Water

…Water.

"Oh great, lucky me," Sokka huffed before getting out of his seat and staring Azula in the eye. "You rigged this, didn't you."

"Really?" she smirked, bemused by the allegation. "You're accusing me when there's a metalbender right here?"

"That's a good point…"

"Hey, don't drag me into this," Toph protested. "It's not like I can see what it landed it on anyway." She started laughing. "You could have said it landed on Earth and I wouldn't have known any better!"

"Another good point." Sokka grinned. "Well, now we know for next time – "

Izumi's wail grew stronger.

"You'd better get going, Sokka," Aang said quietly.

He nodded and exited the dining room. Azula resumed her position at the head of the table and opened her book.

"What a whiny baby," Toph sneered, kicking her feet up on the table.

"How can you say that?" Aang questioned. "She's only two months old!"

"I wasn't talking about Izumi."

Toph and Aang burst into laughter. Even Azula found herself chuckling, as much as she tried to be discreet about it.

"Azula gets it!" Toph beamed. "Hey, you can sit with us, you know."

"Yeah, come join us!" Aang insisted, pulling out a chair for her.

Instantly filled with warmth, she smiled softly and closed her book. Going into the night she had wondered if the opportunity to connect with the Avatar and his friends would present itself, though she did not want to force anything. Not knowing how they felt about her a decade after the war had rendered her wary, especially since she hadn't quite worked up the courage to swallow her pride and apologize for her troublesome history. However, she had worked on herself considerably since her breakdown and horrid year in the asylum and hoped to show her remorse through her actions rather than words.

Life back in the palace was getting better by the day, though she still had the occasional rough patch to sand out. Yes, slowly yet surely she was making amends. And with Sokka, the person who she deemed the least likely to accept her, temporarily gone, perhaps she could start winning over the other two. She would work on Sokka later, though figuring out how was currently evading her. Good thing she loved a challenge.

She took the chair next to Aang and sat up straight.

"So tell me," Toph said, grinning mischievously as she leaned in closer, "who would win in a fight, me or Aang?"

"Oh, not this again!" Aang scowled.

"She's a good person to ask! She's unbiased and won't care about hurting our feelings."

Azula snickered, unoffended by the remark. "Well what are the parameters of the fight? What's the terrain? What's the weather?"

"You're thinking too much about it – I mean like if Aang and I started fighting right now, who would win?"

"Aang. He could go into the Avatar State and destroy us both."

"Let's say he can't do that."

"Hm." She brought a hand to her chin as she thought. "Well, Aang is the master of all four elements…"

Toph scoffed. "He's still a sorry excuse for an earthbender."

"Hey!" Aang shouted. "I've gotten a lot better."

"…and frustratingly flighty and evasive. It would be close, very close, but I'm going to have to stick with my original answer."

"No way!" Toph whined. "That's what Sokka said too."

"See, told ya," Aang teased.

"Well your own wife said that I would win, so there." She stuck out her tongue.

"Really?" Azula asked. "And what was her reasoning?"

"She said I wouldn't have the heart to hurt Toph," Aang answered, "but that she would have no reservations kicking my butt."

"Huh, I hadn't even considered that." Azula cocked her head, somewhat impressed. Of course she wouldn't have taken feelings into the equation. Katara was formidable in many ways, something Azula had learned a long time ago. The waterbender was certainly not one to be underestimated.

"She's right," Toph sneered, cracking her knuckles.

"Now let's say you were to throw me into the mix…" Azula smirked. "The victor would be far more obvious."

The three erupted in laughter once again.

Just then, an anguished scream was heard from down the hall. Not the cry of an unhappy child, but one from a thoroughly appalled man. The scream was followed by some swearing, and then some more swearing about the swearing.

"Uhhh… does he need help?" Aang asked, confused. "I don't think Izumi should be hearing such language."

"Ah, she won't pick up on any of this," Toph said dismissively. "Besides, how funny would it be if her first words were – "

"I've got this," Azula said, standing up. "If I know Izumi, I know exactly what happened. And it's not pretty."

Toph wrinkled her nose. "Oh Spirits, I think I can smell it from here."

"Yep," she nodded. "I believe we're looking at a full brownout. How fun." She crossed to the entryway.

Aang recoiled with disgust.

"Hey, this is going to be your future very soon," Toph taunted.

"Ugh, you're right."

Toph's cackling could be heard all the way down the hall as Azula marched toward what would certainly be a scene straight out of a nightmare.

Sure enough, her intuition was spot on. She found Sokka frantically searching for something, presumably cleaning supplies, while muttering and swearing to himself, a diaper in hand, and a very messy baby Izumi on the changing table.

"Azula?! Wh-What are you – I can handle – I don't need – where are the – ugh." He sighed exasperatedly.

"I thought you might need a hand."

"Or twenty. We've got a code brown."

"Yes, I can see that. And smell that." She had almost gagged from the odor upon stepping into the room, but lately she'd become more inured to the gross inevitabilities that came with a human baby. "This isn't my first a-poo-calypse."

Sokka stopped pacing and stared at her with sheer disbelief before a wide grin spread across his cheeks. "Did Princess Azula of the Fire Nation really just make a poo pun?"

She shrugged, smiling coyly. Perhaps it would be easier to win over Sokka than she had previously thought. Boys and their bathroom humor. How simple. "Would you like help with this shitty situation or not?"

"Please. I-I don't even know what happened – it all happened so quickly – "

"It always does."

"She was crying and making a frustrated face, so I thought she needed to be changed, but when I took off her diaper, it was clean, and then BAM! A literal shitstorm. Of course now she's laughing about it." He looked over at the squirming, giggling baby on the changing table. "Yes, this is hilarious, isn't it?"

"Okay, well let's take this one step at a time. Izumi clearly needs a bath, and the changing table and a good portion of the floor needs to be cleaned. Fortunately we have servants to do most of the heavy lifting. I'll send for them while we bathe her."

He nodded. "Thanks, I… just thank you."

"Don't mention it," she smiled before flagging down some servants in the hall and alerting them to the situation, making a mental note to institute hazard pay for the servants in this wing of the palace. Then she picked up the baby, keeping her at arm's length as she headed toward the nearest bathroom, Sokka following closely behind. "Who's a messy, stinky girl? Yes, that's right! It's you!"

Izumi smiled and cooed.

"You're really good with her," Sokka noted.

"You sound surprised. Hey, draw her a bath, will you?"

He started filling the cast iron basin. "You just don't strike me as a baby person."

"I'm not. I've just taken a particular liking to this one."

"Sure, sure," he teased.

She rolled her eyes. Things grew quiet as the basin filled. "So…"

"So…"

"So what do you think is happening in the other timelines?" she quipped.

"I don't know," he laughed, "but I can guarantee this timeline is the shittiest. At least for me."

"I can only hope you're right," she snickered before offering him the soiled infant. "Hold her for a minute while I heat up the water."

"Okay…" He reluctantly took the baby from her, also keeping her at arm's length. "Izumi, you and I got off to a rough start, but I gotta say, I am damn impressed by the sheer volume that came out of you. You've earned my respect."

Azula stifled a laugh. This level of absurdity and immaturity coming out of anyone else's mouth would have made her roll her eyes, but for some reason, she found Sokka somewhat… charming. After heating the water to the ideal temperature, she took the baby back from Sokka, finished undressing her, and slowly lowered her into the tub. Izumi squirmed at first but settled rather quickly.

"Hey… thanks for coming to my rescue," Sokka said softly. "I'm really glad you're here."

The words made Azula tense for a second. "D-Don't mention it. You probably had no idea what you were signing up for when Zuko asked for your assistance."

"You could say that again."

"Then again…" She cracked a smile. "…we are on 'night duty' I suppose."

"Night duty!" He released a hearty chuckle. "We should hang out more. Why don't we hang out more?"

"Oh, I don't know," she laughed gently as she ran a soapy washcloth over the messy baby. "Maybe because we fought against each other in the war, I imprisoned your girlfriend and teased you about it, I almost killed your brother-in-law, and up until about ten minutes ago I thought you hated me. I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"I-I – " he started, choking on his words. "Well, yeah, there's that. But… you also saved my life once. When we were looking for your mom – "

"Yes, I recall."

" – and, um, that was a long time ago." He paused. "I… I don't hate you. Not anymore."

"You don't hate me." She smiled softly, meeting his gaze. For some reason, getting Sokka to come around to her meant more than the others. "That's a good start."

He returned the soft smile.

Azula finished cleaning, drying, and dressing Izumi. "All right," she whispered, setting the baby down in her crib. "Good as new."

"I'm glad that's over."

She nodded. "Do you still think this is the shittiest timeline?"

"Hah! Well, it certainly started out that way, but… I guess it didn't end up being so bad after all. That being said, we're definitely sending Toph or Aang in here next."

"Definitely."

"Shall we head back then?"

"Uhh, you might want to…" Azula pointed to a conspicuous brown stain on Sokka's tunic. She hadn't noticed it before in the frenzy.

"Oh yuck." Sokka immediately stripped off his shirt, throwing it to the floor with disgust. "Thanks for pointing that out. Toph would have just let me stew in it."

"A-Anytime," she stammered upon seeing his bare chest and stomach, taut from years of fighting and training. She could feel heat rise to her cheeks – she sincerely hoped he didn't notice. In all honesty, she had always found him attractive, ever since she'd laid eyes on him. But he was no longer the scrawny Water Tribe boy she'd encountered during the war. Now he was a man. A muscular, bronze-skinned man with very, very blue eyes.