"She did what?!"

Sokka winced at Mai's sharp demand, the usually steely security head's voice made high with hysteria. He knew the right thing to do was to tell her what was happening to Azula and Sokka figured he'd done enough wrong to last through his next couple lives. Not to mention that things were bad enough between the Fire Nation and the Water Tribe that he didn't need to give anyone of them an excuse to be upset at them. He knew that no-one was happy at the situation at hand, especially not Mai and her security staff. But her reaction was anything but what he was expecting.

She looked scared.

Sokka realized that he should feel fear too. There was a very good reason that Azula's Fire Bending had been the thing that people sought to take away. He carried more than a few cars thanks to the Princess and her abilities. After all the fact of the matter was Azula without her bending was like a Leopard without its claws. Its teeth might still have been a problem, danger was still present, but the greatest weapon was gone. Azula had just gotten her best weapon back. Mai turned away from him, looking at something out the window before she strode over to it and yanked the string that kept the curtains tied out of place. The heavy fabric fell across the windows with a soft sound, blocking the feeble moonlight out completely.

Mai's office was strangely welcoming to Sokka. Probably because of all the steel that lined her walls. Swords, daggers, throwing knives--all of them sharpened and polished until they glistened. Like the rest of the Fire Nation palace, the colors were warm. Sweeps of red and black and ivory all decorated her walls. Illuminated by the bright burn of the lamps that hung from the ceiling, Sokka couldn't help but think her office would have been a great place to make shadow puppets. It was sparely furnished and aside from the weapons most of the walls were empty, covered only by lengths of fabric. Sokka knew the woman in front of him well enough to know that the fabric covered the walls because Mai still liked to throw things at them when she was particularly stressed. Guarding a King who did not have the love and support of a significant part of the wealthier members of the population was a very stressful job and the walls were riddled with holes to prove it.

"Come on," Sokka said, his voice far more casual than he felt, "it was only a matter of time before she got that Bending thing back."

"Yes," Mai said striding back to him, "I assumed it would be more time," she sighed before she looked at him, "thank you. Return to the Princess. I need to speak with the King."

"Sure. Say 'hey' to Zuko for me," Sokka said bowing out.

Mai closed her eyes tightly, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt the beginnings of a headache. Sokka was right, she had known that eventually she would have to deal with Azula and her bending. But she had seen the suppressants that they had given Azula. They were not to be used heavily or long term. Azula should have been unable to bend for a very long time, certainly longer than a few days. Zuko, June--even Iroh would have thought the same thing. Of course they probably should have considered that when it came to Azula things were anything but predictable. But she was Bending again. It wasn't significant amounts of fire but Mai had no doubt it was only a matter of time before that changed. The very last thing Mai--and the Fire Nation--needed at the moment was for Azula to be Bending at full capacity.

Walking over to the window, Mai pressed her hands to the ledge and looked down at the courtyard stones. The peace conference was going well but it was just a conference. It was a step for a Nation that needed something far closer to a leap. That was the problem with a Nation that had taken over the world. Aang had brought peace to the Four Nations but in doing that he had taken most of the Fire Nation's power away. Now the rest of the world viewed them with suspicion--though it was an earned suspicion. The change in leadership had helped with that. Zuko was a hero in the eyes of the rest of the world. They liked him just fine because he had helped to free them, fighting his father and his sister. To the rest of the world Zuko was a living, breathing tale of redemption and probably one of the only reasons they were not facing external war.

Internally, however, it was a completely different matter.

The Phoenix King Ozai had brought the people power and wealth beyond their wildest imaginations. The Fire Nation ruled the world and, by association, Fire Nation citizens were treated as members of a ruling Nation. His defeat might have been at the hands of the Avatar but it was associated with Zuko. The power change had been necessary but it had been ill timed. WIthin a fortnight there were trails for war criminals and the people were seeing a serious decrease in their wealth and power throughout the Nations. To go from having everything to having almost nothing was a terrible feeling and the people had not been happy. So while Zuko was a tale of redemption to the rest of the Nations, he was a tale of loss to the people he led. He represented everything that they had lost. He was so drastically different from his father that the people saw him as everything that they had lost.

The real miracle was that they were not facing a civil war.

Pushing herself away from the window, Mai turned and walked out of her office. She was going to have to speak to Zuko as quickly as possible. Despite her best efforts the Fire Nation Palace was still a rumor mill--just as it always had been. If they were lucky it would be a few hours before everyone knew of Azula's new abilities. Against her advisement Zuko's rooms were at the uppermost part of the palace. Though there were guards on the roof constantly, she still wished that she could have made him take a room with a few less walls. But Zuko had flat out refused to take any room that had been occupied by a member of the royal family, which essential meant that every room that had been carefully designed to be as protected as possible for the monarchy was not occupied by the monarchy at all. It was stupid and hot headed but, then again, it was Zuko and if there was anything that made him stupid and hot headed it was his family.

Arriving at the hallway outside his room Mai walked forward. The two guards outside instantly moved aside for her as she raised her fist and rapped on the lacquered doors.

"Come on."

Mai stepped through the doors into the Fire Lord's personal chambers. Compared to the rest of the palace these rooms were rather simple. There was minimal gilt, barely any of the luxurious fabric that decked the rest of the palace. Even after years at home Zuko still seemed uncomfortable with the finery that the rest of the palace enjoyed. Over the years however objects had begun to make their way into the room. Large clay jars lined one of the walls, decorated in the style of the Earth Nation while an entire bearskin laid in front of his bed, a gift from the Northern Water Tribe. Fire globes decorated one wall while a hundred different kinds of tea were shelved nearby. A wide hat lay on top of one of the jars and his prized Dao blades were carefully placed in a stand near his bed. Zuko's room was a testament to the people he knew, to the world he had traveled--to the incredible Fire Lord he was, the one that the people could not bring themselves to see him as.

Zuko himself was standing over the table, looking at the scroll spread out in front of him. It was late and he had already lost the finery he usually wore. His hair was down from its top knot but he hadn't even pulled it back. Sometimes she forgot how long it was, probably just as long as hers now. Still even with the length the scar on his face was painfully obvious. The one on his chest from the lightening he had taken for the Water Bender had faded some, but the one on his face had not. Nor did Mai think it ever would. She had heard people whisper that the scar was cursed by Ozai to always burn, causing him constant agony and remind him what a disappointment he was. Mai thought that was a load of dung but she knew the scar was a reminder of his father and the past she knew the Fire Lord still wished he did not come from. His eyes moved up finally from the scroll.

"You should probably ask whose there before you let them into your bedroom," Mai told him dryly as she stepped further in the room.

"Of course," Zuko said, his lips curving into a smile, "but I knew if they were any kind of threat you'd have them on the ground long before they could make it to my room."

"Of course," Mai said, "but you should still be careful."

"I will be," Zuko promised coming around the table, "so what are you doing up here this late?"

"Its the Princess," Mai began.

"Did something happen?" Zuko asked, his voice sharper and quick as the humor fled from his eyes.

Mai opened her mouth to continue but found herself unable to go on. He looked worried, scared even and she had not even said anything was wrong with the Princess. Something was wrong. Zuko wasn't acting like someone who had witness the cruelty that Azula was capable of, like someone who carried more than one scar from his sister's hand. He was acting like a worried elder brother. Like Azula was somehow innocent and new. Like Ty Lee had acted when she had said those things about Azula. Had everyone forgotten what Azula had done? She had suffered, sure. And what had happened to her was terrible but it was not as though Azula did not deserve punishment for what she had done. Her mental incapacity had prevented any kind of trail but Mai knew that even when she was sane Azula had had a cruel strike wider than the boiling lake. Yet in light of her safe return, everyone seemed to have forgotten that.

"Yes," she said, "the Princess has overcome the effects of the bending suppressants. She Bent tonight."

"Are you sure?" Zuko questioned.

"Yes," Mai said.

"Well," Zuko began, "it was going to happen eventually--"

Mai opened her mouth to tell him off. To ask how the hell he had lost his mind so quickly. To demand to know why he and half the Fire Nation were so desperate to have Azula well that they seemed to have completely forgotten that when Azula was fine she was probably going to try to take over the Nation. But as Mai looked at him she realized that she wasn't dealing with the Fire Lord in Zuko, she was dealing with a big brother. She doubted she would have understood how he felt if not for Tom Tom. She still had nightmares about when she had stood back and let Azula change the deal, full ready to sacrifice Tom Tom. She hadn't said a word to stop the Princess and to this day she still thought about that terrible 'what if'. What if things had been different and Tom Tom hadn't come through alright? All the angry replies she was about to give him died on her lips as she looked at him. He was a worried elder brother and if Mai could understand nothing else, she could understand that.

"I will need to draw up further security measures for the Princess," she said, "and we will need to make sure that Iroh is set up to stay here for longer if he is to be her tutor in Bending."

"You think Iroh would be the best?" Zuko asked.

"I think you have more than enough to do right now," she said, forcing herself not to say that she thought the Fire Lord teaching a would-be assassin how to re master her Bending was the worst idea ever, "and Iroh will be able to help with her Lightening."

"Right," Zuko said, "well, when you've got the plans--"

"I will show them to you immediately," Mai promised, "I will let you get some rest."

"Mai," Zuko stopped her as she made it halfway to the door, "I know this isn't easy for you--" he began.

Mai stiffened. He couldn't be doing this, not now, not when she was barely holding on by a thread. As his voice trailed off Mai desperately fought to keep her voice calm as she spoke.

"I'm fine," she said, feeling as though the walls were closing in on her, "you need sleep and I have work to do. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he replied.

Zuko watched Mai practically throw herself out of the room, her deportment training the only thing keeping her steps from being at a dead run. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath in, trying to calm the adrenaline singing through him. Azula was Bending but that only seemed like the icing on a very bitter cake. Of all the people this was going to affect, Mai was the one Zuko was the most concerned about. Ty Lee generally found the good and their friends would soon be back in their own homes but Mai, Mai did not have Ty Lee's optimism. She had suffered betrayal at the hands of Azula, just like he had. The only difference was that he'd seen it coming from a mile away while Mai hadn't. Not the first time anyway. It wasn't that he had forgotten all that Azula had done, it was just that he was so sick of everything being defined by what had happened in the past. He knew he was playing a dangerous game leaving her in the palace, even if her primary guard was someone he trusted but he couldn't spend the rest of his life furious at his little sister.

He just couldn't.

He couldn't explain why, even though every ounce of common sense he had told him Azula should be locked up right now. But maybe that was love. Twisted and wrong as it was for him to love the little sister who had repeatedly made it clear she held none of the emotion for him, a part of him did love her and probably always would. But of all the people in the palace, he imagined the only one who could really understand was the one who had just walked out of the room. Mai might be his friend, his advisor and the head of security but it had been a very long time since she had let him anywhere near her, at least emotionally. Oh he could talk and she would listen--she'd probably know what he was going to say half the time since she knew him so well but he knew the Southern Water Tribe would have a heat wave before she let him know what she was really feeling.

Looking at the door Zuko wondered, not for the first time, how you could miss someone when they were standing ten feet away.

For the first time in as long as she could remember, Azula woke up and did not wish the world had ended.

The miserable cold that seemed to have taken residence in her bones was, well, gone. In its place was the familiar warmth that she had come to know as her own. It was new to her now, though she knew there had been a time when she wouldn't have even noticed it. Her power had always been a welcome thing, something she had for so long she had just always assumed that it wold be there. Now it was back and she could not even comprehend how she had existed without it. It wrapped around her, not her skin but somewhere infinitely deeper, occupying almost her very soul. The present, constant thrum of power burned deep inside her, its presence reminding her of everything she was.

Of everything she had been.

Of everything she lost.

Opening her eyes, Azula looked at the room. It was well past dawn, the sun already bright in the sky. She was laying on her bed, the red silk seeming to spread out like an ocean in front of her. Her hands lay in front of her, as though they were reaching for something. Not moving her head from her pillow, Azula looked at her hand and focused. It took concentration, more than she was used to using, but after a moment blue fire began to fill her palm. Azula looked at the fire, surprised to see that it wasn't orange or red but blue. She'd half expected it to be weaker, to be like her brother's or her uncle's fire. But the flames that filled her palm here blue, they were her flames. Because everyone knew Azula made blue flames, especially Azula herself.

"Okay Princess, its time to--"

Azula's eyes widened as she snapped her fingers shut, extinguishing the flames and turning around, pushing herself up to see the man standing in her doorway. Predictably, it was Sokka. Quickly the Water Tribe member shut the door behind him, making sure that no-one else could see into the room. Azula did not know who else was on the other side, only that whoever it was Sokka didn't want to come into the room. Azula made to get off the bed and onto her feet, but the pain hit her. Not sharp or nauseating, just an aching throb that seemed to encompass every muscle. In spite of her desire for control, Azula sucked in her breath as the pain made her head swim. It had been a very long time since she had been sore and this, this was unlike any soreness she had experienced.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sokka quickly walked across the room.

"I'm fine," Azula said through gritted teeth, trying to focus on her breathing and not the soreness.

"Yeah, right," he closed the last of the distance between them, crouching down to where she was practically doubled over, "its the Bending," Azula opened one eye, daring to look up at him, "when your brother lost his Bending he was sore for weeks after getting it back. You lost it entirely. I'm guessing it hurts like hell--"

"Do not try to understand what a Bender goes through," Azula spat.

Sokka looked down at her, not sure whether to be amused or offended at the person in front of him. After the past night, it had become clear to him that Azula was not entirely the homicidal maniac he had originally assumed. Oh there was plenty of homicidal as well as a healthy does of maniac in the girl, but he knew that there was something more to her. There were fears and flaws and things that everyone had. There was a woman, somewhere in there, who had been manipulated and twisted into someone's puppet. Who had endured a lot and done many things to make some man's warped fantasy come true. Just the glimpse of her that he had seen last night was enough to make Sokka think that there was something in Azula. Something worth protecting on more than someone else's orders.

But that didn't mean he wasn't certain she was going to kick his ass.

Oh he had no doubt about that. In all his time with the Kyoshi Warriors, he had become accustom to living with women who had no problem beating him up. But there had always been a sort of humor to it, it was like their equivalent of watching a play. But there wasn't any sort of humor to Azula. When she fought, Sokka had absolutely no doubt that she fought to one thing: the death. No matter what he thought of the girl personally he had to respect her determination. Even now doubled over she was refusing to sit down, to give into the pain and nausea though Sokka knew he'd be on the bed in a moment's notice. He'd sparred sore and dizzy one day against Suki and he still had the ropy scar to prove what a stupid idea that had been.

"Fine I'll turn around," he said turning his back.

"Why?" Azula demanded, an undeniable note of wariness in her tone.

"So you can sit down and pretend no one saw it. Its okay," he said crossing his arms, "I won't make fun of you."

"You make fun of me?!" he heard her demand and, from the rustle of clothing he knew she had straitened up and not sat down, "how dare yo--u--"

At the hitch in her voice Sokka spun around in time to see the Princess sway once more on her feet. Swearing he lunged forward, his arms wrapping around her as he pulled her against him to keep her from toppling back. Azula inhaled sharply as his arms wrapped around her. Head swimming, Azula realized that she barely came up to his shoulder now. His scent flooded her nostrils and the previous night came flooding back to her. She had almost cried in front of him and then she had--oh Agni she had fainted right into his arms. Of all the things to do--even if there was a reason for it the idea that she had swooned like some Princess in those awful stories her mother had read her as a child made her stomach turn in a way that had nothing to do with the nausea she felt. The worst part was that he had been nice to her. Like she didn't scare him. Scaring people was what Azula did and yet this Water Tribesman who she had done terrible things to didn't seem to be afraid of her.

He was also cool.

Not in that way Ty Lee used to describe boys. No he was physically cool. Azula was used to dealing with Fire Nation men, even if they rarely hugged her, and like most Fire Benders they had a high body temperature. But Sokka did not. He felt cool, refreshing almost like when you plunged into water during a hot day. It was actually not terrible being held against his broad chest. She had been so disgusted with the way that ten years of not training had affected her own physical form that she hadn't realized what a decade of training had done for the rest of them. Especially for him. Azula raised her head to look up at him. He looked surprised, but whether it was at her looking at him or something else she didn't know. His blue eyes met her gold ones. Sokka opened his mouth but no words came out. Azula opened her own lips.

"Put me down right now or I'll give you some new scars."

"Fine," Sokka said, opening his arms and releasing her. Azula stood on her own for two seconds out of pure spite before she dropped heavily onto her bed, "better?"

"Much," she spat raising her chin to meet his gaze.

Sokka looked down at the defiant Princess glaring up at him. Any of the understanding he'd felt towards her in light of the previous night was gone as he looked into her gold eyes and tried to figure out why he'd been so sure that she deserved to be protected.

"Lay down before you fall over," he said instead.

"I am not taking advice--"

"I might not be a Bender but I know about getting my ass kicked. Lay back so when your Uncle comes to teach you to Bend your at least able to stand."

"I do not need lessons on Bending!" Azula protested shoving herself up, "not from my fuddy duddy Uncle!"

"Yeah well that's who you're getting. Look at it this way, you don't learn to control that fire of yours and you'll probably wind up blowing this whole palace up and then what'll you try to take over?"

Azula opened her mouth furiously to tell him off, only to realize that words were not what were going to come out of her mouth. Clapping a hand over her mouth, Azula threw herself off the bed and race to the bathroom, barely making it before the last of the Bending suppressants worked their way out of her system. Wincing at the sound, Sokka went over to the pitcher by the bed and poured a glass of water for the ill Princess. Walking over to the bathroom he waited until she was finished before handing it to her. Glaring daggers at him, Azula cleaned out her mouth and spat the water out in an attempt to clean the terrible taste out of her mouth. The look on his face seemed to be relieved, but at what Azula couldn't say.

"What?" she demanded looking at him.

"I'm just thanking the Great Spirit you don't have your Fire Breath back," Sokka told her crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh shut up," Azula growled, kicking the bathroom door shut in his face.

Okay for the record I haven't decided whether its gonna be Zutara or Maiko or if its gonna be something else entirely. But I do feel that Mai and Zuko's relationship, even if its not necessarily in the romantic sense, is a very important one and I've got some unresolved issues between them that'll have to be worked out.

But Sokkla's gonna be the main couple.


So we're getting into their interactions! I don't think either of them would be holding back with the other given their history but given that Sokka's a confident sort of guy and Azula's proven to have no idea what to do with boys like that who she doesn't necessarily want to kill, there's a whole other emotional side to their interactions. Don't worry though, the tension's gonna spill over very soon.

Please review guys (and gals). Your input is why I update this story! Thanks to all the new alters and faves but please review!