The Gaang's Companion

by Carrot-Bunny

When the Gaang receives a book full of stories about themselves and many other characters in the AtLA universe, they begin their journey into the wide and wacky world of fanfiction. From romance to adventure to humor to even slash(!), join them as they enter the realms of 'The Gaang's Companion', where they find out that fanfiction writers are always interesting if nothing else.

45. It Likes Azula?

"Actually, why don't we try something else for the time being?" Sokka suggested as he turned the pages.

Katara shrugged. "Whatever you say, Sokka. But it would be a pity, just when things were picking up."

"Oh don't worry, we'll return to this one soon," Sokka reassured her. "It's just that since this particular series has a thing for chapters twice the length of what we're used to, I guess we'll be forming a habit of reading another story in between."

"Like we did with the last chapter," Toph recalled. "Oh wait, it was two chapters ago."

"Right." Sokka's hand suddenly stopped over a certain page. "Now this sounds interesting," he proclaimed before reading the summary. "Takes place sometime during The Search. Azula makes friends with a female sky bison, much to the surprise of Aang and Zuko. Oh, and something about psychiatric disorders, prescription drugs and FANART!"

Aang rubbed his ear which was ringing from the impact. "Sokka, did you have to yell out that last word?"

Sokka shrugged. "It's written in capital letters after all. Besides, we don't even know what it means."

"Just like about half of everything we find in the book," Toph added. "But that besides, Azula making friends with an animal does sound fascinating."

"Maybe it's a hallucination, since there probably aren't any sky bison left in the world," Sokka suggested.

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "And Aang and I are supposed to be hallucinations as well? We're mentioned in the summary, you know."

Toph gave a casual shake of the head. "Who knows unless we've heard the story? So start reading, Snoozles."

"Fine." Sokka cleared his throat and began.

Aang splashed headlong into the mud, groaning with fatigue and frustration. His latest attempt to round up the group of bison was thwarted again, leaving him filthy, tired, and thoroughly bummed. Sprawled in the mud, Aang watched them scamper away and then ascend into the clouds, bellowing their displeasure. Growing up, Aang had remembered the bison as docile creatures, and Appa was still that way: gentle, amiable, and easy to train. These wild bison were just that...wild.

Aang's eyes widened. "Wild bison? You mean some of them might not have been wiped out by the Fire Nation back during the comet?"

"Well, we did find Momo in the Southern Air Temple when there was supposed to be nothing alive left there after a hundred years," Katara remembered. "I guess the wild bison idea isn't too far off the mark."

"Guess not everything in here is nonsense after all," Toph grinned.

He'd tried talking to them, bringing Appa to them, coaxing them with every manner and means. Finally, Zuko suggested that they sneak up on them with a fishing net and try to ensnare one of the females.

Sokka winced. "With skills like that, Zuko, it's a wonder you've got a girlfriend at all."

"Hey, I don't attempt to throw a fishing net on Mai!" Zuko protested.

"Yeah, because anyone in their right mind wouldn't dare mess with the girl with the flying daggers," Sokka grinned.

"Precisely." Zuko then frowned slightly. "But what am I doing here hunting wild sky bison with Aang?"

"Maybe it's another of your field trips?" Toph suggested.

"With Azula in tow? I don't think so," Katara remarked.

"Hey, why don't you try bringing Azula to them instead?" Sokka piped up. "Maybe she can frighten them into submission!"

"NO," Aang deadpanned immediately.

"And from the above description of the bison, I don't think they can be controlled that easily," Zuko added.

"In short, let's just stop speculating on flying animals and continue with the story," Toph concluded.

He wanted to procure a mate for Appa; there were several females in that herd who would have fit the bill. It was a miracle that they'd found them. They were, as Azula liked to put it, in "the ass end of the Earth Kingdom," chasing their latest lead on the lost Princess Ursa. They were far away enough from any large civilization that it explained why no one had reported them. Zuko and Aang had stumbled across them by accident. If only they wouldn't scamper away every time they were approached.

"Aw, Twinkletoes is trying to find Appa a girlfriend," Toph smirked.

Aang looked thoughtful. "It would be nice though; that way the sky bison wouldn't die out after Appa died."

"Unless Appa turns out to be immortal," Sokka joked.

Aang raised an eyebrow at his ponytailed friend. "Sometimes you say the weirdest things, Sokka."

Firelord Zuko sighed beside him. He had also face planted in the dirt. "Are you sure this is how the nuns handled these things, Aang? I mean, you weren't a nun," Zuko looked at him, "were you?"

"Funny Zuko, really funny..."

"So Zuko's got a sense of humor in here? I think I might really like this story," Toph grinned.

Zuko shrugged "I'm just saying. You know, I've got some Shirshu darts. We could try drugging one of the females..."

Sokka shook his head in disbelief. "Again, I'm amazed by the fact that Zuko actually has a girlfriend."

Zuko stared at him pointedly. "Let's just accept the fact that I treat humans and wild animals differently even if they're of the same gender, okay?"

"Okay, okay, no need to be so touchy."

"With you around, it's hard not to," Katara muttered.

"Bison mating rituals don't work like that Zuko. Besides, that's our emergency stash in case your sister gets too out of hand," Aang grumbled, "she did kill me once you know."

Sokka nodded in agreement with the book. "Yup, she did. Speaking of which, why did you guys take Azula with you anyway?"

"The story did mention that they were searching for Princess Ursa a couple of paragraphs earlier," Katara pointed out. "Maybe Azula came along to help look for her mother."

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Again with that? Why do half the authors here think we're going to free a dangerous crazy princess that shoots lightning from her fingertips just so she could help search for her mum? It's not like she would know anyway."

Zuko frowned thoughtfully. "Well, like I'd said before, she would have a better chance of getting Mother's location from Father than I would."

"Assuming she's in her right mind to talk properly without burning everything within a two-mile radius," Toph added.

Aang shrugged. "It just might happen. Iroh already said before that destiny works out in strange ways."

"Whatever," Sokka replied. "Just don't take her along with you when you go bride-hunting for Appa unless if you want barbecued bison for dinner that night - not that I'd complain about that," he added as he licked his lips.

The Avatar just shot him a glare and said no more as Sokka's eyes followed down the page. "Oh, there's a line break coming up, if anyone wants to know."

"Fine by us," Toph answered. "Now just continue, Snoozles."

Azula had never been one to follow Zuko's advice, or lead, or anything for that matter.

"The author's got a point there," Zuko mumbled.

So when his constant insistence to "take her damned meds" became his daily mantra, Azula was compelled to do anything but. Really, it was getting tiring, and it's not like they were working anyway. She thought leaving the asylum and its blasted mirrors would cure her of the hallucinations. It turns out, Ursa's image could materialize in all reflective matter: water, bowls of soup, cups of tea, precious metals. Anything with the ability to refract light presented the broken princess with her mother's image.

"So she's seeing her mum in everything around her now?" Sokka shook his head in disbelief. "Really now Aang, do you still think she'll recover like this?"

"Anything could happen," was Aang's simple reply.

Zuko paused for a moment before finally speaking. "She never gave any indication of that happening whenever I went to visit her."

"Maybe she still hates you too much to want to 'indicate' anything to you," Toph said, drawing air punctuation marks with her fingers at the word 'indicate'.

"Well, that's rather likely," Katara agreed.

In a way she was grateful that Zuzu had asked her to accompany him. The doctors were incompetent, the therapy was droll, and the medications did little more than spice up her tea. Things had become monotonous and frustrating at the asylum; so when her brother presented her with this little opportunity, she was hopeful that she could get some answers of her own. What she hadn't counted on however, was Zuko's strict adherence to the ineffective drug regimen.

At one point he'd even had the Avatar hold her down with earth bending and forced it down her throat.

It was humiliating. She always thought she was meant for so much more.

Toph shrugged. "Well, even Azula must know that going on a field trip with Zuko and Twinkletoes is no picnic. Especially if they're playing nurse for you."

"How would you know what it's like?" Sokka asked. "There's no way the two of them are going to feed you medicine."

"Of course not," the blind girl grinned. "I'd be the one holding down people with earthbending while they get icky herbs shoved down their gullets."

"Of course," Katara agreed with a sigh.

She swallowed against her thirst. There was a river nearby, but she was hesitant to go there because she knew she would be there looking up at her from the water's surface. She battled against the urge, but at long last it won out. She stormed down to the water's edge, grumbling to herself.

Sokka shook his head sadly at the book. "Can't even get a drink of water without hallucinating. She's certainly fallen low."

Katara smirked slightly at her brother. "At least she doesn't advertise cactus juice or make friends with giant mushrooms while trying to quench her thirst."

"Are you ever going to let me forget that?"

"Hmm... no."

The Water Tribe boy groaned.

Had Zuzu and the Avatar not been in such a huff over those silly bison she could have had them do this for her, but no matter. She would do this, and she'd get over it, and then she'd find some way to torment them for their failure to serve her later.

"Way to go, Azula!" Toph cheered. "That's how you give it to them for their lousy service!"

Zuko shot the earthbender a look. "I didn't know we were supposed to wait on her hand and foot when we took her with us."

"Of course you don't know; that's for us girls to remember and you boys to find out."

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Find out what? That we guys were born to prostate ourselves for the fairer sex?"

Toph grinned. "Exactly."

There was a pause before Sokka spoke again. "I don't even know if the word 'sexist' can be used to describe this."

"Me neither," Zuko added.

She half looked into the water, and of course she was there.

Azula, her mother's image beseeched, I love you Azula. Please do what your brother says.

"Oh shut it mother, I'm just getting a drink!" Azula growled.

"There wasn't any need to answer the reflection, you know, even if you hate it so much," Sokka told the book.

"At least she's not waving her arms around in a wave movement and - " Katara was cut off by her brother holding up a finger right in front of her face.

"Don't. Say. Anything. Just, don't."

The mirage wavered as she plunged the canteen into the river. I'm sorry I left you. I had no choice, it still managed to say.

"No choice!" Azula fumed. "NO CHOICE?! You left because you couldn't stand to look at me anymore, to realize what YOU had done!" The princess was on her feet and snarling through her teeth at the hallucination. "You left me with Father, and look what happened! I was born for greatness, and look at me now! But you planned this didn't you?" Azula fell to her knees and clawed at the sand beside the water's surface, her nose just inches above the river. "You wanted this to happen so that your precious Zuko could take the throne!"

The image was silent.

"ANSWER ME!" Azula screamed.

Sokka gulped. "Wow, major mental breakdown. Now I'm even more convinced you shouldn't have taken her, Zuko - at least, the you the story shouldn't."

Toph looked towards the Fire Lord. "So Her Royal Craziness has some sort of tragic past with your mom? You never told us that before."

Zuko shrugged. "I didn't think it was a good idea to simply blab about it to anyone. Whatever went on between Azula and my mother is her business, and she's the one who should decide who she wants to know about it."

"Not like she's in any state to decide anything right now," Toph muttered.

"She actually told you about this before?" Katara asked. "Was it while you were visiting her in the asylum?"

"No, it was when - " Zuko paused; he didn't know whether he should share about what happened the last time he was on Ember Island with his sister. "I'll tell you about it another time, okay? Meanwhile, let's just continue with the story."

The hallucination wavered a little and opened its mouth. Instead of her mother's voice, Azula heard the deep, cacophonous bellow of a sky bison.

Ursa disappeared.

Aang blinked once. "So... Azula's hallucination of her mom turned into a sky bison?"

"No Aang, Azula's mom just bellowed like a sky bison before disappearing; she didn't actually turn into one, or at least, the reflection of her in the water didn't," Sokka explained. "There, do you understand now?"

"Uh... no."

Toph sighed. "Relax, Twinkletoes. The story will explain itself soon enough."

Infuriated, Azula looked up across the lake to where a giant sky bison lumbered at the other end. Thinking it was Appa, Azula drew a deep breath, opened her mouth and managed the deepest, loudest, bellow a human being could.

Sokka snickered. "I'd like to see Azula bellow at a sky bison."

"She must really be not entirely right in the head, is she? I mean, her usual first instinct would be to turn the sky bison into roast steak," Toph reasoned.

"Yeah, something like that," Zulo agreed.

Aang sighed a little irritably. "Does everyone here love the idea of sky bison as food or something?"

"Not really, it's just that we non-Air Nomads usually perceive any plant-eating animal as a potential meal source," Sokka reassured the Avatar, which didn't make him feel any better."

The bison's ears drew back with surprise, but its eyes glazed over in anger. It slunk down and its body grew tight like a cat ready to pounce. It crept through the river with a steady growl.

"Well, that's definitely not what Appa would do," Aang mumbled.

Undeterred Azula drew herself up, clenched her fists and growled right back at it. "Oh don't give me that!" Azula roared. "If not for you I'd be on the throne now too!"

Sokka snorted. "And how is a random wild sky bison supposed to be blamed for Azula's loss again?"

"Oh, everyone knows the wild sky bison gave an almighty sneeze on the day of her coronation that swept right across the Earth Kingdom to the Fire Nation palace and ruined her hairdo, and she was so agitated by that she couldn't fry Zuko and Sugar Queen like she would usually," Toph said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Katara gave her friend a wary glance. "What Toph is trying to say is, Azula still hasn't recovered entirely and probably isn't really capable of fair reason at the moment."

"And I don't think she's the only one here," Sokka muttered while shooting looks at the blind earthbender.

The beast's growling rumbled louder as it crept ever forward, rippling the gentle waters. It didn't know what Azula was saying, but it didn't like her posturing. At last it reached the center of the waters, drew itself up on its hind legs and screamed its anger to the sky.

Azula jumped on a nearby rock and pointed her hands to the heavens where she directed a loud bolt of lightning.

The crack of the bolt reverberated through the forest, scattering the birds to the heavens and the woodland creatures underground. A pervasive silence followed. The bison froze where it was, its large eyes glazed with fear.

"Well?" Azula challenged, "Just what do you say to that?!"

The bison slumped down in the middle of the river and licked its lips. It lowered its head into the water diminutively.

"There, now that's better," Azula crooned triumphantly, dismounting from the rock. "What got into you anyway? You know I get irritated whenever someone interrupts my conversations with mother."

"Right." Sokka nodded wisely. "Uh huh. I see."

The beast grumbled demurely as it lumbered towards Azula. It was then that the princess noted the charcoal painting its ear tufts.

"Oh, I see...you're someone different, aren't you?"

Sokka wrinkled his nose in confusion. "Someone different? Oh right, now I remember: she actually thought it was Appa."

"Appa doesn't act like that," Aang insisted.

"I don't think Azula really notices how Appa usually behaves anyway," Toph stated to general agreement.

Coming ever closer, the bison sniffed in reply.

"Well that makes sense, then. My name is Azula and I'm the Fire Nation princess. According to my doctors I'm also schizophrenic,

"What's that? It sounds like some sort of disease," Aang spoke up.

Sokka shrugged. "Dunno. It probably is anyway - this is Azula we're talking about, remember?"

"Oh. Right."

so long as you worship me like you're supposed to and don't interrupt me when I'm hallucinating, we'll get along fine."

Toph smirked. "Sounds like the makings of a firm friendship."

The beast warbled a submissive agreement, then moved its head sideways, the gigantic nostrils trekking down the length of Azula in quick study. Her nostrils quivered when they made contact with Azula's belt, where a pouch of herbs rested. The beast concentrated on the foreign hints coming from it.

"Oh, you want some?" Azula asked, concerning her medicine. "I wasn't aware bison got schizophrenia. Be my guest! It doesn't' really work, but sometimes it takes the edge off. "

Aang looked thoughtful. "I don't think bison get that sort of sickness anyway. Back at the air temple, the most I've seen them catch was the flu."

"Besides, bison don't go insane and lose their minds anyway." Sokka paused. "Do they even have minds?"

Aang gave him a pointed look. "Yes Sokka, they do." He then broke into a grin. "I suppose they don't really go crazy, but there was this one time during bison flying practice when Appa suddenly swooped down and went straight for the dining hall, and all the monks inside - "

"Save the anecdotes for later, Twinkletoes," Toph interrupted. "Right now we've got a story to finish."

She untied the pouch and took a handful of the substance into her palm.

The bison warbled hesitantly.

"No really, I'm happy to share. That way Zuzu will think I took this ridiculous mess. You'll be doing me a favor, really."

Sokka looked towards Zuko. "Well, there you have it - if you see Azula again in the future and she's still not any better, it's because she's been feeding her medications to wild sky bison."

"Okay. Thanks for the tip, Sokka."

"Any time."

Still not fully convinced, but dreadfully curious, the bison opened wide and presented the princess with its gigantic tongue. Azula tossed in the spicy flakes.

The bison chewed, perplexed as it continued to study Azula.

"And to think, Zuzu and the Avatar have been chasing you and your friends for days. All they had to do was dominate you. I keep telling people that's what you've got to do. Show you are stronger, and then practically whoever you want will do your bidding. And mother keeps going on about not using fear to make friends. What does she know?"

"Of course, no bison's gonna get dominated with Aang around, right?" Sokka glanced at his bald friend, who didn't even bother to respond.

The bison lowered its head closer to the princess and murmured a little, as though trying to imitate Azula's words. Appa would just grunt in reply whenever anyone spoke to him, but this beast had never heard a human speak before.

"You need to get out more often," Sokka said fervently to the book.

There was a belief among the members of her herd that humans were dangerous and to be avoided at all costs. Something about a tragedy that had happened long ago…

"Probably the elders of the bison herd told stories of fire raining down from the heavens and weird beings in strange costumes burning everything to the ground," Toph speculated.

Aang raised an eyebrow. "Do bison even tell stories?"

The earthbender shrugged. "Who knows? I'm just messing around here. But if they did, then I bet a hundred years from now the story of how the Avatar's bison once had a Water Tribe kid's head stuck into his mouth would be wide-spread."

"Ha ha," Sokka said dryly.

Aang's eyes widened. "Sokka once got his head stuck in Appa's mouth? How did that happen?"

"Oh, that was when we were on Ember Island and you and Momo - " Toph was cut off by Sokka holding up the book and deliberately continuing the story in a loud voice.

Nevertheless, there was something about this human that stirred her curiosity. She wasn't like the others that had been chasing her. The beast could smell that the chemicals were off in her brain. She was sick: she seemed pre-occupied with something or someone, despite the fact that they were alone beside this river. For these reasons the bison knew Azula wouldn't hurt her. She was also the bison's best chance of learning how to avoid the other humans despite her tenuous grip on reality.

"Amazing how the bison could tell all that just by its nose," Toph remarked.

Katara smirked. "Oh, I've known that for quite some time now. Have I ever told you about how when Appa first emerged from the iceberg he just went up to Sokka and - "

"Why does everybody feel like bringing up my mishaps right now?" Sokka groaned. "Is it 'Ten Thousand Silly Things That Sokka Did Day'?"

"Are you sure it's just ten thousand?" Toph replied, which only made the narrator groan even more.

The bison continued to warble back to Azula in its language trying to ask her for help regarding her little Aang/Zuzu/Appa problem.

Amazingly, Azula understood her.

"Hey, maybe schizo-whatcha-call-it actually means you can understand sky bison talk," Toph suggested.

"Does that mean Aang has it?" Sokka looked towards Aang again. "Because if he can talk to Momo, I'm sure he talks to Appa as well."

"At least he doesn't talk to his 'Boomerang' or 'Space Sword'," Katara said, which earned her a glare from her brother.

"Oh, them," Azula snarked. "Well it's really quite simple: you have friends, don't you?"

The bison bellowed in affirmation.

"Hey, what if the bison already has a boyfriend?" Sokka wondered.

"Then I guess Appa's going have to look somewhere else for a partner," Toph answered.

"Maybe not all the female sky bison in the herd have boyfriends," Aang suggested.

Zuko sighed. "And now my friends are talking about flying bulls as if they were humans. Just great."

"They're not flying bulls!" the Avatar protested.

"Okay, okay, sorry."

"Just surround them at night when they're not expecting you, then thrash them a little and they'll leave you alone after that. It's all about domination really, just like I was saying. Give them a sound thrashing and they won't want to mess with you again. I would say crush them, but I need them alive.

Sokka looked up at the Avatar and the Fire Lord. "Doesn't she just love you two."

You see, Zuzu knows something about mother" Azula whispered, pointing into the water "and she won't leave me alone until I find out what that is."

Azula that hurts, Ursa whined from the river.

"Shut it mother!" Azula screamed at the water. "Just shut it!"

"Poor hallucination," Toph sighed.

The bison looked into the water and saw only herself and Azula. A bison eye roll followed,

Sokka stared at the book. "They can do that?"

"Can you roll your eyes?" Toph asked with the tone of someone explaining things to a three-year-old.

"Well, duh."

"Then a sky bison can as well," she concluded.

"Er, okay - hey wait, are you implying that I'm no better than a sky bison?"

"I didn't say anything. Just continue reading, Snoozles."

and the beast sniffed once more at the pouch on Azula's belt as it simultaneously nudged her away from the river.

"Fine," Azula grumbled, "you can have some more." She handed the beast a second course, but the bison didn't look satisfied. She kept eyeing the pouch suggestively, then Azula, then the pouch. The princess finally gripped the gesture's meaning. "Maybe I will too, I am a little edgy. She makes me that way you know," the princess seethed, and Azula gathered a few flakes into her hands and popped them into her mouth. She usually made it into a tea, but was feeling too lazy for that.

Satisfied, the bison grumbled a little then bellowed over its shoulder into the woods. Then it folded its six legs underneath itself as it stretched across the beach next to Azula.

"Which is something no living being in their right mind should ever do," Sokka explained to a non-existent class, "but since this particular specimen has already demonstrated an uncanny gift for handling insane firebending princesses, it could count as an exception."

"Thanks, Professor Snoozles, now stop the lesson and get on with the story."

The princess climbed away from the river and slumped against a rock, letting the medication soak into her system. She knew she would still hallucinate if she looked into the water, but the herbs did help to relax her a little. "You know," Azula said reproachfully, "I could draw up a battle plan for you." She took a stick and began to draw in the sand. "It's all about your approach. You see you can't let them know you're coming. You and your associates…"

"Drawing up battle plans for wild sky bison, huh?" Sokka looked rather amused. "As if we needed further proof she's out of her mind."

Suddenly Azula heard a few branches crack behind her, and who should be looking over her shoulder but two other sky bison, their breath stirring her hair. "Perfect," she quipped, and continued to draw in the sand, explaining her 'battle plan.'

"Yay sky bison!" Aang cheered, then grinned sheepishly when his friends sent him questioning looks. "Well, the more the merrier, right?"

"Maybe we should try putting Aang on medication too," Sokka muttered to himself.

Of course, the first bison caught a few of her words, but didn't get the full gist of what she was saying. She was also beginning to feel relaxed, lightheaded, and ridiculously happy which made concentration difficult. She yawned and rolled onto her side, presenting the princess with her fluffy belly.

Azula made a face. "I don't give belly rubs."

The bison pouted a little and grumbled its disbelief.

Sokka glanced at Aang's pained expression. "Okay, okay, we all know you'd be more than happy to oblige the bison's wishes. It's just a story, Aang."

"Plus, you have an actual living sky bison to belly-rub whenever you like," Toph added.

"I haven't rubbed Appa's belly in some time..." Aang mused thoughtfully.

"It's not nonsense," Azula protested." I don't cuddle either! I never have. Just ask mother, she'll tell you." Azula pointed nervously at the water again.

This time Azula caught the bison eye roll.

"And now we have a new all time low for Azula - sky bison rolling eyes at her," Sokka announced, but nobody bothered to reply.

"Oh don't give me that!" Azula snapped. "Now pay attention, and I'll tell you how to take care of your problem."

The bison yawned at her; suddenly avoiding Appa, Zuko, and Aang didn't seem so important anymore. Suddenly all that mattered was the warm, cozy feelings jetting through her bloodstream and the strange contentment that had washed over her like a flood. She was happy, tingly, and…just when did a second Azula appear?

"Now I've got the impression that it's the medicine that's giving Azula the hallucinations. You really should control her doses more properly," Sokka told Zuko.

The Fire Lord shrugged. "How should I know? Do I look like a doctor to you."

"No," Sokka answered truthfully.

"Well, there you go."

Did it really matter?

"For the sky bison, maybe not," Katara answered the book. "For the rest of us, a second Azula is definitely a big matter."

"Yeah, it proves Sokka's been hitting on the cactus juice again," Toph added.

After a minute the bison decided it did not, and neither did the elaborate battle plan that the two Azulas were explaining. Her eyelids began to close.

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying!?" she heard the princess chortle, but when it looked at the psychotic beauty it didn't see her rage, or her flaws, or anything really, except someone to cuddle with.

Zuko gulped nervously. "Agni help the sky bison."

"Why?" Aang asked him.

"Oh, you'll see soon enough."

Without warning the beast punted Azula to the ground and pulled her into its body.

Enraged, the princess pushed and writhed in order to free herself from the hug. "Let me go I command you!" Azula repeated in a seething litany, but the bison just warbled and pulled her closer.

Azula thought about shocking it, but decided that was a bad idea given her position. She was pinned between two of its gigantic paws; the beast could crush her with a small shift of its weight.

"I think it's Azula that needs Agni's help," Toph pointed out, "which I suppose is quite remarkable in and of itself."

In addition, the two fluffy friends that had listened in on Azula's battle plan were now hovering over the deranged princess and her new pet, watching their every move.

Their sleepy friend smelled different and so did this strange little human; they decided to keep an eye on them both.

"In case their friend gets roasted alive or the human gets flattened," Sokka added.

One of them opened its giant maw and gave Azula a generous lick in an attempt to cleanse her of the strange-smelling medicine or figure out what was wrong with her.

"Well this is just peachy!" a sodden and surly Azula fumed. This thing was going to hug her whether she wanted it to or not, and its friends were determined to give her a tongue bath. She could already see the second one closing in for a lick.

"Quite unfortunate," Toph smirked.

"You have no idea," Sokka replied. "One sky bison lick is the equivalent of a good shower, albeit one taken with sticky swamp water."

"Hush Snoozles, you're insulting the sky bison."

"And since when have you cared?"

"Since the moment I could feel Aang glaring at you."

"Oh."

Fearing more bison slobber, Aula retreated deeper into her bison's fur to hide and dry off. The companions at last relented and slumped against the shore a few yards away from where Azula was tucked into her fur cave.

"If you tell anyone about this, you're my new throw rug, get it!" Azula bit out, but it was no use.

"That'll be one big throw rug," Sokka mused, but he stopped quickly after one look at Aang's face.

The beast's breathing had already fallen into a slow and steady cadence. It was fast asleep.

Oh well, at least there would be no more tongue baths, Azula thought. Zuzu and the Avatar certainly wouldn't be bothering her. Neither would mother.

In spite of herself, Azula yawned and laid back into her fur. She was beginning to feel a little drowsy herself, which didn't usually happen with her medication. She should have taken the time to mix it into her tea.

Her last thought as she drifted off to sleep was that she could always try leading her small bison army into victory tomorrow.

Sokka sighed. "Oh great. The last thing we need is a crazy princess at the head of an army of wild flying bison."

"They might know where Ursa is," Aang suggested.

"Yeah, and they'll tell us the day Momo becomes Fire Lord." The Water Tribe teen glanced at the Avatar. "I think the stories are getting to you, Aang."

####

Zuko was beginning to worry about Azula, not that she couldn't take care of herself. She could, but he wasn't sure how stable she was. He feared for himself and Aang. The doctors had been pretty insistent about Azula following her regimen. They had been so busy with the bison that they hadn't noticed where she had gone to, and it was way past time for her next dose.

"Another reason why you shouldn't have brought her. Besides, having to remember just when she should take her medicine must be a big pain in the neck," Sokka decided.

"Actually, people with a proper sense of time can handle that pretty well. Not everybody has that gift though," Katara answered while sending a look at her brother, who was thankfully oblivious.

They found her tracks leading from camp to the river. They expected to see only her; instead they saw three female bison stretched near the water's edge. Two of them awoke and growled in warning, placing themselves between the two men and their companion, who was still dead to the world.

"So we're men now?" Aang wondered. "As in fully grown men?"

"Yup, two fully grown men taking a lunatic royal with them on their hunt for one's missing mother and a girlfriend for the other's pet," Sokka chirped.

Aang raised an eyebrow. "That sounds... weird."

"Tell me about it."

A mess of black tresses spilled out from between the sleeping bison's paws; the red jeweled hair clip was loose in the black tangles. Above the soft fur, Zuko just barely saw his sister's face.

She was smiling.

Zuko was sure that his heart skipped a couple of beats.

"Why? Because usually when Azula smiles it can't mean anything good?" Sokka asked.

Zuko nodded. "Yup."

"Aang," he choked out in disbelief. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Whoa, it likes Azula. Zuko, she's cuddling with it!"

"But…Azula doesn't cuddle. Ever! I tried once, and I seriously regretted it," Zuko whispered.

The real Zuko looked gobsmacked. "I never tried cuddling Azula! Ever! I didn't want to die that young," he said to himself softly.

"So you never held her when she was a baby?' Aang asked curiously.

"I was only two years older than her; I would've been too young to be trusted with holding babies anyway."

"Maybe you did hold her when you were a kid, and you dropped her and she hit her head on the ground, making herself the way she is now," Toph suggested.

"Actually, up until Sozin's Comet Azula was never in the slightest bit mentally unwell," Katara pointed out, "which was why she could chase us across the Earth Kingdom and take over Ba Sing Se."

"Sounds like dropping her on the head would've been a good idea after all," Sokka concluded.

Aang shrugged. "What can I say Zuko? Bison make great therapists!"

Aang beamed. "Yup! Sky bison are really great!"

"I don't know whether they can do therapy though..." Toph trailed off, looking thoughtful.

Sokka patted his chest smugly. "Well, the only therapist we have here is good old Wang Fire, which is me, and I think I'm more than up to the job."

"You think," Toph muttered, which unfortunately Sokka heard.

"Better than your boarcupine acupuncture, anyway."

"And screaming into a koala-sheep was any better?"

Katara shook her head in disbelief as the two continued to squabble. "Another usual day in the Jasmine Dragon, I suppose."

After close to two months... the bunny is back! Did anyone miss me?

*crickets chirping*

Oh, never mind. Anyway, to make up for my long absence, I've decided to treat you all to a bonus-length chapter! Credits to proudinfidel for the story and permission to use it, all comments are welcome, and I hope to see you all again very soon! (Hopefully less than a month next time... just joking. Maybe.)