"You little bitch!" yelled Xin Fu, glaring at his gladiator.
Toph was standing with her back against the wall as her sponsor yelled at her and sprayed her with spit, but she didn't feel cornered by him despite how he towered over her. She had her brow furrowed defiantly, since she was not about to shut up and abide by the man's complaints and demands. Her careless attitude only served to enrage him further, since Xin Fu could tell that nothing he said would make it past her prodigious ears. Regardless, rather than thinking about taking a smarter approach to the matter, Xin Fu had decided he would simply yell louder at her. It seemed he was under the impression that speaking up would make a difference. But, seeing how Toph remained impassive throughout the conversation, it was clear that Xin Fu's attempts to get through to her were doomed to fail.
"I told you to kill the brat, so you had to do it! I'm the sponsor! You are here to follow my orders!"
"Yeah, right," said Toph, sarcastically. "You've got to be ten times as dumb as I thought you were if you really think I'm going to let you boss me around. I never agreed to obey your orders when we made our deal."
"Forget that stupid deal! I only accepted to do this because you said I'd get more money like this than by dragging you back to your parents! So either you do as I say, or you're never going to fight in an Arena again!"
"Oh, yeah?" asked Toph, raising an eyebrow. "You really think you can keep me from fighting just because you feel like it?"
"I'm your damn sponsor! Without me, you're nothing!" yelled Xin Fu. "So either you do as you're told, or this is it for you and your stupid whim of fighting as a Gladiator!"
"Screw you," said Toph, snarling at Xin Fu. "I make my own decisions and you're not going to get in my way! I'll sponsor myself if I have to, but you'd better get through that thick skull of yours that I'm not going to behave as if I were a slave! I work for myself and for nobody else!"
Xin Fu laughed and shook his head in disbelief.
"That's stupid, thinking a gladiator can sponsor herself... you're nothing without me! Without a sponsor, you'll be right out of the League! But you always do things the hard way, don't you, Miss Beifong?"
The man spat on the ground in front of her and Toph cringed, not so much out of disgust towards the gesture, but towards the man himself.
"You're done for, little bitch," he said, glowering at her for the last time. "You're out of the Gladiator Business. Hell knows how you're gonna get out of this one, because I'm not about to save your skinny ass ever again. The money from the bids isn't worth sticking up with a piece of shit like you."
Xin Fu stormed off without another word. Toph was quite relieved to sense him leave. She had never been fond of the man, and she was quite pleased to get rid of him at last.
Now she stood alone in the empty corridor that led up to the stand-by room, since that was the place where Xin Fu had caught up with her, and the place where he had decided to deliver his speech. The man had been affiliated with the Beifong Estate ever since the war had started looking really bad for the Earth Kingdom: The Beifongs were amongst the few former noble families that had retained their privileged positions even before the Fire Nation had instated the Honorary Fire Nation citizen policy. They were amid the richest families in the world, so they had more than enough resources to appease the Fire Nation's thirst for gold and treasures if they ever came knocking threateningly at their doorstep.
And the Blind Bandit hailed from this noble family. Toph had been born blind, and she had struggled with her impairment as a toddler. But on one fateful day, she wandered too far from the Beifong grounds and wound up inside a cave. While trying to find her way out of her predicament, she met the badgermoles, creatures who sensed their surroundings with their earthbending. And so, with the help of her new friends, Toph, at age four, had started to develop her earthbending prowess. Her eyes still couldn't see, but her other senses were keener than ever before. She longed to show everyone that she could take care of herself now, that she had honed her earthbending skills to the point that it was almost as though she weren't blind at all. But her circumstances hadn't allowed her to do so.
Her parents feared for their blind daughter's wellbeing in this world at war, and they had protected her from the outside world through her childhood and teenage years, keeping her safe at all times and doing their best to keep her from getting involved in the fights she longed to take part in. But as soon as she became of age, she fled the Beifong Estate and ran off as far as she could go, trying to land herself all the good combats she could find.
Her parents sent Xin Fu after her as soon as they realized she was gone. The man had struggled to catch up with her, following the few leads he had been able to find that would bring him closer to catching Toph. After a few months of playing cat and mouse – and after she had gotten aboard a ship as a stowaway, forcing Xin Fu to find a ride across the ocean as well, – he had finally found her in the Fire Nation Capital. After an earthbending showdown, Xin Fu realized he was nowhere near as talented a fighter as Toph was, so he proposed to get her as many fights as she wanted if she spared his life. Xin Fu promised to send messages to the Beifongs, telling them he still hadn't found her, but in reality he would be sponsoring her in the Superior Gladiator League. Toph had given said proposal some thought before agreeing to it, for it was exactly what she wanted, after all. And thus, she started out her new life as a gladiator.
Xin Fu had no intentions to have her fight weaklings: he kept sending challenges to the strongest gladiators, but none of them accepted to fight a blind girl with no reputation to precede her. Thus, Toph had been forced to fight against gladiators in the lower branch of the ranking, in hopes that word about her prowess would spread quickly. But when the rumors about the Princess's brand-new gladiator reached Xin Fu's ears he was confident he had finally found their ticket into stardom. A non-bender who had trampled with ease over his first opponent, but had scarcely triumphed on his second combat… The rumors said he had only won the second battle because of his privileged position as Princess Azula's fighter.
With this in mind, Xin Fu had instructed Toph to slay him in the Arena to make sure they would take the victory home. Toph shrugged at his command, hardly bothered by it even when she had never killed anyone before. Regardless, when faced with his squirming shape and his shameful words, she thought there would be no glory at all in bringing such a loser to his end. She was still certain of that she had made the right decision, but now she was left standing by herself in the hallway, wondering if this would be the end of her career as a gladiator. She wasn't bound to be allowed to sponsor herself, even if she found the money to do it…
"Well, well… why are you all alone in this corridor?"
Toph didn't jump at the unfamiliar voice, but a frown spread over her features. She turned to where she sensed a man's presence. His vibrations told her he was stubby and plump, and judging by his voice tone, he seemed somewhat old.
"Why do you care?" asked Toph, snarling. "Keep your fat nose in your own business, old geezer."
The man let out a loud laugh, which surprised Toph. Why would he find amusement in her insults?
"Ah, I meant you no disrespect," said the man. "But I saw your sponsor walking through the vestibule while muttering things that made me think you might need a new sponsor now."
Toph's frowned deepened. Xin Fu did have a knack for talking to himself, which was one of the things that annoyed her about him. Regardless, that wasn't important anymore. There was an unknown man speaking to her, and even though she usually would have been irritated by strangers approaching her, this time she was far more curious than she was displeased by him.
"I need a new sponsor?" she asked.
"Well, I figured you would. Didn't he drop you as his gladiator?"
"He said he would, but that's not what I'm asking you," said Toph, moving away from the wall as she walked to where she sensed him. "What do you mean with a new sponsor?"
"Oh, I thought that such a talented fighter would want to continue her career as a gladiator. When I heard your sponsor talking like that I figured I could offer you the chance to fight as my own gladiator…"
"W-wait… what?! Your gladiator?" she asked, frowning. She wasn't too sure about this… he was a total stranger to her. Should she take up on this offer? She had already struck bargains with the wrong kind of people before, and she'd hate to do it again…
"I have the resources," said the man, smiling. "And I won't be pressing you on killing your opponents. You will have much freedom with me as your sponsor. We will go evenly at everything, too."
Toph was shocked. She seemed at a loss for words for a moment, seeing how she was completely certain that this would end really badly for her, but his proposal was ridiculously tempting. She had nothing better to do anyways, she wasn't likely to get a better sponsorship offer… and she wasn't willing to relinquish the progress she had achieved as a gladiator if she had a chance to retain it. Word might reach her parents about what she was up to, now that Xin Fu wouldn't be around to feed them false information, but she would enjoy her current freedom while it lasted.
"What do you say, Blind Bandit?" said the man.
"Well… I guess giving this a try won't hurt anyone," she said, shrugging.
"Excellent! We must go change the information about your sponsorship, then!" he declared, jovially.
"Right… but first, who are you exactly, old man?" she asked, walking next to him as they both left the corridor.
"Such a deep question," he said, chuckling. "But I assume you simply seek to know my name. I have many names and titles, and I'm popularly known as the Dragon of the West, but my friends call me Iroh."
Toph was stunned upon discovering his identity. The Fire Lord's brother was offering to serve as her sponsor…? But she got over her initial surprise quickly as a smile spread over her face, to Iroh's content. The Fire Lord's brother indeed…
"Oh, damn," she said, smirking as they headed to the vestibule. "This is gonna be good."
Had she ever held her head between her hands in this manner? She couldn't recall if she had. Her fingers were digging into her soft black hair as she wondered if the anxiety she was feeling would subside sometime soon.
After leaving Sokka in the care of the Palace's medical staff, Azula had found herself at a loss for what to do. She had taken a bath, thinking that cleansing herself from the blood and sand he had soiled her with would help her calm down. Thankfully, the bath was useful enough and she felt a lot better once she was soaked up from head to toes. After she was done with that, her feet carried her back to the Palace's hospital wing without her awareness. It seemed Sokka was still being treated, so there was nothing she could do right now but wait until the physicians updated her about his status.
Hence, she had entered a nearby room and sat down on a couch, her head held up by her hands as she began reflecting on the current happenings. And the more thought she gave to the matter, the more she frowned, wondering what the hell had come over her only a few hours ago. She had carried an almost dead slave on her shoulders through the Grand Royal Dome's vestibule, in plain sight for every single attendant to the gladiator fights to see them. And this hadn't been the full extent of her bizarre procedures: afterwards she had pulled him into her palanquin and had ordered her people to carry Sokka's limp body all the way to the Palace, where he was getting the best treatment possible…
She stopped before she began thinking about how rumors of her deeds would spread. She hated caring for what was being said about her, it merely weighed her down in her path to become the best version of herself that she could be. Still, her actions had likely shamed the Royal Family altogether. Her father would definitely not be pleased to hear of how his daughter had carried a slave in front of a huge crowd, refusing anyone else's assistance…
Indeed, she had refused them. She had insisted on carrying Sokka on her shoulders, and the reason why she had done it was clear as day: he wasn't just a slave to her, he was her partner. Even though they kept squabbling and arguing, she couldn't deny there was a bond between them that went far beyond their differing opinions. He had disappointed her several times already, but despite it all, she had grown to trust him. He was her sole ally in a world where she could hardly trust anyone else. It was rather ironic, wasn't it? The man she trusted was the one who ought to have been her worst enemy if things had only developed differently somehow… He was a snow savage, she was the Fire Princess. It made no sense for the two of them to work together, but even so, they did. And after things had gone awry on their last encounter, he had gone all out on the Blind Bandit in an attempt to gratify her, to show her that he had grown into a better man, a man worthy of being sponsored by her…
And that had taken him halfway to his grave.
Azula gritted her teeth, ashamed of herself. True, she had wanted to teach him a lesson. She had wanted to make sure he would fight up to the standards she knew she could demand from a man like him… She had also been trying to snap his eyes open, show him she was his sponsor while he was nothing but a slave. If he did as he was told, things would go well for him. If he strayed from her orders, his life would be miserable. But all the lessons she had been trying to teach him by force had backfired on her now, and she was left doing nothing but wallowing in guilt as she wondered if Sokka would survive.
She frowned as she started thinking about the situation more coldly. Why was she so worried? Why was she so guilty? He was truly nothing other than a slave! He had never been meant to become anything other than that. She should simply be worried about him being in a fit state to fight in less than three months, nothing more. He was her slave, he was supposed to be useful to her… she was only keeping him around to use him, after all!
Azula sighed at those thoughts. She wanted to make herself believe them, but she knew that repeating them a thousand times over and a thousand times again wouldn't make them come true. He wasn't just a slave… he had never been just a slave, and even Sokka knew it. He had never behaved like a slave; he had always been looking down on her with his sneaky smirks, saying and doing things that embarrassed her deeply. And no regular slave would have gotten away with any of that. But there was something about him… there had been something about him ever since they first met. Even as enemies, he had spoken to her as if they were on equal standings. Now, as partners, he acted the same way. And the weirdest part… was that she liked it. She enjoyed his company far more than she enjoyed being around any other men she could think of. Surely their views in the world were conflicting, but she had even spoken to him about matters that she had kept from the rest of the world, such as her turbulent relationship with her mother. He had coaxed the information out of her, almost without her awareness, and he had remained loyal to her. He hadn't spread word about the secrets that troubled her. Thus, she had grown to trust him. She had been willing to drop him as her gladiator not too long ago, but it had simply been a fit of frustration. She truly didn't want him gone… and she sure as hell didn't want him gone now.
Sighs kept escaping her lips, knowing that having such a close relationship with her gladiator could prove truly dangerous in several ways. For one, everyone in the Arena had witnessed her dragging Sokka, and that would likely damage her reputation terribly. And for another, there was Iroh to think about. They had been holding a silent quarrel against each other for as long as she could remember. She could only ever trust him to be completely untrustworthy, and clearly, he thought the same way about her. Yet he had witnessed her uncanny response when Sokka had been pummeled by the Blind Bandit… Iroh would probably be the first person to spread rumors about how she seemed to have a soft spot for a slave, and that would make everyone think she was more unfit to rule than they already did because she was a woman…
And they'd still believe that her brother was the rightful heir to the throne. She knew Ozai had no intentions to hand over his crown to Zuko, not now, not ever, but after the way she had behaved today, she feared her father would be utterly disappointed in her. She had allowed her emotions to sway her, and he had always told her emotions were useless for a good sovereign. It was the reason why he had always shunned Zuko away, since he had the tendency to take everything to the heart, and to Ozai, that was a weakness no Fire Lord could allow himself to have. But maybe Zuko's ten years at sea had changed him, and turned him into a better heir to their father than she could ever be… maybe her chances to make a difference in this world had gone up in smoke far before she had known it.
She gritted her teeth, feeling desperate. So all her efforts, all of what she had tried to achieve with Sokka's assistance, had been in vain, both because of Zuko's return and her display at the Arena. Her struggle was over, she couldn't win anymore… what could she do now? What should she do…?
She shook her head and frowned suddenly. No, it wasn't over. No, her plans weren't finished just yet. Who was to say Zuko had matured at all after these ten years? For all she knew, he would be even more of a crybaby than before…
And there was only one way to find out if that was the case, wasn't there?
Azula left the room where she had been sitting, and she turned her back on the healing chamber, and a pang of pain burst in her chest as she did. She could only hope Sokka would make it… but mulling over the matter now was pointless. It would do her no good to keep worrying about him when there was nothing she could do for him as she was. She had to get her mind off him, for her own good, and what better way to do it than by looking for her brother? She had to meet him for herself, to discover if her plans had been thwarted just as she feared…
She didn't know if she would find him, since she didn't know if he had arrived to the Palace yet. She looked into his room, a room that had been vacant for ten years, and she caught sight of several bags of what could only be luggage in it. But despite that, Zuko wasn't inside. Azula wandered down the Palace halls for a while, trying to think of a place her brother could have headed to… she didn't spot him near the turtle-duck's pond, a place she felt bitter towards, but she knew Zuko used to like spending time there. Yet, was that the first place he would want to see when he got home for the first time in a decade? She figured not. She only had to think about it in this way to realize that Zuko would have, most likely, sought out a meeting with the Fire Lord.
She gritted her teeth as she walked off to the main wing of the Palace, the one that led to the Throne Room, certain that Zuko would be there. She walked inside it from the back doors behind the throne, but she was surprised to find the room was empty. Frowning, she crossed the room and walked out the curtains that served as doors, wondering if she had made a mistake while predicting Zuko's moves…
She was pleased to discover she hadn't read her brother so wrongly.
The Royal Gallery stood at the end of the hall that led up to the Throne Room. The paintings had never seemed particularly pretty to Azula, but their purpose wasn't to impress anyone with their beauty. The paintings of the Fire Lords had been drawn to show the power and supremacy of each ruler of the Fire Nation, and they would daunt anyone who stood to admire them if only for a moment.
Azula could recall looking up at those paintings as a child. She would always imagine what it would be like when, one day, she would sit with the Court Painter and he would make the first artwork of a female Fire Lord. The first female Fire Lord… only because of her desires to obtain such a title she would look up at those figures often, trying to ignore how terrifying they were. No Fire Lord should be afraid of his forefathers' paintings.
Zuko, on the other hand, hated them. Even when he was thirteen-years-old, just before he got banished, he would avoid looking up at the paintings in the gallery. Perhaps it was the pressure of being the rightful heir to the throne… perhaps he was simply too scared of the creepy expressions in the faces of his ancestors.
His fear of the paintings had prompted Azula to think he'd never come look at them… so she was truly surprised to discover otherwise. The man staring up at the pictures couldn't have been anyone other than Zuko. There was something awfully familiar about him, yet there was something unknown about him as well. He had his back turned towards the Throne Room, but even so, Azula could see how much he had grown. His black hair was held up in quite a long ponytail, and he was clad in a black armor with orange and red colorings on its edges. His hands were behind his back as he looked up at the latest addition to the Gallery: Fire Lord Ozai's portrait.
Azula frowned as she walked towards him, her heart pounding in her chest. Had Zuko grown into a man she wouldn't know anymore? She sure as hell hoped he hadn't, mostly for her own sake. She stopped a few meters away from him, knowing she would have to say something. Surely he had noticed her arrival, her footsteps should have tipped him off about her presence already. And so she tried to find the right words for this moment, even though she felt at a loss for them. Should she be glad her brother was back? Or should she be completely displeased about it? The conflicting emotions within her heart did nothing to make up her mind, so she figured she should just say whatever came most naturally to her.
"Still afraid of them?" she asked, pleased to discover her voice was still steady and strong despite the latest happenings.
Zuko hadn't been entirely certain of who had come up to him, but that renowned voice was unmistakable even if it was much more adult than how he remembered it.
"Not really," said Zuko, lowering his eyes from his father's painting. "They're still intimidating… but I guess I missed looking at them."
"Really?" asked Azula, raising an eyebrow. "What was to miss about them?"
"It's not like I really missed the paintings," he replied. "I guess I missed the Palace. It's… it's good to be home."
"It must be," was Azula's simple reply. He wasn't about to receive a warm welcome from her. "Did the years treat you kindly?"
"I bet you'd like to hear otherwise," said Zuko, frowning.
"As paranoid and distrustful as ever, Zuzu" said Azula, rolling her eyes "Have you conveniently forgotten that I was the one to provide you with the ship and crew you used to travel through the world?"
Zuko jumped at those words.
"Right… you did," he muttered.
Azula was surprised when he spun around towards her. The left side of his face had still been covered by bandages during the last time they had seen each other. This would be the first time that Azula would catch a glimpse of his damaged skin… and it was quite an astonishing sight to behold indeed. She immediately wondered if his left eye was still functional after the brutal burn it had been subjected to.
Zuko himself was impressed by her as well. Despite knowing such a long time had passed, he had half expected to turn around and find the same eleven-year-old he had called his sister so many years ago. Instead, he was facing a fully grown woman who seemed the doppelganger of their mother, Ursa.
They stood staring at each other, both with distrust and surprise as they tried to recognize in each other the figure of a sibling they hadn't seen in a decade. Zuko sighed and looked down to the floor, making Azula frown.
"You're… you're a lot older."
"I'm astounded you noticed," said Azula, her voice ringing with irony as she rolled her eyes. "And here I was thinking you had grown too, but it seems you only did on the outside."
Zuko glared at her, proving her point further. Time didn't seem to have touched his personality in the slightest, or so Azula thought. He truly was the same foolish boy her father had banished over his disrespectful attitude.
"Yeah, sure…" he grunted, folding his arms over his chest in a bitter manner.
"How did your voyage go, then?" asked Azula, raising an eyebrow, knowing he longed to have someone ask him about it.
"It… it was long and useless," he said, making Azula frown.
"So… you didn't find the Avatar," she said, simply stating facts. Zuko cringed as she reminded him of his failure. "I figured you hadn't. There have been no reports of the Avatar being sighted for over a hundred years. It would have been an extremely lucky hit if you had found any hints of his whereabouts whatsoever."
"Yeah, I didn't find him, you don't need to rub it in my face," he replied, annoyed. He had almost forgotten how hard it was for him to get along with his younger sibling.
"I'm not rubbing anything. I'm just saying it only makes sense that you didn't find him," said Azula, shrugging. "So… there's nothing left of the Avatar? No clues at all about his fate?"
"I found nothing," said Zuko, sulking. "I roamed through the entire world, sailed all the seas and searched every Air Temple. The only place I didn't go to was the Northern Water Tribe. It was too risky to approach them when the Fire Nation navy was attacking them."
"I see," muttered Azula, frowning. So the Avatar might have been reborn in the North and nobody would ever know… had Zuko ever thought of this? Apparently not, and it didn't seem to be a good idea to tell him about it. "Well, I suspected the Avatar cycle had been broken somehow. Perhaps the Avatar has ceased to exist altogether."
Zuko nodded, although he still seemed distraught. He raised his head and looked at Azula again before staring at his surroundings, troubled.
"Everything… everything's changed," he muttered, sadly.
Azula frowned at those words. She hadn't needed further proof that her brother was the same he had always been, but his statement reaffirmed it to her once again.
"Right. Everything has changed," she said, matter-of-factly. "Did you expect the world to halt while you sought the Avatar? It's been ten years, Zuko. Nothing stays the same for such a long amount of time."
"I know," he said, sighing. "But… everything just feels different. You're different, even though you're still you. Even the Palace… it's all the same, but there's something I can't nail down about it…"
Azula let out an exasperated sigh.
"Would you stop being so dramatic for once?" she asked.
Zuko sighed again and looked up to her, his eyes showing conflicting emotions. Clearly, there was something he wanted to say, but he feared doing so.
"What?" Azula uttered, frowning.
"There's… there's one thing I need to know," he said, gritting his teeth as he brought forth the courage to ask his question. "How… how is Mai?"
Azula hadn't expected him to inquire about her just yet, but she knew it had to happen eventually. She was surprised to find herself slightly unwilling to tell him… but, for his sake, the sooner he found out, the better.
"She's… she's doing fine, I'd say," muttered Azula, lowering her gaze. "She's… dealing with her pregnancy quite well."
Zuko's eyes fell at those words. It was the lowest blow he could have expected to receive. The pain in his eyes was such that Azula couldn't help but feel guilty at having caused him such anguish, but it had been necessary. It was the easy way for him to find out, even if he didn't realize it right now.
"W-what? What did you…?"
"I'm sorry, Zuko," said Azula. "But she's been married for about a year now. They are expecting their firstborn in a few months."
Zuko shook his head, unable to believe this. He had been holding onto a single hope during his return home: the hope that there would be one person waiting for him, not caring if he triumphed or failed, just waiting… but his expectations were proven wrong in the cruelest of manners. Mai, married and pregnant…
"Why?" he asked, gritting his teeth. "Why didn't she…?"
"Wait for you?" asked Azula, raising an eyebrow. "Be reasonable, Zuko. She didn't know if you'd ever come home. Fact is, nobody thought you would, not even you. You're here simply because Uncle miraculously convinced the Council through his pleading to let you return, for no other reason."
Zuko scowled, but he knew she was right.
"Who is he?" he grunted.
"A man we met a few years ago on Ember Island," said Azula, frowning as she recalled the occasion. "He and Mai spent some time talking and they got along very well. He proceeded to court her, and both their families agreed to their union. They were married last year."
"So it was… somewhat an arranged marriage?" he asked, frowning.
"That's not what I said," Azula said, rolling her eyes. It was typical of Zuko to misinterpret her, he just heard what he wanted to hear. "The families thought it was convenient, but they only got married because they truly wanted to. There's nothing more to it."
Zuko frowned again, his nose wrinkling as he felt his chest hurt him horribly. This was truly the worst case scenario for him, wasn't it…?
"Stop making those faces," Azula nagged him. "It looks as if you had stomach cramps."
"You just don't get it, okay?" said Zuko, shaking his head. "You're always so perfect! Nothing ever bothers you, nothing affects you! You'd never know what this feels like because you're so flawless that you don't need anyone or anything!"
Azula frowned at those words. Under any other circumstances, she would have smirked and looked down upon Zuko's pain… but not today. Not after what had just happened in the Arena, not after she had even shed tears over the fate of her gladiator. Yet Zuko knew nothing about that, and he was better off not knowing about it anyways.
"You're making too big a deal out of this, Zuko," said Azula, sighing.
"No, it's not just this," he said, grimacing and shaking his head. "It's… everything. Everything's different, everything's changed… she's changed. But then, there's that…"
"There's what?" asked Azula, annoyed. She wanted to roll her eyes and walk away from her brother already. Talking to him seemed to be the greatest waste of time she could have gotten engaged in.
"There's that one thing that won't change, no matter what I do," he said, his gaze fixated in the floor. "He won't see me."
Azula was puzzled at first, but it didn't take too much time for her to connect the dots.
"W-what…?" she mumbled, as Zuko gritted his teeth before losing his temper.
"He won't see me! I came back, and I wanted to talk to him at once! B-but as soon as he heard I was coming, he stormed off from the Throne Room without a word! He… he won't see me because I failed… he won't accept his own son again because I'm a failure…"
Azula's eyes lit at her brother's confession. She didn't care for how cruel she would seem at relishing over Zuko's misfortune. The fact that Fire Lord Ozai had refused to meet with Zuko soothed her, for it meant that her hopes and dreams hadn't been shattered just yet. She was sure that Ozai hadn't heard about her strange behavior at the Arena, but if fortune favored her, he would never find out. He was still shunning Zuko in the same manner as he always had, still treating him with distrust and disdain…
Perhaps her battle wasn't lost yet, after all.
He squirmed on the mattress as he regained his consciousness, but he immediately stopped moving when the pain made its way through him. It felt as if someone had dumped a ten-stories building on top of him, judging by how numb his entire body felt after whatever he had gone through… to be honest, he couldn't quite remember what had happened. All he knew was that even opening his eyes seemed too big an effort for him to make. Regardless, he managed to draw back his eyelids, and the daylight nearly blinded him for a moment, making him cringe.
"So… you're still alive, after all," said a familiar voice near him.
Sokka's eyes were still getting adjusted to the morning light, he couldn't see anything properly, but he moved his head to his right, trying to take a look at the person who had spoken to him.
He remained quiet for a moment; both because he was still unable to see properly and also because he didn't know if he would be able to speak at all… he felt as if he hadn't uttered a word in a lifetime.
But as he finally managed to come to his senses, and his eyesight began working properly, he frowned slightly, although even such a simple motion made his head hurt. Was it just his imagination… or did the Princess seem to be worried about him?
"A… Azula?" he managed to mumble in mild disbelief. Was this a dream? Why would she be sitting beside him as he lay on a mattress? He had the feeling he had done something really shameful recently… it wasn't just their latest arguments, there was something more, but he couldn't quite remember it at the moment.
"Welcome back to life," she said. Would grinning at him serve any purpose? She rather doubted it… thus she had stopped halfway between smiling or not, and her face had simply contorted in a very strange grimace. "How are you faring?"
"I…" he said, gritting his teeth. Speaking was a lot more troublesome than he had expected it to be. "Feels like I… got trampled by angry moose-lions… 'r something like that…"
"I guess that's close enough to what happened," said Azula, crossing her arms over her chest. "The Palace's medical team has been taking care of you. They've done their best to heal you, though they decided not to try anything else until you woke up."
"S-so… I'm in the Palace?" he asked, closing his eyes as his head was suddenly struck by pain.
"Where else would you be?" Azula replied, frowning. But, thanks to the look on his face and the questions he was asking, she figured out what his problem was. "Have you forgotten what happened to you?"
"Uh… I guess," said Sokka, raising his left hand to his forehead with far more efforts than he thought he would require to execute such a simple motion. "It's a big blur…"
"You fought against the Blind Bandit," explained Azula, scowling at the memory of the dreadful fight. "She's the one who left you in this condition."
Sokka groaned as he began recalling the events of the previous day. He remembered being buried alive at some point… He could also recall getting squashed inside a rock, which would explain why his entire body felt as if he had been pressed by some brutal force. And then he remembered someone had dragged him through the Arena and laid him down someplace… but he couldn't recall much more than that. Still, he figured he didn't need to remember anything else. Sokka gave Azula a guilty glance before sighing and saying:
"I'm sorry…"
Azula's eyes snapped open at that. Again? What was he even apologizing for at this point?
"Why do you keep saying that?" she asked, looking over at him with utter confusion. "Why are you so sorry?"
"I… I disappointed you," he said, gritting his teeth at every wave of pain that came over his body. "You said that… if I slipped up one more time, this was it… B-but I screwed up anyway… so before you… before you drop me as your fighter, I just wanted you… to know that I'm sorry…"
Azula frowned at that. It seemed he would have wanted to talk more, but the pain wouldn't let him.
"You don't need to apologize for anything, then," she said, sighing. "You haven't disappointed me."
It was Sokka's turn to look at her as if she had lost her mind.
"I… what? B-but I was beaten…"
"You lost against a girl who fought like a killer machine," said Azula. "She wasn't about to give you any mercy. I was too far away to hear whatever it was you told her, but what you said, whatever it was, saved your life. And that's enough for me right now."
"W-why?" asked Sokka, frowning. "Why is that enough…?"
"Because you did your best, Sokka," said Azula, sighing. "It wasn't as if you'd lost because of a petty performance, you lost because that girl started to fight like a madwoman ever since you hit her for the first time. Even I would have struggled to defeat her."
"Y-you think?" he asked, smiling slightly even though it wasn't easy to lift the corners of his mouth.
"Well, that might have been an overstatement," said Azula, imagining the way such a fight would have developed. "Perhaps I wouldn't have had it too easy, but I'm confident I would have won anyways."
"Which… makes me unfit to be… your gladiator, right?" he asked, his smile fading away.
"What makes you…? Do you want me to drop you, by any chance?" asked Azula, raising her eyebrows inquisitively.
"N-not at all, but…" he said, stopping as he realized he actually didn't want to stop serving as her gladiator. Why not? He had no clue. Maybe if she dumped him, and if she decided to be merciful, she would spare him of all the fighting and would agree to take him down to the South Pole… but he truly didn't want that, not at this point. He had made a vow to her that he would fight until he became the first fighter in the Superior Gladiator League, and he wanted to keep to his promise. It was what a man of honor would do, after all.
"But what?" asked Azula, sighing in annoyance. "Sokka, what happened out there wasn't your fault, and it wasn't mine either. There was no way we could have known that a blind girl like her would turn out to be such a fearsome opponent."
Azula was taken aback by her own words. She wouldn't let Sokka see that she felt quite guilty for having forced him to face against the Bandit out of spite, but she was right: there had been no way either of them could have known the girl would turn out to be so deadly.
"Well, there you have it," he said, chuckling. "We… we were the ones… who underestimated her…"
"No, underestimating or not isn't the issue here," said Azula, shaking her head. "Even if we had estimated her properly, you would have lost regardless. You need more training before facing foes of such a high level."
"Care to… explain me how is that… going to happen?" asked Sokka, clenching his teeth. "I'm already… at Piandao's… league, right? Because… I can fight him evenly now… how am I going to get any better now?"
"I'm willing to bet he would have some useful advice for you about fighting earthbenders," said Azula. "He has a lot of experience, and at some point in his life he must have fought against foes with powers similar to this girl's skills. I rather doubt she's really the best earthbender in the world."
"And what if… she is?" asked Sokka, gulping.
If there was at least one undefeatable foe in the Ranking, their original goal would fade away into darkness. Azula frowned before shaking her head. She had always overcome all limits others had imposed upon her. She refused to surrender just because a new obstacle had gotten in their way.
"We'll figure that out later. For now, you only need to focus on getting better. Until you're fit to fight, there's no point in wondering if we'll ever defeat her."
"Right…" said Sokka, staring at Azula with some distrust. There was something about this soothing conversation that he couldn't quite understand… "Why are you being so… nice to me?"
Azula was startled by his question. She looked down at him, a mild blush appearing on her cheeks.
"I mean… all these days I kept annoying you…" he said. "And I got to your bad side… more times than I can count… so, why?"
Why couldn't he just let things go? Why did he find the need to pester her about questions she didn't want to answer? Especially when she hardly even understood the answer herself…
"You're my gladiator," was her response, making him open his eyes widely at that sudden remark. It wasn't as if she were simply stating a fact… there was a certain undertone to her words that impressed Sokka immediately. "And that makes you… it makes you my partner, too. We're a team, Sokka. We have fallouts all the time, I won't deny it, and at times I wish I had gone anywhere but to Hui Yi to find a gladiator suitable for me. But, truth to be told… you're the right fighter for me. I don't even know why it feels this way… all I can say is that it just does. I'm stuck with you even if things are a mess between us at most times. And you're stuck with me too, whether you like it or not."
Sokka was surprised by Azula's pronouncement on the subject, but he smiled at her words. So… it wasn't over. Their strange partnership still continued, and he was truly relieved to know it. Azula gave him a weak smile too before standing up from the chair she had been sitting on.
"Where are you…?"
"I should inform the physicians of your awakening," she said, looking down at his bandage-covered figure. "It seems like you're in a world of pain, so it would be better to have them tend to you now."
"Right…" said Sokka, nodding and making his headache worse at that. "Damn…"
"What…?"
"It's nothing," he said, trying to give her a reassuring smile even though he couldn't quite conjure one. "I'll see you later, I guess…"
"Make sure to be as helpful as you can be with your recovery," said Azula. "It would be convenient for us to head to Shu Jing as quickly as possible."
"Yeah…" said Sokka, looking at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what his master would say once he heard about the result of his fight this time. He then turned his head to the side to convey one last thought to her. "Azula…"
But the Princess was no longer in the room. Sokka sighed, even though his bones cringed at the movement. He sure needed a good healing session right away… hopefully those physicians would make it here quickly. He looked up again, still thinking about her, about all of what she had said and done for him these last two days. And even though he knew she wouldn't hear him, he muttered:
"Thank you."