Everyone was quiet as Appa flew through the night sky, Aang wanting to make sure that they put as much distance between them and Zuko as possible. Azula was looking at the sky, petting Momo absentmindedly. Normally Sokka would make a comment about that just to rile the princess up, but he knew that now wasn't the time. Even though Azula had said that she was fine, it was clear to everyone that she was anything but fine. Mai seemed bothered by something too. What was that about? Sokka supposed it was because she was worried about Azula, the girl was her friend after all, but there seemed to be something else that was bothering her. Ty Lee, surprisingly enough, wasn't talking and was instead staring at Azula with a concerned look on her face. It was odd to not hear the girl talking about anything and everything, which only cemented just how dire the situation was.

"Aang, don't you think we should land soon? I'm sure that Appa is tired." Katara said, breaking Sokka out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh yeah, you're right. I just wanted to put as much distance between us and Zuko as possible. Come on buddy, we're landing for the night!" Aang said, patting Appa on the head.

Appa groaned and slowly made his way down into the forest below them, collapsing onto the ground in exhaustion.

"Thanks buddy. Get some rest, you deserve it." A groan answered back.

The others got off Appa and set up camp for the night. All except for Azula, he started to walk away from the group. Both Mai and Sokka noticed this.

"Where are you going?" Mai asked.

"To train, mom." Azula responded sarcastically.

"Training now? Azula, it's late. And I know that you're tired. So why don't you get some sleep and leave the training for tomorrow?" Sokka said, hoping that she'd listen to him. The glare that she was giving him said otherwise, however.

"I don't need to sleep! What I need is to train so that way I can be better prepared for when my stupid brother eventually finds us again! In case you haven't noticed, I'm not as strong as I used to be in this form!"

Ah. So that was bothering her after all.

"Wow, didn't expect her to admit all of that so soon." Sokka heard Ty Lee mutter, but he ignored her and kept his attention on Azula.

"Do you really think that you can get stronger while you're tired? Because I sure don't."

"I'm going to train and that's final, now leave me alone!" Azula shouted, stomping her foot.

"Oh, you wanna stomp your feet? Well I can do that too!" Sokka smirked, stomping his foot exactly like Azula had just done.

"Don't make fun of me!"

"If you don't want me to make fun of you then stop acting like a spoiled brat and go to bed!"

"Make me!"

" 'Make you' huh? Alright, fine, have it your way. Toph!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."

Before Azula could question what they were up to, she felt the Earth moving below her, and suddenly the lower half of her body was encased in rocks.

"Hey, what's the big idea?! Let me out of this!"

"Nope! You told me to make you go to bed, so I'm making you." Sokka said, walking over to where Azula was. When he reached her, he placed both of his hands beneath her arms and signaled Toph to release her, which she did. He then picked Azula up, who had an unamused look on her face.

"This is so embarrassing." She grumbled.

"Yeah well, who's fault is that? Now come on, let's go to bed. I'm tired."

"You know, Azula," Sokka said, letting out a yawn, "I can do this all night long, staring at you until you go to sleep. And no, you glaring at me won't get me to stop either." The two of them had been stuck in a staring contest for the past hour, Sokka wanting to make sure that Azula went to sleep, and Azula wanting to sneak off once she was sure that Sokka was fast asleep.

The shrunken princess huffed "Well then I guess neither one of us will be sleeping tonight."

Sokka groaned, why did she have to be so damn stubborn?! Couldn't she see how tired he was? Sokka could tell that she was tired too, so why was she fighting it?

"What is it gonna take for you to go to sleep?"

"What is it going to take for you to let me go train?"

"I- don't answer my question with a question, jerk!"

"Aww, so now I'm a jerk? Is that really the best insult you can come up with?"

"Tiny princess!"

"Stop calling me that, dammit!"

"Ugh, would you two idiots please SHUT UP?! Sokka, stop flirting with your tiny girlfriend, and Azula, do what your idiot boyfriend says and go to sleep!" Toph shouted.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that. Now go to sleep before I use my earthbending to stick you two together!"

"You wouldn't dare." Azula said, glaring at the other girl.

"Oh yeah? Try me."

It was quiet for the rest of the night.

Of all the ways that Ty Lee could have imagined spending her morning, training with Azula was not one of them. She knew that the other girl was concerned about her next confrontation with Zuko, and rightfully so, but she hadn't realized that Azula was that worried about it.

"So what exactly do you want me to do again?"

"I want you to come at me with your chi blocking. It's a very good skill to have and it would benefit me to learn how to use it. My lightning is basically useless at the moment, and I still can't really use my firebending to its full potential without wearing myself out. So learning how to fight in close combat is the next best thing. I'm planning on asking Mai to help me train later on too."

Ty Lee supposed that made sense. Wait, just her and Mai?

"You don't want to ask Sokka to help you with training? I mean, if you want to learn how to fight in this form without relying on your bending, he seems like another good candidate for the job. Especially if Mai and I are busy and can't help you. Not to mention, it's a perfect opportunity for the two of you to spend time together!"

"Why on earth would you think that I want to spend time with that idiot?" Azula grumbled.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because he's cute and I know that you find him to be attractive. And you two seem to get along really well too."

"I do NOT find him attractive! And I just tolerate his existence since he's the second smartest person in this group besides me!"

"Uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Azula."

"Shut up and fight me!"

Ty Lee laughed. Despite the fact that the situation for her friend couldn't get any worse, she couldn't help but notice that Azula's aura was brighter than it had been in a long time.

There was no doubt in her mind that Sokka and the others were the root cause of that change in her friend.

Sokka found Mai leaning against Appa, sharpening one of her many knives. He figured that now was as good a time as any to talk to her and find out what was bothering her. He tapped Mai on her shoulder. The older girl turned around and looked at him questioningly.

"Mind if I sit?"

"Nobody's stopping you."

Taking that as the closest thing to a "yes" that he was going to get, Sokka say down next to Mai. It was quite for a few moments before Mai broke the silence.

"So. What do you want? Advice on how to get Azula to fall for you?"

"What-no! This isn't about me and Azula! And I'll have you know that I need nobody's help in getting a girl to like me, I could totally get tiny princess to fall in love with me if I wanted to!"

"I don't believe a single word of that, but whatever. Then if it's not about Azula, why do you want to talk to me?"

"I noticed that while we were on Appa that you seemed kind of ...well, out of it, I guess. Just wanted to make sure that you were alright."

"..."

"Your silence is telling me that you are anything but alright."

"Well, how do you expect me to feel about all of this? Zuko and Azula have been my friends since we were all kids. And now thanks to this war and they're father, I have to watch them fight and possibly kill each other."

"I mean, I got that part, but there's something else that you aren't telling me."

"...I love Zuko."

Well that certainly wasn't what Sokka had been expecting to hear. She was in love with Zuko of all people? What did she see in that guy?

Mai looked at him and sighed, "I know that you probably think I'm crazy for loving him, considering the history between you guys, but you don't know him like I do. Zuko can be a jerk, self centered, and downright clueless at times, but he's not so bad when you get to really know him. Same for Azula."

"Pfttt, please, she's nothing like her brother! She's way better than he is!" Sokka said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

"Right, because you aren't biased at all."

"Hey! If I'm biased towards Azula then your biased towards Zuko!"

"Good point. Anyway, we actually started dating before his banishment. I haven't seen Zuko in three years. All of this wasn't exactly how I imagined our reunion to go. I knew that we'd run into him eventually when I first agreed to join Azula on her mission. But after everything that's happened to her, I was kind of hoping that Zuko would want to help Azula out. I mean, she is his little sister. But I suppose that was wishful thinking on my end. So long as they have this stupid sibling rivalry between them going on and Zuko sees her as nothing more than his enemy, none of this will end."

"Sibling rivalry?"

Mai got up and started walking away, "Why don't you ask Azula whenever she and Ty Lee get back? She can tell you a lot more about it than I can. Oh, and Sokka?"

"Yeah?"

"Can't believe I'm actually saying this, but…thank you."

Katara knew that she should be focusing on training Aang, but she couldn't get what happened out of her head. Zuko chasing them all over the place trying to capture Aang was one thing (albeit still messed up since Aang was the world's last hope for peace) but his own sister? They were family, shouldn't that count for something? She couldn't even imagine trying to capture and kill Sokka just because someone ordered her to. She would fight that person to her dying breath before she did that. And hadn't Azula mentioned something about having been sent out on the Fire Lord's orders to capture Zuko and Iroh?

The Fire Nation royal family was really screwed up (but what else should she expect from the family responsible for the 100 year war?)

"Katara? You ok?" Aang asked

"Huh?"

"Are you ok? You seem distracted. We can train later if you want, I don't mind."

"I'm sorry, Aang. It's just I can't stop thinking about…"

"... Zuko and Azula?"

"Yeah. I mean, Sokka and I love each other. For so long we were all we had. I can't even imagine hunting him down like Zuko is doing now, or like Azula had been previously ordered to do. It's messed up, and I know that all of this is bothering Azula. But she's too stubborn to admit it."

"I think in a way, she already has admitted that this is bothering her. She's never been so adamant about training before since she's been traveling with us, and suddenly last night she wanted to train until she dropped. And this morning she dragged Ty Lee to go and train with her. So even if she's not up to talking about it just yet, her actions speak for themselves. Maybe she wouldn't be too worried if she was in her true form, but she isn't. And I think that, for the first time since everything's happened, Azula is finally beginning to realize just how serious this entire situation is. And it scares her."

Katara never thought that she'd hear anyone say Azula and scared in the same sentence. But she knew that Aang wasn't wrong.

Toph had been perfectly content to not do anything, but unfortunately for her, fate had other plans. Sokka's tiny girlfriend and Ty Lee had gotten back from training a little while ago, and the older girl had asked Toph if she could keep an eye on Azula while she slept (the tiny princess had objected to this. She didn't need a babysitter, thank you very much) as she had no clue where Mai and Sokka were, and Katara and Aang were gone too. So now Toph found herself babysitting a girl who was two years older than her, and could take them all on in a fight on a good day and win with no problem.

Fun times.

From what Toph could feel, Azula was occupying herself by drawing….something on the ground. What said something was, Toph had no idea. Perhaps she could strike up a conversation by asking her what it was?

"What are you doing?"

"Drawing the many different ways that I can come up with to kill Zuko. That'll teach him to try and hunt me down!"

Toph should have known better.

"Oh. So…you really don't get along with your brother, huh?"

"Gee, what was your first clue?"

"The fact that every time you two cross paths you both start trying to kill each other."

"Yes well, I was tasked to capture him, and now he's been tasked to capture me. That's all there is to it."

As she said that last part, Toph noticed that the squirt's heartbeat sped up somewhat. Huh.

"How do you feel about that?"

"About what?"

"About your brother trying to capture you."

How did she expect her to feel about it? Her father, someone who was always in her corner no matter what, had been the only adult in Azula's life to ever show her that they cared about her, had declared Azula a traitor, an enemy of the Fire Nation. Her home. Azula wasn't a fool. Favorite child or not, she knew what happened to traitors, to people who crossed the Fire Lord. She had seen it happen to Zuko, after all.

She could still hear his scream when she closed her eyes at times, could still smell the burning flesh.

Azula was fucking terrified. Not like she was going to tell any of that to Toph, though.

"I feel fine. I can take on Zuko no problem. He's not stronger than me, of that I can assure you."

Toph wasn't sure whether or not that was a lie. It was always hard to tell with the tiny princess.

"Oh, hey guys."

Both girls turned around to see Sokka.

"Where did you go?" Azula asked

"Wanted to make sure that there weren't any Fire Nation soldiers nearby. Why? Did you miss me?"

"Pfttt, please. Don't flatter yourself."

"Alright, I'm gonna leave you two alone so that way you can flirt in peace. Now that you're back, Sokka, I can go back to what I was doing before Ty Lee put me on babysitting duty: nothing." Toph said, getting up and walking away.

"We were NOT flirting!" Azula shouted. Toph laughed, "Sure you weren't. See you two lovebirds later!"

"TOPH!"

The two of them glared at Toph's retreating back. When the girl was finally out of sight, they both sighed and turned to look at each other.

"So, how are you feeling? Better than last night, I hope?" Sokka asked.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I'm fine."

"That didn't sound very convincing."

"Who said that I was trying to convince you of anything?"

Sokka sighed. This wasn't getting them anywhere. He grabbed Azula's hand and started walking.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere we can talk without having to worry about being interrupted. And you can tell me what's on your mind without having to worry about the others overhearing you when you aren't ready to talk about it with them just yet."

"And you think that I'll tell you?"

"I like to think that we've gotten pretty close lately."

Loathed as she was to admit it, Azula couldn't deny that he was right.

They eventually came to a stop by a small river. After making sure that Aang and Katara weren't there practicing their waterbending, the two of them sat down.

"So, what did you want to talk about? How you think I'm cute even though I'm in this form?" Azula asked Sokka with a smirk. In truth, she knew what he wanted to talk about. She was just trying to stall for as long as possible.

"While I do think you're cute, your royal highness, that's not what I want to talk to you about. And I'm sure you know that. I wanted to talk to you about Zuko."

D-did he seriously just call me cute?!

Willing the blush away from her cheeks, Azula coughed before she spoke, "Zuzu? What about him?"

"About how your bastard father sent him on a mission to capture you. I know that you said your father considers you to be his favorite child, so I just….wanted to make sure you were ok. Something like this isn't easy to take in. And you seemed pretty bothered by it earlier."

"First of all, how dare you call my father a bastard, and two, I'm fine. I don't care that Zuko was sent to capture me, he's just following orders. Same thing that I was doing before all of this happened to me. Following father's orders."

Even as she said that, Sokka could tell that she was bothered by all of this. He really couldn't blame her. She went from the Fire Lord's favorite child to a declared traitor of her nation and someone who had to be captured at all costs. Of course she wouldn't be ok with any of that. What child would be?

"You know what's so funny about this?"

Azula's question startled Sokka out of his thoughts.

"What?" He asked

"The fact that thanks to this situation, I can understand how my stupid brother must have felt when I showed up where he and uncle were staying and lied to him about father wanting him back home to avoid a fight, only for it to get revealed that they were wanted prisoners by my foolish captain. The look on Zuzu's face was a mixture of anger and hurt. Obviously at the time I didn't really care, but now…. I can't help but think of how messed up this all really is."

She turned to face Sokka. The look on her face was one that he couldn't even begin to describe.

"Sibling relationships aren't supposed to be like this, are they?"

Sokka grimaced.

"No, they aren't."

Azula closed her eyes and smiled sadly.

"I thought so."

Sokka tried to think of something to cheer her up when she spoke again.

"...I'm not fine. Far from it. I'm angry and I'm scared. Angry at the fact that I went from being the favorite child to being the hunted, all because of something out of my control. I did everything I could to make sure that I was my father's favorite child, his perfect heir, all so that I wouldn't be treated like Zuko. And look at how that turned out: father cast me aside the moment I became a liability for him. Scared because I know firsthand the kind of harm my father has no problem inflicting upon his own children. I had a front row seat to it three years ago."

"A front row seat? What are you talking about?"

"You shall learn respect! And suffering will be your teacher!"

Fire shot out of father's hand and Zuko screamed.

"I guess you wouldn't know how Zuzu got his scar, would you?"

Sokka suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"Your father… did that?"

Azula nodded.

Sokka didn't say anything. He wasn't even sure that there was anything that he could say to that. So he did the next best thing.

He bent down and hugged her.

"I'm not going to let that happen to you. None of us will. We'll figure out a way to stop your brother from capturing you, and then we'll take down the Fire Lord. He's not going to hurt you, I promise." Sokka pulled back from the hug to look at her, hoping to convey that he fully intended to keep that promise.

Azula didn't say anything at first. She just looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. And then she did something that Sokka never thought he would see her do.

She started crying.

Sokka pulled her back in for another hug, rubbing her back reassuringly. As he held her, a thought occurred to him.

This was the first true face that Azula had ever shown him.