The man at the counter was writing down the result of the most recent battle on the board when Azula and Sokka returned to the Arena's vestibule. He stared at them in awe when he identified them and he grinned nervously as the pair approached him.
"You gave an astounding performance, or so I heard," said the man, bowing down to Azula. "Congratulations on your first win, Princess."
"I appreciate the compliment, but I wasn't the one fighting," Azula declared, to Sokka's surprise.
"Oh, of course not..." said the man, grinning at Sokka now. "Well fought, gladiator."
Sokka nodded at him, although he could sense some hostility from him. It wasn't hard to imagine why: clearly, not many sponsors shared the glory of victory with their gladiators. It was likely that Azula's behavior towards him seemed completely absurd in the eyes of anyone involved in the gladiator business. In fact, not even Sokka himself could grasp why she was so considerate towards a slave, but he assumed she had acted in this manner to prompt him to fight to the best of his ability, to ensure he would triumph against Chan's gladiator… but since that battle was over now, he guessed their odd relationship wasn't likely to remain as light-hearted as it had been up until now.
"I was told I could find out about my gladiator's new position in the ranking if I asked you about it," said Azula, as both she and Sokka looked around the vestibule.
The people in the room kept casting stares towards them, witnesses of the gladiator's amazing prowess in the sand ring just a few moments ago. They whispered to each other, and Sokka managed to overhear some of what they were saying.
"… he beat the Spawn, the Spawn!"
"It didn't even take him the full time span…"
"And he made it look like a piece of cake!"
Sokka couldn't help but smirk proudly as he folded his arms, turning again to the man behind the counter, who was busy making calculations to define Sokka's current spot in the ranking. After a few seconds of scrolling down the list of fighters, the man smiled broadly at the two of them and gave them the answer they had been waiting for.
"It's early to give out the definitive position he'll hold in the ranking at the moment, but so far it would seem he'll be the 419th. The final ranking for each week will be established by Sunday. Sunday is a day free of combats because it's the day when we make all the calculations of the ranking based on the results of all the fights: you'll see his actual position then. But for now, judging by what I have here, he is the 419th, with a grand total of 267 points! You both should be very proud… not many gladiators attain so many points on their first match."
"It was the natural outcome," said Azula, smirking with arrogance. "Well then, I shall confirm the information you just gave me on Sunday at my local Arena. Make sure to deduct about two hundred points out of the Spawn's score…"
"O-oh, yes, I won't forget about it..." said the man, smiling with discomfort as Azula turned to leave, Sokka treading right behind her.
The eyes of every person in the room were fixed upon them as they exited the premises of the Arena, both with their heads held high, knowing rumors about Sokka would spread in less time than it had taken him to defeat of the Spawn of the Volcano. Once they were outside, the Princess let out a sigh of relief and spread her arms wide open, happier than she had been in years. Sokka didn't stop eyeing her with discomfort as she let out a laugh of sheer joy.
"You're seriously freaking me out here..." Sokka muttered with a sing-song voice. "Quit being so cheerful, it doesn't suit you at all."
"And you can stop being so stingy too," said Azula, still beaming. "You just don't understand what this means to me... I can hold on to my freedom, to my life... People say that you don't appreciate what you have until you lose it. I differ: you learn to appreciate it when you're in risk of losing it."
"Well, good for you, you're free and happy now," said Sokka, bitterly. "I bet that you want to celebrate your regained freedom by heading into town and eating little kids or something."
"Oh, no. Little kids have too many bones" was Azula's reply, which froze Sokka on the spot.
"I hope this only means your wit gets upgraded when you're pleased," he grunted as they continued walking into town. "Because I'd be even more freaked out if you're saying that out of actual experience of eating children..."
"I'll leave that mystery to your imagination, then," she said, smirking. "But seeing how your stomach is an endless pit I don't find surprising at all that your way to celebrate your great accomplishments is by eating. You should watch your weight; you'll end up looking like the Spawn if you eat too much."
"You mean my skin will turn grey?" asked Sokka.
"If you eat too many Komodo Rhino products, you just might."
"Oh, please. People don't become what they eat, that's some folk's tale nonsense," he said, rolling his eyes.
"I hope you can tell me the same thing once you have reptile skin" she stated, her smirk growing wider.
"Ha ha, very funny," he grunted.
"You are in too bad a mood for what this big fight entailed. You should be a lot more cheerful."
"Well, sorry I can't join your parade," said Sokka. "But while you've got your freedom back, I'm sentenced to spend ages fighting under your orders to earn mine. And since you don't have any reason to be nice to me anymore, I'm guessing the royal treatment is over for me."
Azula looked at him, surprised by his statement. Sokka merely held her stare with distrust, wondering how she'd contradict what he had just told her.
"You think... you think I treated you this way because I wanted to use you," said Azula, frowning.
"Was I wrong?" he asked, even more wary than before.
"Of course not," she said, shrugging and making him lose his stance out of surprise.
"The hell?!" Sokka yelled, irked. Azula let out a light laugh and turned to face him again.
"I was using you, and I still am. I want you to become the top gladiator of the ranking, I mean it."
"Huh... you really want that so badly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Then... Can I still get away with eating as much as I do and with training with Piandao and with having my own cabin in your ship and with only seeing you when you have to drag me to fight?"
"Probably," replied Azula with a sigh of resignation after he was finished with his rambling.
"Great!" he yelled, beaming now with joy. "Alright, now everything's better!"
Azula rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. Having her life back on track was an exhilarating feeling she wouldn't shake off for days, probably.
"Though..." he said, looking at her. "If I think about it, this really should be celebrated. And since I'm in a better mood now, I'm all in for it!"
"Do I even have to ask what's on your mind?" Azula muttered, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. Sokka merely smiled at her and she knew her supposition had been dead-on.
Not too long afterwards, Sokka had dragged her all the way through the town to a fancy building with lanterns decorating it on the outside. Sokka beamed while Azula merely eyed the place without much interest, reading the sign above the door that indicated the building was a restaurant.
"This is the place you spotted earlier, isn't it?" she asked, still studying the establishment.
"I think so," he said, grinning even more. "Do you think you can afford this?"
"I can't. I have no money on me, remember?" was Azula's reply. "But you have the winnings from the fight, so you probably can... unless you eat the entire restaurant, which I wouldn't put past your bottomless stomach, really."
"Don't worry, I'll eat with moderation!" he promised, although she didn't quite believe him.
They entered the restaurant and Sokka stared at the decoration without much interest, only wondering where the food would be. A host dressed in an elegant white shirt walked up to them and smiled kindly.
"Welcome to Xuan's Restaurant," he said bowing down.
"Uh... Right..." muttered Sokka, insecure of how to proceed. Azula sneered at him with disdain as she addressed the man.
"A table for two, please. You don't work on reservations, do you?"
"Oh, we do not, my lady," he replied, surprised to see a woman taking charge of the situation. "Follow me, please..."
Sokka wasn't ashamed at all when Azula spoke instead of him. He had no idea how to behave in fancy places; she was better off dealing with the pleasantries while he took charge of fighting against gladiators and devouring all the food.
The host led them to a vacant table within the almost empty establishment and smiled, telling them that, if they needed anything, they should let him know. He left after writing up their order, which wasn't particularly complicated to convey to the cooks: Sokka asked them to cook them surprise dishes for four people. Naturally, he was to eat enough rations for three people while Azula would be more than satisfied with taking the remaining share.
"You should learn some manners," she told him once they were alone again. "You can't barge into a restaurant and reply to a waiter by mumbling nonsense. If you want to pretend you're noble, you ought to behave in a noble manner too."
"Gee, sorry I didn't go to the Royal Institute of Manners like Your Highness did," he said, rolling his eyes. "We don't do that kind of crap in the South Pole."
"Which is blatantly obvious by now" she said, rolling her eyes. "The sole thing you ever learned in your Tribe was how to tear open the skull of sea monsters and how to perform ridiculous dances to the Moon God to ask him to send you fish, which you probably ate raw."
"Hey! Quit making it sound like we're uncivilized barbarians!" he said, frowning.
"I'm not making it sound like it; I'm stating that you are, in fact, uncivilized barbarians. Did you think I called you snow savage just for the fun of it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well... yeah" he said, taken aback.
"You're surprisingly naïve, then," she said, smirking cruelly.
Sokka glared at her, his lips forming a comical pout.
"How nice of you, as usual," he grunted. "If you're so well-mannered, then, at least you'll teach me how to deal with this high society crap, won't you?"
"Oh, no," said Azula. "You're a slave pretending to be a nobleman: if you want to head into restaurants and eat in the crude way you always do, it's your problem, not mine. If you behaved as the slave you are rather than aiming higher than that, you wouldn't have to ask me for any advice on how to proceed in situations like this one."
Sokka folded his arms, irritated.
"Well, fine! If you ever go down to the South Pole I won't tell you how to abide by the traditions and you'll end up making a fool of yourself in front of the whole tribe! And I'll be right there, in the first row, laughing as I watch you!"
"You might be surprised to hear, then, that I have no plans on ever heading down to your excuse for a village," said Azula, matter-of-factly.
"Huh?" asked Sokka, surprised. "But you said… you said that if I get to the top of the ranking…"
"I'll let you return, yes," said Azula. "But even if I gave you a lift, I wouldn't get off the ship. So you can quit basking in the dream of returning me the favor, you won't get a chance to do so."
Sokka groaned in annoyance but said nothing else for a while, unable to find the right way to contradict her now. They sat quietly on their spot, both lost in their own thoughts for a while until a group of waiters dropped by, bringing a variety of dishes that left Sokka agape in admiration. Azula was perfectly used to such opulent meals, so she merely thanked the staff and told them to leave while Sokka dove into the food with enthusiasm, showcasing the ever perfect contrast between the savage and the princess.
"Oh, man…" said Sokka, patting his full belly with his hand as he beamed, satisfied after eating every dish he had gotten his hands on. "You Fire Nation people are horrible, but your food is damn amazing…"
"I'm amazed you can tell the difference between a proper dish and whatever pathetic meals you were served in the Water Tribe," said Azula, smirking. "It seems you're a little more refined than I had taken you for."
"The food down at my Tribe was pretty amazing, mind yourself," he said, folding his arms. "I won't deny this sort of Fire Nation grub is bound to become my predilection, but the food isn't enough to keep me here if I get a chance to escape this dreadful place."
"Dreadful?" Azula repeated, her eyebrows raising as she eyed him with curiosity, crossing her legs under the table. "Did you pick the wrong word by accident, or is it you really think this place is dreadful?"
"Uh, yeah, I think your nation is awful," he said, glaring at her. "I thought I'd made my point clear already, hadn't I?"
Azula huffed and looked at him in disbelief.
"I understood you hated the Fire Nation back when we first met and when you were in Hui Yi, but I can't believe you're still clinging onto that ridiculous way of thinking after seeing the Royal Palace and spending almost an entire month with Piandao…"
"You think a month at his place has made me think differently of this nation?" asked Sokka. "And then you say I'm the naïve one. A month of kindness doesn't scratch down a hundred years of murder and war."
"Oh, so you will never forgive the Fire Nation for the Hundred Year War," said Azula. "Well, it doesn't really matter much anymore. You're merely bitter because we've won."
Sokka glared at her, indignant now.
"You can't mean that… you're ridiculous" he said, shaking his head "You think I'm mad over who wins or loses? A war isn't a game, Azula! It'd never be one! How can you act as if the people sacrificed in the frontlines and the civilians who got killed were meaningless?! You see, this is exactly what's wrong with you people! You're so sure you're superior that you don't have a shred of humanity in you anymore!"
"Oh, so that's the deal, you think we're heartless because we don't mourn over every casualty?" asked Azula.
"Your people annihilated an entire race and I'm pretty sure that doesn't keep you up at night," he stated, folding his arms across his chest. "What's better proof of heartlessness than that?"
"I don't believe you're kept up at night by any of the animals that got killed to provide the food you eat," said Azula, looking at the empty dishes. "It's, basically, the same thing."
"Huh?! You're comparing humans to animals?!"
"Why not?" asked Azula, raising an eyebrow. "Just what's so different about it, really? Animals, humans… they're both alive, they both get killed for the sake of those who believe to be in the right to rule. It's the natural order of things."
"Oh, please! Why would the Fire Nation have any right to rule over the rest of the world?!"
"If you had a look at the rest of the world, you might find out… Oh, that's right, everything's pretty much Fire Nation already," she said smirking. "Isn't that enough proof of our superiority?"
"That makes no sense!" said Sokka. "Obliterating everyone else doesn't make you guys any better than the rest of the world. You don't even have any reasons to justify this war!"
"Oh, we do," said Azula. "Fire Lord Sozin said the war was the way in which the Fire Nation was to share its greatness with the world…"
"That's bullshit," said Sokka, angrily.
"It's not as much of a lie as you think it is," said Azula. "The Fire Nation is growing, developing into something beyond what the other three nations could be. Our technologies, our prosperity… it outmatched the rest of the world. If we didn't fight to ensure our autonomy, the other nations would have tried to take over us."
"Of course," said Sokka, skeptical. "A group of pacifist monks were a threat to you, sure thing."
"That was merely a strategic move, Sokka," she replied. "Sozin had several reasons to go after the Air Nomads first; one of them being that they were the easiest ones to take out."
"And you talk about this as if he'd done the most logical thing…" said Sokka, gritting his teeth.
"It was logical," said Azula, shrugging. "You're opposed to the idea of genocide, of course, but it doesn't change that his way of looking at what had to be done was very systematic. It made sense."
"It's preposterous," grunted Sokka. "Killing an entire race can't be justifiable just like that! He took advantage of them because he knew they wouldn't fight back."
"How convenient for you to say that," said Azula. "Who's the one who fights in the Arena by taking advantage of his opponents?"
"I do that to survive! I have no other choice!" he yelled.
"Well, then, I guess you can see it now," said Azula. "Fighting in this manner isn't exclusive of the Fire Nation if you do it too."
"Don't you dare compare me to that sketchy grandfather of yours," he grunted, irked.
"Pray tell, what's the big difference between what he did and what you do?" said Azula.
"What's the difference between me and you Fire Nation scum?" he asked, getting more annoyed by the minute. "That you guys are pure evil! You're nothing but evil!"
"Oh, and you're just evil on a smaller scale, is that it?" asked Azula, feeling a twinge of annoyance to hear him refer to her people as scum.
"No! I'm not evil!" he yelled, striking the table with a fist. "There's nothing good inside of any Fire Nation person I've met so far! You're all rotten to your core!"
Azula's eyes narrowed, unable to believe he was using such a ridiculous argument to counter her statements.
"I believe we already got to this point in a previous conversation, didn't we?" she grunted.
"Yeah, we did, and you brushed it away by claiming you don't give a crap about evil and good. You know why you don't care? Because if you did, you'd have to face that you're doing it all wrong. You'd have to acknowledge what I just said, that you're rotten."
Azula let a slight chuckle shake her shoulders and she looked at him with contempt, their stares colliding with rage this time.
"And what is it that makes me so evil in your opinion? What have I done so that you think I'm some sort of demonic spirit or something of the sort?"
"You're really asking something so stupid?" Sokka inquired. "The minute I saw you I could see it… those clothes, the way you carry yourself, how you're merciless and selfish… you don't give a damn about anything but achieving your goals"
"Sure," said Azula. "Yet I let you live in the South Pole. Why did I do that, if I'm so evil? I gave you a new life as my sponsored gladiator. If I'm as evil as you think me to be, why did I do such a thing?"
"You have an ulterior motive, you already said so," grunted Sokka. "But I have no clue as of why you didn't kill me… though I doubt it was out of the kindness of your heart."
"Is it that difficult to believe there might be something good within me?" she asked, folding her arms.
"Yeah, it is," he grunted.
"I don't see your point, honestly. You say the Fire Nation is bad because we kill, that your people are better because they don't want to kill anyone… Yet I haven't killed a single man in my life. You've killed so many you can't even keep count anymore. And then you have the guts to say I'm the cruel one…"
It was clearly a low blow for Sokka to hear this. He gritted his teeth and glared at her with even more rage than before.
"How dare you…? You know… you may not have gotten your pretty hands stained with the blood of anyone else, you might just sit by and watch from the sidelines as I smash a man's skull into his head like I did in Hui Yi, but there's something that sets me apart from the likes of you: every single time I had to slay a man, I was filled with remorse and regret. I'm damn sure that if you've ever seen anyone die you only ever think 'good riddance' and walk away without shedding a single tear."
"Oh, so now being good and being bad has something to do with being sensitive… I should've known," said Azula, rolling her eyes.
"Don't patronize me," he growled. "You know I'm right. And really, who were the ones to force me to kill all those gladiators? Who were the ones sitting in the stands, laughing as I slay a man who had given me half his meal the day before?! Yeah, your people! Fire Nation people! Why was I in that disgusting pit in the first place?! Because you bunch of deranged psychopaths created that irrational business of gladiator fighting! What's more proof of evil than that?! You ENJOY watching people getting killed! You relish in it!"
"I don't relish in anything," grunted Azula, annoyed. "I didn't even enjoy watching you kill that Dart guy, if telling you that is any use at this point. But the world is evolving, and you can't stop it from changing anymore. Good, evil… you can't be purely good nor purely evil, Sokka. Not even I am."
"Huh, that's what you'd love to think, isn't it?" he said, staring at her with derision. "I highly doubt it…"
"You're truly ridiculous. At least keep an open mind, will you?" she asked. "Else, what's the point of this whole discussion?"
"I never saw the point of it, personally," said Sokka, shrugging.
"Quit being a moron and listen," she grunted. "You want to be the good guy; you want to pretend you're pure-hearted, but you know what? You've got a dark side within yourself as well, even if you don't want to acknowledge it. Deny it as you will, but it's true. You're going to pretend that, when you were a child, you didn't feel the urge to do something that was out of bounds? Didn't you ever pull a prank on a sibling of yours?"
Sokka froze in his spot, trying not to reply to her questions but his head was already feeding him with images of the mean hoaxes he had pulled on Katara when they were kids…
"Doing something like that isn't good, is it? Yet by the look on your face I can tell you did. How do you want to excuse yourself? You want to act like you didn't know what you were doing, that you really don't have anything dark in your soul…?"
"I didn't," grunted Sokka. "I was just a kid. I've grown out of that sort of stuff."
"I doubt you have," said Azula. "Sokka… face it. You're not purely good. Nobody is."
"The Air Nomads were, yet your people obliterated them," he grunted.
"And there we go again," said Azula, rolling her eyes. "You want to know what I think? The Air Nomads weren't strong enough to survive in the world the Fire Nation has been trying to create for a hundred years now."
"Oh, and that just makes the slaughter completely acceptable, doesn't it?" asked Sokka.
"You're unbelievable," said Azula, her hands going to her hair. "Have you ever studied up on the history of this world?"
"Just… a little bit," he admitted, glaring at her.
"Well, here comes an inconvenient truth for you," she said, looking up at him. "The Fire Nation isn't the only one to have executed a war. Your people, the Water Tribe, used to live all over the same territory with the Earth Kingdom about a thousand years ago or so and the Earth Kingdom folk forced your people to the Poles through one of the bloodiest wars you can imagine. The Earth Kingdom in itself was pure chaos, they wouldn't accept a figure of authority and they were unable to settle down peacefuly with a government regime until Avatar Kyoshi acted. Before she did, the Earth Kingdom people were killing each other and fighting over their territory… what nation is the cruelest one now, pray tell? At least the Fire Nation holds its own people in high regards… The Earth Kingdom people didn't even care about kinship or nationalities, they just fought brutally for about five centuries until they finally settled down."
"Proving that others can be evil too doesn't make you guys any better," Sokka stated. "Besides, the Fire Nation killed an entire race… the others didn't."
"You just don't know anything from before the Hundred Year War, do you?" asked Azula, exasperated now. "Do you truly believe that everything has always been the way you were told, four elements and four nations? Well, forgive me for bursting your bubble, but you're wrong. There used to be benders of so many kinds you would be surprised to hear about it. Soundbenders, lightbenders, woodbenders, even energybenders… and where are they now? Nowhere to be found but in scrolls about ancient history. You believe the Fire Nation was the only one to take down an entire culture? Check your facts again, will you? This world used to be far more diverse than it currently is."
"That's ridiculous," grunted Sokka. "I've never heard of that sort of stuff before. You're making it up."
"That's exactly what those who are wrong say: they deny the truth because accepting it renders them helpless," said Azula.
"Well, then, how come is it that the Avatar bends four elements?" he grunted. "I've never heard of a lightbending Avatar… it's only ever been the four nations, it's never been anything other than that."
"Suit yourself if you refuse believe me," said Azula. "But the Avatar's figure was only born after the other bending arts began to fade away. The Avatar's role was to keep balance between the four remaining elements, to avoid having a nation walk all over another one."
"And then the Fire Nation wouldn't stay put in their island range, they had to go take over the entire world," Sokka said. "What a nice way to help keep the world balanced…"
"Ironically, though, there is no longer an Avatar," said Azula, frowning. "There hasn't been one for a hundred years. Fire Lord Sozin killed the Air Nomads hoping to take out the Avatar too and nullify his threat, but he still should have been reborn within either the Northern or the Southern Water Tribe if the cycle had begun anew. It's been a hundred years, Sokka. After all this time, there is no Avatar. Why do you think that is?"
Sokka didn't reply, he merely glared at her, guessing what she was getting at.
"The world no longer needs the balance between the elements," she stated. "The time of the Avatar is over. The world is changing, the Fire Nation is moving forward and if the other nations can't keep up, they'll be destroyed, the way the Air Nomads were, or they'll be incorporated into it, like the Earth Kingdom was. Simple as that."
"It doesn't make it less wrong," said Sokka. "The world isn't changing: you guys are changing the world, and you had no right to do that. Sozin was afraid that the other nations would take over the Fire Nation? Give me a break. That's a ridiculous excuse, just like everything you've said so far."
Azula rolled her eyes and sighed, completely disappointed in the man in front of her.
"Clearly, you refuse to see reason."
"I could say the same right back at you."
"There's no point in continuing with this argument, really. You're too thick headed to get anything I'm saying."
"And you're too naïve to realize your reasons are ridiculous," said Sokka. "If the Water Tribe had tried to take over the rest of the world, you'd be sitting where I am now and I'd be where you are, and we'd likely say the same things back and forth with no different outcome; though I'd probably never be as gullible as to think that my people are doing a good thing by destroying other nations, unlike you."
"I have said it time and time again…" she muttered. "There's no point in seeing this as good or bad. Seeing everything under that light will only ever hold you back from achieving everything you wish to fulfill."
"Right," said Sokka, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, this is pointless. Let's get going already, or else I'll throw up after this stupid conversation."
"I hope you get food poisoning," she mumbled under her breath as she stood up from the table.
Every other person in the restaurant was eyeing them with discomfort as Sokka headed to the counter with the bag of money. He was appalled to hear his meals would cost him thirty-six thousand yuans, but he paid up anyway and followed Azula outside.
It was already dusk when they headed down to the port. The Captain of the Royal Guard was pleased to see them returning, but he was surprised by the angry expressions in their faces, which made him assume the worst had happened.
"Uh… Princess?" he asked, as she climbed aboard and looked for the man in charge of the vessel.
"We are leaving now," she declared. "Set the course for Shu Jing, captain."
The ship's captain bowed down to her and raced to the machinery room to follow his Princess's command. The Royal Guard's Captain turned to Sokka and stopped him, grasping his shoulder to do so.
"You… you didn't lose, did you? Because if you had…"
"No, I… well, I won in the Arena," he muttered. "But I don't think I did when it came to her…"
"Huh?" said the guy, but Sokka pushed off his hand and kept walking, puzzling the man even further.
This time he was the one left gazing at Azula when she turned towards her room. He glared at her back, wondering if she truly believed all the things she'd just told him… how could she truly believe the Fire Nation's ways were right? It was preposterous that she'd pretend to justify their behavior… but for some reason, most her words had made some sense after all. If she was right about there being other types of bending nations who had been taken down by the remaining ones… he didn't even want to think about it. He headed to his room and tried to get some sleep, in hopes to get her piercing words out of his mind.
Azula locked herself up in her cabin and lay down on her bed as she tried to calm herself down. She had always been told the very same words she had used on Sokka: that her people were doing what had to be done, they were protecting themselves and making sure the world would be led to progress, because the four nation division was going to crumble down eventually and only the strongest nation would survive… but he was right. The slaughter was unnecessary; the gladiator fights were proof that they were being irrational… the regret he had spoken of was something she didn't feel. Was it the one thing she needed to become human, then? Her mother had once called her a monster… had she done it because of her lack of regret? Was it that her mother had thought in the same way Sokka did, and she hated the way the Fire Nation was taking over everything because she believed it to be inhumane…?
Well, who needed to be human anyway? The Fire Nation didn't, most certainly. They had cast away all weaknesses, and they would triumph over every obstacle in their way… bothering with nonsense about being ethical and righteous were excuses for the weak. The strong ones didn't need to feed on such ridiculous lies to stand up for themselves. Azula soothed herself with these thoughts and closed her eyes, not really falling asleep as the ship began moving, starting back on its route towards Piandao's home.
A day and a half passed by again, but this time, Azula and Sokka avoided each other. After that discussion they had come to realize that whatever camaraderie they had developed had only ever been superficial: they were only ever meant to be sponsor and gladiator. To aspire for any sort of reliability beyond that had been foolish from both of them.
Azula spent most her spare time training on the main deck, Sokka simply stayed in his room, only leaving it to get something to eat, but even his insatiable appetite had been affected by the huge fallout between them. All he could do was wonder if all those excuses she had given him were thought to be valid, if they were to be registered in history as the way the world had to evolve… it sickened him to think so.
After breakfast on the second day, thanks to favorable tides, they were already at Shu Jing. Sokka wasn't even sure if he wanted to return to Piandao: his heart was in such disarray that he feared he wouldn't perform up to his usual standard and he would disappoint his master because of it. Still, he wanted to be as far away from Azula as possible, so returning to the place he had called home for a month was an idea he welcomed with open arms.
He headed to the main deck and walked towards the ramp, trying his best to ignore the presence of the Princess, who was sitting on the throne-like chair of hers. Azula's eyes didn't leave the figure of her gladiator, although she wasn't particularly comfortable with the situation either. She had reached a natural conclusion during the voyage: they would never understand each other. It would be better to forget all about politics and wars, and simply focus on the issue at hand, which was training Sokka into becoming the best gladiator ever and getting him to climb all the way to the first position of the ranking. Once that was done, she could drop him off in his barren and frozen wasteland and forget about him and about all the things he had told her before.
She stood up when they anchored at the shore and Sokka headed down the ramp immediately, only turning around once he was in solid ground again. He looked at her warily, as if staring directly at an enemy, since that's what she had become in his eyes again.
"You're not tagging along this time?" he asked, hoping she'd say she wouldn't. It was too uncomfortable to be near her.
"There's no need for me to go," she replied curtly. "You can make your way to Piandao on your own, can't you?"
"Sure I can," said Sokka, staring at her sideways. "See you, then."
"I will return in about a month's time, when I've issued out the challenge for your next fight," said Azula. "Make sure you're ready to face a new opponent by then."
"Got it," said Sokka. "Do us both a favor and choose a non-bender from the bottom half of the ranking this time, can you?"
"Fine," she said, sighing.
"See you, then," he said, lifting a hand in a very disheartened wave as he walked away through the marked pathway, headed towards the town of Shu Jing.
Azula watched him go, feeling uneasy as she did. That terrible spat made her feel, for some reason, that as he walked away from her, he was taking with him something she hadn't known she would miss if she lost it… though she had no idea what she was losing in the first place. She rolled her eyes at the ridiculous thoughts her subconscious was sending her way, and she ordered the barge's captain to head back to the mainland right away, before her mind tried to pull any more tricks on her.