The Golden Wolf Warrior
By: Agent-Ayu
Chapter 8: The Fortuneteller
Notes: I had to rewatch 'The Blue Spirit' and 'The Fortuneteller' numerous times to capture the mood for this chapter. I am officially annoyed with majority of the episodes from Book 1. The only episodes I enjoy watching the most from Book 1 is 'The Waterbending Master' and 'Siege of the North Parts 1 & 2'. For those who are wondering we are now four chapters away from completing Book 1 of Golden Wolf Warrior.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, except all the characters that were not in the series and this story.
A few days had passed. They were hiding out in the Ruins of Taku since Sokka had caught a cold. Azula and Aang were busy trying to find ginger roots for Sokka's tea.
"Aang, did you find any?" Azula asked.
"No, but I found a map of the area."
When they got back to everyone else Sokka was coughing hard. Katara had placed a wet cloth over his forehead to wipe the sweat off.
"This should bring your fever down."
"You know what I love most about Appa? His sense of humor." Sokka said feverishly. Appa groaned causing Sokka to laugh. "Classic Appa."
"How's Sokka doing?" Aang asked as he and Azula walked over to the rest of the group.
Aang went through explaining about the herbalist institute while Azula grabbed her swords from their pile of stuff near Appa's saddle. Katara began to cough. Almost immediately Azula was by her side.
The firebender placed a hand over Katara's forehead. Katara began coughing violently again. Azula grabbed both sides of Katara's face and pressed her lips on the other girl's forehead.
Katara was partially glad she was sick. No one was able to tell if she was flushed from being sick or was blushing.
"This isn't good Aang. She's starting to run a fever too. Trust me you don't need to be a firebender to tell either." Azula took off her anorak and wrapped it around Katara.
"Don't worry you two I'm fi-" Katara coughed even harder.
"No, you're not. That's how Sokka started yesterday. Now look at him… he's thinks he's an earthbender!" Sokka was busy hallucinating talking to a rock as if he was fighting it. "A few more hours and you'll be hallucinating too. I'm going to find you some medicine."
"Aang, I'm going with you." Azula got off of Appa.
"No, someone needs to look after them."
"Appa and Momo can. If I know the Fire Nation as well as I think I do, they will most likely be having soldiers around here. They're going to be after you more than they are with me. I'm going with you and that's final."
"Fine. But I need to carry you. I can get us to the institute faster."
Azula took out her sleeping bag and put it near Katara. "Come get some rest. We'll be back as soon as we can. Appa, Momo take care of them."
The firebender got on the airbender's back wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.
"Fair warning Azula, you're going to need to hold on tight."
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Aang ran up the steps huffing and puffing at breakneck speed, carrying Azula was not helping him either. When they entered the herbal institute Azula immediately got off of Aang's back.
However, she fell to the ground. Her legs had gone numb. Aang went up to the herbalist and began talking quickly.
"Hello! We're sorry to barge in like this, but we need some medicine for our friends. They have fevers and they've been coughing and –"
"Settle down, young man. Your friends are going to be fine." The herbalist kept something in the bowl. "I've been up here for over forty years you know, used to be others, but they all left years ago."
Azula began to ignore the herbalist. She knew this was going to be a while before they got back to the ruins. "Aang, after today we are never doing this again."
"Agreed."
Suddenly Azula felt weight on her stomach. She looked at her stomach to see the cat staring back at her.
"Meow."
"Aw." Azula began petting the cat behind the ears.
A half an hour had gone by before the herbalist found what she was looking for. Azula sat up still holding Miyuki and placed the cat on top of the table.
"Here's what I've been looking for! Plum blossom!"
"Finally." Aang said. He ran to the woman and tries to take the bowl out of her hands. "Thanks for all your help!"
The herbalist whacked his hand with the wooden spoon. "Hands off. What do you think you're doing?"
Aang couldn't help but look frightened as he rubbed his hand. "Taking the cure to my friends!"
"This isn't a cure, it's Miyuki's dinner." The herbalist laughed. She placed the bowl in front of her cat that began to eat and purr. "Plum blossom is her favorite."
"What about our friends?" Azula asked.
"Well, all you need is some frozen wood frogs. There are plenty of them down in the valley swamp."
"What are we supposed to do with frozen frogs?" Aang asked.
"Why, suck of them of course!" Azula couldn't believe how the woman made it seem like that was an obvious answer.
"Suck on them?" the two benders questioned.
The herbalist turned to look specifically at Azula. "The frog's skin excretes a substance that'll cure your friends, but make sure you get plenty. Once those little critters thaw out, they're useless!"
A few moments passed in silence before Azula spoke. "You're insane aren't you?"
"Thaaat's right."
The firebender's arms were shaking, as she tried not to firebend her anger towards the insane woman.
"Well, don't stand there all day. Go!" She tossed a bunch of green goo onto Aang's face.
Azula grabbed Aang by the back of his collar and dragged him out of the hut. "Come one the faster we grab those frogs the faster we can cure Sokka and Katara."
The two began running out of the hut when two arrows nearly hit them. Before they knew it a hail of arrows were coming at them. Both Aang and Azula created a sphere of their element to protect themselves from the arrows.
Aang picked one of them up from the ground. "Uhh, I think you dropped this."
"What makes you think they dropped it? They're attacking us. Aang, run." Azula grabbed the airbender and started running towards the cliff. She turned around a few times to shoot fireballs at the archers.
Just as they were about to reach the edge of the cliff, Aang reversed Azula's grab onto her and yanked the firebender forcing her to get on his back. He jumped over the edge causing them to fall off the edge and into the trees. As they kept falling, the branches beat them repeatedly. Aang jumped from trunk to trunk avoiding the arrows.
When he finally got them to ground level Azula jumped off the airbender's back and shoved him into the swamp. "Aang, get the frozen frogs. I'll hold them off."
She turned to face the woods. Swords were drawn out. Azula used her swords to extend the distance her fire would fly through the air. She spotted the arrows aiming towards Aang. The firebender naturally sliced the air sending arcs of fire into the arrows direction disintegrating them before the got near the airbender.
Azula repeated the same moves until an arrow hit her sword just right to knock it out of her hand. As she raised her arm that had the second half of her swords, five arrows caught in her sleeve just barely hitting her skin and pinned her to a near by fallen tree. When her arm made impact with the tree she dropped her sword.
The firebender struggled to get her arm out, but didn't have time when the archers aimed their arrows toward Aang. With her arm pinned she did a crescent kick towards the archers sending an arc of fire towards them. Azula used the opportunity to firebend the arrows. Since they arrows were pinned to her sleeve she wound up burning the sleeve off.
"Aang!" Azula sent several fireballs to the archers, as she got closer to the airbender. "Please say you grabbed enough frogs."
"Yes, let's get out of here."
Both benders dropped into a horse stance creating another sphere of their natural element. The air and fire sphere combined together into one, creating a bigger sphere. To avoid getting hurt the archers back away and covered their eyes from the fire's light.
The airbender forced Azula onto his back again as he ran back towards the Ruins of Taku as fast as the wind. When the spheres finally died out, the Yu Yen archers immediately began tracking their targets again.
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When Aang arrived back at the ruins he dropped Azula and began gathering everything.
"What's going on?" Katara asked weakly. "Why is Aang packing?"
"Because we need to get out of here. Aang and I are being chased by highly skilled Fire Nation archers." Azula quickly explained as she took two frozen frogs from Aang.
"Azula, I told Aang earlier. Sokka is in no condition to travel."
"Neither are you but we have to. You two can rest in Appa's saddle while Aang and I make sure we get to safety. Here suck on this." Azula gently placed a frozen frog in Katara's mouth.
"Hey, hey Azula did you know Katara was a princess? She kept talking about you while you were gone." Sokka said feverishly.
"That's nice." Azula shoved the frog in the warrior's mouth to give him the idea he should stop talking before he annoyed her enough with his hallucinations.
"Okay ready to go. Let's get them into the saddle."
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After a couple of hours of flying, Aang landed Appa near a huge river. Aang and Azula quickly set up the tent for Sokka and Katara. Before they got the two Water Tribe siblings into the tent, the frogs began to thaw out.
"Mmmm! This is tasty! Mmm!" Sokka commented as the frog thawed out in his mouth.
He and Katara kept sucking on their thawed frogs until it began to move and croak. The two Water Tribe siblings immediately spat the frogs out and began to cough and spit. There was more croaking coming from Aang's shirt as he wiggled around.
"The frogs are tickling me." Aang laughed. Slowly all the frogs made their way out of Aang's shirt and hopped their way to freedom.
Azula place a hand on Katara's back as she tried guiding the waterbender into the tent. "Come on Princess. You need more rest." Azula joked.
"Yeah, okay." Katara wobbled her way to stand but immediately fell over. Azula had barely caught her on time.
"Here, I'll help you. Hold onto my arm." The firebender grabbed hold of one of Katara's hands and lifted the girl up.
Just as Katara stood up again she lost her balance and grabbed hold of Azula's arm that was bare. Azula winced in pain trying to keep herself from yelling. Katara felt rough skin under her hand and looked at the firebender's arm.
"Spirits! Azula you're burnt! We need to treat your arm."
"No, Katara, we need you to get some more rest. I'll take care of it once you're asleep." Azula objected.
"No. I'm better than I was earlier, besides all you would do is wash it and nothing else. You need to apply proper ointments. Sit."
"I'll be fine, Katara, go rest." Azula tried insisting.
"Azula, sit!" Katara replied forcefully.
The firebender immediately obeyed by sitting on the nearest rock. She wouldn't admit it but she was scared of Katara when the waterbender got angry.
Katara walked around the camp area searching for the items she needed. She placed a box of ointments and bandages near Azula while she went to the river to get a bucket of water.
"Azula please heat the water up."
The female warrior did what was asked. She placed her hand on the bucket and used her firebending to heat the water. When the water was hot enough, Katara dipped a towel into the bucket. She twisted the towel extracting most of the water.
"This is going to sting a little." Katara warned as she place the towel on the firebender's arm.
Azula placed her left had over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming. She couldn't believe had badly she had injured herself. She thought she had more self control, but she couldn't even prevent herself from being burned by her own fire.
The process was repeated several more times until Katara was positive the wound was clean. She grabbed a strange leaf from the ointment box. It was a leaf Azula had never seen before.
"What is that?" Azula asked as Katara cut one inch of the tip of the leaf off.
There was green ooze coming out of it. Azula subconsciously move her arm away from the plant. Katara grabbed the firebender's arm without looking and forcing it closer to the plant.
"From what the doctor in Omashu told me it's called 'aloe vera'. It's supposed to help with wound and burn healing along with minor skin infection." Katara placed the ooze over Azula's burns and rubbed it around the whole burn mark.
"That hurts!" Azula exclaimed.
"Stop complaining you big baby. From what I saw when we were younger, you burned yourself much worse than this and didn't complain. Don't touch your arm."
Katara wrapped the remained of the aloe veda leaf in a cloth so the ooze wouldn't spill all over the other ointments. Before grabbing the bandage wraps she turned to the firebender.
"Do you plan on sleeping?"
Azula looked up from her arm. "Yes."
"Okay, I'm going to wrap your arm then. But, when you wake up we need to remove the bandages. That way your skin will get some air and heal faster since it's not infected anymore." Katara carefully wrapped the bandage around Azula's arm. She didn't want to cut off the circulation to the firebender's arm.
"Katara."
"Yes?"
"… Thank you."
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A few days had passed since the teens left the Ruins of Taku. They hadn't moved locations since Appa landed. No matter how well they were doing after sucking frozen wood frogs, Azula and Aang agreed they didn't want to take the chance of Sokka and Katara getting worse if they continued traveling.
They were all sitting around the dead fire pit going amongst their own business. Katara was watching Azula welding the metal hook back together. Azula was using one of Katara's sewing needles and firebending to heat the metal up so she could merge them together.
"How much longer until you finish fixing it?"
"Can't really say. I'm being extra careful because I know how important this necklace is to you. I'm making sure I fix it to the way it used to be or better."
"How's your arm?"
"Fine, but the itching is unbearable. At least the cream you rubbed on my arm is helping with the itching problem."
Katara smiled. She reached for her neck where the necklace should be. Azula stopped what she was doing and looked at the waterbender. Without thinking Azula immediately removed her own necklace and handed it to Katara.
"Here. Wear mine. At least until I finish your necklace." Azula went back to working on Katara's necklace.
"Thank you." She tied the necklace she had made for the firebender around her neck.
Suddenly they heard a loud splash coming from the river. Everyone looked over to see a big green fish jump high out of the water.
"Look!" Katara exclaimed.
The fished jumped again. Sokka paid close attention to the river waiting for the fish. When the fish finally jumped he gave a smug look towards the male warrior.
"He is taunting us." Sokka observed. The fish kept jumping out of the river irritating Sokka. "You are so going to be dinner!"
Azula looked up from the necklace again to see the fish jump out of the water. She rolled her eyes as she went back to work. "Sokka is just going to hurt himself. That's a Se Tu fish, the smartest fish in the world."
"I heard that!" Sokka shouted. "Stupid fish, I'll show you." He grabbed his fishing pole and tried casting it a few times with no luck.
"Hey, what happened to my fishing line?"
Aang suddenly sat up. "Oh, oops. I forgot to tell you it kind of got tangled back in the Ruins of Taku and I was in a rush so… I broke it."
Sokka screamed in frustation. The Se Tu fish jumped out of the lake again. The male warrior tossed his fishing pole, as it was a spear, into the water. However, the Se Tu fish had survived and jumped out of the water to gloat.
"Stop taunting me!"
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Rain was stilling lightly coming down as they walked into the village. The village was at the base of a snow-topped mountain. When they entered a group of Turkey Ducks were quacking at them. Azula had to hold onto Momo before he tried picking a fight with the Turkey Ducks.
Katara was ahead of everyone leading them to a circular door where a man was standing.
"Aunt Wu is expecting you." The man said as he bowed and gestured to the door. He opened the door allowing the four teens to walk in. "Please remove your shoes."
Just as the door came to closed a young girl walked out to greet them. "My name is Meng and I'm Aunt Wu's assistant. Well, hello there."
Azula eyed Meng. She looked to see where the young girl was looking only to see Aang. The firebender mouthed an 'oh' realizing Meng had a crush on Aang.
Meng gestured to the pillows for them to sit on. Since there was only three out Azula sat down on one cushioned bench closets to Katara. "Can I get you some tea, or some of Aunt Wu's special bean curd puffs?" Meng asked mainly towards Aang.
"Do you guys have jasmine?" Azula asked.
The young girl quickly put her hand out towards the firebender. "Just a second." Meng continued to flirt with Aang not realizing how irritated Azula was.
"Calm down. She's just a kid." Katara said grabbing hold of one of Azula's hands.
"A bratty one." Azula mumbled.
When Meng left everyone began looking around. "I can't believe we're here in the house of nonsense."
Azula laid herself down on the bench trying to block out Sokka's complaining. She was drowsy from all the rain that was pouring. The last time she felt this tired was a week ago during the storm when they were in the Fishing Village. Suddenly Azula felt someone looming over her. When she opened her eyes she saw a late middle-aged woman in vibrant yellow robes looking down at her.
"Water is your natural opposite. Perhaps a fire reading for you child?"
"Thanks but no thanks. No offense, but I'm not into any fortunetelling. Have Katara go first. I'll just have some jasmine tea if you have any."
"I think we can have that arranged. But only if you do me one favor after you're done drinking."
"And that is…?"
"Swirl your cup three times with your non-dominant hand and turn the cup over onto the saucer." Aunt Wu turned her attention to Katara. "Come along."
After a few minutes Meng came along with Azula's tea. She smiled towards Aang before walking off.
"So…" Aang started. "What do you think they're talking about back there?"
"Boring stuff, I'm sure. Love. Who she's going to marry. How many babies she's gonna have."
Azula thought about what Sokka had said and slightly hoped that Aunt Wu would predict something about her to Katara. However, her mood changed quickly when she saw how worried and squeamish Aang had become at Sokka's comments.
"Yeah… dumb stuff like that." He bit his nails a bit. "Well, I've gotta find a bathroom!" Aang ran out of the room towards the direction Katara and Aunt Wu went.
"The bathroom, riiight…" Azula whispered sarcastically to herself as she also got up.
When she turned the corner she saw Aang obviously trying to be quiet so he could eavesdrop on Katara and Aunt Wu. Azula also stayed quiet so she could sneak up on Aang and drag him away from the screen door without alarming Aunt Wu and Katara. If they were caught Katara would be furious at them.
"Your palms are so smooth… do you use moisturizer?" They heard Aunt Wu asked.
"Actually, I have this special seaweed lotion. I could get you some if you like want." With each second went by the closer Azula got to Aang. "So, do you see anything in my love line?"
The firebender froze. She really did not want to be here. Azula respects the idea of keeping the confidentially between the teller and customer even though she didn't believe in fortunetelling. This was a private conversation that was not to be repeated unless Katara chose to tell them. She was also worried of being heart broken if what Aunt Wu tells Katara has nothing to do with her love for the waterbender.
"I see a great romance for you."
Azula quickly grabbed Aang's collar and clamped her opened hand over his mouth to silence him as she quickly dragged him away. She didn't want to hear the rest of it what Aunt Wu had to say to Katara. Whatever is said will be between the teller and the customer.
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"Huh? That's strange. It's not a man you are going to marry." The fortuneteller looked closer at the girl's love line. She saw something different about this girl's palm compared to the others. "Do you have a special woman in mind?" Aunt Wu asked giving Katara a reassuring smile.
Katara blushed. "Yes."
Aunt Wu's smile grew. She quickly realized the waterbender had feelings for Azula.
"I'm sure you'll be happy to know that she is going to be a very powerful bender."
"Wait if she's going to be a powerful bender wouldn't that make her a him? Aang is the Avatar, the most powerful bender in the world." Katara asked.
"I didn't say 'the most powerful bender.' I said 'very powerful bender'. I'm sure she is going to be just as strong as the Avatar. Come on its time for me to predict your friends' futures."
When Aunt Wu and Katara arrived back to the waiting room to see Sokka and Aang trying to stay as far away from Azula as possible.
"What did you two do?" Katara accused the two boys.
They didn't try to answer. They were afraid whatever they say will cause the firebender to shoot fireballs at them.
"Long story short we had a very nice chat about etiquette." Azula replied before taking a sip of her tea.
"Since you're friend doesn't want to have her fortune read… who's next?" Aunt Wu asked as she carefully eyed the firebender as she drank her tea.
Sokka stood up. "Okay, let's get this over with."
The fortuneteller looked unhappily at the male warrior. "Your future is full of struggle and anguish, most of it self-inflicted."
"But you didn't read my palms or anything!"
"I don't need to… it's written all over your face." Aunt Wu replied bluntly.
Azula began coughing as she choked on her tea. When she stopped coughing she began to laugh. "I'm sorry but I can see that prediction coming true."
"I guess that leaves me." Aang walked up to Aunt Wu. The two walked away to Aunt Wu's fortunetelling room.
Katara sat down next to Azula and leaned up against the firebender. "You seem to be in a happy mood." The firebender observed.
"That's because I received a wonderful fortune. Are you sure you don't want yours told?"
"Where's the fun of knowing what's going to happen to you?" Azula took one big gulp finishing her tea. "That hit the spot."
"You seem to like jasmine tea a lot."
The smile Azula had on her face faded a little. "It was my uncle and cousin's favorite, and it was that last tea I had with Lu Ten before he was killed." Azula swirled her teacup with her non-dominant hand and turned the cup over onto the saucer.
Before Katara could say anything, Aunt Wu and Aang returned.
"Okay, since everyone is done let's head out." Sokka urged. The four teens got up and began putting their shoes back on.
Aunt Wu lifted up Azula's cup and examined the tealeaves. "I see. You had a very tragic experience early in your childhood."
Azula stopped abruptly. Aunt Wu continued to read Azlua's tealeaves. "But don't worry, you're blessed by the moon and sun. The moon is full… romance is ahead of you. And the sun represents happiness, success, and power."
The fortuneteller saw the firebender slowly turned around to glare at her. Aunt Wu knew this was going to happen. She purposely tricked Azula into having her fortune told. "There are many ways to tell ones fortune young firebender. Tealeaf reading is one of them. That is why I asked you to swirl your cup and turn it upside when you were finished. I suspect great things can come from you."
"That's it we're leaving this village now!" Azula exclaimed.
Everyone knew not to argue with the firebender.