Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Avatar: the Last Airbender and related characters are property of Nickelodeon.

Azure Renaissance

Chapter 2: Bedridden

The next thing that might be mistaken for a coherent thought he had was surprise that he was still alive and capable of things that might pass as coherent thoughts.

Yes, somehow he was alive. Apparently Azula's voice had been a pain-induced hallucination. Besides, Sokka assured himself, he'd only heard that voice in person a few times and that was five years ago. He probably couldn't pick her voice out if he tried.

That relaxed some of the tension he was feeling, but that also drew his attention back to his injuries. The ache was dull but fierce, and his mouth was filled with a bitter taste. Pain medicine. A good sign. Even better, his ribs were tightly bound to keep his cracked (please let them just be cracked) ribs in place, and someone had put a splint on his leg. A burning feeling in his thigh hinted at antiseptic having been applied to a wound he missed earlier.

Wherever he was, he was being well taken care of.

And why not? There wasn't anywhere else he could have landed but the Earth Kingdom and he was Sokka, the master strategist who brought down the Phoenix Fleet, preventing untold devastation. He never had to pay for a drink, a meal or a room in the Earth Kingdom, provided someone recognized him. Medical attention was apparently also a given.

Secure in the knowledge that any Mad Fire Nation Princesses had been all his imagination, Sokka tried t slip back to sleep.

And failed.

And quickly grew bored.

With some effort, he pried his eye open and had a look around as best he could without abusing his poor ribs by turning over.

He appeared to be on a raised bed instead of the futons Earth Kingdom commoners favored. Said bed was tucked in the corner of a room that had clearly been bent out of the ground in a single, seamless piece. The stone counter that took up the walls opposite him and table in the center of the room also appeared to be permanent parts of the room. Nothing fancy, just raw, bent stone.

What was on the counter piqued his interest: wrought iron tools of all types: spades, saws, wrenches, tongs, hammers of all sizes as well as blades and heads for various tools meant to go on long poles and parts he'd never seen before. They say on the counter or leaned against it, or hung above on iron pegs pounded into the wall.

Mixed among them were incongruous bits: glass in different colors, sometimes in crude shapes but mostly blown into round-bodied bottles of assorted sizes. They didn't belong, but Sokka got a sense that they did somehow.

Besides the tools, there was an iron wood stove in the corner next to an open fireplace where a caldron of... something... hung over the fire. Someone had dragged a heavy wooden rocking chair up close to the fire, angled so whoever sat in it had a clear view of him.

Sokka wondered if she should find that creepy or not, but decided to continue with his survey of his surroundings.

Two doors lead into and out of the room. One was closed and there was no light coming from under it. The other, Sokka couldn't see directly from where he sat, but it was open and allowing in both a warm sea breeze and the sound of a hammer ringing on an anvil.

A town blacksmith. Sokka smiled. No better people in the world, blacksmiths. Especially when they let him tinker.

Not long after he'd grown board again, having looked at all the room had to offer, the hammering stopped and the door outside of Sokka's view creaked further open.

Someone stepped lightly inside and a moment later, a woman stepped into Sokka's line of sight. He back was to him, but he made out black hair cut just to the shoulder. Whoever it was, she was dressed in the Earth Kingdom fashion: a sleeveless green tunic and a brown, wraparound skirt with green piping that fell to her ankles. She also had a heavy leather smith's apron tied around her front.

It had been... a while since Sokka had any free time given his duties and schedule, and even then, he hadn't felt exactly up to ogling women thanks to... the situation back at the Fire Nation. Nothing like a near-death experience to get the humors moving in the right direction again. He appreciated her figure, but there was something about it that tugged worryingly at his mind about it.

She wasn't broadly built like an earthbender, but her exposed arms had well-defined muscles. Nor was she really slender. Hers wasn't the top-heavy shape of a smith. No, it spoke of full-body, high impact exercise; something that worked the entire body and built up flat, lean muscle like...

His body grew cold. He knew where he'd seen feminine physiques like that and they weren't typically dressed in sleeveless green numbers. No, they preferred midriff-bearing red and black. Because that was the body of a firebender.

And that would have been fine. He had friends who were firebenders now. He'd even dated one of Zuko's royal guards, a girl named Ming, for a while. But in context with the voice that he was suddenly positive he'd gotten right because one does not hear that much crazy and forget... He wished he was anywhere else right then. The Boiling Rock, the crevasse he got stuck in that one time... Koh's Lair—anywhere.

Right at that moment, as if seeking to prove she was ten times creepier than Koh, the woman before him seemed to read his mind.

"There's no point in pretending you're still asleep." Yep. There was no mistaking that calculated casualness, the subtle, cruelty, or the sheer... snakiness of Azula's speech patterns. "I know you're awake. I knew the moment I walked in the door."

It felt like a chunk of ice had formed in Sokka's stomach as he watched the Fire Princess slowly turn to face him.

She'd grown up over the years, her features sharpening in places, but the eyes hadn't. Those eyes. Those yellow, predatory eyes. They were like the eyes of a wolfbat, but Sokka liked wolves, so he decided to liken them to those of a dragon instead.

Their eyes locked. To his surprise, Sokka found not victory or murder in those eyes, but the proud defiance of a prisoner facing the gallows. It was the same look he was giving her.

Then those terrible yellow eyes narrowed and without looking away, she put down the bucket Sokka only just now noticed she'd been carrying (had he really been so distracted by her body. Tui, had he really been distracted by the body of one of history's greatest monsters?) and took a threatening step forward.

"How did you find this place? Why are you here?" she demanded.

Normally, it wasn't done for a prisoner of war to answer any of his enemy's questions, but Sokka only had the one weapon left to his name: snark, so he put it into play. "Oh, the answer to both is easy: the universe hates me."

It worked. Azula hesitated, losing a bit of her stance as the confusion hit her. "What?"

"Look Princess," Sokka really wished he could so more while he said this beyond laying flat on his back. The right gestures really added a lot to good sarcasm. "Do you think I decided to shatter my ribs, half-drown myself, break my leg and come at you completely unarmed because I needed a challenge?! I was shipwrecked, woman! I had no idea you were here! If I did, I would have asked a nice orcashark to eat me while I was in the water. It's be better than you have planned, I'm sure."

It was then that Azula did something he hadn't been counting on. Maybe he should from the stories Zuko told, or his own experience dealing with her in the Fire Nation bunker complex, but he figured that with her firebending intact, she'd go for that first.

But no, she countered snark with snark. "Oh yes." She rolled her eyes, "Like I've already brutally mauled you with bandages and first aid. I just couldn't bear to let nature get you first."

Sokka balked. "Well I... hey wait, that's a good question: why'd you bother helping me in the first place?"

With another roll of her eyes, Azula went over to a small wooden cupboard and came out with a pair of shallow wooden bowls. "Let me answer your question with a question: What do you think would happen if the Avatar found you dead and me in proximity to the body?"

Glowing would certainly figure into it, Sokka decided. Glowing an all four elements being bent and maybe even some energybending if Aang had the wherewithal to keep himself form killing.

"Oh."

"Right." said Azula, dipping on bowl in the bucket. "I may have been able to deal with him before he was fully realized, but seeing as how he defeated F... Ozai during the comet's return, I know when I'm outmatched. Therefore, I hope to offer you a deal instead."

She crossed the room and thrust the bowl at Sokka's face. "Drink." It wasn't an offer. Either that water was going to be in him or on him in the next few seconds, so Sokka opened his mouth and allowed her to pour the water down his throat.

A trickle went down the wrong pipe and Sokka coughed, something his ribs didn't take kindly too. The next few moments were devoted to moaning in pain. Azula didn't seem to pay any heed to his suffering; going back to retrieve the other bowl, which she took over to the cauldron over the fire.

When he felt he could speak again, Sokka rasped. "What deal?"

Azula took the time to ladle what looked like some sort of cream-based stew into the bowl and sit down in the rocking chair with it before replying. "Well it seems to me that I saved your life, peasant. You owe me and I intend to collect."

"No. Way." Sokka shot back. "I'm not going to help you lead some kind of coup against Zuko or getting you close enough to kill Aang or something."

The Princess picked up a spoon from somewhere beyond the chair that Sokka couldn't see and took a mouthful of stew. "Somehow, I doubt even Zuzu is incompetent enough to fall to my mighty army of me, myself and maybe the odd or two farmer who try to flirt with me to get out of paying what he owes."

Sokka snorted, which also didn't do his ribs any favors. "Wait, so you're seriously out here in the Earth Kingdom working Talk about 'sword to plowshares'."

That earned him an imperious look and a sniff from Azula. "I'll have you know that as Princess, I learned everything there is to know about the Fire Nation's advanced metallurgy sciences. With that, plus the training from the old woman who lived here, I'll be able to make this backwater an agricultural force to be reckoned with."

"Pfft." Sokka really wished he could wave dismissively because now would have been a good time for that. "Fire Nation metallurgy. My best friend is the world's first metalbending master and I'm the only person ever yo forge space earth."

"How can something from space be 'earth'?" Azula asked cooly, taking another spoonful of stew.

"Look, that's not the point!"

"None of this is the point!" Azula snapped. "You keep getting me off on tangents, presumably because you think it will anger me into making a mistake. But I will remind you that you are in no condition to fend for yourself, so this is a wasted effort."

Sokka opened his mouth to retort, then quickly closed it. She was, as much as he loathed to agree, right. He could barely move at the moment, much less find help or even feed himself. That didn't mean that he had to do what she said, however. He had an advantage; namely, she knew the consequences of letting him die.

"Alright. Let's here your deal then. I'll give it some thought."

Those yellow eyes narrowed. "I saved your worthless life."

"Maybe I don't want to overpay then if it was so worthless."

Azula grit her teeth, then put her stew bowl aside. "Oh for Agni's sake. I'm not asking for your soul here. All I want, is for when the Avatar or my brother or whoever else finally finds you; you will say nothing to them of my being here."

If he didn't know it would hurt like hell, Sokka would have laughed. "You're kidding right? You are the most wanted human being on the planet. Zuko is offering a hundred thousand yuan for you to be returned alive. Kuei's offering the same, only he doesn't care what shape you're in."

"And you intend to cash in on that." said flatly.

"Well yeah, but it's the principal of the thing. Maybe for you it was Tuesday or something, but you killed one of my best friends—you know, the guy who is the Spirit of the World? Not only that, but you captured and locked Suki up, chased use like forever, and electrocuted Zuko!"

It was Azula's turn to scoff. "Oh really. I clearly did not kill the Avatar because he's still flying around bringing 'balance'. Or did I just dream the part where he helped overthrow my birthright, violated my fa... Ozai's essence to strip away his bending, and turned my friends and brother against me?"

Sokka glared at her and imagined being able to just lunge across the space at her. "No. But you did kill Aang. It's just that Katara managed to bring him back."

"It isn't murder if they don't stay dead." Azula muttered petulantly and returned her attention to the stew. "So what? You want to bring me to 'justice' or some such nonsense?"

"YES!" Sokka shouted so loud that even his leg twinged at the jostling it accompanied. "I get why Zuko felt he needed to let you out and go with us to the valley, but you've got a lot to answer for, lady."

She gave him a level look. "And what crimes am I escaping again? Killing the Avatar who came back? I don't see my accessory, Zuko, locked up for his part. Attacking you and your friends? Will I be sharing a cell with Mai or Ty Lee? Conquering Ba Sing Se? Will my dear Uncle be serving half the sentence for breaching the outer wall?"

"That's different." Sokka defended. "They all—"

"Turned against me to side with you!" Azula shouted. The cook fire blazed blue for an instant before she regained her composure. "Just because they had a chance of heart at the last minute, they receive no punishment. But because I'm the one—the only one—who held any sort of loyalty to my country and what was left of my family... what? The Earth King would be happy to see me hang by the neck. And my dear brother would be more than happy to lock me in that oubliette he called an asylum until I go mad again."

Again? Sokka wanted to ask why she thought she wasn't still crazy, but she was on a roll with the exposition and he'd need all the information he could get to live through this.

With a visible force of will, Azula drew herself up and crossed her legs, assuming a regal pose in the old rocking chair. "I saved you life, peasant. You know what's waiting for me if Zuko or the Earth King get their hands on me. So all I'm really asking is for you to return the favor."

Those yellow eyes blazed. "Be fore you answer, believe this: while I have no intention of letting you die and selling my fate, your convalescence can be quite comfortable..." she gestured to the bed he was in and the pot of stew over the fire, "Or miserable." She gestured to the cold, unforgiving floor and the bucket of water.

"It really is your choice."

AN:

This went on a lot longer than I intended because man can these two banter.

In case anyone is wondering, what Azula is saying at the end isn't me trying to excuse or gloss over the character's actions. It's clear at least to me that the difference between her and the 'exonerated' characters is that Azula really, really enjoys what she's doing. There's some argument about her upbringing to be made, but we'll get into that when we get into how she's sane now and that's still not complete absolution. Azula has a long road for anything resembling redemption.

For people who have me on follow for my other stories, sorry but this was really easy to jot down between my busy schedule. TPR and Mayhem in Mexico will return soon, possibly as part of NaNoWriMo.

And don't forget to check out my profile for a link to my original fiction site.