The group found themselves in an area hidden by rocks, with a river surrounding it. Katara and Aang thought it would be the perfect place to practice waterbending, so they decided to stop there for a break.

Sokka took out the map that they had, as well as the piece of paper that he had found in the library. They needed to get to Ba Sing Se and report what they found to Earth King. All he needed to do was find them the quickest route to get there.

As well as to figure out whether or not he should tell Azula about what he found.

He wasn't sure how the girl would take the news once he told her. On the one hand, having Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee on their side when they eventually invaded the Fire Nation would be a huge help. On the other hand, would they even want to invade their own home? Would Azula want to kill her father? Sokka highly doubted it, especially since the girl was so devoted to her nation. And yet….something had seemed off about Azula after the conversation she had with Aang. Whatever the two of them had spoken about, it was enough to shake the Princess to her core. She always seemed as if she was thinking about something. Whenever Sokka asked her if she was alright, she'd either ignore him or respond with "I was alright until you decided to open your mouth and talk." Hell, she didn't even react when he called her tiny princess! Something was definitely up.

"What are you looking at?" Azula asked, startling Sokka out of his thoughts.

"Azula! Umm, nothing much, just trying to figure out a way to get us to Ba Sing Se. I'm thinking that the university that Professor Zei taught at might have some books that could help us turn you back to normal. Wouldn't that be awesome?"

While it certainly would be awesome, Azula had a feeling that wasn't the whole reason-wait. Ba Sing Se?

Why do I get the feeling that I'm forgetting something about that place?

Something that she heard her father and other people in his council discussing before he sent her out on her mission. But for the life of her she couldn't remember exactly what that something was. Oh, well. It couldn't have been that important if she couldn't remember it, right? Azula then noticed the piece of paper that was next to the map Sokka had out.

"What is this?" She asked, picking it up.

"Wait, don't look at it!" Sokka exclaimed, but it was too late.

A date was on the paper. And it was titled….the darkest day in Fire Nation history?

Oh

So that was why he wanted to go to Ba Sing Se. To tell the Earth King about this.

"So that's what your game is. Invading the Fire Nation on the day that we're most vulnerable. Smart, but you do realize that my nation isn't stupid and knows about this event, right? The Fire Nation won't be defenseless on that day. If anything, you should expect more defenses from them than usual."

Huh. She had a point. Wait, why was she saying all of this? Did she…did Azula actually want them to win?

"You aren't mad? And why are you telling me all of this?" Sokka asked.

Azula said nothing as she walked away from him. Yeah, something was definitely up with her. Perhaps he should ask Mai and Ty Lee if they knew anything.

So….it was true. Everything that she had read in the library was true. The air nomads weren't a violent group of people after all. According to Aang, they very rarely resorted to violence, and only did so in the case of self defense. And if that was the case….

"So then, you guys really didn't have an army that was waiting to attack the Fire Nation?"

"Nope. Like I said, my people didn't like fighting. I'm almost afraid to ask this, but….what else did they teach you at school?"

"It's probably better if I don't tell you, Aang.Trust me."

"Oh"

Now she knew with 100% certainty that what she was taught in school was a lie. What else had the Fire Nation been lying about? The reason for the war?

That made Azula pause. She thought about Sayo, about what was done to her village courtesy of the Fire Nation. How she lost a parent and a sibling thanks to the war. A war that was supposedly for the purpose of "spreading the Fire Nation's greatness with the rest of the world". But how great were they if they were killing people? When they had annihilated an entire group of people who had done nothing to deserve it? Maybe this was the true reason why Iroh had turned his back on the war after the death of Lu Ten. Perhaps the same could be said about the deserter, Jeong Jeong. Both of them had realized the truth. A truth that Azula herself was slowly coming to terms with. When the time came for her to decide, what would she do with that truth?

Thinking about the conversation she had with Aang was making Azula feel conflicted. She didn't want to disappoint her father. She wanted to do right by her nation and its people. But how could she continue to blindly follow her father and nation after this? What Aang told her hadn't been a lie. What she read in the library hadn't been a lie, either. What she witnessed first hand in Sayo's village definitely wasn't a lie. The Fire Nation wasn't doing right by the world. They were the aggressors, and everyone hated them for it. Azula couldn't say that she blamed them.

"I wonder if this was how Uncle felt when he eventually realized all of this. If he felt as conflicted as I do right now." Azula said to herself as she took at the pai sho tile from her pocket and stared at it. She was still no closer to figuring out what her uncle was trying to say when he gave her the tile. How exactly was she supposed to use it to find the old man? It wasn't as if it could teleport her to his location.

Would be a hell of a special lotus tile if it could, though.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone tapping her shoulder. She looked up to find Katara staring down at her.

"What is it? If you came here to try and convince me to teach Aang firebending, then my answer is still no." Although in truth, Azula wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out on that one.

"Umm, no, I came to ask if you wanted to come with me, Aang, and Toph into town to get some supplies and something to eat."

Azula thought for a moment. She was hungry since she hadn't eaten anything since they woke up this morning.

"Sure, I'll go. But what about the others?"

"Sokka said that he needed to talk about something with the two of them. Now come on, let's go."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Mai asked.

"It's about Azula."

"Oh, you wanted to tell us about your crush on her?" Ty Lee asked, smirking when Sokka started to blush.

"Wha- I don't have a crush on her?! And even if I did, which I don't, that's NOT what I wanted to talk to you guys about!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Sokka."

"Ugh, whatever! Anyway, did Azula tell you two what exactly she discussed with Aang?"

"No, but if I had to guess, it was most likely about the air nomads. That is what she was looking into while you guys were inside the library, right?" Mai asked.

"Yes. I wanted her to learn the truth."

"Truth?" Ty Lee asked.

Right. They wouldn't know about it either.

"You can ask Aang or Azula when they get back. You're better off hearing it from them."

"If you say so. Now why are you asking us about this?"

"You guys haven't noticed that she's been kinda off since then?"

Mai and Ty Lee looked at each other before Mai spoke, "Surprised that you noticed."

"I'm not. The two of them have been getting pretty close lately."

"Shu-shut up, Ty Lee!"

"Aang?"

"Yeah, Katara?"

"Why on earth would you buy Azula so much mochi?!"

The shrunken princess was happily eating away at the mochi Aang had gotten for her, occasionally sharing some with Momo. She was completely oblivious to the conversation happening behind her.

"It was kind of hard to say no when she makes that face."

"What face?"

"You know, the one she makes whenever she wants something when her mind temporarily reverts back to a child. Plus, I wanted to make her feel better. She's been feeling down ever since our conversation a few days ago."

"What did you two talk about?" Toph asked.

"Well, she wanted to know the truth about the air nomads and how they died, so I told her."

"Huh. I'm surprised that she would even want to know that."

"It's probably because of what she read while we were at the library. I wonder if all of this will convince her to join us and help defeat her father."

"Who knows. Anyway, Sugar Queen, don't worry too much about Azula eating mochi. She'll be fine."

"Yeah but all of that sugar is never good for a child."

"You do realize that she's technically 14 years old, right?"

"With the body of a child!"

"Hey, tiny princess! You mind sharing some of that mochi with me?" Toph asked, completely ignoring Katara.

"Sure!"

"Sweet. I'm going to hang out with the princess now." And with that, Toph quickly caught up to where Azula was.

"Fine, don't come crying to me when she has a sugar rush later on. See if I care."

Zuko was starting to think that he would never find Azula and the avatar. He was in a small market not too far from where he and Iroh had set up camp. He had decided to go out alone in order to get supplies, as well as ask people if they had seen a large sky bison. It felt weird to not have Uncle with him, but Zuko had a feeling that the old man wouldn't be much help when it came to tracking down Azula. Ever since they had received that letter from Ozai, Iroh hadn't been too keen on doing what his brother said. In fact, he kept trying to talk Zuko out of hunting down his sister, to no avail. Just when Zuko was about to give up and head back to camp, he saw a large shadow flying over him. He looked up, only to see the Avatar's sky bison.

Bingo.

Sokka shook his head and smiled as he watched Azula play with Momo. The others had gotten back from shopping a little while ago, and the tiny princess was on a mochi high. Which suited him just fine. Sokka would take this over Azula being sad any day of the week. If eating mochi was all it would take to keep a smile on Azula's face, he would gladly buy all the mochi in the world for her.

"Hey Momo, that's cheating! I can't fly like you can!" Azula shouted, pouting.

Sokka chuckled. She really did look cute whenever she pouted.

….Where the heck did that come from?

Sokka quickly shook his head. No way. There was no way that he was falling for the princess of the Fire Nation. It would never work out between the two of them! Not to mention, he couldn't exactly date her when she looked like a child. That would just be weird. And gross. He pulled out the map of the Earth Kingdom and looked over it again, hoping that would help clear his head.

He failed to notice that they were being watched by a lone figure.

Zuko watched as Azula played with the avatar's lemur, feeling unsure of himself. On the one hand, this was the chance he had been waiting for. The avatar and his sister are both in the same place, completely unaware of his presence. On the other hand, he couldn't help but think how freaking adorable Azula looked chasing the lemur around, the avatar and his companions watching in amusement. Even Mai was smiling, something that didn't happen too often. Watching the scene before him made Zuko think about when him and Azula had gotten lost, and the memory gave him pause. Could he really go through with this?

If you capture your sister and bring her to me in chains, you will no longer be banished, and you will have your honor back. Do not fail me, Prince Zuko.

Thinking about what his father said to him in that letter made Zuko shake his head. What was he thinking? He had to do this. For my father. With that thought in mind, Zuko leaped down from the tree that he was hiding in and landed in front of the small group. Azula hadn't noticed him yet, but the avatar and his friends were immediately on guard. He turned towards Mai and Ty Lee and saw that they were shocked to see him, but they made no moves to attack him.

"Zuko! What are you doing here?!" The water tribesman (Sokka?) asked.

Instead of answering him, Zuko turned around and stared at Azula, waiting for her to notice him.

And notice him she did.

At the sound of her brother's name, the shrunken princess turned around, and a big smile crossed her face.

"Zuzu! I missed you! Do you wanna play with me and Momo?" Azula asked as she ran up to Zuko and hugged him.

Well, this was just great. She was acting like how she was the last time they saw each other. But he couldn't falter now.

"Um, Zuko? Are you ok?"

"Azula, get away from him!" Sokka shouted.

Before she could ask why, she felt Zuko shove her away from him right before he formed fire daggers in his hands.

Oh. So that was why.

Azula dodged her brother's attacks, not sure what to make of the situation. What on earth was he doing here? And why was he attacking her?!

"Zuko, stop! Why are you attacking her?" Mai asked.

Zuko turned towards Mai and pulled out a scroll from his pocket and opened it.

"Firelord Ozai's orders. I am to capture the traitor Princess Azula for conspiring with the avatar, and bring her back home in chains. Then I can finally have my honor back and I won't be banished anymore."

Nobody said a word, in shock at what they just heard. Eventually, Sokka spoke.

"What kind of honor do you hope to gain by sending your sister to her death?! There's no honor to be had in that, you idiot!"

"I'm not sending her to her death! I'm going to try and convince our father to find a way to turn her back to normal. And besides, he won't kill her, she's his favorite child! The worst that'll happen is that father will place her in prison for commiting treason, but that's it."

"And that's a good thing?!"

"Shut your mouth, peasant! Now, Azula", Zuko turned towards Azula and extended his hand towards her, "come with me. I don't want to have to hurt you, especially when you're like…this. So please, let's just do this peacefully."

Azula opened her mouth, about to scream at Zuko to tell him to stop lying, and that father would never want her in chains.

"Stop it! You're lying! Dad would never do that to me!"

Well, wasn't this situation familiar? She supposed that this was how Zuko must have felt the night she told him that father was going to kill him. He wanted so desperately to believe that it was all a lie. Much like Azula herself wanted to believe that what Zuko had just said was a lie. And yet….

And yet, she saw the scroll. It had the Firelord's seal on it. Which meant that it was the real deal. Father had officially declared her a traitor of the Fire Nation.

Really, she shouldn't be so surprised at this new development. They were all expecting something like this to happen ever since she attacked that one soldier back when she was trying to protect Sayo. And this was the same man who burned the left part of his own son's face, and then banished him. Azula knew that, of course she did. But it still hurt.

"Sorry Zuzu, but I'm not letting you capture me." She then shot a small stream of fire at her brother. Zuko blocked the attack, but because of this he failed to notice Ty Lee charging towards him. She hit Zuko a few times in rapid succession, chi blocking the boy. Zuko fell to the ground as a result.

"Ow! DAMMIT, TY LEE!"

"Sorry, Zuko! But we gotta go!"

They all quickly got on Appa and flew away. As they ascended further into the air, they all blew a sigh of relief. They all turned to Azula, who looked back at them with a scowl.

"Oh, don't give me those looks. I don't need or want your pity."

"Are you okay though, Azula? I can't imagine how you must be feeling after hearing that. And the fact that your own brother is trying to capture you is just….wrong." Katara said.

"I'm fine. Besides, Zuko isn't doing anything wrong. If anything, he's finally doing what our father always wanted him to do. Acting like a true soldier of our nation. He's just following orders. Just like I was following orders when father sent me out to capture Zuko and his royal tea loving kookiness."

Despite her words, Sokka could tell that she was far from fine. But it was clear that she wasn't in the mood to talk about it anymore. No matter. He would just have to find a way to get her alone to talk. And he would do so the moment they landed.