There was a whooshing noise as the steel blade spun through the air. It curved, slicing cleanly into the moon peach as though it was made of air. The fruit split in two with a wet splat, both halves landing neatly on the plate.
"Woohoo! See the master at work!" Sokka hollered, ambling over to the post the plate was perched upon.
Grinning to himself in pride, he picked up one of the pieces, bringing it to his eye and examining the perfect cut before shoving it in his mouth.
He looked to the girl behind him, who stared back with a look of complete disinterest. He waved the other peach half at her.
"Want it?" He asked her, still chewing.
Azula blinked slowly, shaking her head once after a moment. Sokka shrugged, taking a bite out of it. When the peach was completely devoured, he regarded his companion again.
"So," he began, wiping his chin free of juice with the back of his hand, "since we're still waiting on Hawky to arrive from the Earth Kingdom, and you're somehow not enthralled by my amazing skills, what do you feel like doing in the meanwhile?"
The young woman's face tightened in momentary disdain at uncouth action, before her brow furrowed. After a moment's contemplation she rose from the carved marble bench, turning back towards the palace.
"I feel like being somewhere peaceful on my own and out of these horrendous rags," the princess stated.
Sokka's eyebrow rose as he examined her. The firebender was wearing a long black dress made of pure unadorned silk. Since Azula's own clothes no longer fitted her, she had been forced to borrow something from Mai which hadn't pleased either of them.
Still, until the royal tailor had finished making her something suitable, she had no choice but to wear it. Zuko had managed to find some of Ursa's old clothes that had somehow survived Ozai's purges after he exiled his wife, and had been very angry after Azula torched them herself.
"Well, sadly I can't help you with either of those things, I'm afraid," Sokka denied her.
Azula's lips peeled back into a snarl, but Sokka ignored her aggressive display with practiced ease. After a moment a thought struck him.
"Hey, I have an idea, actually. Why don't you do some meditating or something? Don't you firebenders love to do that? Zuko's always going on about how it 'helps ease the inner fire' or whatever."
Azula considered this. Meditation had been a constant in her life in previous years, helping her tame her firebending. It had been a necessity on her path to creating lightning. She'd since given up the practice during her incarceration.
"Fine. If only to cease your prattling - meditation requires silence. Not that I expect that you're capable of being quiet for any length of time," Azula said.
Sokka smirked at her, not at all bothered by her words.
"Oh, then I guess I'll just have to prove you wrong, won't I? Just call me Sokka the Silent," he boasted.
His smile died at Azula's flat stare, and the girl deigned not to comment as she walked back to the palace. Pulling a face at her retreating back, he nonetheless followed after her.
Meditation was awful, Sokka had decided.
He'd been sat in this room for twenty minutes now. The flickering of the candles was beginning to make his head hurt, but Azula had insisted that the windows be blocked up.
He gazed at her, admiring the serenity on her face. She'd never looked so peaceful before, freed of the disdain and smugness that usually coated her features. It made her look more human that he'd ever thought possible.
She breathed in and out steadily, the flames growing and shrinking with the rise and fall of her chest. What exactly this achieved, Sokka couldn't tell - anyone could breathe deeply. He'd tried it himself for a minute, but it had been unenlightening.
Still, it seemed to work for her. With any luck it would provide her soul with peace, or whatever it was Aang kept speaking of. The monk was a firm believer of redemption through repentance, and that all people could strive for absolution within themselves.
Sokka was not so hopeful, but Zuko had achieved it at least. There was a chance that Azula might feel remorse and come to be a useful, normal member of society in time. It was unfortunate that he was the one who had to see it through, but that was just his luck.
His stomach rumbled. It was nearly noon now, and he'd only had a peach since breakfast. All those boomerang tricks had worked up an appetite. Azula was fine, locked in her own little bubble, could he get away with leaving her for a bit?
Glancing back at her stone-still face, he nodded to himself. He wouldn't be long, she wouldn't even know he'd left. Or care even if she did, he supposed. Gingerly he eased himself off of the floor, creeping over to the door.
Patting his now full stomach, Sokka sighed to himself in satisfaction as he opened the door. He halted mid step, frowning at the dark room. Why had all the candles gone out?
A few paces into the room revealed the horrifying truth - Azula was not there. Fear coursed through Sokka. He was charged with keeping an eye on the princess, Mai would skin him alive if she found out he'd gone and lost her.
"Damn it. Where the hell did she go?" He muttered to himself, rubbing a hand over his eyes.
The empty room did not answer, and he stood in the darkness. She could be anywhere, some hidden nook or cranny. Sokka barely knew his way around the palace, she'd grown up here. He might never find her.
"Okay, Sokka, think. If I were a mad firebender girl and I felt like being annoying and hiding somewhere, where would it be?"
Nothing sprang to mind. Perhaps Zuko would know, but Sokka was wary of disturbing the Fire Lord. His friend had enough issues on his plate without having to worry about Sokka being incapable of following simple orders.
There was nothing for it - he'd simply have to look around and hope. At the very least she'd go to bed when it got dark and Sokka would know to be more careful in future.
"Looking for someone?" A voice sounded an inch from his ear.
Sokka screamed and jumped away, completely startled. He tripped over his legs, tumbling to the ground in a messy head of limbs. A pair of feet appeared in his vision, and he followed them up to a face.
Azula smirked at him, traces of her old personality shining through.
"With reflexes like that, it's astonishing you're considered some kind of warrior. But then again, to most peasants any fool with a weapon is a master fighter," she mocked him.
Sokka pushed himself off of the floor, struggling back to his feet. Once standing he coughed, glaring at her slightly.
"If I wasn't a master warrior, you'd still be in a forest somewhere surrounded by bandits, in case you've forgotten," he reminded her.
Azula's eyes narrowed in irritation, but she didn't respond to the barb, turning away from him to stalk out of the room. Sokka rolled his eyes and walked after her. This time he'd keep her in his sights.
It was three days later that Sokka finally got to greet his old friend. Hawky seemed a little bigger than before, his feathers shinier and better kept than Sokka remembered. But the bird still had a regal air to him, possibly even moreso than before.
He wasted no time in getting reacquainted with his pet, telling the hawk everything that had happened in the time they'd spent apart. Hawky listened attentively, though naturally couldn't understand a word the Water Tribe warrior was saying.
He'd just finished a tale about an attempt at recovering Space Sword from the burned remains of the airship fleet graveyard when Azula had appeared, clad in new clothes designed completely for her.
Sokka froze mid-sentence, staring at her for a moment before shutting his hanging jaw. He grinned at her, raising the arm Hawky was currently perched upon.
"Hawky, this is Azula. She used to be evil but we're working on it, so you and her are gonna have to be friends, okay?" He spoke to his pet.
Azula's expression clearly informed him of her view on his sanity, but he steadfastly ignored it, offering the hawk to her. She gingerly held out her own hand and Hawky leapt from Sokka to her, gently gripping her forearm in his talons.
"I think he likes you already, good," Sokka said, turning away from them and heading out into the palace grounds.
He'd knocked some more wooden posts into the ground and had also rigged up some strange contraption out of cloth and sticks. A bowl of raw squirrelmouse meat lay next to it on the ground, the flesh all chopped up into small bits.
"Okay, so I was thinking maybe we could try a bit of hunting. Sadly Zuko told me we weren't allowed to hunt any actual wildlife, the spoilsport, so I built this: the Hawkinator!" Sokka said, flourishing his arm at his device.
Azula frowned at it, raising an eyebrow at him.
"What is it?" She asked after a moment.
"I'm glad you asked," Sokka grinned, picking it up. "The Hawkinator is designed to simulate the flight of a bird, so that Hawky here can capture it. Observe."
He hefted the device in a hand, hurling it into the air. It glided smoothly, and Sokka watched it for a moment before whistling.
"Go on Hawky, get it!" He called to his bird.
Hawky did not move, instead choosing to preen his feathers as he stood on Azula's arm. Sokka pouted as the Hawkinator flew uncontested before losing altitude and sinking to the ground.
"Impressive." Azula said as Sokka retrieved his fallen invention.
"Okay, so that was a bust. Come on Hawky, where's your predatory instinct?" Sokka asked.
Picking the bowl of chopped meat up, he waved it at the bird.
"You can have some if you play along, Hawky," he wheedled.
Hawky flapped his wings once, staring at the bowl hungrily. Sokka smiled, placing the bowl back down and turning to throw the Hawkinator once more.
Hawky immediately alighted from Azula's hand, but to Sokka's horror did not follow the machine. Instead the messenger hawk landed next to the bowl of meat, eagerly snatching a piece out of it and devouring it whole.
"Hawky, no!" Sokka called, quickly grabbing the bowl from the ground. Hawky screeched in annoyance, glaring at Sokka with his avian eyes. Azula stared blankly at him, thoroughly unimpressed.
"Well, this has been entertaining," she snarked.
Sokka scowled at her, before sighing in defeat and throwing the bowl back down to the ground.
"I hoped that this would actually work, but guess it's back to the drawing board," he said, resigned.
Azula hesitated for a moment before a look of resolve passed over her face.
"Pick that thing back up," she ordered him.
Sokka looked at her in confusion, his brow creasing.
"What for?" He asked. "Hawky's not interested in it."
"Just do it," Azula insisted.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Sokka stared at her for a moment longer before shrugging and once more reclaiming the Hawkinator. He threw it harder than before, and the wind took it.
"Now what?" He asked Azula.
She ignored him, clicking her tongue. Hawky's head popped up from the overturned bowl, looking at her.
"Gongji," she commanded him.
The messenger hawk immediately sprang up from the ground, taking to the skies. Sokka watched in amazement as his pet made a beeline for the gliding Hawkinator, raking the cloth glider with his talons and gripping it in his feet.
Hawky returned to Azula, dropping the damaged machine before her and landing on her outstretched arm. She gently stroked his head, smoothing the feathers.
Sokka's eyes were wide with awe as he goggled at her. He looked between the girl, the bird and the ruined device several times, his mouth opening and closing.
"How?" He said after a minute.
Azula didn't pause in petting the bird, but smirked widely.
"He's a Fire Nation hawk. Naturally, he was trained to respond to our commands. If you'd bothered to learn anything, you'd know that," she explained.
There was a smacking sound as Sokka's palm hit his forehead. He rubbed the injured spot for a moment, before shrugging.
"In my defence, I only had him for one day several years ago," he excused himself. "And then more important stuff came up anyway,"
Azula simply continued to smile, clearly self-contented. Sokka decided that she'd earned it.
"Well, I'm glad at least one of us can control him. Looks like it's you who has to teach me now though. What else can you have him do?" Sokka asked.
Azula thought about it, and a terrible grin began to spread on her lips.
"Is there anyone you particularly don't like around here? One of Zuzu's guards perhaps?" She questioned him.
"Uh, General Yen is a bit of a prick sometimes. Why?"
Azula told him, and Sokka couldn't help but stare in horrified amusement.
At least she was using her powers of evil for good now, he supposed.