"Why is it so hot here?" Sokka demanded loudly, bending his arm up and back to loosen the muscles.
"Welcome to the fire nation in summer," Ty Lee said cheerfully, bending gracefully forward and touching her forehead to her knees.
Sokka shot her a half hearted glare before stretching the other arm in a similar gesture. Bending backwards, Ty Lee pressed her hands to the hard packed soil and shifted her weight, kicking off the ground and balancing on her hands. Moving her weight onto her elbows she touched the tips of her toes to the ground and looked up at Sokka. Sokka, who had enough experience with Ty Lee's inhuman flexibility, ignored her expectant look she gave him and touched his toes, feeling his calves burn in protest.
"You need to spend more time stretching," Ty Lee admonished, "or you'll never improve."
"Swordplay isn't about flexibility, it's about speed," Sokka said, "and I've got plenty of that."
"Mmm Hmmm," Ty Lee said flipping herself right side up and straightening, "hey, Azula's up!"
"Huh?" Sokka turned around, following the line of Ty Lee's gaze.
It took his eyes a moment to realize what she was talking about. They were in one of the Fire Lord's personal training courts, meaning it was surround on three sides by the palace itself. High walls of pale stone rose above them, offering three wide balconies that had once held viewing galleries for the family. Now in their state of disuse the screens had been drawn, their pale wooden slats hiding what was inside. After a moment a patch of light shimmered through the slats. Sokka's eyes widened as the light vanished, only to reappear a few moments later a few feet away.
"How do you know that's Azula?" Sokka asked, "those flames aren't blue."
"Duh," Ty Lee said with a roll of her eyes, "Zula's flame wasn't always blue."
"It wasn't?" Sokka asked.
"Nu huh," Ty Lee said, "when she first started to Bend Azula's flame was just like regular fire. It didn't turn blue til after she'd trained for a while," she shrugged, "she couldn't bend Lightening either in the beginning," she laced her fingers behind her head, "besides," she said, "only Azula would be hiding behind those screens to practice."
"Oh well I-" Sokka stiffened, panic stabbing through his gut, "shit!"
Without a word to Ty Lee he ran into the palace. If what she was saying was true, then Ty Lee could't be the only one who knew Azula would be practicing alone. Alone with only a thin layer of wood to protect he. Her bending was unstable at best, and weaker than Sokka thought he'd ever seen it. She was vulnerable, too vulnerable. Pounding up the stairs, he cursed himself for leaving her unattended. Some bodyguard he made. Following his mental map, he banked left and grabbed at the bronze handle, yanking it open and racing out onto the balcony.
Azula froze mid-movement and Sokka found himself doing the same.
She was naked.
Well, not naked. Not entirely. A pair of dark red pants clad her lower form and similarly colored bandages wrapped around her breasts, similar to what Katara wore. But the rest of her was unclothed. Her skin was pale from days spent indoors, only the barest hint of bronze clinging to her upper body above the top of the bandages. The sparks that had danced up her wrist and palms vanished as her gold eyes locked on his. Sokka stared at her, unable to tear his eyes away from the bead of sweat that trickled down the arch of her neck.
"What are you doing?" Azula screeched, whipping around and grabbing the outer robe that lay nearby and holding it against her chest.
"Sorry, you were, uh, you were-" he stopped as he saw the furious glare she was sending his way, "sorry," he repeated hastily.
"Yes, I heard that!" Azula snapped, "turn around!" she commanded.
"Right, uh-" he quickly turned around., listening as she yanked on the robe and belted it around her waist, "sorry," he repeated, "can I turn around now?"
"If you feel must," Azula said, her voice still furious.
To her credit, when Sokka turned around a glisten of sweat was the only indication she had been doing anything but standing there admiring the ornate woodwork. Unfortunately his eyes found the skin exposed by the opening of the robe. The memory of her standing there in nothing but her breast bindings and dark pants made his throat dry up and an entirely unwelcome heat curl through him.
"What, precisely, are you looking at?" her sharp voice demanded, dragging his eyes back to hers.
"Sorry, uh," Sokka began, fighting the urge to clear his throat like a nervous school boy, "I was-" he stopped, sternly reminding himself where he was, "what are you doing?" he demanded.
"Me?" Azula demanded incredulously, "before you so rudely interrupted me I was training," she snapped.
"Up here alone?" he shot back, "because the blinds are such great protection against everyone who wants to kill you!"
Azula glared at him furiously but her lips remained pressed tightly together, no retort coming forth. As loathe as she was to admit it, the fact of the matter was that the blinds were poor protection from would-be assassins. And the entire point of her coming up here to train was that she did not want anyone to see the fact that she could barely make sparks, let alone a jet of flame. Furiously she crossed her arms and glared at the blinds, wishing that she could still make enough flame to do some damage. Instead she was standing there being scolded by some pathetic Water Tribe boy who could not even Bend.
"Yes, yes," Azula said flippantly with a wave of her hand, "its all very dangerous when Mai's guards are on every corner," she smirked, "correct me if I'm wrong but aren't those guard's sole duty to protect the Royal Family?"
Sokka gritted his teeth and glared at the Princess. Of course he should have anticipated her retorting, even when he was right. If she wanted to play that game then fine, he'd play it with her. He had more than enough of walking on egg shells around a woman who had routinely tried to kill him, his sister and everyone else he cared about.
"Yeah, they're trained at protecting the Royal Family," he said, "but that doesn't include you."
"What?" she demanded, her gold eyes locking on him.
"As far as those guards are concerned, Zuko's the only Royal in these walls," he shot back viciously, "why do you think I'm the one guarding you?"
"And a great job you're doing!" Azula snarled, venom dripping from her voice, "I walked right out the front doors of my room! It's no wonder you spent the past decade on Kyoshi, those fools are the only one's who could possibly want a warrior like you!"
"You-" Sokka began taking a step forward, his heart pounding in his hears.
Later, when he thought back he would not know how they heard the whisper of arrows in the wind. One moment they were glaring at each other, poised to fight the only way that they could and the next their attention was locked on the windows. Sokka saw Azula's get shift, her hand raising a gesture he had seen more times than he could count. The sparks raced up her arm as the arrows pierced the wooden slats. By the time the wood had splintered a wall of sparks and half-produced flames had erupted between them.
They both knew it would not be enough.
They had no way of knowing what if the arrows were tipped with something, but Sokka would have put money on the idea that if they were it was with Bending suppressant. The memory of Azula's hysteria at her helplessness was burned into Sokka's mind. He knew what it was like to be helpless, to be betrayed by your own body and skills. The Bending suppressant would set her back further, but with his sister there an arrow would do little to slow him down. Without a second thought, Sokka turned his body, shielding the Princess as two of the arrows slammed into the ground. The third buried itself in his shoulder.
Biting back the urge to cry out, Sokka shifted Azula to his other side and pushed her forward, feeling the minor heat of her flames vanish as she lost her tentative grip on the once natural talent. More arrows followed but Sokka pushed the Princess through the doors and slammed them shut behind him. His hand gripped Azula's wrist as he yanked her down the corridor, half expecting to hear more projectiles coming their way. They had to get to a safe room, in case the attack spread. As much as he wished to be with the others fighting, he knew his duty was to get the Princess to safety.
Him getting Azula to safety, the world really had gone insane.
Turning into a new hallway, Sokka yanked her around the corner and into one of the safe rooms Mai had shown him, slamming the door behind them. His eyes scanned the door for the lock before realizing he'd dragged them into a safe room that locked from the outside. Resisting the urge to swear, he looked around for something to use to block the handle, only to be pushed aside by the Fire bender.
"Move!" Azula ordered gripping the handle.
Flames raced across her hands, melting the handles into a bar along the door and locking them in. Stepping back from the door, Azula looked at the Water Tribe fighter to examine the damage. Sokka was leaning against the wall, trying not to look pained despite the fact that he had dragged her through the palace with an arrow through his shoulder. His face was pale and Azula could see the dark stain still spreading across the blue of his robe.
"Sit before you fall," Azula snapped, pushing the odd stab of concern aside.
The fact that Sokka did it without much of a complaint was a testament to the injury. Azula stepped behind him, reaching out and touching the bloody fabric, Sokka tensed but he did not flinch away from her. Grasping the hole, she dug her fingers in and tore, widening the hole around the arrow. Ignoring the familiar colors of the feathers, Azula took note of the angle of the shaft. Coming to the front of the warrior, she looked at the tented fabric, seeing the arrow had pierced through his flesh. Ignoring his gaze, she reached forward and ripped the front of his robes to reveal the arrow head that neatly pierced his flesh.
"The arrow's gone clean through," she said finally, "but you're loosing blood. If we wait you might pass out."
"And how is pulling the arrow through going to stop the blood loss?" Sokka demanded.
"I can't very well cauterize the wound if there's an arrow in it," Azula snapped.
"You?" Sokka looked at her, "you're going to pull an arrow through me and cauterize the wound?" he repeat, dumbstruck.
"Don't sound so shocked," Azula snapped, "it's a basic Fire Bending technique," Sokka still looked skeptical, "no need to look so shocked," Azula ordered, "basic. Even I can manage it right now."
Sokka looked at her, doubt shining in his eyes. It wasn't that he thought Azula couldn't accomplish a feat of bending, it was just that she had tried to kill him so many times in the past he doubted that either of them would know what to do if she was to use her Bending to help him. But Azula met his gaze steadily and Sokka could feel himself getting weaker as more blood escaped the wound. They were running out of options and he needed to be conscious.
"Okay okay," Sokka said quickly, seeing the impatience and anger in the young Princess's eyes, "just-just be quick."
Azula shot him a withering glare in response.
"Try not to scream," Azula said, voice dripping with contempt.
Sokka tried to flash her a smile but the Fire Bender was already behind his back. Heat blossomed along the shaft of the arrow. He bit the inside of his cheek, bracing himself for pain that didn't come. Belatedly he realized she was just burning the feathers off the shaft. He released the skin as Azula came around to the front of him. Her fingers grasped the arrow as she leaned over him and examined the shaft, deciding the best angle to pull out the arrow.
"Wait," Sokka said, "you've done this before, right?" he asked.
"To another person?" Azula asked, "no."
"Okay, what about to yourself?" he asked going on her omission.
"Yes," she said finally, her tone oddly restrained, "once," her gold eyes narrowed at him, "now bite on something so I can remove this without you alerting the assassins to our presence."
Sokka glared at her and looked around for something to bite on. Finding nothing he looked back at her. Azula sighed and rolled her eyes. Her hand loosened on the arrow as her eyes scanned the room. Then, without warning, her fingers tightened on the arrow and in one smooth motion she pulled it clean through the wound. Sokka barely managed to keep from crying out as his skin tore and hot blood began to seep through his robes at an alarming rate.
Mildly impressed at the Water Tribe warrior's ability to hold back a scream, Azula watched as Sokka paled, his warm skin taking on an even deeper pallor. Moving closer, she pressed her hand to his chest, steadying him as best she could. Shifting to his side, she let the warrior lean against her as she pressed her hand to his back. Hot blood streamed over the backs of her hands and through her fingers, the smell coating the air.
Suddenly she wasn't in a safe room in the Fire Nation palace, she was on the battlefield.
She was back where she belonged.
Heat, sweat, blood, all of it came rushing back. She could taste the ash in the air, feel the weight of her armor and the pull of her top knot. She could see Ba Sing Se burning, feel the pull of the sun and the flow of her blue flames. She remembered the crackle of lightening, the hiss of the electric power that even her brother couldn't wield. Blue, she remembered blue, fighting the red for dominance. There could be a million Fire Benders, two million even, and she knew that everyone's eyes would go to her.
"Azula."
Blinking, Azula looked back at the boy in her arms. She wasn't on the battlefield. There was no top knot, no armor, there was just her and her sparks. Sparks that barely held any blue at all. The only blue was what remained of Sokka's torn robes. And his eyes. Eyes that were clouded at best but still shone bright, bright blue. Sokka who wasn't looking at her like she was crazy, like he was bleeding out in a safe room because she'd failed to stop the arrows. He was just looking at her, waiting patients as if he knew, somehow, that everything would be alright.
"Hold still," she ordered sternly.
He gave a nod, his stupid hairstyle bobbing obediently as one of his hands landed on her knee.
Focusing, Azula watched as the sparks danced up her forearms. Inhaling, she focused on the sparks, demanding more from them. Slowly the joined together, the sparks becoming flame. Not blue but red and orange and yellow. Surprise almost made her loose her grip on it but she pushed it further. This was flame that she could use. Directing it through her fingertips, she kept her eyes on the wound as she carefully placed her fingertip directly against the wound. She felt Sokka's muscles tighten as she pressed her fingers firmly against the wound and directed the flame through them.
Sokka's reaction was instantaneous. His entire body tensed, his fingers digging into her skin hard enough to bruise. She heard his teeth grit together, fighting to contain the scream that clogged his throat. Azula ignored his pain and focused on drawing the flame through the wound. Sokka was not a Fire Bender, therefore she would have to be very in control of the flame and careful that she did not do more damage. The smell of burning flesh joined the other familiar battle field scents. It took everything she had to remember that she was not trying to murder the Water Tribe warrior, she was trying to help him.
Finally the open wounds were closed, the puckered skin still coated with blood. Sokka's breath rushed out and soon the only sound in the room was that of Sokka's unsteady breathing. Azula stiffened at the feel of his hot breath coursing down the opening of her robe. In the midst of her healing his body had turned towards hers, his forehead now resting on her collarbone. Fighting the stab of discomfort, Azula moved her hands from his chest. Unfortunately Sokka didn't seem to get the signal.
"Sokka," Azula hissed, "did you hear that?"
"Huh?" his head moved upwards, freeing her.
Azula scrambled to her feet as quickly as her dignity would allow, motioning for him to be silent. There were footsteps in the hallway. Many footsteps. So either they were in trouble or the threat had been dispatched. Running a finger down the bar she melted the bar into a makeshift handle and eased the door open. Guards in the red and black of the Fire Nation filled the hallway. In the midst of them her eyes found the flash of Earth Bender green and Water Tribe blue. The one in green paused, followed by the one in blue and suddenly Azula found everyone's eyes on her.
"Sokka!"
The Water Bender pushed through the crowd, running to her fallen brother. People swarmed the room, pushing her to the side. Instantly Katara was at her brother's side, water covering her hands. It was on Azula's lips to tell her that she had healed him, but she realized that she had cauterized the wound rather than healed it, perhaps there was something the Water Bender could do for the scar tissue. Heedless of the blood that stained her hands and robes, Azula walked past the guards and down the hall towards her room.
"What an exciting day," Iroh commented falling into step beside her, "I hear your bending is improving."
"Hardly," Azula said, "I could barely cauterize," disgust flowed through her at the memory of her orange flame. But it had been blue hours ago. She tried to think back to her lessons and remember if Li or Lo had mentioned anything about fire getting weaker instead of stronger, "my flame was orange," she admitted finally.
"Well these things take time," Iroh pointed out.
"It was blue this morning!" Azula snapped stopping dead in her tracks.
"Really?" Iroh frowned, falling silent.
"Yes, really!" Azula said turning to face her Uncle, "orange fire! Who knows if I'll ever be able to-" she trailed off furiously. Her fists balled and she turned swiftly, walking back down the hallway towards her rooms.
"But still," Iroh said walking beside her, "you were able to cauterize a wound-"
"If I had any interest in healing people I'd go to the Water Tribes!" Azula shot back.
Iroh looked at his niece as Azula held his gaze for a moment before continuing to stalk down the hallway towards her room. She was livid, that much was clear. According to what Mai had told him, Azula had Bent blue flames earlier. But if Iroh had to guess, her grasp on her blue fire was shaky at best, and the adrenaline of the assassination attempt coupled with saving a former enemy had probably shattered it. For someone like Azula who was used to being in control of their emotions when Bending he imagined being thwarted by them was incredibly frustrating.
Grabbing the handle of her door, Azula stormed inside and slammed the door behind her. Miraculously her Uncle let her go. Inside the safety of her room, Azula looked around the familiar contours, her breath coming in harsher and harsher pants. Her eyes landed on a flash of blue, a vase done with intricate vine work. Seizing it, Azula hefted the heavy china and threw it at the nearest cabinet.
The vase shattered.
Feeling marginally better, Azula looked at the cabinet which had been the source of her rage. The momentary calm that she felt evaporate as she remembered the cabinet. Striding over she yanked the doors open and looked at the familiar armor. Carefully placed, beautifully polished, armor that bore no remnant of the battles it had seen. Her fingertips touched the edge of the armor, a smear of blood coming off on the gold. Seizing the first shoulder piece she threw it to the ground. The blood made her hands slip and soon her own blood mixed with that of the Water Tribe warriors.
By the time her greaves were on the ground the world had become increasingly blurry. Raising her hand, Azula looked at her fingers and Bent flame. Orange danced across her fingertips before dissolving into sparks. Sparks! As if she was nothing more than a common, pathetic, Fire Bender. She was no better than Zuko. No, no she was worse than Zuko. Zuko could at least depend on his flame. Looking at the pile of armor down at her feet, Azula bit back the urge to scream in frustration. How could her fire have left her like this? How was that even possible? Turning away from the armor she braced her hands on the low table, her eyes landing on the unused box of cosmetics.
Only when the shattered remains of boxes and vases were scattered around the room did Azula stop. Now the room she stood in matched the destruction she felt inside. She could feel the small scratches on her hands from where the bits of pottery and wood had cut her. It was the first time in years she had been hurt, though the scratches barely counted as pain. Taking a deep breath, she felt almost level. Almost. Taking another deep breath, she listened as a soft knock came at the door.
"Azula?" Iroh's voice came through the ornate wood, "Sokka is going to be alright. Katara ordered him to spend the night in bed but he will be back tomorrow."
Azula gave no reply. She knew he would be alright. She had stopped the bleeding and she imagined his sister had done something for the scar tissue or any damage she left. Raising her hands in front of her, she focused on the sparks and urged them to flame. Orange erupted along her wrists and collected around her hands. Azula glared at the flame, refusing to let it remain orange for long. She focused on the blue flame, how it had felt when she had first produced them as Sokka's hands grasped wrists, his callouses rough against her smooth skin.
It was slow, painfully slow, but the blue heart of the fire edged upwards, taking over the flame. Nothing else mattered as she urged the flame upwards, coaxed it into what it should be. It was frustrating, infuriating and oddly thrilling all rolled into one. When the flame was entirely blue and remained so for a substantial stretch of time, Azula extinguished the flame and reignited it, watching as blue fire erupted along her hands at the first try. It was only after she had turned off and produced her blue flame several times was she satisfied enough to look up.
Standing against the wall, watching her with a slight, almost proud smile on his face and his arm in a sling was Sokka.