was traveling the world searching for the Avatar, a fool's errand, but the rumors did not speak highly of the Fire Lord's spare's intelligence. What had perked Sokka's interest a few months ago was when word reached him of a Water Tribe girl that accompanied him. Her name was Katara.

Everyone he spoke to assured him that it might not be his sister; it wasn't an uncommon name. Besides, the Fire Lord would not have sent his son out unprotected, and the standing allied naval strategy was to hit the enemy's weak points, not pick fights with powerful opponents.

It would carry more weight if his father hadn't let it slip he had known for some time. Sokka did not feel like being reasonable on this, his father had no right to keep something like this from him.

Toph had been the only voice of support for his plan; the rest had preferred not to risk him. The less sung side of being a war hero was that the people in charge didn't want you to do heroic stuff because loosing you would be bad for morale. And again they insisted it was most likely not his sister.

Well fuck them. They had lied to him or at the least kept him from knowing about this. He thought that entitled him to an impulsive maverick act. It was this sort of thing that made him a success in the war in the first place.

Even if it weren't his sister, and some other Katara, it would still mean taking something back from the Fire Nation. Good enough.

The sound of laughter jolted him from reverie; with comical poses he surveyed the surrounding ice flows. At last he caught sight of it, a young dolphin seal. He resisted the salivation the soon-to-be-meat creature induced. Notching an arrow he took careful aim, and loosed. The arrow bounced harmlessly off the ice, the prey having leaped into the water and emerged on another tiny iceberg. Sokka loosed again with the same results and again, and again...

The infuriating porpoise leaped now unto the brim of a fairly large iceberg and seemed to applaud his futile efforts.

"I will not be mocked by my dinner!" Sokka screeched with a pitch he would never admit to. Reaching into his quiver he discovered that he was fresh out of arrows. His eyebrow started to twitch and with a fiendish grin he withdrew a grenade he had pilfered from some Firebenders from his pouch. Setting off the fuse, he hurled the fiery death ball at the obnoxious marine mammal laughing maniacally. The creature caught the grenade on it snout and after balancing it for a few seconds tossed it up to the iceberg where it sank into a crevice, and slid back into the water. As the fullness of his actions sank in Sokka's expression fell and he slouched in preemptive defeat.

"I did a bad thing," he admitted plainly.

The grenade went off and with fire flashing from the crevice the iceberg blew apart. Ducking and covering, Sokka wondered how far exactly the sound had carried, in particular to a ship that was supposed to arrive in a few hours. The ice no longer falling, he stood up and decided that while any prey was long gone, at least the Firebenders probably had not even noticed the boom. As if in answer, a pillar of brilliant light shot up from the iceberg, cleaving the sky in two.

"OH COME ON!" Sokka yelled, striking his forehead. There could no longer be any doubt – the Universe hated him.

AN:

No reviews makes me sad. I can understand if you are disappointed at the terrible update schedule. But still I would rather hear your grievances than be answered with silence. CC is always welcome too. I am surprised that I can't recall getting flamed for this pairing; guess it's too marginal for the jerks to bother.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I hope to have the next one out in about two months, hopefully sooner. I also fixed some continuity issues.

AN2: Zim'smost;oyalservant is a trooper stepping up to help me despite not being a fan of the pairing. But I feel bad asking this of him when he does so much to help me as a beta on other stuff. So I am looking for a beta for this story who doesn't mind the pairing; if interested PM me.