"Dang, I knew I should've listened to Zuko," the water boy mumbles. He scratches his non-existent beard.
"I'm right here," she says.
"Yeah, you are. That's kind of the problem."
"Jerk."
"I'm the jerk? You literally tried to kill us."
Azula says nothing.
"You chased me, my sister, and my friends across the entire flipping world!" He says, waving his arms around. "In what universe am I the jerk?"
She gives him a sharp glare. It doesn't seem to effect him.
He opens his mouth to say something, but then suddenly pulls back. He squints. "Hold on..."
The wood creaks.
"I thought you would've tried to attack me by now," he says. "Like a low honor lightning shot or something. Hmm ... something's off..."
"If you thought I was going to attack you, where's your weapon?"
"Oh yeah, good idea." He takes out a curved stick. A boomerang. "Wait a minute, you're the enemy! Why am I taking advice from you?"
She sighs. "What do you need from Uncle?"
"Uncle? Is that what you call him now?" He says. "I remember when you tried to kill him!"
"Quiet!" She says acidly, leaning forward and almost spitting on him. She stops. Too far. She looks at the floor. "Shut up."
"Me? Shut up? You, shut up." He points at her.
"Enough!" comes Iroh's voice from behind Azula. She turns back.
"Uncle, you actually let her free?" says the water boy.
"Uncle, he's stupid," says Azula.
"Both of you, stop," Iroh says. "Come inside, Sokka."
"Come inside, Uncle? What if she attacks me, with like, her firebending or something-- listen, I don't want to look like Zuko!"
"That will not happen inside my tea house," says Iroh. "Inside my tea house, we will only respect each other and drink tea."
"I'm fine with drinking tea, not so much with this ... person," says the water boy.
"That makes the two of us," she says.
"No more," says Iroh.
The water boy huffs and walks in. She shuts the door. She follows soon after. She finds his eyes are peeled on her, even though she's behind him.
He definitely thinks he's going to get backstabbed, she figures.
They sit down next to a empty table. Iroh sets down three bowls of soup, along with a teapot.
"So, what brings you here, Sokka?" Iroh says, sitting down.
Azula realizes the water boy actually has a name.
"Well to make it short, I'm here on a hunt. For a sword," says Sokka, puffing up his chest. He drinks. "Wow, this tastes amazing."
"It's Azula's," says Iroh.
"Never mind, it's too bitter."
"Idiot," she says.
"Enough," says Iroh. He shakes his head. "A hunt, you say Sokka?"
"Oh yeah. See, basically, it was all Toph's idea." He grins. "It's about a legendary mythical sword. She told me and Suki all about it, and together, we decided to form the Triple Monkeys!"
Azula frowns. "What?"
"The Triple Monkeys! Shut up, it's a good name for our group!" He says with a grunt. "Anyways Uncle, we're basically on a hunt for a sword. Not just any mere blade, it's the lost sword of Heni."
"The one in the legends," says Iroh.
"Exactly."
"Hmm," says Iroh, nodding.
"Toph is searching in Omashu, and Suki went to Kyoshi Island to get some help. They told me I would do the search in Ba Sing Se first. So that's why yours truly is here."
Iroh laughs. "Well, why you're here doesn't matter to me, as long as you are."
"Thanks Uncle!" He gives Iroh a hug.
Azula looks on, annoyed. "So, you're staying here?" She says.
"For a bit, yeah," he says. "Got a room?"
Iroh rubs his beard. "Hmm. Well, we have a couch."
"A couch?" He blinks. "Uh, is there anything else?"
"We do have a room, but you'll have to share it with Azu--"
"I'm sleeping on the couch," Sokka says.
"Jerk," she says.
"What? You want me to sleep in your room?"
"Of course not, doofus, but you didn't have to say it so fast," says Azula with a huff.
"Stop, both of you. It's settled. Come, let us eat the soup," Iroh says.
Sokka nods. He gobbles up the food, spare bits on his mouth. No table manners at all, Azula notes.
The steam from her bowl of soup flows upward and warms her chin. She sighs, and too begins eating.
At night, they all go to sleep. Iroh and the water boy lay on the couches in the main room. Azula goes away to her room. Tired and sore, she falls to her bed quickly.
It's quiet in the Jasmine Dragon.
In the middle of the night, there's a noise. Sokka rolls to the other side of the couch.
Another noise. He covers his ears with his pillow. Sleep, sleep, sleep, he reminds himself.
A bang.
Okay, now what was going on, he thinks. He wakes up, eyes bloodshot. He grunts irritably. He looks at Iroh, who's snoring and sleeping soundly.
"A robber?" whispers Sokka.
He grabs his boomerang on the counter, and walks to the source of the sound. As he goes closer, he realizes. It couldn't be a robber. The sound was coming from the kitchen
Hog-monkeys, he thinks. He walks.
Azula is next to the counter. Her hand is on her forehand. She's sweating, he can tell. Her breathing is loud and quick too.
"Uh ... are you okay?" Sokka says, walking closer.
She looks up, then grunts. "This is kind of my alone time, water boy."
"I have a name, you know," he says.
"Sokko, was it?"
"Sokka," he corrects quickly. "But sorry, I guess."
"It's fine," she says quietly.
Sokka turns his head, looking at her. His eyes are wide. This wasn't Azula, this had to be her clone, he realizes.
"Anything else?" She asks, grabbing a teapot.
"Nothing. I was just, you know, wondering what all that noise was about," he says, scratching the back of his head.
She's heats up the tea with a small flame that lights out of her hand. It's red.
"So it's not blue ... anymore?" asks Sokka, staring. The fire dances and swirls around, but Azula is standing still. Her legs stiffen.
"No," is all she says. She pours tea into a cup.
"I see. What're you doing?" he asks.
"Ginseng tea."
"What for?"
"Uncle tells me to drink it every time I have a nightmare," she says, quite matter of factly. She walks to a empty bench and sits down.
"You have nightmares?" He says, blinking. She doesn't look like the type to experience those.
"You're too nosy."
"I guess I am," he says, scratching the back of his head. "But you did wake me up, so you kind of owe me an explanation. That's just how it works."
"I don't owe anyone anything."
"Dont be so sure. You did a lot of stuff a few years ago," he says, voice deeper.
Azula flinches at that mention. She takes a sip of her tea. The light crackles quietly above them.
Sokka pauses. He mind lingers on her words. The idea of her having nightmares still weirds him out. "The nightmares you have. What're they about?"
"It doesn't concern you," she says.
"I know, I know, I'm just curious. They're about the war, aren't they?"
"How would you know?" She says quickly. She stops. "No, they aren't."
Her eyes betray her. They swirl and fall everywhere but his gaze. She's not that good of a liar anymore, Sokka realizes.
"They have to be about something. And you don't seem like the type to be scared of monsters, so ..."
She doesn't say anything.
"What are they about? Reliving what happened?"
"How do you know all of this?" She says, frowning.
"Why wouldn't I? When I was young, the Fire Nation attacked my tribe."
"So?"
"So, when the old veterans in my tribe came back, they had the same thing you have. They would relive the war, all their friends they lost, all their memories..." His eyes drift off.
Azula sighs.
"It was really scary. Even little snowball fights irritated them. I remember, the feeling of hopelessness. It was like losing your people. They never were their real selves again."
There's another awkward silence. Sokka clenches his fist. He breathes in and out, just to control his emotions.
She looks at him, eyes glimmering against the light.
"My dad used to say that they were burning," he says.
"Burning?"
"Yeah. On the inside. When a person can't handle what's happened to them, or can't handle their actions, it eats themselves up. Their spirit burns, and it tears up their wounds. My dad said it was the heart and the mind fighting each other. Eventually, one wins out." He looks at her.
"What are you trying to imply?" she says.
"Isn't it obvious? You're burning. Just like them. You have wounds."
She frowns.
"And it's probably even worse for you. At least the old veterans had something to be proud of when they fought, but you. What you did," he stops, "you have to be burning even more than all of them combined."
"I'm not burning," she says.
"You sure?"
"Yes, so shut up."
He waves his arms. "Hey, I'm just stating the facts here."
"Then they're wrong."
Sokka huffs. Well, at least he tried. He leaves the kitchen, and goes back to sleep.
Iroh can tell Sokka is still uncomfortable with his niece. In the morning, they avoid each other's gaze. Even at breakfast, it seems as though their line of sight have a barrier.
However, when Azula goes to work serving tea, he finds Sokka watching her. The boy's eyes are narrow, suspicious.
After a few hours, he stops and goes out to do his own research. It leaves the tea house just to Iroh. He enjoys it peacefully, reading books and gardening.
When Sokka comes back, Iroh comes to talk to him.
"Say, Sokka, since Azula is busy wither her shift, how about a pai-sho match?" He says.
"Pai-sho? Sure!" Sokka says, perking up.
"You've played it before?"
"Yup. I'm not that good though. Just go easy on me," says Sokka.
Sokka stares at the board, eyes squinting.
"Okay, you didn't go easy on me," he says.
"Good game," says Iroh. "And to think I was only using five percent of my power!"
He takes a cup and sips it on the rim.
"Sure, sure," says Sokka with a grunt.
"What is it? Zero to twelve now?"
"Hog monkeys! How? You have got to be cheating, Uncle."
"Cheating? Why cheat when I already have the skill to win."
"Yeah, good game," says Sokka. He adds in a whisper, "cheater."
"Another one, my boy?"
He waves his hand mindlessly. "Fine, why not. I'll win this time."
They play again. He doesn't win that time. So it is that Sokka and Iroh sit by the board until evening.
The sun sets. At the end of the day, night dark beyond darkness, and the coming of a fierce wind that rumbles against the house, Sokka goes to sleep.
He closes his eyes. His body sinks into the couch. Its not that bad, he finds. Definitely better than the days he's spent in a sleeping bag. How long ago that was. It feels almost like yesterday. When he, Aang, and Katara were on the run, and a certain someone who he was definitely not sharing the house with and her gang of friends were chasing him. His arm drapes over his head. He takes a deep breath.
A noise. He squirms around. Another noise. Its the sound of two surfaces hitting each other. It's her again, probably.
The smell of ginseng confirms it to him. She's up late. Another nightmare? His mind pushes it off. He yawns, then tries to go to sleep.
It confirms another thing too.
Azula's burning. And it's pretty bad. He sighs. Well. Not his problem. With that, he drifts off into a deep slumber.