They all stared at Azula, not really knowing what to do with her. "Should we bring her with us?" Aang asked with a shrug.
"Are you crazy?" Sokka demanded. "She'll kill us in our sleep!"
"We could just tie her up and leave her," Zuko suggested.
"Or we could kill her," Toph said cheerfully. They all looked at her.
"I agree with Zuko," said Jet. "Let's tie her up and leave her. She can fend for herself."
"She'll just get out," said Sokka with a dramatic sigh. "Then she'll be after our heads again."
"Exactly!" Toph exclaimed. "So we should kill her!"
"Let's not," said Katara, giving Toph an odd look.
"Why not?" Toph whined. "The only way for us to truly be rid of her, is to kill her. See, it makes everything better! Once she's dead, Zuko will definitely become the next Fire Lord. Then we can kill off Ozai and Zuko can make things all better and the world will be saved! Come on, I'll even do it." She kicked up a large boulder. "She won't even feel it, I swear. I'll just smash it down on her head and it will all be over."
"Toph!" Katara cried, aghast. "You're going to make me sick."
"Aw, come on! Please?"
"You're not killing anyone, and that's final," the waterbender snapped.
Zuko bent down and lifted her sister's head to get a closer look at her nose. It didn't look pretty. It was gnarled and out of place, blood still spurting out of her face. He wiped away the blood as best as he could and beckoned Katara closer. "Could you?"
She nodded and bended some water out of the pouch at her hip. She quickly formed a shimmering glove and curled her hand around the Fire Princess's nose. Katara managed to push Azula's nose back into place to heal it correctly. She then wiped away the remaining blood.
"What in Yue's name are you doing?" Sokka demanded. "Why are you healing her?"
"She may be your enemy," said Zuko with a hostile glare, "but she is still my sister."
"Nah," said Iroh, shaking his head. "That isn't it. Zuko just doesn't want to admit that blood makes him queasy."
"Uncle!"
"Well, in least let her keep the cut I gave her. That'll remind her not to fool with us," said Sokka.
"Enough messing around," said Aang. "We need to come up with something quick. Killing her is out of the question. But we can't just let her roam free either. Any more ideas?"
"I could take her," Jet shrugged. "Back to the Freedom Fighters. I'm sure we could keep her locked up until we come up with a better plan."
Aang looked at Katara. "That doesn't sound half bad. What do you think?"
"I think Azula will easily escape any stupid tree house you put her in. Just to let everyone know, tree houses are made out of wood. She could easily burn the entire forest down." Katara crossed her arms and gave Jet a surly look. "Your plan isn't going to work."
"Well, I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas!" he shot back.
"Stop fighting!" Aang cried. "We won't get anywhere if you keep arguing like this."
"I think we should keep her," said Zuko suddenly.
"Didn't you hear me before?" Sokka asked incredulously. "She'll eat us alive!"
"Think about it," said Zuko, "though I know it might be difficult for an oaf like yourself. My father values Azula a lot. She brought down Ba Sing Se for the gods' sakes; the impenetrable city! We can use this against the Fire Lord."
"You mean like a ransom?" Katara mused.
"Sort of. Perhaps we can trade Azula for one of the Earth Kingdom cities. Perhaps we can get Ba Sing Se back and have a base for the resistance. Now that everyone has seen what the Fire Nation can do, maybe more people will join the war against them." Zuko smiled triumphantly as he surveyed the looks on everyone's faces. "I bet you didn't think I could be that helpful, did you?"
"Okay, so maybe you have a point," said Sokka, giving him an elaborate shrug. "But that doesn't solve the problem of Azula killing us."
"We could keep her unconscious!" said Toph. "Every once in a while, we'll take turns kicking her in the head. If we're lucky, she'll establish a life-long coma."
"If you're lucky, you'll have an excuse for 'accidentally' killing her," Katara retorted.
"That too," Toph agreed.
"What about my shackles?" Jet asked. "We can use them to tie her up."
"That's an idea," said Sokka. "Okay, so we're going to have quite a crew riding on Appa. Let's see...Iroh, Toph, Katara, Aang, His Majesty, the two Fire Princesses-," Sokka said as he counted off on his fingers while receiving a dirty look from Zuko, "-and me. That's eight people, not to mention His Majesty's worthless bear and Momo. I don't think Appa's going to like this very much."
"Make that nine," said Jet. "I'm coming with you."
"You don't have to do that," said Katara. "You're never much help anyway."
Jet placed a hand over his heart in mock-hurt. "You wound me," he said solemnly. "Besides," he added more brightly, "when I'm around, you'll be able to keep an eye on me."
"We'll all be able to keep an eye on you," Sokka corrected.
Jet frowned. "I suppose none of you trust me."
"No, you kind of blew it for us," said Katara icily. "Twice." Jet placed a piece of straw between his lips and said nothing.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Aang, whirling himself onto Appa's massive head. "All aboard!"
"How are we going to let the Fire Nation know that we have Azula?" Iroh asked, pulling himself onto Appa.
"Good question," said Aang, tapping his chin with his index finger. "I suppose we'll need to send a messenger."
"Azula and I arrived to the Earth Kingdom on a ship," said Jet. "It is probably still docked in the bay, meaning we won't have to travel far." He glanced at Azula's lizard that still stood in the clearing, gazing at them with wide, alien eyes.
Aang followed Jet's gaze. "You just gave me an idea," said Aang. "That lizard thing will most likely try to find his way home once we take Azula away, right?"
"Probably," said Jet.
"So we should send the lizard back to the ship. The crew members on board will see that you and Azula never returned in their search for me. That should be message enough." Aang grinned at them and turned to face the monstrous lizard. He sucked in a great amount of air, cocked his head back, and blew. The lizard roared as it was sent flying back into the trees. They listened as the steed hastily scrambled back the way it had come.
"You're a genius!" Katara cried as she hugged Aang and kissed him on the cheek. "Finally, things are turning around."
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Sunlight seared through her eyelids as Azula began to stir. Clouds flashed above her and her heart pounded when she realized that she was flying. She glanced around and found herself to be on top of the Avatar's sky bison. She feverishly wondered how she had gotten there. I haven't joined him, have I? she wondered. After glancing down, she became aware that she was tied up and unable to move. No, I've been taken prisoner. The others were all napping in the afternoon sun, except for the Water Tribe boy who was at the reigns and Jet, who sat next to him.
Azula was alarmed to find that her head was resting on the flanks of a bear. She knew that the smelly creature belonged to the Earth King, who was asleep beside her. The entire back of the sky bison was cramped, everyone was leaning against everyone else. Only her brother had managed to get a large stretch of open saddle to himself. He probably fought his way to get it, she thought dryly as she surveyed his peaceful face.
"Has she woken up yet?" she heard the Water Tribe boy call; she thought his name was Socks, or something of the sort. She instantly squeezed her eyes shut and slowed her breathing.
"No, Sokka," Jet replied. "She's still out cold." Sokka, that was his name.
Azula instantly began to think of a plan to escape. There was no use fighting while they were miles up in the sky, so she would just have to wait until they landed somewhere for the night.
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Katara yawned and stretched, sitting up on Appa's saddle. They were still flying and there seemed to be plenty of sunlight left. The others were still asleep, except for Sokka and Jet. She stood up and hobbled her way over to her brother.
"Hey boys," she said muzzily, sitting down next to Jet.
"Oh, hey Katara," said Jet. "You finally woke up."
"Yeah, Momo kept bothering me," she answered. "So, where are we going?"
"We're planning to return to Omashu and see if we can find the remains of the resistance. We could use their help. And we need to let the Fire Nation know that we're there so that the Fire Lord will know where to find us when he realizes we have his precious daughter," said Sokka, glancing back at the Fire Princess.
"Oh, okay," said Katara, yawning once more. She turned to look at all of her friends' sleeping forms. She frowned when she saw Zuko. "So he's the reason why no one has any space."
Jet grinned. "Watch this Katara." He removed the bit of straw from his mouth and crouched at Zuko's head. He placed a finger to his lips as he gave Katara one last glance. Jet ran his piece of straw across Zuko's face, mostly lingering on his nose. Zuko's face scrunched up in his sleep. He raised his hand and smack! Zuko had slapped himself in the face.
Jet and Katara roared in laughter as Zuko jumped up, wide-awake. "What was that?"
Jet snickered, "There was a bug on your face!" He and Katara burst out laughing again.
"Ugh," said Zuko, rubbing his face with one hand. "Can't you see I was trying to sleep?"
"Oh, we saw," said Katara, still giggling.
Zuko ignored her and turned his back on her. Jet took the opportunity to wiggle the piece of straw in Zuko's ear. The banished Fire Prince instinctively slapped his ear. He whirled around. "Stop that at once!" By now, everyone else was awake, wondering what all of the commotion was about.
"Zuko, what is going on?" Iroh demanded, upset that he had been awoken.
"Uncle! They keep making me slap myself!" Zuko complained.
"Slap yourself?" Iroh repeated, looking bewildered. "How in the world are they accomplishing that?"
Jet, Katara, and Sokka were all laughing.
"Ugh! You're all so infuriating!" Zuko cried. He moved over to sit between the bear and his sister where he could sleep in peace.
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"Where is Princess Azula?" The captain frowned as he lowered his spyglass from his eye. The Fire Princess's lizard-like steed was just returning at full speed, though it carried no rider. He suddenly knew what had happened; she had been captured by the Avatar. The captain swore and turned away; yelling up to the helmsman, "Set a course for the Fire Nation!" The Fire Lord isn't going to be happy about this.
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"Stop, stop!" Iroh cried, shaking his head. "You're just like Zuko! You must put all your force in the breath, not the muscles. Try it again, Aang." They had stopped several hours away from Omashu for the night. Iroh was giving Aang a short lesson in firebending.
The young Avatar did as he was told and tried to shoot tiny pinpricks of flame out all about him. One was much larger than the others and promptly caught a branch on fire.
"No! You have to control it. Keep it contained! Concentrate. Try it again."
Zuko lay on the grass, resting his check on his hand to watch the training lazily. He found himself pleased to be able to firebend better than the Avatar. He smirked as Aang blew up another tree.
"Sorry!" Aang apologized, as Katara extinguished it with a flick of her wrist.
"Some people are trying to sleep," Sokka grumbled as he pushed himself further into his sleeping bag. "Please stop with all of the shouting."
"Sokka!" Katara exclaimed. "You're supposed to be watching Azula!"
"She's asleep. I mean seriously, what is she going to do? Snore us to death?" Sokka said, his voice muffled through his blankets.
"You're the one who was worried about her waking up and killing us all," Katara pointed out.
"Oh, lay off! Besides, Jet's got it covered...Don't you Jet?" Sokka emerged from his sleeping bag long enough to glance at him.
Jet opened one eye. "Huh? Did someone say something?" He closed the eye again.
"See? He has it completely under control," said Sokka, though his voice wavered with uncertainty.
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Perfect, Azula thought with satisfaction as she watched the last member of the group drift off to sleep. Now, how to get out of these chains? I could kill them all first, since their asleep. That way the jangling of my chains won't wake them. However, she found that she couldn't move enough to get a clear shot of them. She cursed in fury. The only way she might be able to escape is if she rolled away. She imagined the look on the Fire Nation soldiers as she crawled into Omashu in bonds. She would not look forward to that.
"Burn it all," she whispered, trying to pull her cuffs apart. "Ugh!" As she glanced around one more time to see if there was any sort of tool that might spring her from chains, she became startled as her eyes fell upon the dark orbs of Jet. He must have heard her and woken up.
"I suppose you aren't going to help me," she said coolly, twisting her self into an upright position.
"No, I'm not," he said. "How is your face?"
She blinked. How could she have forgotten? The last thing she remembered seeing before she blacked out was an eerie blue glow as electricity erupted from her fingertips and sole of a shoe just before it was slammed into her face. "I'm fine...But I don't understand, why isn't my nose broken?"
"Your brother had Katara heal it; though it is a bit too late to do anything about that scar," Jet replied.
Azula frowned as she raised her hand just far enough to stroke her cheek. She ran her finger along sloping cut, grimacing at the sharp sting. She knew that mark would remain there forevermore and everyone would know that she had been beaten.
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A/N: Okay, I know there isn't much action going on in there, but I thought I would use it as a break from the last chapter to get everyone back on their feet (or in Azula's case, not so much). Anywho, give me reviews please. If you have any suggestions, I'll try my best to accommodate them.