The Taste of Metallic and Burn

Sokka never imagines himself as one to be as comfortable to accept the fact he's living with Zuko and his psychopath sister, but he's tolerating it. Until burned corpses marked for Azula starts appearing up on the front door like presents. Something is up, and Sokka might get more than what he bargains for.

Two.

Til all my sleeves are stained red
From all the truth that I've said...

Several minutes later, Sokka finds himself wrap up in blanket, in Zuko's room, on his bed, staring at a strange peculiar pattern on the floor, while everyone outside are trying to make sense of the situation. Veela, an eighteen-year old medic in-training, had come to take a look at his wounded knee, finding it's nothing than a bruise and confirming that otherwise from the slight traumatic experience, he'll be fine. Sokka can't quite help himself from croaking out about Yuan, about what happened.

Veela looks aggrieve, shaking her head as she cleans her hands up. "I'm not sure," she says, tone rough and curt. "They're cleaning the body up, but there isn't much to say about it. He's murdered raw and fresh - burned."

The word stings his ears, and he looks up to see Veela's giving him a strange look. He oddly knows what she must be concluding off. A hoarse voice from behind suddenly speaks up, "It isn't her. I assure you."

Veela turns around, only to see Zuko standing there with a plain look over his face, his shoulders squared and his jaw sets. He isn't exactly looking at the young medic, but it's clear who he's talking to. "She knows better than to do it. She's in enough trouble as it is, with everyone - with the Spirits."

Veela doesn't say anything back, doesn't even waver. Sokka has already known her as a stoic young lady, brutally immune from expressing any sorts of obvious emotions towards a situation or a scene - a very handful person, but too many secrets underneath her skin, behind her eyes. She nods at Zuko, "I understand."

Zuko hums, looking away. Something in the way the Prince moves make Sokka thinks that Zuko, himself, isn't entirely sure about the fact his sister hadn't just kill a man. He wishes he could comfort his older friend, but his muscles refuse to move - his mind aches at the thought of Yuan, now just a body without a soul.

Veela looks back up at Sokka, a stern expression itching on her face. She nods out of respect, "I'll be going now."

Sokka nods back, but his eyes are out-of-focus and his mind is reeling back to the young woman who he just shared his Hot Cocoa with last night, who burned down a napkin just to spite him off, who two days ago was too afraid to let go of Appa, who was supposed to be too broken to even move. She can't be off killing people, he snarls in his head. Not after tasting the hot cocoa - his hot cocoa, no less! She should be in a happy place. Not going all berserk and start toasting everyone up.

Zuko sighs, and walks closer once Veela is out of the room and the door is perfectly shut. "She isn't capable of doing so."

He merely looks up, expecting the older man to explain further. Zuko does. "She can't initiate that amount of energy to actually - actually kill someone. She can't."

Poor Zuko. He seems to be trying to convince himself rather than Sokka.

"Where's royal surliness this very morning?" Sokka asks instead, looking back at the silly pattern on the floor, and realising just how tired he truly is - his voice sounds timid and scared. Pathetic. Spirits, what happens to his fighting spirit? The part of him that always beckon for him to stand up again, no matter how terrible he falls, no matter how deep? Could it vanish at the mere sight of dead eyes unblinking back at him?

Zuko sits himself at the empty space next to Sokka, his shoulder finally sags and he tangles his fingers together, sighing heavily with his eyes closed. "Still in bed," he answers meekly, now hearing the sounds of people shouting and screaming outside. "Aang's guarding her door. No one will be able to enter."

Of course, Sokka almost forgets. Now with the dead body, people will have more reason to attack the manic Fire Princess.

He nods at that information, tightening the hold of the blanket around his body. He surprises himself because now, a native Water Tribesman, can't stand the cold that's crawling over his skin, while Zuko seems untouched by the drastic change of temperature - and he's both a firebender (which naturally makes him more sensitive to the coldness than everyone) and isn't originated from here. Or maybe Sokka's experiencing this all by his own.

Yuan's eyes cross his mind once again.

He shivers visibly, but Zuko doesn't seem to notice. In fact, the Fire Prince seems absorb by his own thoughts that must be drowning any sense he could control. Suddenly, fidgeting, Zuko says, "The insignia. It's not exactly spelled Azula."

"I know that." Sokka says - because after looking at it carefully, the second time, it is actually spelled under Azulon's name. But at the bottom, there's a pattern that couldn't be missed - a pattern painted to deliver the message, a pattern that shows whoever did it is seeking for the heir. But not just any heir. An heiress, if to be precise.

And who else in the whole globe would be Azulon's heiress if not... Sokka sighs.

"Hey." He suddenly calls, forcing Zuko to look back up at him. "What's Fire Sashimi Petals?"

There's a beat of confusion passing over the Prince's face for a second, before he straightens his back and rubs his nape. "Uhm, it's a - " Zuko tries to form his words out, taking a few moments. "They use to serve it once or twice when we were younger, at important events that Ozai used to drag the whole family to - Azula and I, that is. It's a Fire Nation dish, a rare one, because the ingredients they use is... not publicly known. Only certain people can serve it, even now."

"Oh." Sokka says pathetically, blinking twice. "That's nice. Are they any good?"

"They're a little too salty for me." Zuko rolls his shoulders, "My mother and Azula likes it though. She always steal more than necessary, and they would eat it quietly behind Ozai's back."

"That sounds like your sister."

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he mumbles back.

A few knocks on the door before the it swings open, revealing Toph. She stands there for a couple of moments, making sure she's grabbing the guys' attention. Sokka lifts his chin up, expecting her to speak. Toph then leans against the doorframe, she sighs, closes her eyes, and opens them back again, "They're taking the body away, now. And Sparky, the Councilmen wants you."

Zuko and Sokka shares a glance at the mention of 'Councilmen' - a group of men who practically dictates everything if it weren't for the Firelord who would stepping in and stops their actions. Honestly, apart from Ozai, they're one of the scariest people Sokka's ever met.

Zuko stands, nods and leads himself out.

It doesn't take long. The team that Dad must have organised is efficient and quick, cleaning up any evidence and marks of a homicide. From inside the room, Sokka could hear murmurs of people and hushed footsteps, all quick and messy and colliding together to create unnecessary white noises - until it descends into a complete silence. When he gathers enough courage to walk himself out of the room, he sees Aang still waiting by Azula's door, Toph sitting quietly at the living room, Zuko nowhere to be seen.

And within those ten minutes he counts, the traces of a dead body and everybody who were at the scene of the crime are gone.

There's a crash from inside Azula's room sometime nearly an hour after the clean-up that makes Sokka races to see what happens. When she wakes up about thirty minutes ago, Zuko (who has just gotten back from the Councilmen and looks pretty shaken up, informing them that the Men wanted them all to meet this afternoon) quickly gets in to tell Azula of what happened, that followed up with a few hushed questions to which Zuko answered patiently before he walked out with a tight line on his lips, and a crease between his brows.

At least Azula didn't throw a rampage or cause any harm, either on herself or anyone.

That is, up until to that point. Sokka stands to watch as Zuko rushes inside, trying to pull Azula up as the young Princess kneels down, her hair in a topple of mess, the books that seem to follow her as she falls are everywhere on the floor. She winces loudly and snarls when Zuko reaches up to her, "I'm fine!"

"No, you're not." Zuko replies, his tone definite. "You tripped. You hurt yourself."

Once again, she growls. "I'm fine."

"Azula. Can you not - " Zuko bites his tongue, grabbing a handful of his dark hair, then sighs. "Please."

"Just go." She says instead, her eyes facing downwards, her hair falls like curtain by her side. Her shoulder shakes slowly, Sokka notices. From his side, Aang watches on pitifully, because he knows there's nothing he could do. "Go away. I can handle this myself."

Zuko kneels down then, trying to catch his sister's gaze. In a slower and calmer tone, he urges, "You're injured."

"I'm fine." She presses her tongue as she says it through gritted teeth, her shoulders now shaking a little more obviously.

By the door, Sokka exaggeratedly sighs - and before he knows it, he finds himself striding inside of the room (seriously, he's going to lose a head if he keeps this up), hook his arms under her knees and on her back with one swift and hoists her up to his chest. The Fire Princess yelps, and quickly clutches him around his neck, grabbing the fabric of his cloth so hard that he has a feeling it'll tear off.

He hisses, but doesn't say anything more.

He carries her to the bathroom - which is closest to her room (now does he understand why Zuko chooses this room for his sister) - and sits her on the closed toilet-lid. She doesn't let him go at first as she's placed down, her eyes mainly gazing towards the floor. He slowly kneels down in front of her, her hands never quite leaving his shoulders. He stares harshly at her, as if his gaze could urge her to finally look him in the eyes. The question thumps in his head and syncing with his heartbeat, that seems to grow louder in volume by the seconds: did you kill Yuan?

On the outside, he doesn't say anything.

She's still looking down, clenches a fist on his garment before letting her fingers slide to her own laps. "I didn't ask for your help," she sneers, the venom laces her every word, reminding Sokka it is not a weak woman he's facing right now.

But Sokka's determination (or stupidity) doesn't cower, and he shrugs a shoulder. "You aren't exactly moving at the speed of lightning there, Manic Panic."

She snaps her head immediately at him, the nickname and yesterday's conversation beats in her memory Sokka would guess, and she glares hard at him. "I could have gotten up just fine."

"Maybe," Sokka shrugs again, now standing up. "But we don't have all day. You need to clean up because scary dudes in robes - the Councilmen - wants to see us this afternoon."

She doesn't bother snapping a snarky reply - so she looks away from him.

He squints his eyes up at her, "Aang will check up your injuries."

"No."

"Don't be stubborn, Princess." The title tastes bitter on his tongue, but he shrugs it off, signalling the young Avatar to come into the room. Aang hesitates, before he obeys to Sokka's orders and timidly stands next to him. "It's for your own good."

With that, Aang begins working, inspecting the wounds with his water-bending - Aang isn't much of a healer, but he has his share of knowledge, and he can help if he must, Sokka's sure. Silently, he hears Azula mutters under her breath, "You know nothing of my good."

That's true, Sokka decides on just clamming his mouth shut as Aang does what he does.

When the Avatar is done, he stands, nodding slowly to himself before he turns to Sokka. "She's fine. She's just badly bruised on her knees, arms and hips. I'm guessing... she tripped over her books, on another set of books." Darting a look to the fallen Princess, who just seems to be shrinking more and more as they talk, Aang nods more firmly this time. "We would probably need to just put bandage on her hips and legs. I could ask her caretaker to do that."

"Okay," Sokka nods, and hears Zuko shuffling nearby.

"I'll make sure her room gets clean up." The Prince says before pausing, only to open his mouth again, eyes more towards his sister, "I'll arrange the books properly."

Sokka nods some more, asks Aang to fetch the caretaker while Zuko disappears, probably clearing up Azula's book away and he takes the time to stare at the shrinking girl in front of him. The question still haunts his mind, but somehow he can't get himself to ask it. To accuse her.

Something is convincing him that Yuan's death is not Azula's doing - and he, he strangely believes it.

Nami, the caretaker, comes about two minutes later, with Aang already telling her what she needs to do. Sokka can actually feels his muscles relax at the sight of Nami - a Southern Water Tribeswoman that used to babysit him and Katara when they were children - and with a knowing looks, he knows Azula is in good hands.

Sokka rubs his face harshly and takes an extra coat on the way out, announcing to no one in particular that he's going for a walk.

The Central Arena is a place Dad's right hand-man, Uncle Jimmu, constructed right after the war.

Realising the growing rate of human population at the South and joining in with the plan to make Southern Water Tribe grander, he builds it specifically to train young men to be warriors, either bender or non-bender. It's an idea that excites Sokka, because all of his young life, a warrior is what he idolises to be. Now, that dream isn't something impossible to any younger boys.

The Central Arena is quite small to compare with it's original idea of it, but it's perfect in any other way. Often, Sokka finds himself practicing there - sometimes with warriors around his age, sometimes to train younger ones. Today though, he just wants to be in a place he's comfortable with, while drinking ... anything, really to numb himself up.

The Arena has a small cafeteria before you enter in, and Sokka quickly finds his place, purchasing a small cactus juice bottle. Almost immediately, a good friend of his, Qu pats his shoulder and joins him on his table. "So, is it true?" he asks, before anything else.

Did he mention that Qu is also the biggest gossiper of them all?

Sokka pops his cactus juice opens, blinking at his good friend helplessly.

Qu stops his hands before the lid of the bottle could reach his lips. "Dude. I heard you're meeting with the Men this afternoon. Wouldn't want to do that if I were you."

Sokka snatches his hand from Qu, but doesn't initiate anything to indicate that he's drinking ... yet. His arm falls by his side as he takes a deep inhale of the air. He doesn't remind Qu that this case is supposed to be a secret, under-wrap; that he should probably shut his mouth this instant.

Qu taps his foot, staring eagerly at him. "Well? Does the Men has any suspects?"

Sokka shrugs. "I don't know," he breathes out slowly, calming his racing mind. "I just hope they catch this culprit soon, because it's ought to be as creepy as fuck knowing there's a killer out there ready to drop a burned corpse on your front porch."

Qu shrugs, now placing his chin on his palm. "You sure it isn't her?"

"Nah. She's too... broken down, I guess." Sokka stares at the cactus juice bottle, recalling how his mouth doesn't ask questions while she's there, just right in front of him. "It can't be her. She's got too much to lose."

The sound of Zuko's voice comes back into his mind: "She's in enough trouble as it is, with everyone - with the Spirits."

"Anything could happen, you know." Qu mumbles, pursing his lips and knocks the table with his knuckles. "Her brother's been good at protecting her."

"If I were in his shoe, I'd be doing the same thing to Katara." Sokka now has the bottom of his palm pressing on his eyeballs, grunting. "She might be insane and a little loose on the screw of her head, but she's not out there murdering men anymore."

"You sure?"

"Unfortunately." Sokka grits his teeth. "Can we please talk about something else?"

Qu flashes him a pitying smile, and slowly takes the cactus juice from Sokka. He then informs him about the training he'll execute to a few familiar names this evening, such as Nara and Michio, and Sokka slips up a few smiles here and there. By the time they finish off the conversation, Sokka realises Qu has been sipping on his cactus juice all along and rolls his eyes at his friend's antics.

When he comes back, things aren't exactly sunshine and happiness. Zuko quickly comes to him, losing a little of his cool facade when he says that they're late to see the Councilmen and Azula refuses to move from her spot in the room. Toph and Aang stands by the side looking like they don't know how to fit in with the situation; well, Aang's more panic than Zuko is, Toph just wouldn't care either way. Sokka marches up to her room, and is ready to lift her up once again, but she stops him when his arms are under her knees.

"I don't need your help!" She pushes him, although with lack of strength because other than the wince from her sharp nails digging on his skin, he doesn't quiver away.

"We need to move." He says, counting back from ten in his head. He knows this won't be an easy task. Sigh. Why did he let himself got involved in this mess in the first place? Spirits help him.

She huffs, but doesn't move otherwise.

"You're injured. I'll carry you," he tells her, now leaning back in to carry her again. Only to have her pushes him once more.

"I said," she growls at him, glaring daggers. "I don't need your help!"

"Why do you always refuse when someone wants to help you?!" He screams, agitated and frustrated. His chest heaves and his eyes are burning just by looking at this young woman in front of him. "We're not here to kill you, for Spirit's sake!"

"Because - " there's a catch in her voice, and she makes that movement again where she casts her eyes to the floor. "Because."

"Well, guess what, Mad Princess?" Sokka forces out, gruffly - now picking her up even though she refuses his touch, seemingly shrinking at the contact (just like she always would) - while he breathes out slowly, "That's not good enough of an excuse."

"I am not weak," she meekly whispers, muffling against her own hair.

Sokka pauses, now following Zuko out of the lodge. He hesitates with himself, before he speaks in a low volume, not soft but not harsh either, "Even the strongest people seek help. There's no shame in it."

At least, that's what Kya said once when he fell while he pretended to kill a fire bender and got himself injured.

The grim atmosphere wouldn't help his headache, Sokka thinks after a few steps - so he decides to clear his throat and asks, "Are your hip and leg bandaged?"

Azula doesn't answer at first. "Yes."

"You're good?"

"I will live, Water Tribe Boy."

"I have a name, you know."

"And I'm sure it's an interesting one." She replies in a dry humour, but her voice sounds far-off, distant away. Sokka doesn't say anything more and settle in with the silence that falls upon them, deciding that he'll keep his distance once they arrive at the Main Building, where the Men awaits them. He shivers, and sees Azula glancing briefly at him. He keeps on walking.

When they arrive at the Main Building, the Councilmen give them a few minutes to take their seats. Katara is standing there with a few medics that Sokka guess must have helped with the investigation, Dad is there too with Uncle Jimmu, looking more concern than anything, and a few guards (these guards however belongs to the Councilmen and not the Southern Water Tribe's people) are stationed around the hall. Iroh is already seated, his face is calm and in between his palms is a warm cup of tea. He looks slightly surprised as Sokka stalks in with his niece in his arms.

Everyone scurries to their respective places.

The door is shut completely.

The Head Councilmen, Sir Takeshi frowns, his eyes bore onto the people that are in front of him. In a slow pace, he drawls with his deep voice, "Firelord Iroh, Prince Zuko, Avatar." He pauses, now glancing at the rest of the company. "And the lots."

Something deep in Sokka's throat, there's a growl. Katara shots him a look, later shaking her head. He stares at his sister before giving in, calming himself down to look at the Head Councilmen and not draw his sword at his throat.

"I believe we all know why we are here." He drawls again, slow and annoying.

It's Uncle Jimmu who waves his hand dismissively, "Unless we're talking about the preparation for the Lady's Night Out that went terribly wrong last night - let's not beat around the bushes. We need answers. What happened to Yuan? How was he killed?"

Sir Takeshi glares hard at Uncle Jimmu, but Sokka knows Uncle Jimmu well enough to know that he isn't cowering just because he says something honest; something that has been playing in everyone's mind. He remembers Uncle's mantra like the back of his hand: if it's bullshit, call on it. Sokka smirks.

Katara stands up now, handing a written parchment across the table to Iroh. "Burned. Instantly. My team estimates he was killed around two in the morning." Iroh inspects the parchment, Zuko (who's by his side) tries to read in without being noticed. Sir Takeshi looks directly at the Firelord, but the other Councilmen don't even hide the fact that they're glaring straightly at Azula, who sits dutifully next to her brother and purposely avoids eye contact.

Aang, who sits next to the Fire Princess, begins to fidget. "Who would do such a thing?" He looks pained, like he's personally been effected by this, or perhaps his soft-natured aren't handling the gruesome facts as steadily. Either way, Aang doesn't look happy.

Sir Takeshi blinks. "Well," he speaks, his deep voice echoes against the hall's wall. "It would have been easy if you were a firebending prodigy, and have been known to master bending lightning at early age of eleven years old."

Iroh puts down the parchment abruptly. "You can't accuse - "

"I would have to ask nicely for the Prince and the... Princess to come back with us to the Main Land, for later investigation." Sir Takeshi interrupts, his statement firm and not for discussion. A shrill runs over Sokka's spine.

Iroh's frown deepen, making him looks older. "Are you suggesting that my niece is a suspect?"

Sir Takeshi doesn't need to answer - his staring tells enough.

"You can't do that!" Zuko stands suddenly, his voice booming. "You know Azula can't do this! We've reported to you of every little progress she went though. You know what she's capable of!"

"Maybe - " another Councilmen - a creepy old dude with unibrow, Sir Futoshi - hisses. " - my dear Prince, you've missed something."

Councilmen Jing-Jen, a bulk man with long hair that reaches his waist, adds, "We don't see any other Azulon's heiress walking about here."

Zuko's about to bark again, until Iroh lands a hand on his. He takes a look at his Uncle, before he takes a large intake of air. Before he could say anything else, Hakoda interrupts. "How are you sure? Maybe it's an act of the Resistance - the rest of Ozai's loyal followers, now seeking revenge - trying to get to our Firelord-to-be by taking advantage of the bound that Prince Zuko and Princess Azula share."

There's silence in the room, and Sokka braves himself to look at Azula, who is still avoiding any eye-contacts.

"It can't be." Sir Futoshi exclaims, "We've made sure to wipe those group out. If there's any out there, their force won't be strong enough that they breach our security."

"Unless, of course," Councilmen Jing-Jen sneers at Dad, "The Southern Water Tribe's security is just ... not good enough."

Uncle Jimmu almost jumps out of his seat. "Why you - "

"Jimmu." Dad sternly says, looking at his friend.

"Enough." Iroh stops them, his posture collected and cool. He closes the parchment carefully, handing it back to Katara. "We're not here to start another war between Nations. We're here to solve a case."

Sir Takeshi sighs, "Which leads us back to earlier - a ship will be ready in, at least, three hours. We hope you'll corporate without... stirring trouble."

Zuko looks frustrated, "Why would my sister kill this man?"

"Because she's crazy," snarls Sir Futoshi, earning him a glare out of one eye from Sir Takeshi. The unibrowed-man purses his lips and smoothens down his robe.

"Wait - " shouts Sokka, now catching everyone's attention on him. He shrinks back into his seat, finding his lips completely dry and his mouth unable to perform an audible sound. He grips his armrest, then slowly re-arrange his words. "You said two AM, right?" Katara nods at this and Sir Takeshi raises a brow. "Then it definitely wasn't Azula. She's with me."

"Really now, Snoozles?" Toph perks up in interest.

"Seriously, Toph? Wants some soap to clean that dirty mind of yours?" Sokka retorts naturally, before he turns back to Sir Takeshi. "Anyway, we were having a chat. Just a normal, non-threatening, no murdering anyone whatsoever, chat."

Zuko looks confused. Toph snorts. "Are we even talking about the same person here? Cuckoo-clock here doesn't look too chatty to me."

From besides her, Aang nervously says, "Toph..."

Sokka rolls his eyes despite it all. "Okay, yeah, I was doing most of the chatting. She was there and made rude comments, and she even nearly set the kitchen on fire. Point is, she wasn't killing anybody."

"She joined in the conversation?" Katara asks in disbelief.

"Kitchen? On Fire?" Zuko frowns.

"Can we all get past the initial shock of your sister's ability to actually come in contact with another human being without causing their harm - well, not entirely - and went back to the real subject? She. Did. Not. Kill. Anybody."

"She must have find a way somehow!" Sir Jing-Jen doesn't seem satisfied, his nose flaring. "She tricked your tiny mind."

Sokka frowns immediately, "I do not have a tiny mind! And she's all real alright, yesterday. We even shared Hot Cocoa together!"

"Sharing Hot Cocoa, huh? So Snoozles' writing up a romance novel and I'm not the main character?" Toph smirks, slurring. "Interesting."

"Toph, please don't make fun of this." Aang pleads.

"Shut up, you!" Sokka motions towards the Blind Bandit, who's now chuckling amusingly and returns his gaze back at the Councilmen. "I'm not making this up. She's there and real and clearly away from any other people except for the four of us - Zuko, Aang, Toph and I."

Sir Takeshi barely blinks, "Until we can be sure it isn't her, Prince Zuko and Princess Azula must come with us."

"What," Aang speaks up. "That isn't fair."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Avatar."

"Wait, wait, wait up." Toph sits straighter now, brushing a strain of dark hair that falls on her face with an easy grace. "The Avatar - " she mocks Takeshi, then smiles sorta evilly, "- is right. It isn't fair. What's that saying again - hn, oh yeah - innocent until proven guilty. Isn't that how they say it, Sparky?"

"Uh - oh - yes. Yes." Zuko stammers, nodding afterwards. "That's correct."

Sir Takeshi looks bored.

"Is the man even on duty guard last night?" Toph asks, and everyone turns to Sokka, Hakoda and Uncle Jimmu.

Hakoda shakes his head, "No."

"Then he's not supposed to be within 500 meter radius of both Zuko or Azula. And wherever Zuko is, Azula is there too." Sokka declares proudly.

"And I can assure you I was asleep the whole night," Zuko pledges.

"That should be no surprise." Toph scoffs, "The lodge is still standing as we speak, which could only mean Sparky sleeps pretty comfortably last night. If he hasn't - because he's extra touchy while taking his beauty sleep - we'd all be burned corpses instead of that man."

"Nice image there, Toph." Katara dryly mutters.

"Why, thank you."

Sokka now rubs his forehead in an attempt to lessen the throbbing pain inside of his skull. "You know, y'all are doing here accusing her of things she may or may not do - does it ever cross your mind to just ask her?"

The silence that follows is eerie, and Sokka stops rubbing his forehead. Sir Takeshi seems to be staring extra hard on him, before he sighs and fixes his gaze on Azula. "Princess," he drawls nastily - and Sokka can see how Azula's cringing despite her act to remain emotionless. "Did you kill Yuan?"

Please say no. Please say no.

Sokka could imagine how all of his friends (and particularly, his) effort would go fly off in waste if she'd say yes. It would be dumb, and idiotic to defend a (former?) serial killer. He watches her, as Azula lifts her chin up and reflects the face that's boring onto her - and for that one moment, Sokka sees the Azula in the war: the one with power, the one that's strangely both beautiful and seriously mad. The one that's not broken to a full yet; the one that's confident she'll win this game.

The Fire Princess smirks, but only slightly. "No."

Everyone in the room seems to be sighing in relief.

"I no longer squash bugs. They're messy and sticky."

"You son of a - " Jimmu almost launches again, but Dad is quick to stop him.

"Azula." Zuko warns under his breath. Azula seems to be smirking wider, her eyes glinting with the familiar madness that Sokka witnesses yesterday's night. A part of him regret and mourns over the fact he just defended this monster, but another part of him glad that he did. Spirits, he's just as screwed up as she is, isn't he?

Zuko continues, "She didn't do it."

There's a stare-down that's going on, but Sokka's too worn-out by then to concentrate or participate.

After long last, Sir Takeshi gives in. "Fine. She can stay here, for now."

Iroh nods his head. "Thank you."

One by one, the Councilmen makes their exit and their guards follow their leads like loyal polar-bear-puppies. Councilmen Jing-Jen and Futoshi mainly zeroing their glares toward him for bailing the Princess out, but he decides to ignore them. Zuko comes to him, Iroh trailing by his side.

"Thank you, for standing up for Azula." Zuko smiles, man-hugging Sokka. Toph joins in their small circle.

"And you too, Miss Bei Fong." Something sparks in Iroh as he says this.

Toph grins back, "No prob, dude. You guys have been fussing and groaning and it won't help if everyone's depressed over dinner. That would totally suck."

Sokka chuckles. Suddenly, he feels a tap on his shoulders. He turns around to see Katara, beckoning him towards the door. Without much of anything, he leaves the small circle and joins his sister outside. For the first few moments, they just walk around until they reach a room that Sokka identifies as a small office for his sister. Katara puts down her parchments above all the other parchments and papers and books.

Man, Katara is a workaholic, he thinks as his eyes travel throughout the whole dusty room.

"I want to thank you," she suddenly says, standing behind her desk, looking somewhat grim.

"For what?"

"Everything." There's a tired smile on Katara's face, and as the candle flickers because of the wind, Sokka nearly mistaken her for their mother.

"Everything? The war? World hunger? The fact that Aang gave Momo to an orphan girl during their three-year journey?" He says, pretty bumped by the last one. But Aang promised that he could take him to see Momo soon, so Sokka's trying to see the positive side of things.

Katara tilts her head to one side, now tying her long hair completely behind. "For this - all of it." She rubs the back of her neck once she's got her hair all up in a high ponytail, "The lodge, keeping everyone safe, everyone happy. Azula." There's a strain in her voice as she says that name, "... especially Azula."

"She's okay." Sokka shrugs, "I can take her."

"Good. Not a lot of people can. Zuko's too afraid that he might ... damage her or something. Aang's too nice that even though she's the way she is, he will somehow end up being her servant. Toph will go just as equally insane if she's ever up against Azula's stubbornness. And I honestly thought you'd just swing your sword and slit her throat if she ever provokes you." She shakes her head, "But somehow, according to what you just said, about your chatting and sharing drinks and everything - I guess she tolerates you better than I thought."

"What about you?"

"Please. Azula can't stand me. She has these faces that clearly tells me of how much she wants to kill me, with nothing but her bare hands." Katara sighs, now pushing a few of parchments and papers away to give her enough space to set a piece of new paper on the table. "I don't blame her. If she's not in the state she's in, I'd probably have the fantasy of killing her too."

"That's nice to know, and here I believe Qu when he said that when woman cat-fights, it would be sexy and hot."

Katara snorts, the amusement tingles in her expression. "Cat-fight? If Azula and I were cat-fighting, you and Suki would just be hugging and nothing more than that." Sokka lets out a nervous chuckles, recalling back to the moments when Toph used to knock on their (Sokka and Suki's) door for being 'too loud'. Katara smiles lightly, "but yeah - thanks for keeping up with all of these. Even me."

Sokka shakes his head, "Cut yourself some slack, Katara. You're not that bad - and I know your intentions are good."

"It's not just that though," She pauses, now facing side-ways rather than directly at him. "It's just - the whole case with Azula. I mean, it's the only way I can get information from Zuko - or else he turns to somebody better."

"Who could be better than you?"

"There's always someone better, Sokka." She interjects, sighing again. "Azula - she - she - her case is something else. Something out of this world."

"Well, it did involve the Spirits right?" He voices out, recalling back to as much as Aang had been allowed to tell him.

"It did. I think - I think they did something to her brain. Her memory. There's a lot that she knows, but there's also a lot that she doesn't know. It's scary. She's scary - scary smart - "

"Or just scary."

"That too, but there's more to it, you know? She's like, desperate for knowledge, to know things." Katara shuffles now around the room, "She's always watching Aang, observing him as he's healing or bending. Zuko, too. At least, that's what they reported back to me."

"That should explain the huge amount of books she stacked in her room. She even hurt herself over it. Kinda stupid for someone that's smart, huh?" Sokka gives his sister an empty look, before he says his next peace. "Think she might want to rule us back and continue her legacy as the evil Princess?"

"Iroh says she won't. But everyone's been wrong before."

"Maybe she won't. Like the Men said, they made sure they wiped the Resistance clean. No one's going to help her if she ever decides to walk all over us again."

"But Sokka - there's always a way. Always. That's how it works in the world. For evil, or for good. It's just the same concept: as long as you set yourself on something, there's always going to be a way to achieve it."

"Are you even thinking about the bound she share with Zuko? If she ever steps the wrong way, at the wrong place, she'll die."

Katara is quiet for a full minute. "You're right. We still have that to worry about," she stops moving then, looking back up at her brother. "Do you really think she didn't kill Yuan?" Her eyes begging for him to say yes.

Sokka nods. "Yeah," I better hope I'm right, or I'm the biggest idiot of them all. "It's going to be fine, Katara. I promise."

"Of course," she mutters. "Of course."

"Well, I better bounce off now. I sorta promise Qu to train the boys with him." He makes himself to the door, before turning to give his sister a last hopeful glance, a soft smile over his lips. "I'll see you at dinner tonight?"

Katara smiles, seemingly for the first time ever, genuine and soft and real. "Yeah."

And that's that.

6,575 words. I swear to you it was never meant to be this long. Fun fact: Qu's (Sokka's good friend) original name was supposed to be Quantom - but because I don't want anyone to confuse it with quantum physics, I decide to just write Qu (but I can always imagine he's merely using a nickname).

And RamaFan, you mentioned that I should get a beta - of which I totally agree, because I honestly can't keep up with my grammars and tenses if I write more than 3000 amount of words - but the problem is, I don't how it works and yeah, I'm an idiot like that. But if any of you are willing to be my beta (or even suggest a name of beta I could seek upon), I'd be totally happy.

That's all from me. Hope you're having a great day. Thanks for the read!