DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the rights to Avatar the Last Airbender.

Chapter 2: Dining with Freedom

"YOU'RE DOING WHAT?!"

Sokka leaned back in his chair. Thankful, for once, his sister's anger was directed at someone other than himself.

It was the evening of Ozai's burning funeral and Zuko, Iroh, Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph were sitting down in the great dinner table of the Fire Nation, waiting for dinner to be served.

"I told you, I wish to give my sister freedom from her cell. A second chance at life as it were," Zuko responded.

"Oh I heard what you said Zuko. I'm just not understanding the whys of what you said. Do you not remember what she did seven years ago? She almost killed Aang. She nearly killed you. She wanted to KILL US ALL! How can you possibly be thinking of allowing her to be free?" Katara's angry voice echoed around the dining room. She was standing at the table, two seats down from Zuko's seat which was at the head of the table, her face a mask of anger.

She was wearing traditional Southern Water Tribe blue and much like Zuko, she had filled out a bit more than what she was like in her youth. While she had remained the same height, her hips and chest had taken on a bit more of a womanly shape than that of a young lady. Her hair remained long and flowing with bits of hair looped towards the back to keep it out of her face.

As Katara continued to glare at Zuko, Sokka also looked towards him. The idea of setting the Insane Princess, as he had been known to refer to her as, free wasn't exactly his idea of a good idea. The last time that he had seen Azula, other than this morning, she had been led away crying and screaming out her anger and misery to all those that were in hearing distance. At the time Sokka had felt a little sorry for her. It had been a pitiful site to see one such as she broken and beaten into such a state. But the years had changed him. He was no longer the joyous joking youth. He was now a grown man. A battle experienced, war rebuilding experienced, and general cruelty of life experienced grown man. Any pity he felt for the Insane Princess had long ago left him.

"Well I think that it's not entirely a bad idea." Aangs voice spoke up from Katara's right side. Katara twisted around and pointed her glare at the Avatar. Sokka leaned back in his chair with his glass of whiskey and wisely kept his thoughts to himself.

"Excuse me?! How can you think this is a good idea Aang? We are talking about releasing one of your most powerful enemies out in the world. She could try to kill us all. In case you don't remember Ozai was the one you took the bending from, not Azula."

"Katara," Aand said in his normal calming tones. "Azula has been locked away for seven years. Maybe this is what she needs to see the new ways of this world. Look at the wonders it did for Zuko. He spent three years hunting me and now look, he's the Fire Lord and he's ended the war. She could learn a lot on this journey idea of Zuko's. Maybe she will see the way..."

"Zuko had Iroh guiding him. Zuko wasn't a lighting wielding trained killer like his sister. Zuko was not and has never gone INSANE!" Katara threw up her hands in frustration.

"Zuko can speak for himself you know," Zuko began. "And it has been seven years since all that has happened. She did go insane, she did have a break down, but she's changed. She's not the same person she was before. This could really help her."

Sokka wasn't quite sure about Aang or Zuko's mental state at this point.

'Azula changed? Please the only thing that woman has changed or will change is her title. From Insane Princess, to Insane Fire Lord' Sokka thought to himself.

"You want to help her? By what setting her free amongst the people she believes are all peasants? She'll kill them all Zuko. She'll start another war or at least attempt to take Aang out again. We can't risk that."

Sokka had to admit, his sister did have a point, even if she did decide that that point needed to be yelled across the table.

"Katara everyone deserves a second chance," Aang began, "who would have thought that Ozai would resort to killing himself versus staying locked away for life. He had a weakness we didn't know about. Zuko knows Azula's weakness. He knows how to play against that weakness to get what he wants. Why wouldn't he at least try?"

"Weaknesses? Azula has weaknesses…please..." Sokka started thinking about Azula and what kind of weaknesses the Insane Princess would have. This morning he had seen Azula being brought out onto the arena where Ozai was burned. He remembered her face, turned up against the sun. Her chest had been rising up and down slowly as though she had been under water for a great length of time and was just now breathing freely again. "Well…if I think of it that way…" His thoughts were once again disrupted by his sister's yelling.

"Because Aang, the moment Azula is freed from that prison she's going to either run and hide or come in here and try to kill us all! She's a cold killer not some...CHILD that made a mistake that can BE forgiven. She's she's...EVIL!"

A clapping sound could be heard from the entry way of the dining hall. Everyone turned to see Azula, freshly dressed in a double layered black and red Fire Nation dress.

"Well it's good to see the water-bending peasant has some sense left in her still," Azula began slowly walking into the room.

Sokka noticed that Azula's time in prison hadn't changed her too much. Her hair was still perfectly pulled back. Clothes properly positioned. And that prideful arrogance, poured out of her as she continued walked up to the table.

She still had a light movement. Hips slightly swaying back and forth as she came closer to the table. She seemed a little smaller however. Her once toned body, now looked more thin than built.

"But still," Sokka reluctantly admitted to himself, "Insane Princess's body still had all the right curves in all the right places. Too bad she's still a killer." That final thought had Sokka shifting slightly towards his sword that was sitting beside him.

"Azula, I cannot say that it is a pleasure to see you," Iroh stated, standing up from his seat, which was positioned on Zuko's right. "Zuko did not inform us that you would be joining us for dinner."

"Well Uncle, Zuzu is full of surprises. I'm sure he planned to tell you all at some point or another. And you can all stop going towards your weapons, I'm not going to attack you." Azula said lazily. "I have to admit, I'm quite intrigued at what the great Fire Lord has planned for me."

"Azula, please come sit next to me. Let's eat and we can discuss the terms of your freedom later. I'm sure you haven't had anything this good since you've started your imprisonment?" Zuko questioned.

Azula took her place in the seat to Zuko's left which was beside Sokka.

Sokka took a moment to observe Azula up close. Yes, her hair was still perfectly pinned up, makeup perfectly applied. A layer of cool control emitting from her as it always had. She was, as she'd always been, an exotic, controlled, and out of bounds princess.

Although, as he continued to study Azula, he noticed that her hands weren't quite as steady as she placed her food upon her plate. And her eyes, those almond amber colored eyes, kept shifting ever so slightly around the room. It was as though she was waiting for the rest of them to attack her.

'She's afraid,' Sokka thought to himself. A very strange urge came over him. He wanted to reassure her that no one would harm her if she in turn didn't try to harm them. He silenced this urge by taking a drink from his glass of the Fire Nation whiskey.

"You know tribal-peasant, it's rude to stare. Even if it is at royalty," Azula stated turning to meet Sokka's stare straight on.

Sokka felt her stare straight through him. It evoked a feeling in him that wasn't exactly unpleasant. He returned her smirk with one of his own and replied, "From what I've heard. You aren't royalty any longer. The only princess you are, is the princess of the prisons."

"Good one Sokka!" Toph exclaimed next to him. Laughing lightly as she continued to eat.

Azula's eyes flared. Then she seemed to divert to her old self and with an eye roll she turned back to the food in front of her.

Sokka smiled and also proceeded to eat. Perhaps this Azula was different. Perhaps the Jerkbender and Avatar hadn't completely lost their minds after all.