XXXIII: The Search

Aang arrived with Sokka and Katara on Appa to find Azula standing at Zuko's side, her only restraints being a belt with chains that attached to her wrists.

Sokka and Aang pulled Zuko aside and asked him if he was certain that they should be bringing her along. Then to their surprise, Mai appeared in casual travel clothes, showing no fear in the presence of Azula. Then again, Azula had restraints, and Mai had her throwing knives.

Everyone climbed aboard Appa's saddle, wary of Azula, but trying to keep relaxed as Appa took off.

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The ride was quiet for the most part, but Azula's eyes made everyone uneasy: was she plotting something, or was she in her own little world? It was nearly impossible to tell; and the current seating situation didn't sit too well with Mai. Zuko claimed responsibility for his sister, and so he sat next to her, while Mai was at his other side. The lingering tension made for a long and tiring flight, but to try and keep the mood calm, everyone took their turns to share stories, while also not trying to trigger Azula; her eyes maintained a wild look.

At the point when the sun was starting to get low, Zuko spoke up: "I think that's Hira'a up ahead, if we can't get there before sundown we should make camp, I don't' want to enter town at night like a gang of bandits."

"Good point, hey Aang – AAHH! What, it's not enough that we already have one passenger who stares at us with crazy eyes!" Sokka exclaimed. Aang told them that he felt a strong spiritual presence, especially in his face, making his eyebrows and eyes hold a crazy.

"Now that you mention it, I feel it too, that's why I'm doing this." Sokka told him, pulling a weird face while holding his eyes wide open. Katara threw a snowball at his face and told him to knock it off.

"If you peasants are just going to bicker, then I see no point in staying around." Azula told them, getting to her feet.

"That won't be necessary; now sit down, Azula, they've already blown off their steam." Mai told her.

"NOW WHO ARE YOU TO GIVE ME ORDERS!? HOW DID SHE GET YOU TO LOSE YOUR FEAR OF ME?!" Azula snarled. Sokka and Zuko teamed up to wrestle her back down again.

"It wasn't that I lost my fear of you, it was that I favor Zuko over you." Mai spoke in her dry voice.

"Whoa, check out that giant wolf spirit!"

Looking down, they spotted a giant blue spirit wolf with markings on her chest that resembled the face that Aang was pulling.

Aang flew Appa in a position to try and speak to the wolf spirit, but the wolf paid him no heed and ran off so fast that the wolf pretty much vanished before their eyes!

The wolf distraction left Team Avatar without enough daylight to reach the town, and so they set to make camp.

"You expect me to sleep in these chains?" Azula snarled."

"If you could relax, I'd consider taking them off," Zuko told her, keeping his voice steady and calm. She sat down, and Team Avatar dug into their bags for a snack before turning in for the night.

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In the dead of the night, Azula awoke and stealthily searched for the keys to her chains in her brother's bag, but didn't find them, so she searched the other bags and fond them in Mai's. She unlocked them and ran off in the direction of the town. She leapt over a stream when she heard her mother's voice:

"You're only hurting yourself, my daughter."

"Don't pretend to care about me! You thought that you could break me, didn't you, by having Zuko lock me up in that institution?! Well I'm stronger than you realize! I used all that time alone to figure out the truth! You've been conspiring to take me down from the day I was born! Even when I was an infant, you saw something in me that you've never had: POWER! That's what makes you think I'm a monster! That's what makes you fear me!"

"No, you're confused." Ursa replied.

"I still haven't figured out all the details. How did you contact Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko after you disappeared, and how did you that snow peasant Katara involved?! How did you teach Zuko to obtain abilities no Firebender has ever had?! Luckily, father was able to fend off your conniving to lead me to THIS!" Azula snapped, whipping out a letter from her boot: "Now I have the evidence I need to take the throne from Zuko; but I can't become the Fire Lord with you constantly conspiring to undo me!

That's why I'm going to find you, Mother, and END YOU!"

"I love you, Azula, I do." Ursa spoke gently.

"AARRGH! This – This must be the most treacherous thing you've ever done to me! You've turned my own mind against me!" Azula shouted, and with a flash of rage, she sent a spark of lightning into the stream, banishing the reflection of her mother. She turned to continue her way to Hira'a, when she came face-to-face with the giant wolf spirit!

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Back at camp, everyone else woke to the sounds of something roaring, someone shouted, and fiery explosions! Sokka woke with a shout and made a quick grab for his space sword and boomerang while everyone else shook themselves awake.

"Azula's missing!" Zuko exclaimed, and he promptly took off running in the direction of the disturbance with everyone else behind him.

They found Azula trying to fend off the wolf spirit, but it dodged her lightning and swallowed her fire, it even burped at one point.

"Everyone, please! The spirit must be here for a reason! Just fall back and let me try to communicate, respectfully, with it!" Aang pleaded, but the spirit turned and tried to snap off Sokka's head with a bite! He noticed that there were markings on the spirit's belly that looked like a face, the same glare he wore earlier, but the fight was still going on, and now Appa had joined in to save his companions.

"Appa, please go easy on him, we just want a safe passage to Hira'a!" Aang called out

They engaged in a wrestling match until Appa fanned the wolf away into a great boulder. While Sokka cheered for the Sky Bison, Aang, Zuko, and Katara cringed, and Zuko stepped in front of Mai as the wolf got back up and shook the crash off. Aang ran over to check on the spirit, but then it spewed out a swarm of moth wasps!

"Okay, you are the grossest sprit ever!" Sokka shouted.

As the moth wasps swarmed around Team Avatar, Azula struck her lightning away from the group, driving the insects and the wolf to follow away after it.

"You're welcome," Azula spoke.

"You're welcome?! YOU'RE WELCOME?! It was because you left the camp that we had to get in that fight! If anything, you should be thanking us for coming to help you!" Sokka shouted.

"I'll admit that even I was in a tight spot for a moment there, but it appears that I had my own solution all along… Well, now that we've all calmed down, perhaps we should set up camp again." Azula spoke in a slimy, high-horse-ostrich tone.

"I'd like to throw my boomerang at her head." Sokka grumbled.

"Do that and you'd get fried." Zuko told him flatly.

When they returned to the new camp, Sokka and Zuko sat up for a while, Sokka had a leftover moth-wasp taste in his mouth and was drinking water like crazy to get rid of it, and Zuko was watching over the camp. Azula was asleep, but shivering, and muttering about her own mind being turned against her.

"After what she's done, are you really not going to put the chains back on her?" Sokka asked Zuko.

"She can't hurt us if she's asleep, and I'm thinking that they may not be doing her any good, perhaps being free from binds will keep her more relaxed. Also, I don't want her to go to town wearing chains like a fugitive."

"You're sure?"

"No, but now I'm gong to give her a chance. If she starts to fight us, I can put her in her place, but she did save us from the moth wasps rather than turning and running away to leave us to fend for ourselves."

Sokka sighed and spoke: "Zuko, I trust you enough to follow you into battle, but I don't know if I should trust your judgment with your sister."

"It does rely a lot on her."

Sokka gave him a nod, and then felt a shiver: "Hmm, it's a little cold out here tonight, isn't it?"

"I thought you Water Tribe folk love the cold." Zuko spoke.

"Yeah, maybe we've been away from home for too long." Sokka replied, he got up and pulled out a blanket, draping over Katara while she kept on sleeping with Momo cuddled up to her.

"Even after all of those snowballs you still look out for her."

"I throw witticisms at her, she throws snowballs at me. The relationship works."

"You seem to be getting the short end of that deal." Zuko stated.

"With all that she's done for us, when it comes to Katara, I don't mind that at all."

"Hmm… Hey, do you have any more of those blankets?" Zuko asked. Sokka got up and brought him another blanket and told him: "I need to go-" as he pointed to the trees.

"Thanks for the blanket." Zuko replied. He went over to drape it over Azula, but then spotted a letter sticking out of her boot. Curious, he took it from her and opened it. He found that his mother wrote it, but even more shocking was what it said:

My Dearest Ikem,

It's taken me a long time to admit it, but you were right; I belong with you and nothing is worth this pain.

My one consolation is our son, Zuko. When I look into his eyes, it's as if I'm looking into yours.

My thoughts are with you always.

Love, Ursa

Zuko read the letter repeatedly: "our son" could it be true? Could he really not be the son of a man so wicked as Ozai? Just who was this Ikem? Such a question demanded an answer!

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I'll have to cut it off there. I do apologize for that hiatus, but it'll be nice to hear from you again. Tell me, how can I make the plot to 'The Search' even more awesome?

Please review.