The Golden Wolf Warrior
By: Agent-Ayu
Chapter 16: Between Rage and Serenity
Note: Let's see, pick your Author's Excuse Poison: School, Graduation, Work, Lack of Sleep, Life, Rewriting, Changing Parts of GWW, Post-Potter Depression, Korra Spasms, etc. There will be another note at the end of the chapter since it's a lengthy one.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer from Prologue still applies.
"Zu-zu, come on! It's just climbing a tree. It's not that scary!" Five-year old Azula yelled down to one of the lower branches.
Her brother was struggling to reach one of the higher branches. He reached, and then pulled back. Reached again, only to pull back once more. Finally, he gave up. "Not funny Azula!"
"Scaredy cat-owl!"
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Azula opened her eyes. The sun was just starting to rise on another quiet morning. Ever since the swamp she had been seeing more and more memories playing with her older brother. In the swamp she had just barely seen her brother's face and her mother's eyes. If she ever ran into her mother, she'll know. The firebender was also assuming her mother was still alive. For all she knew she was the last of her family.
She just laid there in her sleeping bag not bothering to get up and train before everyone else got up. The firebender closed her eyes to listen carefully to everyone else breathing as they slept, somehow it calmed her. Azula turned to her side and watched Katara continue to sleep. The two of them hadn't been talking to each other since Gaoling. In Gaoling, Azula had snapped at Katara who was only concerned for Azula's well being.
While they were at Earth Rumble VI, Azula was pissed when Fire Nation Man stepped into the arena. Even though she has announced several times that she was to be acknowledge as a member of the Southern Water Tribe, she was still of Fire Nation birth and Fire Nation Man had essentially insulted her with his fighting name. She had taken the rock from Sokka and threw it at Fire Nation Man's head, knocking him out before his match. Azula stormed out from the arena with Katara right on her heels, trying to figure out what was wrong with the firebender.
With each passing day, Azula's temper and patience were getting more out of control. It was as if everything she had learned up to this point wasn't helping her. She had been struggling with her firebending too. Her drive was still there, but her mind was not clear.
"Today's the day!" Azula quietly looked over her shoulder seeing Aang excited to learn earthbending.
A couple of days had gone by since they gained an additional member to their group, Toph Bei Fong. If Katara wasn't fighting with Azula, she was fighting with Toph. Everyone was still trying to get used to the new arrangement and Toph was very different then what the four of them were used to having around. Things were starting to mellow out with Toph starting the help out setting up camp.
There was a rumble in the earth until Toph broke out of her earth tent. "GOOD MORNING EARTHBENDING STUDENT!" Toph shouted.
Azula watched as Toph gave Sokka a hard time before sending him into the air. She winced when he hit the ground. The firebender briefly looked over at Katara before rolling up her sleeping bag and following the other three benders to watch Aang learn to earthbend.
"Aang." The airbender stopped walking and waited for Azula. "Just a reminder, don't try anything stupid. Listen to Toph. She is your Earthbending Master after all."
Aang nodded in understanding Azula. They didn't want a repeat of what happened with Jeong Jeong and Pakku.
"It's amazing. You still know how to talk to people without snapping at them."
Azula closed her eyes trying to ignore Katara's sarcasm. "I'm not in the mood to put up with this."
"What's wrong? You haven't been acting the same since Gaoling."
"Nothing is wrong, Katara. I just want to be left alone."
"Azula, I'm trying to help! Just talk to-"
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"
The embers from their fire last night ignited into a large flame before dispersing almost immediately. Azula's fists were clutched tightly, but little flames were still coming out from her hands.
"Please. I really need to be alone for a while. Okay?"
Katara reached out to touch Azula's arm before pulling back. "Alright. You know where to find me."
The firebender took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She knew she was being unfair to Katara, but Azula didn't know how to voice her feelings. She was losing control.
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She felt a hand placed on her shoulder to wake her up. Azula being barely awake looked to see who was waking her up.
"Mom?"
"Azula, sweetie, wake up." Ursa urged her daughter.
"Mom, what's going on?"
"Sweetie, I don't have time to explain. We need to get out of here." Ursa lifted her daughter out of bed. There was smoke starting to seep into the bedroom.
"Mom."
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Azula shot up from her sleeping bag. She was panting hard and drenched with sweat. Slowly she looked around, making sure she didn't wake anyone else. Once she was sure no one else was awake, Azula crawled out of her sleeping bag and walked over to the river.
The firebender splashed water over her face to clear her head. The last time she had that flashback was when the three Water Tribe teens had taken Aang back to the Southern Air Temple. She was physically shaking.
"'I know you're upset… and I know how painful and lonely it is to lose the people you love.' That's what you told me back at the Southern Air Temple." Aang was sitting on a near by rock behind Azula. "You can't keep it bottled up, Azula. You're not yourself anymore."
"I thought I was over it. No. Not over it, but accepted that there wasn't a chance for my family to have survived the coup. Unlike you, Aang… you didn't see someone you loved murdered right in front of you." She didn't turn to look at the airbender. "My cousin died protecting me. He shouldn't have died. If I didn't trip we both would have made it out alive. I use to only get flashbacks once a year, around the time of his death. But… ever since we met you, I've been coming to me frequently. More so since the swamp."
"Why can't you tell us or at least Katara?"
She stood up and began to walk back to camp. "It's complicated. Go back to bed, Aang. Toph won't have mercy on you in the morning."
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"What is she doing?"
Aang immediately dropped his earthbending task as he and Katara turned their attention to Sokka. The Water Tribe boy nodded his head over to the waterfall. Katara looked beyond Sokka to see Azula scaling the to stone walls against the waterfall.
"What? What is Azula doing? In case you guys forgot I'm blind!"
"Azula is fighting the waterfall by climbing up using the edges of to stone walls." Aang explained slowly.
Her arms were shaking violently. With the constant water pounding and climbing up the wall she was putting a lot of strain on her arms and legs. She could barely see in front of her as she kept on climbing. The firebender got halfway up the waterfall before slipping and falling into the river.
Out of her control she was pushed and pulled violently by the water under the waterfall until she was pushed out into calm water. She swam as fast as she could to the surface to catch her breath. Azula didn't know why she was doing this. Something kept telling her she needed to do this.
"AZULA, YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!" Katara yelled towards the firebender.
She ignored the waterbender as she swam back under the waterfall and began to climb the wall again. The firebender was able to climb a little higher before she plummeted down the waterfall again.
Before she could swim back to the waterfall, Azula was thrown into the air and back onto land by a spiral of water. Azula looked up to see it was Katara. Katara had waterbended her back onto shore.
"JUST WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN INJURED TO WHERE I CAN'T HEAL YOU! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!" Katara yelled at the firebender.
"WELL I DIDN'T!"
Both girls looked at stared hard at each other. "What's happened to you? You're not the Azula who grew up with Sokka and I. Ever since the swamp you've been acting weird and you're losing your temper more and more."
Azula grumbled before getting up and walking away from Katara. Aang and Toph went back to practicing Earthbending, while Sokka continued to fish. However, Katara continued following Azula.
"Azula, don't walk away from me!"
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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."
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She stared up at the waterfall. It wasn't the same waterfall Azula had tried climbing up earlier that week since they had to keep on traveling in order to keep the Fire Nation off their tail. This waterfall was much higher and even more dangerous.
"Why are you doing this, Azula?" From her peripheral vision she saw Aang. She didn't reply, so he continued. "Are you ready to talk about it or is it still complicated?"
"It's always complicated. I need answers, Aang. Answers that no one here can tell me. If Akuzo overthrew the previous Fire Lord, why did my family have to be murdered in the process? It doesn't make sense unless my family was the previous royal family!"
"What if they were? Ever thought of the possibility?"
Azula clenched her jaw. Of course, she had thought of the possibility, however, she had learned through their traveling that many noble families who were very loyal to Fire Lord Azulon were murdered as well. There was also a chance she was a daughter of one of Fire Lord Azulon's noblemen.
"Go back to bed, Aang!" Azula turned and looked at Aang. He knew she was going to say that as he got up and went back to bed.
"Oh, one last thing, Azula. Something Monk Gyatso once told me is that there's a fine line between rage and serenity. Sort of like how you told me firebending is, right? Why don't you try finding peace with your anger for Fire Lord Akuzo?"
The firebender watched as Aang walked back to their campsite. "He's right." She mumbled to herself. "Heh… had to be reminded of that by him. There's probably still hope for him when it comes time to learn firebending."
Once Azula was positive that Aang had gone back to sleep, she dove into the river and swam to the bottom of the waterfall. Azula took a deep breath. She could faintly feel the sun starting to rise. Taking one more deep breath she began to climb up the waterfall.
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Katara slowly sat up and looked around the camp. Aang and Toph were already up and practicing some 'softer' Earthbending techniques. She looked around some more to find Appa, Sokka, and Momo still asleep.
"Hey, have you two seen Azula?"
Aang quickly stopped what he was doing and pointed towards the waterfall. Katara's eye followed the direction up the waterfall, but still couldn't see Azula. Then she looked at the top of the waterfall to see Azula meditating on one of the ledges.
"When did? How did she?" Katara stuttered.
"She was up there when Toph and I woke up."
The waterbender walked to the edge of the river and waterbended herself to the ledge Azula was on. Quietly she sat down next to the firebender, patiently waiting for Azula to finish meditating. Katara listened as the firebender took slow deep breaths as she felt the sun.
"You're probably mad at me for climbing up the waterfall again, aren't you?"
Katara looked up and saw Azula's eyes were still closed. "Not this time." She rocked herself back and forth a few times. "How many times did you fall before you got up here?"
"None. If I fell all of you would have heard the splash. Well, everyone except Sokka." Azula opened her eyes and smirked. "That boy would be in so much trouble if no one woke him up."
"Are you ready to talk about it?" Katara looked into Azula's gold eyes, trying to show her support.
Azula leaned back as her legs dangled over the edge. "I will say this, since I told Aang a few days ago, I thought I fully accepted that I'm more than likely the only survivor of my family. Seeing what I could of my mother and my brother in the swamp, made me realize how much I miss them. It was as if the swamp was teasing me by showing me them and telling me I can never have them.
"I even wondered why the swamp only showed me my mother and brother. Yes, I miss them, but I also miss my uncle, my father, and Lu Ten. So why didn't it show them as well?"
Katara gently squeezed Azula's hand.
"Then there's the scary thought of my family being the Fire Nation's Royal Family. I want to know about my past, but I'm scared to know if Jet was right. If my family is the royal family, that would mean Fire Lord Sozin is my great-grandfather and he started this mess. I don't know if I am part of that family or the daughter of one of Fire Lord Azulon's noblemen."
"If we ever find out about your past, I'll still love you, even if you are the real Princess of the Fire Nation. You're Azula of the Southern Water Tribe. You have been officially since we were eleven, but unofficially since the day you arrived. That is who you are. You're also Azula, Duke of Fluffiness, remember?"'
There was a pause as Azula stared at Katara before realizing what the waterbender had just said. She blushed. "You're never going to let that nickname go, are you?"
"That's correct!" Katara stood up and held her hand out to Azula. "Now, what do you say we get off of here?"
Azula smirked and grabbed Katara's hand to pull herself up. "Only if we can jump."
"Uh…" Katara looked over the edge and fully noticed how high up they were. "I'm not so sure."
"If we run before jumping we'll be out far enough that we won't hit the ledge." Azula lightly tugged Katara's hand as they walked away from the edge. "Ready?"
Katara gulped before nodding. Both benders lightly ran to the edge, but were not synced and the waterbender pulled on Azula hand. Azula stopped immediately before she reached the edge.
"We're not synced. That'll be dangerous for us if we don't run the same speed. One more time, Azula." The waterbender tugged Azula back to their starting position.
"This time for sure, yes?" Azula asked.
"Yes. Go my pace."
They ran again, but Katara chickened out the last second and pulled Azula back again.
"Katara, we're going to run again and this time I will jump. So you can either fear hitting the ledge or jump with me."
The waterbender took another deep breath before nodding. This time they ran and both jumped off the ledge. Katara screamed when Azula let go of her hand and they submerged into the water. Azula was laughing when they broke to the water's surface.
"That was fun! Katara, we have to do that again!"
"OH NO WE DON'T!" Katara grabbed Azula's arm as they same back to shore. "THAT WAS TERRIFYING! IT WAS EXHILIRATING! I FELT LIKE I WAS FLYING!"
Azula watched as Katara paced in front of her yelling her rants. The smirk on the firebender's face kept growing and growing the more excited Katara got from jumping off the cliff.
"AZULA, ONE DAY WE WILL GET MARRIED!"
"Wait… what? You're thinking of marriage already?" Azula stood up abruptly as Katara kept pacing.
"Of course! I love you, you love me. You're the only one who is probably crazy enough to jump off a high cliff with me, even if it was your idea."
The firebender pinched the bridge of her nose as Katara continued on her ramble. Everyone else stared at Katara in confusion. Sokka walked over to Azula and nudged her in the ribs.
"What's got her all wired up?"
"Adrenaline. Remind me to never to allow Katara to cliff dive ever again." Azula walked over to her bag. She used firebending to dry herself off before she put on the rest of her clothes.
Katara sat down in front of the fire pit taking a deep breath, coming down from her adrenaline rush. "Still!" Everyone turned his or her attention back on Katara. "We are never doing that again. At least on a cliff that high."
Silence fell upon them since no one was sure how to respond to Katara. Not even Momo or Appa made a sound.
"You know what we need?" Everyone looked at Sokka. "Mini-vacations! Think about it all we've done since we've left the South Pole has been traveling, finding people, training, and staying away from the Fire Nation. We really need a break."
"I'm shocked. Sokka, you finally came up with a plan that can't go wrong!" Azula smirked.
"Yeah, I kn- HEY!"
Momo climbed onto Azula's shoulder and wrapped his tail around her. The firebender gave a soft smile and leaned her head onto Momo. "You're still as fluffy as ever too, Momo."
Everyone except Toph laughed knowing the Azula they know is back.
"I don't get it."
Note (2): So, which poison did you pick? You don't have to tell me, but yes, that's why I've been gone for nearly seven months. I want to first thank all of you readers, new and old for continuing to read Golden Wolf Warrior and enjoying the artworks that come with it. I'm curious as to how many of you have seen the latest drawing I did of Golden Wolf Warrior. The drawing takes place in this chapter. It can be found on my deviantArt page, agent-ayu (dot) deviantart (dot) com.
Will I stop writing GWW?
Yes and no. NO! I will not drop this project. I love writing this version of Avatar: The Last Airbender because it is a very interesting 'What If' I've found it to be and want to finish it. Yes, because the story does have to end at some point.
Also, there are some rather 'interesting' plans in store for GWW. I won't tell you them yet because, one, I like teasing you to keep you interested, and two, because it's not a full go on what's these plans are. What I will say is that it's going to be a collaborative project and will take a while before it's even started. Let's nickname it "Project GWW" for any future reference. Project GWW is currently under discussion and more art works will be posted later.
In other news, GWW has a Tumblr account as well. If you're on Tumblr: GoldenWolfWarrior (dot) tumblr (dot) com. Also if you're interested: agent-ayu (dot) tumblr (dot) com. Just a warning, if you do follow the GWW Tumblr account, it is heavily under construction and the page will be changed quite a lot until I get it the way I want it to look. Sorry for the inconvenience ahead of time.
The next chapter maybe a little short, but I promise that Chapter 18 will be a lengthy one. I still love your reviews, thoughts, comments, questions. Again thank you for sticking around and being very patient with me these past seven months. I can't promise that I'll post a lot when school starts again in September, but I will try my best to post at least once a month until the story is finished. Thank you again.