Chapter 6

He sat across from the woman, his back straight due to tension. She looked horrible; her hair was wild, yet it hung limp around her face. Her complexion was pale, nearly translucent and she slouched in her own seat.

The warrior frowned as he took in the cold-looking metal chains that kept her from lashing out. He started to wonder if what they had done to her was barbaric. No...she deserved this treatment.

"You asked me to visit," he finally spoke up.

Slowly the woman lifted her head, her eyes nearly lifeless, and stared at the Water Tribe man. Sokka wasn't surprised that though she'd been locked up for so long, her face still held its beauty.

"I did. Where's your pretty little girlfriend?" Azula said softly.

"I'm sure that Suki has nothing to do with why you called me here. What do you want with me?" Azula was well-known for her mind games and he would not be easily thwarted from the task at hand.

"You're wrong. Where is my brother? No doubt, ruining the good of our nation."

Sokka stared at the woman and studied the look in her maniacal gaze. Something was different.

"I'll tell you when you tell me where your mother is."

At once Azula's demeanor changed. Her distraught posture was lost as she straightened her back. Her face was overtaken by a deep frown and it became even paler. From years of observation, he had learned that this was her defense stance.

"I don't know where she is. She didn't just leave him. She left me too."

"Then why did you call me here?" He was becoming frustrated.

"I enjoy talking to you."

Sokka stood up to take his leave.

"No...wait. I have news."

The tactician sighed before sitting back down. It was very difficult to gauge the truth from Azula's words so he would listen. Though she could do so in an extremely believable way, lying was not her forte. She preferred to play games until she had built up enough mental strain on an individual that she could act on her blunt approach.

Yet...she was doing neither at the particular moment.

"Go on," he spoke coldly.

"I hear things here-".

Sokka snorted before commenting, "Annnd?"

Azula ignored him and continued where she left off.

"They think that we're all just crazy but we're not. They like to say things here because they think that we can't comprehend. They're not vague about it at all."

Sokka studied her face once more and tried to determine whether she was playing another game or not. He decided that she wasn't. There was just something about the Fire Nation's exiled princess that seemed...tired.

"Get to the point."

Over the years, the water tribe warrior had grown in tact, precision, and smarts but he still had no patience.

"They are plotting to overthrow the Fire Nation because they feel that my brother will do more harm than good."

"Who are they?" questioned the brown-haired man, truly surprised that any of the Asylum's patients would even think to attempt to ruin the peace of the new world.

"The Kyoshi Warriors," Azula shrugged.

Sokka's eyes narrowed instantly as his mind began to form sentences of defense for his girlfriend and her mob of fighters.

"That's not true. I can't believe that you had me come here for this nonsense," Sokka exclaimed slamming his fist on the table.

"I wouldn't lie when I have nothing to gain. I care not about the 'good of the world' however, if someone's going to be in a powerful position, I'd rather it be my brother than anyone else."

Sokka closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. She was right about having nothing to gain, yet, how could the love of his life be plotting such a thing. It was impossible.

He quickly looked over his shoulder at the Kyoshi warrior who was standing guard outside of the doorway. Her posture was stiff and her head was inclined towards them, informing Sokka that she was listening to every word that was being said...but why?

As soon as possible this new occurrence would be investigated.

He stood up and walked over to Azula before leaning down.

"I will look into it," he whispered into her ear.

"Haru, I need you to get together the most trustworthy of the Sword Squad immediately and bring them to me," Toph instructed. Sokka had just informed her of Azula's words and she had decided that it was worth the investigation.

The throne room was empty aside from Sokka, Haru, and Toph. It would be safe to say that the Master earthbender had trust issues. She knew that there were no listening ears on the throne room thanks to her skills and she wanted to keep it that way.

Haru bowed in compliance as he was Sokka's General. Haru had created his own sword from earthbending and worked hard to up the ranks in the squad before he'd finally reached the position of General.

When Haru had left the throne room, Toph turned her head towards Sokka who was looking down in contemplation.

"Is this particular operation too personal for you?"

Sokka stiffened before shaking his head, "No. If any of this is true, and that's a big if, then I don't want to jeopardize the fact that I'm close to the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors."

Toph nodded and stood up from her relaxed position on her throne.

"Right. If at any time, this becomes too much for you, I want you to let me know immediately. As for now, go about your business with her as you normally would. Do not let her get the notion that we may suspect her."

She began to pace, her fingers twitching at the thought of a possible rebellion nearing. It would be fun to fight after so long. She enjoyed her powerful position as the Earth Kingdom's Lady, however, it was boring.

"Have you sent notice to Zuko yet?"

"Sokka, you JUST told me about this," Toph stated, annoyed at the man's slow behavior.

"Right. Should I report to him?"

"No. I don't want to alert him as this may just be some mental ploy of Azula's to get at him. He's so hotheaded that he may lead an attack and if it is true—what Azula said, then I don't want the Kyoshi Warriors to know that we know. Plus, his own army doesn't totally agree with him being Fire Lord and this may cause an even bigger uprising against him. Understood?"

"Yeah, I get it." And he did. If Suki and her team were planning a rebellion, then they would need to be stopped. Personal relationships were not priority yet something else had been bothering him.

"Toph, what did you mean when you asked Haru to bring back the most 'trustworthy' of my squad?"

"Sokka, your Sword Squad is a sect of the Kyoshi Warriors. Do not think that some of those guys aren't in on the plan, if there is one. I need to evaluate the squad members that he brings to me to make sure that they're worthy of this mission. They will be spies amongst their comrades."

"I'm just hoping that the warriors aren't working with the rebellion groups that have been attacking us," muttered the tactitian, to himself.

"We have to assume that they are. Where was your sister at the last time that you spoke with her?"

"Helping some village off the coast of one of the Fire Nation islands. I'm sure that she's moved on by now. Why do you ask?"

"We may need her help. Contact Twinkle-toes to see what he's up to and if he's been in contact with her.. We may just need his peace-keeping attributes as much as I'd like to barf," scoffed Toph.

"I'll go message him now." Sokka turned on his heel to leave but was halted by Toph's next words.

"No, after I evaluate your squad members, you will be taking them on this quick mission with you to speak with Aang in person. This will be a test for your squad's loyalty. Just be aware that he is in the Fire Nation and ears are everywhere. After you say your piece, get back here as soon as possible. Make sure that you speak to him only. I don't want Zuko in on this, just yet."

"One would think that I'd be used to this by now," grumbled Katara as she slapped at a mosquito-beetle that attempted to bite her.

Zuko smirked. All he had to do was raise his body temperature a few notches to keep the parasites away. He reached out to grab the woman's hand in order to aid her in keeping the pests away.

"Finally, you offer me help," she continued to complain even as she felt the heat of his touch.

"If only to shut you up," remarked the Fire Lord innocently. Katara narrowed her eyes at the smile in his voice and squeezed his hand tightly. She knew that he was joking around.

"Ha ha. We've been walking since before dawn. Shouldn't we be there by now?"

"I told you that it'd take us about two days. It's only been one day and a half, Katara. Be patient. We don't have much further to go. Besides, once we arrive there, we'll have more traveling to do, afterwards." Zuko grimaced as he recalled the initial reason for this journey.

"What do you think that you'll do when you find her?" questioned Katara, obvious curiosity apparent in her wide blue eyes.

"I haven't thought that far ahead, honestly. Right now though, I feel that I'm going to yell a lot."

Katara lifted her eyebrows.

"Why would you do that?"

"She left me," Zuko said in a low voice which indicated to Katara that this short conversation was over.

They continued to walk through the overgrown greenery, hand in hand before Zuko shoved Katara into a bush.

"Hey-!" Katara exclaimed. She pushed herself off of the bramble and leaves, scratches adorning her arms and face.

Zuko was looking at her with a grimace. Katara stomped over him in apparent anger, "Why the hell did you do that?"

"To save your life?"

"What are you talking about? How do you save someone's life by pushing them into bushes, idiot!" Katara exclaimed with her index finger pointing accusingly at the man.

"You see that arrow in the tree, right there? You were nearly hit." Zuko winced slightly which caused Katara to lift her eyebrow in confusion.

"Rebels. There are three," the Fire Lord bit out as he leaned against a tree, "They've been circling us since this morning. I didn't know that they were archers."

"And you didn't think it wise to let me know," Katara snarled uncapping her waterskin just in case the archers attempted to close in.

"I didn't want to scare you."

Katara scoffed, "I'm rarely scared these days, idiot! Well, at least until something stupid like this occurs. Where are they?"

"I'm not Toph. I can't sense them. Can we argue after I get the damn arrow out of my shoulder."

Katara gasped loudly and brought her hands up to her mouth in surprise. She hadn't even realized that he'd been hit.

"Katara, this isn't a game. I won't be able to firebend. They're trying to kill us," Zuko said reaching up to his injured arm with his other hand. He quickly snapped the end of the arrow, leaving the head of it in. It didn't seem as it was poisoned, yet he pain was so intense that he sat down at the base of the tree to gain his senses.

The waterbender kneeled beside him, prepared to heal when a voice came from the woods.

"Wrong! We're trying to kill you, Fire Lord. We'd like the girl for a bargaining chip...and for fun."

Katara looked to her right to see a burly looking man dressed in greens and blacks. He had a scruffy beard on his face and it seemed as if he hadn't bathed for days.

"You're obviously not very smart," Katara responded. Apparently, these rebels thought that she was just some ordinary girl.

"Oh, I'd say that we are. We've been tracking you all morning." As this man spoke, the other two came

from behind their cover of trees and brush. From the looks of things, all three were archers.

Katara smirked.

"Kill him but only wound the girl," the burly man commanded. His inferiors raised their bows and aimed. One of them aimed at Katara's right leg, while the other directed his shot at Zuko's heart.

Katara stood up quickly and her thoughts went to the pulses of each archer. She could feel that the archer who aimed at her was going to release the projectile first so she acted as soon as he pulled his arm back.

Her water-whip zoomed out of the water skin faster than the arrow and pulled the archers leg from beneath him while at the same time, the woman spun around to avoid being impaled. The man that she'd attacked had fallen so hard that he'd been knocked unconscious.

She glanced over at Zuko to see that his good eye was half-lidded. He needed to be healed.

"A waterbender? You didn't say anything about a waterbender!" the other archer exclaimed at the bigger man while lowering his weapon.

From his exclamation, Katara realized that this man had dark brown hair and that his skin was a bit darker than hers. He was clearly of the Water Tribes.

"What difference does it make, Sota? Kill the bitch, we don't need her to bargain with, afterall. The Fire Nation doesn't need her."

"She's Water Tribe. I won't," Sota spoke turning his back. He began to walk away from them all.

"Sota! How dare you turn your back on me?" The burly man lifted his own bow and arrow and aimed at his own man.

Katara, curious of the exchange, released the water that she commanded around the burly man and clenched her fist, freezing it.

"Keep walking, boy, and you'll live," she called out, when Sota had stopped his retreat. He heeded her word.

Katara ran back over to Zuko's slumped figure.

"Zuko, are you okay?"

And so a conspiracy is afoot. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Half of it's been written for quite a while but I just couldn't get the rest out until recently. I'm still not sure if I'm totally satisfied with it.

Please review. Tell me your thoughts.