Azula had won 27 challenges. Whether the trials had been born from her horrible temperament, sharp tongue, or undefeatable reputation, she won them all without fail. She also won without any apparent effort. The challengers has started with girls, but had soon escalated to almost exclusively boys. Each time you thought that the last fight was enough to scare all challengers away, one brave, or incredibly stupid, student would step up. The buzz around school was that she might be a natural.

The oh-so-talked-about woman now sat at a lunch table, picking at her food in disgust. "What is this slop?" Azula complained, her perfect, red lips pulled back into a snarl. "It's unpalatable, truly!"

"It's food. Eat it, or shut up," Mai droned, her sharp words the only hint of her annoyance. Kuzon leapt immediately to Azula's defense.

"Don't talk to my woman like that!" he ordered. "Besides, I like when she uses those big words. Is it really 'unpalatable', baby? Also, what does unpalatable mean?" Azula gave him a look that could freeze fire.

"Address me like that again, and it will be your ass in the Bender's Trial Chamber next," she growled. Her face suddenly smoothed, and her mouth pulled into a sweet smile. "But since you would like to know whether it's truly inedible, why don't you have it? As a matter of fact, why don't you eat it all?"

"W-well, I actually brought my own lunch so I don't have to eat that shit, s-so I think I'm good Azula. Thank you though, that's so sweet!" Kuzon replied rapidly.

"You still look hungry," Azula said, her temper obviously rising. She shoved her own tray towards Kuzon, then grabbed Zuko's and let the brown, gelatinous matter plop down to join her serving. "Eat."

"Hey!" Zuko yelled. A look from Azula silenced him. She had been dangerously on edge the last couple of weeks.

"Well, I am a little hungry," Kuzon amended, his expression shifting to disgust as he scooped up the mystery meal. Azula smiled with a barely contained glee. She suddenly whipped to the side as a blur flew past her face. Blood began to drip from the cut made on her cheek.

"Azula! You ruined my best friend's life! He was here on an athletic scholarship, and you broke his arm! I challenge you to a Bender's Trial!" The boy stood in the middle of the cafeteria, arm still raised from the throw of his knife.

"Accepted," Azula replied simply. She picked up her bag.

"Where are you going?" the boy bellowed. "Are we going to do this, or what?"

"We will fight tomorrow at noon," Azula ordered. "Some people have plans to attend to. Unfortunately neither you nor your friend's arm are very high on my list of priorities." She finished that off with a saccharine smile and a wave as she left the cafeteria.

"She's going to the infirmary," Mai informed Ty Lee and Kuzon. "The one thing she doesn't do is cuts on her face. She says, 'The face is one's key to many doors.'" The table laughed at the surprisingly flawless impression.

Kuzon took one last look at the quivering substance on his tray and breathed a large sigh of relief.

Azula lay on her back, tapping her fingers impatiently. Was this school so incompetent that they didn't even have a nurse on duty at all times? Just as she was about to rise and treat herself, she heard a familiar voice.

"Alright, let's see what we have here... oh, Azula!" She opened her eyes to find Katara hovering over her.

"Waterbender," she said in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Katara frowned.

"That's not my name. And I work here. I want to be a heal- a doctor after I graduate."

Azula raised her brows. "You want to be a healer?"

Katara blushed. "I know, sorry. My mom would just always tell me stories about the waterbenders and how they were skilled healers. The term kind of stuck." Her blush deepened. The look on her caused a strange reflex in Azula, and she fought against the smile that suddenly seemed to want out.

"I see," she answered, as though she hadn't listened at all. "Care to treat my cut then, waterbender?"

Katara made a face, but went to fetch the disinfectant and bandages. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she began her work. "I heard you've been getting into a lot of fights."

"I've had a lot a challenges, yes," Azula replied stiffly.

"...How are they?" Katara asked carefully. Inclinations warred within Azula's mind, one to tell the truth and the other to simply blow the waterbender off.

"They are so, so weak," Azula finally confessed. "It is as though I am not fighting at all. I can let my mind go and I can win with ease. But I have to pay attention, that I don't beat them too quickly and bring suspicion to myself. I'd thought that a martial arts school would have more to offer. That earthbender girl was more challenging." Katara listened to the words and nodded.

"Sometimes, I go over my grocery list while I fight," she confessed. Azula laughed.

"I review history notes," she revealed. The hands had paused in their work, and she turned to look at Katara questioningly. The girl was just staring at her.

"What?"

"Nothing," Katara answered quickly, getting back to work.

"So, how do you deal with it?" Azula asked. "The yearning for a true challenge? I know you feel it."

Katara nodded. "I try to be like Aang. He's not like us, he... doesn't need to be strong. He doesn't need to constantly prove himself. I think maybe that's what makes him so strong." She smiled to herself.

"Impossible," Azula refuted, anger rising. "It's impossible to grow stronger without pushing, without moving forward. Staying in one place, content? There's no progress. It's nonsensical."

"You know, you sound a lot like Fire Lord Ozai and not just because of your last name!" Katara said heatedly.

"Ozai was a fool," Azula muttered. Katara relaxed. A fool for failing. Had I been there...

"Is there any other way?" Azula asked, snapping herself from the train of thought that she had had for so long.

"Well, I like to be nice to people," Katara suggested. "You could try that."

Azula snorted out a laugh. "Fat chance."

Katara gasped. Azula started. "Azula! You talked like a teenager instead of a seventy year old warlord! And you didn't spontaneously combust into flames! You can do it!" Katara feigned excitement. Azula couldn't help but laugh.

"Touché, waterbender," she said, the last of her laughter leaving her. "How about this? I will to try to be more casual if you will spar with me once a week. I think that that's to our mutual benefit."

"Hardly, but... deal," Katara beamed, holding her pinkie out. Azula eyed it with suspicion.

"What are you doing?"

Katara gaped at her. "It's a pinkie promise! You've never- no of course you haven't. Here, put your pinkie around like that. Alright it's a promise!"

Azula looked down at her hand. "A pinkie promise. It's a pinkie promise, then. Give me your phone." Katara did so, and Azula typed in her information. She then made her way out of the infirmary. Just as she reached the door she turned.

"Don't forget, waterbender." This time when she said it, there was something almost playful about the name, though her face revealed nothing.

"I won't General Azula." Katara bowed. The corners of Azula's mouth twitched. Katara put a hand to her chest. Her heart was pounding. Why did she feel such a need to impress Azula? Maybe she-

"Hey Katara," Aang yelled as he entered the room. He shot her that megawatt grin, and Katara's heart skipped, like it always did.

"Hey Aang."