Three days after the ball, all the guests of the palace who had lingered began departing.
The gaang and friends agreed to meet back at the palace in one month, at the end of summer, to go to Ember Island for an undetermined period of time.
Katara and Azula sent mail to one another, via messenger hawk. Katara was staying with Suki, and subsequently Sokka, on Kyoshi Island until the agreed upon meeting at the royal fire palace.
Katara was standing by the shore of Kyoshi Island, halfheartedly bending the water in the bay into interesting shapes or events in the air. Katara groaned as she made a life size ice model of Appa. She was growing restless, it had been four days since she sent her last letter to Azula, usually, the princess responded in three days, though she had somehow responded in two days before.
Katara melted the ice-Appa, she was bored, antsy, and mildly upset. Katara's stay on Kyoshi Island had been uneventful the three weeks she'd been there so far. Katara would practice bending every morning before breakfast, then after eating she would help prepare lunch, then do some light reading until dinner, then practice her bending a bit more, and then she would bathe and sleep, rinse and repeat.
Katara hoped Azula's life back at the palace was more interesting and less trivial. Though, Katara didn't know if it was or wasn't. Azula seemed to be avoiding the topic of palace life in general when she wrote to Katara, instead rambling about a new dish the cooks had tried out, or her fresh new set of military official jackets, pants, and, of course, traditional fire nation curled-toe boots.
Katara had noticed Azula's evasive technique, but chose to ignore it, trusting Azula to confide in her at her own pace.
"Katara!" She heard Sokka call for her.
Turning abruptly, Katara sprints to the Kyoshi warrior commune.
"Yes?" She gasps for air, bending over to rest her hands on her knees.
Sokka holds up a messenger hawk, perched on his forearm, "Mail for you."
Azula had written a short letter essentially telling Katara she was excited to see her and go to Ember Island.
The last few weeks had been torture for Azula, the letters with Katara seemed to be the only thing keeping her alive.
The servants did as Azula told them, of course, but there was an obvious fear and discomfort they felt around her. It went beyond the palace staff, many fire nation citizens were unhappy the supposed monster was back in society. To appease the people, Zuko insisted Azula attend therapy thrice a week, which she definitely didn't like, but didn't mind too much. She was mostly grateful it gave her something to do.
Though their friendship was new and hadn't been tested by anything but distance, unless Azula almost killing Katara in the past counts, Azula valued it and held their companionship close to her heart.
Katara had a way with people, she could be harsh and cool when she needed to be, but naturally she had a nurturing nature and was kind and sweet. Katara was the first person to treat Azula with such tenderness, and Azula adored her for it.
Azula had sent her letter a bit late this time, she found she had nothing to write, her life was currently dull. But after sending the messenger hawk, all Azula could do was wait and kill time. Soon enough she would reunite with Katara and wouldn't be so alone.
"Katara, slow down! I'm going to drop my bags!" Sokka wheezed as he hustled up the steps to the palace.
Katara continued to speed up towards the royal palace, all but running.
"What's her deal?" Suki asked her boyfriend as she carried her own bags and one of Katara's.
"I'm not sure, she was exchanging mail pretty often, so maybe she has a lover in the palace, or a friend?." Sokka grumbled, worn out even though Suki was carrying quite a bit more than him.
"Hmmm..." Suki sighed before redirecting her attention to Sokka, "We need to get you in shape, we should work out together. You know how vigorous the Kyoshi exercises can be."
Sokka groaned as they continued their walk to the royal palace.
"Azula!" Katara called when she finally climbed the stairs, entering the royal entrance courtyard, carefully handing her bags to a servant and thanking her, before turning and speed walking to greet her friend.
Zuko and Azula stood in their fire nation masterbender robes in front of the large, extravagant doors to their palace.
Katara, still in her casual travelling clothes, almost felt inadequately dressed, but when she saw the bright smile dancing on Azula's lips and the way the skin around her eyes creased, Katara excitedly grinned and continued on.
"Katara." Zuko nodded as the young woman approached.
Katara stopped to hug Zuko, quickly greeting him before turning and hugging Azula.
"Haha, I'm glad to see you too." Azula suavely chuckled and hugged Katara in return.
Zuko looked at the two in mild surprise before redirecting his attention to Sokka and Suki, who had just handed their luggage to servants and now happily walked towards the firelord, princess, and Katara.
"I'm so happy to see you! I've been so bored!" Azula gushed as she grabbed Katara's hand, beginning to lead her inside.
"Azula! Aren't you going to stay and greet Toph and Aang when they get here?" Zuko asked with a slightly annoyed tone.
"It's fine, they don't like me anyway!" Azula called over her shoulder as she led Katara to the royal library, it was the only place in the palace that was always empty, traditionally, firelords would do their duties to the nation in the library, but Zuko insisted on having a private office, so now Azula had unofficial claim on the library.
"I've missed you too. I've been counting down the days!" Katara confided, with a quiet smile playing on her lips, causing Azula to find her alluring, like a siren.
"I hate being cooped up in the palace, it's so boring here, and everyone is afraid of me still." Azula wistfully sighed, "For good reason, I did some terrible things, and would've done worse, but I've changed for the better and they don't see that."
Katara squeezed Azula's hand comfortingly, causing Azula to suddenly remember she was holding Katara's hand.
Promptly, Azula's hand felt much heavier and far hotter than usual. She discreetly ditched Katara's smooth hands by pretending to scratch her nose with the hand Katara had held and not returning it.
"How were things with Sokka and Suki?" Azula genuinely wanted to know, another thing that was new to her.
"It was fine. I was bored, but hey, I survived." Katara joked.
The two women spent the remainder of the day lounging about the library, reading eachother excerpts from strange books and sharing stories.
When they were summoned to dinner by Zuko via a kind elderly maid, the girls had all but forgotten everything outside of the cozy atmosphere they'd built in the library.
Dinner might've been uncomfortable for all but Katara and Azula, but the two barely noticed, they sat beside eachother, giggling and speaking with eachother intimately to such an extent that everyone else in the room felt they were peeking at something that should have been private.
Azula found that she enjoyed watching Katara speak animatedly, her eyes practically glowed and her features were even more exquisite from the distance required to whisper effectively.
"Well," Zuko clears his throat, standing to make an announcement, "We will leave for Ember Island tomorrow, it's a short trip, only an hour or so."
"Sounds great! I'm excited!" Ty Lee cheered.
"Thank you for the lovely meal." Azula politely excused herself from the table, charmingly offering her arm to Katara in a gentlemanly fashion.
Katara went along with the silly formal display, accepting the arm, she and Azula strolled from the room, arms linked like two lovers.
As soon as the women heard the doors to the dining hall close behind them, they reluctantly released eachother and began to giggle.
"Come to my room, I'd like to show you something!" Azula's eyes met Katara's and they both smiled as if dazed.
Katara didn't need to reply, Azula knew she would follow.
Back in the dining hall, confused friends and family of the women murmured.
"What?" Aang watched the two leave.
"Yeah, we just found out this morning." Sokka shakes his head as he looks at Suki, "Apparently, Katara is buddy-buddy with the chick that tried to kill us all! No offense, Zuko, but I still don't trust her! People don't change and I don't want her around my sister!"
Zuko stared at Sokka, "Sokka... You just don't understand. She's been through a lot, but she has changed for the better."
Sokka held his tongue but he nodded, though it was obvious he didn't accept that response.
"I think it's nice." Toph says with her mouth full of food, "I mean, if you can overcome someone hurting you before you even really knew eachother, and become friends, it's a test to the friendship. And they passed." Toph obviously alluded to her friendship with Zuko.
"I agree with Toph," Zuko nods, "I think the friendship will be good for rehabilitating Azula, and could be constructive for both of them."
That ended the dispute, so the conversation continued on to other topics.
"Oh, I don't know about this..." Katara chewed on her bottom lip as she sat on a chaise in Azula's antechamber.
The princess held out a hand, "Come on, it can't hurt!"
"If you say so." Katara finally relented and let the princess lead her into her bedroom.
"It's over here!" Azula all but dragged her friend to her large walk-in closet. "Try something on!" Azula urged, leafing through some dresses on hangers as she looked between the clothes and Katara.
"Are we even the same size?" Katara looked around the room in awe. She had never seen so many beautiful clothes, or so many extravagant fabrics.
"You're probably a bit curvier than me, but they'll all fit, I swear by it!" Azula assured her. "Do a fashion show! Try on whatever you like!"
Despite the fact that Azula owned so many dresses, she wasn't a fan of wearing them. She preferred her military garb with pants and a coat. So she figured since she never wore the dresses, Katara could try some on. And seeing Katara in the dresses was an added bonus, which Azula was unexplainably excited to see.
"Oh, alright." Katara gave in and began inspecting Azula's wardrobe.
"I'll be in my room, try whatever you like!" Azula waved as she exited the large closet.
Katara distractedly grunted, another sound of Katara's that Azula would now find endearing.
After a short wait, Katara sashayed out of Azula's closet, with a mock haute pout on her lips. She continued her over the top mock walk until she was 10 feet front Azula, who had taken a seat on her bed, and struck a deamatic pose before breaking into a fit of giggles.
Azula joined her in her laughter as she took in the sight of the white sun dress on Katara. It was haltered, and had a high waistline, that suited Katara well. The dress reached just under Katara's knees, showing off her muscular but lean calves.
Azula clapped her hands, "You look great! More! More!" She cheered.
"I must give the people what they want." Katara did an impression of a snobby model. She promptly returned to the closet, not waiting until the door closed behind her to begin stripping the dress off, giving Azula a brief side view of Katara's bare breasts.
She had taken off her breast bindings because with some clothes they aren't really needed due to many seamstresses inserting built in support to their garments.
Katara, hadn't paid any mind to the accidental show she had flashed Azula, she hadn't really noticed. Plus, in the water tribes nudity among those of the same sex was common, and not taboo. Though in the fire nation, it wasn't scandalous, but it was uncommon. Women bathed alone, unless they were wealthy enough to have servants bathe them.
Azula froze as the door closed. After hearing the click of the door closing, her face flushed.
"What?" She whispered to herself, "It's not like I'm a man, what the hell." Azula tried to brush off the awareness she now had that she was in fact attracted to her friend.
And of course she continued to fail at doing so when Katara walked oit of the closet once again, this time in long fire nation red, black, and gold formal robes with a gold belt keeping all the layers of robes in place.
Katara looked stunning in fire nation colors, or at least Azula thought so. The red offset Katara's azure eyes, and the gold brought out the warm tones of Katara's skin.
And so the night continued as such, with Katara trying on beautiful dresses, giddy like a child, and Azula fighting off the knowledge that she was attracted to another woman.
After about two hours, Katara hollered to Azula from the closet, "This is the last one I'll try on, I promise!"
"Don't worry about it, it's fun to see you in these clothes, I don't really wear them!" Azula yelled back. The past few hours had been torture for her, she had slowly gotten turned on, and every time Katara returned to the closet to change outfits, Azula squirmed uncomfortably, stilling only when Katara returned to the main bedroom.
Azula felt dirty, thinking of Katara like that, though she found she couldn't really help it, it was still shameful to her.
"Here it is!" Katara strode out of the closet suddenly.
She was wearing one of Azula's many sets of fire nation military ensembles, boots and all. Katara had even tied her hair up into a bun and left two long strands down at the sides of her face.
"Guess who!" Katara put a hand on her hip and turned her head, giving Azula a view of her neck and jawline.
That was all Azula needed to internally melt into a puddle, though on the outside all she did was smile and laugh.
Azula felt as though she had boiling water in her belly, but she had to keep that to herself, there was no need to scare Katara with Azula's own strange urges and feelings.
"You look," Azula momentarily paused, swallowing hard, "wonderful! Like if Sokka was hot!" She teased, hoping Katara didn't read between the lines Azula had unintentionally written.
"I know right." Katara laughed as she did an impression of none other than Azula, smirking and inspecting her nails.
"Very funny." Azula rolled her eyes, still internally squirming. "You don't have to hang that one back up, just leave it on the floor of the closet when you're done changing back, I need to... Get it updated, I want more.. Buttons." Azula fumbled for words.
"Alright!" Katara gave two thumbs as she returned to the closet.
Once she was alone again, Azula took a deep breath, she needed to get Katara out of there soon so she could... take care of her dilemma.
After what Azula would say was too long, Katara finally exited the closet in her own clothes. Azula walked her to the door leading to the hallway and the two said their good byes.
Azula, finally alone, briskly walked to her bedroom, closing the connecting door from the antechamber, and stripping down hurriedly as she made her way to her bed. As soon as Azula was naked on her soft downy sheets, she couldn't stop her hand from sliding between her legs if she wanted to.
Katara, on the other hand, was happily preparing for bed. As far as she was concerned, it had been a wonderfully pleasant day with her dear friend. Though she found Azula was on her mind more often than a regular friend might be. Katara rationalized that it was only so because she and Azula were definitely not regular friends, they had to be best friends. Katara had had plenty friends, but none of them made her feel quite the way Azula did. Azula made Katara feel important and beautiful. Azula made Katara feel like she wasn't the type of person to kill fun, the way many others implied. Katara appreciated that with Azula there was no need to micromanage or babysit her.
Katara had a certain unique fondness for the fire nation princess.
As Katara laid in the comfortable bed in her room, she closed her eyes to sleep. Imagining how much fun she and her friends, especially she and Azula, would have once they were at Ember Island.
The morning was a blur, everyone (except Sokka) woke up early, and were ready to go as the sun came up. Sokka woke up just as everyone else was finished getting dressed and groomed, so he was essentially carted off to Ember Island straight from his bed. Fortunately, he hadn't unpacked his belongings the night before, so transporting his luggage was a simple affair.
After everyone was on the airship, Zuko gave the okay to the people working the ship and they took off for Ember Island.
Mai, Zuko, Ty Lee, Suki, Sokka, Katara, Aang, Toph, and Azula were all lounging about a large sitting room in the royal airship.
Ty Lee was engaged in an animated conversation with Aang, Sokka, and Suki. She, Aang, and Sokka were truthfully the ones driving the conversation, Suki just watched them as they spoke with loud exclamations and hand gestures.
Mai and Toph were having a friendly debate about whether or fire or earth nation cultures were more superficial.
Zuko sat at a table in a corner doing some paperwork to make up for the fact he would be shirking his responsibilities onto Iroh while he was on vacation.
Azula and Katara sat on one of the sofas near a window, the two were having a wonderful conversation about their bending techniques. However, internally, both women were on totally different wavelengths. Azula felt guilty, even though Katara had no way of being aware of Azula's attraction to her(she hoped), Azula felt like a terrible friend nonetheless. Katara, on the other hand, was having a fantastic time. She was just enjoying the company of her best friend and had all her close friends in arms' reach once again.
Arriving at Ember Island had been uneventful, though there was a scuffle for the guest rooms in the royal summer home. There were only four rooms designated for guests, two had one king bed each, and the other two had full sized beds. So Mai and Ty Lee commandeered the first king guest room they came across, leaving the others to scramble.
Sokka almost violently fought for the next king-size bed room, pulling Suki through the door with him and throwing some of his bags on the floor as he prepared to wait for the servants to bring up the rest of his and Suki's luggage.
Toph called dibs on the next room, and of course Aang let her take it. Which left the remaining room for Aang.
Only after all the guest room doors were closed and everyone was getting settled in did Katara and Azula get to the hallway with the guest bedrooms.
"Oh... I think they've all been taken.." Azula stared at the now darkened hallway.
"Oh.. Now what?" Katara put down her bags.
Azula shrugged, "You could stay with me." She internally warred with herself, she would love to share her room with Katara, but what if she impulsively did somethings to alert Katara of her feelings.
"Oh, if it wouldn't be too much trouble." Katara smiled and nodded.
Azula gulped and returned the heartfelt smile.
Azula's bedroom was in a different part of the house, which was really a mansion. Her room was huge and her bed far surpassed king size.
"Whoa." Katara put her bags down before running around the room, inspecting old trinkets on shelves and beautiful furniture.
Azula watched Azula explore the room with her wide, awe filled eyes, finding herself just as giddy as Katara herself, just from witnessing the excitement.
"Can I?" Katara pointed to the bed.
"Go ahead." Azula nodded.
Katara took a running start and ran across the room to jump, limbs outstretched, as she launched into Azula's large bed.
Katara bounced, and though she landed on her stomach-side in the middle of the bed, she landed on her back near the pillows.
Katara laughed and left the bed to brush herself off. Azula was breathless, Katara's beauty truly was universal, no matter what she did, she looked great doing it. "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. I must seem pretty immature, huh?" Katara laughed, a little short of breath.
Azula shook her head almost comically, "It's okay, you didn't really get to do that as a kid, I assume. From what you told me, you had to grow up pretty fast. Plus, we're still young, young enough to act stupid and get away with it." She awkwardly tried to piece together the right words to say what she meant.
"So, let's get some late lunch." Azula offered.
"Yes, let's!" Katara grinned from Azula's bed.
"I can't believe how expensive things are here." Katara exclaimed later that day as she and Azula walked on the beach towards the royal's abode.
"This is where the wealthy come to relax, they can afford the prices, and with that money, the merchants can afford to live here. It works out." Azula explains as she eats one of the (very expensive) spiced buns that she and Katara had purchased in the tourist-area of Ember Island.
"I guess.." Katara takes a bite of her own sweet bun.
"Wow, it got dark really quickly." Azula surveyed the empty beach.
"Hey, let's swim." Katara's eyes sparkled as she scarfed down the rest of her treat and began to jog toward the water, looking over her shoulder with a gleeful smile that Azula could barely make out with the moonlight coming from behind Katara.
"Okay," Azula followed, practically swallowing the remains of her spicy bun whole. "But just for a little while." Azula conceded, a small smile gracing her face softly.
Once she was only 20 feet or so from the water, Katara stripped down to her binding underclothes, not hesitating to sprint to the water and bend it up into the air to catch her as she hurled herself into it, slipping into the watery vessel like a hot knife through butter. As soon as she was completely submerged, Katara dropped the water back down to rejoin the ocean and hovered underneath the water's surface. Azula, on the other hand, clumsily stripped down to her own underclothes as she watched Katara, mesmerized. Finally Azula heated her own body temperature as she cautiously walked into the chilly water. "Whoa, it's freezing." She said through clenched teeth.
"What?" Katara resurfaced, blinking her eyes like a deer, trying to regain sight outside of the salty water. Azula gulped, repeating herself quietly. Katara laughed lightly.
"The water is fine. It's perfect." She hummed as she closed her eyes and seemed to collapse directly and fluidly into the water. Azula observed Katara use her bending underneath to glide through the water as if she were flying. Azula used her own bending to heat the water around her.
"This is good. This is nice." Azula sinks into the warm water. Still keeping an eye on Katara who was bending about in the water like a spirit, she couldn't keep the affectionate smile off her face.
"Azula!" Katara appeared before her, an impish smile on her lips and a gleam in her eyes. She resembled a selkie, at least Azula thought so. "Here, do you want to swim with me?" She held out a hand. Of course Azula could never deny a pretty face, and as of lately, Katara's wide eyes.
"Alright, you make it look so enjoyable." Azula gave Katara her hand, "should I hold my breath?" She asked just before Katara yanked her roughly into the water, letting Azula discover the large air bubble that Katara bent for the two of their heads.
"Okay, here, climb on my back. Hold on, or you might slide right off." Katara warned as she laid on her stomach on the shallow ocean floor. Azula did as told and savored the feeling of being so close to Katara. The two slid through the water with ease, at a comfortable speed but still slower than Katara had gone when she was solo.
"Wow." Azula breathed. "Waterbending must be enjoyable... I mean, firebending has it's merits, but whoa." Azula murmured as Katara kept bending them through the water like penguin-seals.
"I love my bending, I wouldn't trade it for the world." Katara sighed happily, aiming them back to the beach. "But firebending must be nice too, you're like never really cold, you always have fire when you're camping, and it isn't like earth or waterbending, where one needs a medium to bend, you create fire." Katara finished speaking as she and Azula stood up in the shallow water.
After they walked onto the sand, Katara waterbent all the water off of the two and began to dress herself, Azula followed suit. The two women walked back to the beach mansion together quietly. Creeping into the house steathily, coming across a few busy servants who insisted the girls go to the kitchen and eat at least a bit. The servants seemed to avoid looking at and talking to Azula, unless she addressed them first, but had no probable. Being friendly towards Katara, even though their actual employer was technically Azula.