Chapter 15

The previous night

Sokka's captors had left him alone to sleep, but since his hands were tied behind him, it was hard to get comfortable. He was spending the time taking the tent apart in his head, devising a way to pull the whole thing down and free himself.

Suddenly, he felt his bindings cut. Before he could cry out, a finger covered his mouth, and his eyes met a girl's, hovering above him. She had chin-length brown hair and the cutest turned-up nose he'd ever seen.

He nodded, and she somehow understood that he knew to be quiet. "Are you with the Resistance?" he whispered.

"No, although I sympathize with their aims." She answered, her voice barely audible. "I'm a Kyoshi Warrior. The name's Suki."

"Sokka. What are you doing here?"

"I was on assignment, infiltrating this gang of sandbenders. They're responsible for half of the organized crime on this side of the Earth Kingdom. They've never stooped so low as to kidnap anyone, though. And now the Fire Nation is here."

"Well, I'm glad you came. I have a half-ready plan to break out, but it'll be a lot easier with your help."

Mildly impressed, Suki gave him a half smile. "Tell me what you've got, and I'll see what I can do."

Azula struggled under the tent's canvas for a couple of minutes before deciding to burn a hole to free herself. Firebending would reveal her, but it was probably too late for that to matter. As soon as she emerged, the scene unfolding showed her she was right.

A girl held the leader, Gaishun, in a headlock, a knife at his throat. The waterbender was ushering her brother toward her group's sandsailer at a run, and her whole party was retreating with her. The sandbenders didn't stop them because their leader would be killed if they tried. Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee were running away. Aang was leaving her again.

Azula realized that the whole scheme was ruined: she had lost her leverage. But maybe what had happened was sufficient to drive a wedge between the couple. She had noted the fraught gaze the waterbender had thrown at Aang, rather than refusing outright to consider Gaishun's offer, just before the tent had fallen down. Maybe with the right words, she could ensure that he took the correct lesson from his girlfriend's hesitation.

Besides, she hadn't seen Aang in weeks and missed him. Even though it wasn't part of her plan, she couldn't resist seizing this opportunity for at least a little contact with him.

Azula threw off the hooded robe disguising her, and called out to him. "Aang, please, I want to talk to you!"

The members of the Resistance halted their frantic retreat in surprise. Azula's estranged brother and friends gaped at her, astonished to see her there in person.

But before any of them could react, the waterbender sprang into action. "You!" she yelled. Then she turned, reaching behind her with a pulling motion. Suddenly, water exploded from the sandsailer holding her group's supplies, as several barrels burst, and the tarp hiding them flew away. Armed now, Katara charged at the Fire Lord.

Azula hadn't expected this attack, but she wholeheartedly welcomed the chance to fight her rival. With a sly half-grin, she parried the waterbender's attacks, deflecting the water and ice projectiles with fireballs. All she had to do was evaporate all the water, and her assailant's ammunition would disappear. She, on the other hand, would never run out of fire.

But Katara just pulled the evaporated water back out of the air, condensing it and shooting it back at Azula with startling speed and ferocity. Before the firebender knew it, she was on the defensive, then losing ground. Finally she had no choice but to retreat. She turned and ran into the desert, and Katara pursued her. Two young men also followed.

Katara speed skated across the desert, shooting ice ahead of her, leaving none of her precious water behind. Azula sprinted, performing cartwheels and flips to evade the waterbender's ice darts. The chase went on for nearly a mile, until Katara gained. Curving her ice track around the firebender, she hemmed Azula in and shot a slick frozen sheet underneath the firebender's feet, so that she slipped and fell. Once Azula lost her footing, the advantage was Katara's. As soon as she stood back up, Azula found her feet stuck fast. Enraged, the firebender pummeled Katara with fireballs, but the waterbender only dodged and continued to build up the ice, slowly covering Azula's entire body up to her neck.

Aang caught up to the women then, and surveyed the scene with both satisfaction and dismay. His beloved had clearly won, but the conflict was at a dangerous standstill. Though infuriated at her predicament, Azula kept her wits about her. She roared breath of fire, trying to melt her icy prison, while Katara maintained a tendril of water between her hand and the pillar of ice surrounding her opponent's body, using it to keep it frozen. It was as if the women were involved in a kind of wrestling match over the element's state.

But both were tired, and Katara had used a lot of bending power in her chase, while Azula had conserved hers. The desert's heat gave the firebender the upper hand in this small war of attrition. When she realized she had melted enough of the ice around her body to allow her to connect to the water in Katara's hand, she grinned, and prepared herself to send a shock.

"Did you forget that water conducts electricity?" she gloated.

But before she finished speaking, a great burst of air severed the connection between the two women.

The passionate hatred fueling both women fled their faces in astonishment at the interruption. Both gaped at Aang, the spell of combat broken by the sight of him.

Still frozen, realizing she'd lost, Azula cried out to the airbender, "She doesn't love you like I do! She'll never put you first! She was going to choose her brother over you, again—"

"She never has to choose," Aang answered softly. "I will do anything to make sure that Katara doesn't lose her family the way I lost mine. That's what love is, Azula. It's not consumed with insecurities about being first with someone. It's putting their needs above your own."

"So if she said she needed you to blow up a city, you would do it?" Azula pushed. "You were going to let her sell you to the sandbenders! I can't believe you'd allow her to use you like that!"

"Nobody can sell me, or use me. I'll never be treated like that now. I'm too strong," he declared, his quiet confidence stunning. "And I don't believe the sandbenders were the ones trying to buy me today."

Azula's jaw dropped in astonishment. She had a sinking feeling in her gut that her entire plot had been based on a faulty premise. She sputtered incoherently, unable to recover.

He sighed, and turned to his girlfriend. "Sweetie, I think I should talk to her alone. Why don't you go check on Sokka?"

Katara hesitated, her eyes searching his for a moment. Then she nodded, trusting him. She gave Aang a quick, territorial kiss on the lips, threw a pointed glare at Azula, and walked away.

Author's Note: Tell me what you think! I appreciate every review!