Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

320. Chapter 320: Old Friends-War Meeting 2

Old Friends/The War Meeting

2

The walk to a functioning train station in the Middle Ring had taken too long, as good as an eternity for Sokka. While the train system had been disabled during the initial days of their conquest of the city, the monorails that traversed the Lower Ring and Middle Ring saw plenty of activity only a couple of weeks later: the connections to the Outer Wall took a few more days to reinstate, as a proper takeover of the ferry waystation had only been staged a week ago. Most Fire Nation soldiers manning the facility had escaped already, to whereabouts unknown, and now the ferry system for all visitors of Ba Sing Se was functioning once more, with strong security comprised by proud Ba Sing Se warriors and earthbenders.

Yet the newcomers hadn't arrived through the ferry – they would have been unwise to so much as try that route, for if they were Fire Nation, they would have been rejected immediately at the doors unless they had a solid way to dispel any suspicions about their potential association with the Fire Lord. No, instead it appeared that they had crossed the river the Gladiator army had crossed as well somehow, perhaps doing so closer to Chameleon Bay than to Full Moon Bay, in order to go unnoticed…

Sokka's mind seemed to hum non-stop with constant thoughts that flowed one way or another, frequently reminding himself that his hopes might be misplaced… only for a much stronger hope, louder than his skepticism, to bloom within his heart at the possibility of being right, of not being deceived by some team of spies that Ozai could have sent his way…

The train's operators had been alerted of the urgency of their mission: one train had been reserved for their exclusive use, and it rushed by only slowing by the stations for safety's sake, without ever stopping completely. On and on it continued, until a landscape of greenery spread before them…

"Finally in the Agrarian Zone, huh? Okay… okay," Sokka swallowed hard, rubbing his hands nervously as he glanced out the window anxiously.

"I haven't seen you this eager about something in quite a while…" Katara, sitting beside him, smiled as she glanced at her brother. "At least, not in an enthusiastic sort of way. You've been serious and determined as of late whenever you're up to something…"

"Well, excuse you, but my life hasn't dealt me lots of good surprises as of late," Sokka said, pouting slightly. "I mean, you could argue that meeting Toph again was a good surprise but for one thing, I kind of expected it after confirming Iroh was part of the White Lotus… for another, Piandao had only just told me about Azula and all the awful news we know about her, so I wasn't in the greatest position to be as cheerful as that reunion demanded. And, well, when I returned to the Water Tribe…"

"You were a little too heartbroken and too unconscious to react properly at first, I know," Katara said, patting his hand gently. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, you know? If anything… it's good to know you can still be a little happy, if just a little."

Sokka bit his lip, glancing at his sister with uncertainty. Katara offered him a kind smile, and Sokka sighed before squeezing her hand gently, dropping heavily on the backrest of his seat.

Their train's wagon was fully crowded with the soldiers Jeong Jeong had insisted that Sokka should bring with him for safety's sake. Aang sat across Katara and Sokka, too, chatting amicably with one such soldier about, it seemed, the man's pet kitten. Most everyone else was on edge while Sokka, for once, was the least guarded person here… but instead of scolding him for it, Katara seemed relieved. Her reaction didn't go over Sokka's head, though.

"You're worried about me, I know you are," Sokka said. Katara offered him a tight-lipped grin. "I'm sorry for being such a mess in a lot of ways, but…"

"Oh, Sokka. You're a mess on a personal level and you're brilliant on every other level, apparently," Katara said, patting his shoulder while smiling fondly at him. "I'm your sister, I'm aware of that. You shouldn't worry that much about my feelings, to be honest… appeasing your cranky sister shouldn't be a priority for you, as far as I can tell."

"Eh, thanks for your permission to be a jerk, then. You're used to it anyway, having a jerk for a brother," Sokka smiled a little, and Katara chuckled. "It's what you had to deal with while we were stuck in the South Pole and Dad was fighting in the war. But anyway, Katara, all jokes aside…"

"All jokes aside, I may or may not owe you another apology. Keeps on happening lately, I know," Katara said: her declaration startled Sokka as she sighed deeply. "I thought… I thought you should have been happier about what we were achieving. It took me way too long to understand why you were taking things so seriously, why you weren't as infected by the enthusiasm infusing the rest of us… and it's probably for the better that you aren't, to be fair. You're our leader… you deserve to enjoy your big victories, I'd never argue otherwise, but part of what makes you a good leader is that you're not stuck on whatever you achieved recently. You're always looking to the future, always… which is really unfair, since you don't get to enjoy the moment as much as the rest of us do. You could be a little bit more selfish, I guess…"

"I'm terribly selfish in other ways, I'm afraid," Sokka said, with a guilty smile. "Some people think all of what I'm doing is as selfish as can be, after all. Until I save her… I don't think I'll be able to truly look back on whatever I've done and see it for what it is. No efforts I make will be enough until she's safe. This chance to reunite with these guys… it almost feels like being one step closer to that ultimate goal. They were her guards… they saved the two of us when it would have been so much easier for them to give up, play dumb, turn their backs on us. So… I can't help but be grateful to them. I can't help but want to see them again after everything they did to help us. And I hope… I hope they're here to help. Because, if anyone else out there really wants to do whatever it takes to save Azula, it's them. I'm sure of that."

Katara smiled, squeezing Sokka's hand again and nodding… just as a shadow covered the windows. Sokka's heart, already beating fast, started racing now: this was the Outer Wall. Another stretch of train tracks was left, the very last one until the ferry's train station was up next. Once they got there…

"Well… let's hope for the best now, shall we?" Katara smiled, clapping his back. "We're almost there now."

Yes, almost there… Sokka shivered with anticipation, eyes watching expectantly for the next glow of light emanating from outside the crystal-lit vehicle…

The world wasn't quite so green now in the final stretch of the journey. The more arid areas in the outskirts of Ba Sing Se had hosted their army not that long ago, even if it felt like ages since their forces had been organized behind the Fighting Cliffs, the very mountains Sokka would be able to see if he glanced out the window behind him, but his eyes remained set on the windows across him, instead. That way, he'd see it when they were closer. That way he'd be ready for the next sudden bloom of darkness, the last one on this trip…

It happened about ten minutes later. He had exchanged a few more words with Katara… and then he saw the station from afar. He had only been there once before, in his second visit to Ba Sing Se… the guards had been tasked with traveling with the Barge all the way to Ba Sing Se while he, Azula, Iroh and Toph went into the city quickly through the trains. Where they had once parted with the firebenders at this very location, Sokka deeply hoped he'd successfully reunite with them there today, instead…

The glow of the many lanterns that hung within the station bathed the inside of the train as it finally slowed its frantic pace. The world was still too fast, too blurry, but not so much that he'd fail to see the figures of several people waiting on seats at either side of the long platform. Sokka jumped to his feet at once upon sighting them and he rushed to the nearest door even before the train had halted in full.

"G-General Sokka, sir…!" one of the soldiers exclaimed when Sokka nearly stumbled on his own feet, clasping the wall to retain his footing when the train finally stopped.

"I'm okay. I'm okay, I…"

"We should go first in case it's a…!" exclaimed another of the soldiers…

But he was too late: the earthbenders tasked with manning the train pulled the doors open by then, and Sokka had a clear view of the platform before him.

Just as reported, Ba Sing Se's local warriors and earthbenders had taken to protecting the train station. They stood by at the platform tensely, some even watching the new arrivals warily, thumbing their weapons in a threatening manner… but Sokka hardly noticed any of them as his eyes frantically scanned the faces of the men clad in tattered traveling cloaks, with disheveled appearances and with an underlying sense of exhaustion permeating each of them.

Sokka's heart pounded hard in his chest: even if some had hoods drawn over their heads, even if most faces weren't visible, the group sitting on the benches of the train station felt familiar immediately, no matter if their appearances were so different from when they had last met…

Yet where most appeared not to pay any attention to the arrival of a new train, one of them was alert. One of them rose to his feet… and those were the eyes that found Sokka's the fastest when the Gladiator climbed off the vehicle he had been riding so far.

Those amber eyes, lightly hidden behind a dark fringe, longer than it used to be, would have been unmistakable anywhere.

Just so, the blue-clad Water Tribesman was unmistakable for the firebender gazing at him in grateful wonderment.

By then, the others started reacting. It seemed as though they had been waiting for hours, discouraged by their circumstances, perhaps bereft of hope… their emotions not too different from what they had been like back when several of them had first visited a Ba Sing Se train station. So many years ago, they started to unravel the pieces of a complicated puzzle of corruption in this very station… so many years ago, the loss of one of their number had taken a serious toll on their morale.

Where the circumstances could have been just as depressing today if anything had been different, that moment of recognition between the two men sufficed to change the atmosphere in the station to its opposite in the emotional spectrum at once.

Both their hearts raced as they gazed at each other in disbelief, no matter if this was the very outcome they had hoped for. After months of countless struggles, it felt as though a miracle had somehow brought them together once more.

"R-Rui…" Sokka blurted out: a genuine, unrestrained smile spread over his face as an enthusiasm he had never thought he'd experience anytime soon took full bloom in his heart… "Rui Shi!"

The man he was looking at broke out into a smile of his own too, a much rarer smile at that, and perhaps more genuine than any he had directed at the Gladiator until that very day.

"You crazy bastard. You bloody crazy bastard, it's actually you…!"

It wasn't every day that Rui Shi found himself unable to control his emotions, but his heart seemed moments away from failing of relief as Sokka stomped towards him. He approached him, if with shorter strides, as the Gladiator spread his arms unthinkingly, unconcerned with safety protocols, with security, with any manner of concerns that still plagued the many companions who had arrived with him on that train.

Those companions only had one moment to glance out the windows, to rush out the door, before Sokka's arms wrapped with enough firmness around Rui Shi's form as to hoist him off his feet.

The former guard couldn't hold back a burst of laughter: his arms were nowhere near as strong as Sokka's, but he wrapped them around his friend all the same, tears of relief blooming in his eyes as he clapped Sokka's back hard.

"Sokka! Hell, Sokka, you madman…!" Rui Shi laughed, and Sokka joined him in doing so, shivering in disbelief still.

"Rui Shi, damn it, it's you! Rui Shi…!" Sokka as good as cackled, setting Rui Shi down quickly enough – as much as he wasn't too heavy, for he was thinner than he used to be, he was still Sokka's height – but his arms remained tight around his friend all the same.

"Sokka…! It's all true, isn't it? I knew it! I knew it had to be, but…!" Rui Shi's deep voice, packed with emotion, continued to confirm what Sokka knew, but even now he struggled to give credit to his reality, to accept that one of the best friends he had ever known had found his way to him…

"I can barely believe it's actually you…! And it's all of you, isn't it?! You're all here, and you're all okay…?!" Sokka exclaimed with a joyful roar that was soon dwarfed by the voices of so many other friends, stepping closer to them too.

"Sokka! You friggin' took Ba Sing Se?! For real?!" Fei Li laughed loudly, stepping in quicker than the others to hug Sokka from the side now.

"I wasn't even surprised, myself! I told them all: if someone's got what it takes to pull that off, it's Sokka!" Taro laughed as well: by then, Sokka couldn't hold back the tears as the others closed in around himself and Rui Shi…

As a celebratory roar arose around him: before he knew it, he had been surrounded from all flanks by all ten men, who had joined together in a ferocious and excitable celebratory chant, worthy of the wildest of gladiatorial fan clubs.

Sokka hadn't even tried to jump and cheer along with the others, but he had no choice other than to join in at the first thing: both him and Rui Shi were swept by the mad energy that overtook the others even if they continued to cling to each other, primarily. And all the while, everyone beyond their small group watched the surprisingly emotional and enthusiastic reunion while utterly frozen in place.

"So… I guess it's really them, huh?" Aang smiled awkwardly at Katara: she couldn't help but laugh and shake her head fondly at the sight before them.

She could barely see Sokka among the former guards, even if it seemed that the rest of the men weren't remotely as well-fed as Sokka was, these days. So many looked as though they hadn't washed up in weeks, if not longer than that… it wasn't difficult to guess that the lives they'd lived while on the run from Fire Nation authority had been anything but kind to them.

"Oh, fucking hell! The minute they told me ten strange guys were asking for me, by name, all the way in the ferry station, I knew…! I mean, they said I had to be careful, maybe you'd be spies, but…!" Sokka said, wiping his tears as the group's grip finally loosened up around him slightly. Even then, Rui Shi clasped his shoulder firmly, his earnest smile still upon his face. "But I knew it. You guys… you pulled it off, I don't even know how, but you made it! Ozai couldn't catch you…!"

"Oh, come on! Us getting by for a few months is nothing compared to literally conquering the unconquerable city!" Fei Li squeaked.

"He does have a point," Rui Shi laughed.

"Heh, well… what that means is that we owe each other a lot of stories, then," Sokka chuckled, glancing about the others with utmost delight:

He had never imagined he'd see most of them with any manner of facial hair besides Wuhan, who had always grown out some of his own, but even his beard was a lot less trimmed and cared for than it had been in the past. Rui Shi himself sported a light scruff that Sokka would have never imagined possible, let alone likely, on his friend's visage… but most of them had loose, wild hair, too. Several of them appeared to have cut their hair in a gesture of open rebellion against the Fire Nation, following the same rite Zuko and Tiang abided by, too, whether when joining a war against the Fire Nation in the former's case, or when accepting his failure to fulfill the Fire Lord's order, in the latter's. Besides that, most their pale skins were no longer quite as pale as they used to be: they no longer hid underneath multiple layers of fabrics or behind heavy helmets. They surely didn't have the best income in whatever jobs they'd taken up just to get by, hence, they were thinner than they used to be, and their clothes were of dull green colors, suggesting they were second-hand outfits that would help them pass as commoners in the Earth Kingdom.

What had they been through while they had been apart? It was almost seven months by now since their goodbye at the shores of the South Pole. Time had seemed to go by too fast in some regards, and too slowly in others… but for now, the joy in reclaiming these bonds sufficed to lighten Sokka's heavy loads, for once.

"You've got no clue of what kind of wacky shit people are saying about you, though!" said Fei Li, yanking Sokka's other shoulder to get his attention. "Me, Shuren and Jianghuo, well, we didn't hear much, but…!"

"Our group barely did either," Tai Wei added, smiling kindly at Sokka as he stood in the outskirts of the still tight crowd surrounding the Gladiator. "But Rui Shi…"

"The last village we visited was filled with rumors about what you'd done," Rui Shi said, gazing at Sokka intently. "It sounded like inflated nonsense… up until they said it was the Blue Wolf who'd done it. After that, I started to think it just might be true."

"Well, now…" Sokka chuckled, shaking his head as he felt a few more claps on his back.

"Seriously, Sokka, you're a legend!" Qiang exclaimed, with a wild smile.

"And you look so tough, too! And way healthier than when I last treated you," Jianghuo grinned, smiling at a grateful Sokka. "I'm glad you managed to get back on your feet, Sokka."

"Coming here seemed dangerous, but we didn't have any better ideas of what to do or where to go," Taro said, with a fragile grin. "We've kind of been living as nomads for a while, you could say…"

"I suppose it was the safest thing you could do… but you won't have to do that anymore," Sokka said, with a joyful grin. "You'll be safe here, you're my friends, so no one in Ba Sing Se is going to cause you any grief… or else they'll have to answer to me!"

"Uh, right. That's ominous," Rui Shi smirked: Sokka scoffed, lightly poking his friend's shoulder.

"I knew the old cranky Rui Shi had to be in there somewhere, still. Just as judgmental and dismissive of me as ever," Sokka chuckled, messing Rui Shi's hair: the firebender winced over the gesture, but he didn't protest too strongly as he chuckled under Sokka's hand. "Fuck, but it's good to see you, all of you. I… I didn't think I'd find you again until this was over, and I damn hoped you'd get by until then, but…"

"Heh, the Fire Lord's gonna have to try harder if he wants a piece of us!" Fei Li exclaimed, proudly, before wincing slightly. "Though I do hope he doesn't try much harder, but still, you get my meaning here…"

"Even if he does, I'll make sure he never touches so much as a hair out of your heads," Sokka said, with determination. "I don't want to sound arrogant, but…"

"You and the Fire Lord have some very personal business to resolve, and it's all his fault that's the case," Rui Shi said, breathing deeply and nodding at Sokka. "But it's personal for us, too. We haven't been able to do anything other than surviving so far… but if we can add our strength to yours, however small our impact may be if you do have an army at your behest, we will offer it all the same."

"Small?" Sokka smiled. "Azula and I literally owe you guys our lives, so I accept no downplaying of how big an impact you can make, all ten of you. Ugh, but damn, I missed you lot…"

"We missed you too!" Fei Li squeaked, jumping into another embrace that became a new celebratory group hug before long.

"Uh… well. I hope all of them truly are the people he wanted them to be, because if someone pulls a knife on him while they're in that big huddle, no one will be able to help him," said the non-bending squad's captain by the train, matter-of-factly. Katara grinned awkwardly at him while Aang stepped forward, wondering if Sokka would have reasoned yet that he'd be better off bringing his friends into the city rather than simply rejoicing with them in this station, as he had so far.

Most onlookers failed to understand the unusually cheerful atmosphere: while their leader would never have been described as stoic or taciturn, an air of melancholy had ever accompanied him whenever he was on his downtime. He seldom took part in any manner of celebration, and he hadn't been seen in any of the numerous festivities held across Ba Sing Se to celebrate their freedom. Deciphering what to make of this very different side of the Gladiator would take them some time, but for now, most people simply smiled as the tight group hug eased up slowly, laughter rolling off many of them as they turned towards the train that had only just arrived.

"Oh, wow. That's a lot of soldiers, heh…" Han smiled awkwardly, bowing his head in the direction of the squad Sokka had brought with him.

"Don't sweat it, they were here just in case this was something dangerous," Sokka chuckled, grinning awkwardly at the squad, Katara and Aang. "And, well, as you guys probably figured out by now… this really wasn't some trap by the Fire Lord, heh."

"Well, congratulations for that, Sokka," Katara smiled, bowing her head quickly at the group. "It's nice to meet all of you."

"Oh…?" Fei Li blinked blankly, a slow smile spreading across his face – Qiang elbowed him in the ribs, causing the taller firebender to wince in response to the gesture.

"Always ogling every pretty girl you see…" he said, as Fei Li pouted.

"Uh… thank you?" Katara blinked blankly: both Qiang and Fei Li blushed, laughing awkwardly at her response to their quick exchange.

"Is this…?" Rui Shi said, eyeing Katara intently before turning towards Sokka. "It's your sister, isn't it? The sister you met in Whaletail Island."

"Ah, so you did tell these guys about me?" Katara grinned. "Or, at least, this guy? A step-up from Toph, I'll admit…"

"Well, now, Rui Shi was stuck with us for much longer and much more frequently than Toph, that's why she didn't know much about you beforehand," Sokka chuckled. "But yep, this is my sister, Rui Shi. You two probably will get along wonderfully, Katara: he has no shortage of embarrassing stories to share about me, you have no shortage of embarrassing stories yourself, so…"

"Ah. A fellow connoisseur of an unwavering truth about this world: whatever he may achieve, whatever image he may project, ultimately… your brother is a dork," Rui Shi grinned placidly at Katara, who smirked proudly.

"Oh, you're right, he's definitely one of my people," she declared as Sokka shot Rui Shi a skeptical stare. He, of course, responded with a proud smile.

"I can't believe I missed putting up with your blunt and dry teasing, but I really did," Sokka smiled, clapping Rui Shi's shoulder before his eyes shifted towards Aang next. "Ah, and… well, this isn't someone you knew about before, Rui Shi. This is… Aang."

"Hi there!" Aang smiled awkwardly. "I'm, uh, I suppose a bit of a fan of you guys? After all of Sokka's stories, I just couldn't help but think highly of you…"

"Stories?" Rui Shi repeated, glancing at Sokka in surprise. "Do I want to know what that means?"

"Oh, I'm way nicer with you in my stories than I know you'll be with yours," Sokka smirked, shaking his head. "Anyway, he means these stories I'd tell Mari, Zuko's daughter. You guys knew that Zuko was in the South Pole… right?"

"Uh…" Fei Li blinked blankly, glancing at the others and receiving a few shrugs in response.

"Eh… maybe not," Sokka smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, anyway, he was there, he has two cute daughters, one of them needed to be distracted one day, I impulsively came up with the idea of sharing a certain story with her… and of course, you guys featured in it, maybe not too heavily, but…"

"Oh, wow! That's very flattering of you to do! Thank you!" Taro grinned brightly.

"I don't think you guys got any insulting names either, so Sokka was very nice to all of you in those stories, just so you know," Katara chuckled. Sokka grinned awkwardly and shrugged.

"At any rate, you guys… Aang's the Avatar."

For the first time since Sokka and Rui Shi had recognized each other, the entire group of former guards fell utterly silent. A few heads were tilted sideways, a few jaws dropped, some faces were utterly skeptical… and some were simply stunned as Aang grinned with unease, hands behind his back.

"The… Avatar," Rui Shi said, blinking blankly. "Wait. Those… those are Air Nomad tattoos, aren't they?"

"They are," Aang confirmed, with a good-natured grin. Rui Shi's eyes widened.

"You found living Air Nomads?!" Fei Li squeaked. Sokka winced at the loudness of his voice. "In a few months you conquered Ba Sing Se, Omashu and found Air Nomads?! Goodness, Sokka, you don't waste time…!"

"Wait, I didn't do anything to find him, it's Katara who found him, not me!" Sokka laughed as the rest of the group continued to gape at the Avatar in utter confusion.

"But it's not just… a regular airbender. It's the Avatar. You say he's the Avatar… the Avatar," Rui Shi repeated, still too shocked to fully process the information.

"Well, if you need a demonstration…" Aang breathed deeply, biting his lower lip.

As expected from him, Aang gathered a gust of air around himself and crafted the air scooter technique he ever favored. A collective gasp was followed by another one as he dropped that form and struck a fist into the air, releasing a plum of fire next. Then, he drew water from Katara's waist pouch, looping it around his body before tucking it back into the container, and lastly… he raised a small block of earth before his feet, easy enough to tuck back into place once the demonstration was done. The whole performance was finished with a bright, nervous grin.

"So… there. Believe it or not… I am the Avatar," he said, hands on his hips.

An instant later, Aang found himself swarmed by loud, eager and curious firebenders, asking him an onslaught of questions he couldn't easily respond to, let alone all at once.

Unsurprisingly, a handful of guards didn't lose their composure entirely over the excitement of meeting a living, breathing Avatar in a world where his existence had become as good as a myth: Rui Shi remained by Sokka's side while Tai Wei, Haoren and Wuhan simply smiled in sheer disbelief while the others tried to unravel the astounding return of the Avatar they had only just gotten to learn about.

"So… since we saw you last, you conquered two major cities, with which you delivered two deadly blows at the Fire Lord, and you allied yourself with the Avatar and the Exiled Prince, as well as the White Lotus, if the rumors are true?" Rui Shi asked, glancing at Sokka expectantly. The Gladiator offered him a guilty smile. "Fei Li's right, then. You really haven't wasted time, have you?"

"I've tried not to," Sokka said, with a sad smile of his own. "It's a long story, honestly. A lot of weird things have happened, Rui Shi… which is why I'd rather hear your stories first, honestly. Might be easier to get through those instead…"

"Might be," Rui Shi agreed, with a light nod.

"But first…" Sokka said, breathing deeply before stepping towards the non-bending captain: the middle-aged man stepped up firmly, perfectly disciplined now that his commanding officer would address him. "Send word to the Palace, let them know everything's worked out for the best and that we'll be on our way back with ten new allies shortly."

"Yes, General. Right away."

Their group had brought a few messenger hawks – confiscated from the Fire Nation's multiple communications' offices in the city – as a precaution, in case the situation turned out to be less than ideal. Now, however, they'd convey the exact opposite message: Sokka smiled before turning to Rui Shi again, intending to urge them to climb aboard the train…

Only to find a most skeptical smirk across his friend's features.

"General?" he repeated: Sokka's face flushed crimson.

"I…! I didn't make that up, it wasn't my idea!" he squeaked. Rui Shi, inevitably, let out another burst of laughter at the highly-respected Gladiator's bashfulness. "Seriously, Jeong Jeong just started calling me that and they all keep doing it, but I don't even feel that comfortable with it, okay? I just...! I barely notice it anymore, alright? It's not something that really registers with me!"

"I only said a word, you hopeless bundle of nerves, there's no need to react like that," Rui Shi chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh, but it's certainly an amusing revelation for those of us who knew you as the fool of a gladiator who couldn't do as he was told, who couldn't stand still, who struck the doors of a fancy mansion relentlessly and repeatedly…"

"Well, now, I only did it the one time and…! Hey, actually, Piandao's with us too, in case you didn't know that yet?" Sokka said, grinning eagerly. Rui Shi huffed.

"Good to know, but don't change the subject: it's actually quite impressive that you'd manage to become such a respectable figure in your army. I have no idea how you pulled it off, of course, but I commend you for it," Rui Shi smiled: there was ever a smidge of wickedness even in his most placid compliments, and Sokka scoffed before rolling his eyes.

"I know you too well to take that seriously. You know I do," he said, with a chuckle that Rui Shi responded to with his own. "Alright, then, alright: everyone back on board! Or, uh, get on board the first time, as the case may be? We should get going back to the Palace now, the trip on the train takes quite a while, after all…"

While his words were so good-mannered and simple, the non-bending squad obeyed promptly right away: seeing people responding to Sokka's orders so readily was profoundly amusing and intriguing for Rui Shi, but he didn't say anything else as he clapped his friend's shoulder, entering the train's wagon alongside him.

"You guys were in the area, I assume?" Sokka asked, glancing at Rui Shi with raised eyebrows. "I mean, maybe you weren't that close by, but I can't imagine you crossed the entire Earth Kingdom in a couple of weeks upon first hearing rumors about me…"

"We were close by, yeah," Rui Shi said, nodding. "There are a few towns in this area with very little Fire Nation surveillance. Of course, we had to avoid the ones that did have some, but the others were safe for us to make a living in… separately, of course."

"Well, you'll have to tell me all about it in a bit," Sokka smiled, clapping Rui Shi's shoulder before stepping up to the non-bender squad anew, ensuring to organize them properly aboard the train, as they'd have ten more people riding with them now.

In the end, the bulk of the non-bending squad chose to stay on the same wagon as Sokka, even if no one expected the newcomers to be a safety hazard on any level anymore. The Gladiator took his seat alongside his sister, right across Rui Shi: even now, gazing at the thinner and also tanner features of his long-lost friend felt like this was but a dream he'd wake from at any given moment… he'd had met Azula in dreams twice so far, after all, so if that was the case today too, unlikely as it seemed, he still intended to make the most of it.

"What happened after you guys left?" Sokka asked. "I figure she must have made you leave her somewhere, somehow, but…"

"We took your hot-air balloon, and one of the Barge's emergency skiffs," Tai Wei, sitting next to Rui Shi, answered the question. "She stayed on the Barge by herself, with her dragon. She said we shouldn't tell her where we were going… which, well, we didn't know where we were going either at first, so fulfilling that order wasn't difficult…"

"We made for the Air Nomad islands, first," Rui Shi said. Sokka nodded. "We hid there briefly, only for about two days before we gathered our strength, replenished our food stocks with whatever we could forage there, and we took off once more… as carefully as we could, anyway. The tides there are…"

"Oh, they're really dangerous," Katara smiled awkwardly. "Zuko only ended up in the South Pole because of complicated tides, actually."

"After suffering their relentless pushes and pulls for five days and battling against them with very little hope of success… I can hardly blame him if he couldn't overcome them," Tai Wei said. "We lucked out because all of us were firebenders, frankly: we burned out all our fuel just getting out of the wild tides…"

"Which landed us near Gaoling," Rui Shi said, with a sigh. "Which was dangerous, of course. We were already being pursued by then, some reports had been spread with our names… a few wanted posters were issued, even if I can't say for sure that they captured our likenesses properly. That they failed at it is probably why we survived, frankly: we forged false identities for ourselves, split into groups, and we worked towards replenishing our fuel and food stocks so we could travel further away next."

"We went about it pretty safely at first…" Taro said, breathing deeply. "But things got complicated after some people started to suspect us of being firebenders. At that point, well… we had to do a few unsavory things to get out of Gaoling safely."

"Unsavory… how?" Sokka asked, puzzled.

"Basically, we had to steal what we needed," Rui Shi said, with a sigh. "I thought, well, if it came down to it… at least we could rob someone who had it coming, to a fault? And as some of us had visited Governor Kuan's estate before…"

"Woah! You robbed Kuan?" Sokka squeaked, a wicked grin spreading across his face. Rui Shi smiled weakly and nodded. "Ha! That's…! Oh, shit, that's amazing!"

"I had the feeling you and the Princess would be proud of us for what we did," Rui Shi nodded as Sokka grinned deviously. Katara, next to him, raised an expectant eyebrow.

"Oh, I almost left him out of my stories because Mari didn't deserve to know pigs like Kuan exist in this world," he explained to her. Katara chuckled at his matter-of-factly reasoning. "He's the opportunist jackass who tried to marry Azula on her birthday, and his brilliant gift to her was giving her another gladiator that I had to fight, and…"

"Ah, I remember now… he sounded like a piece of work for sure," Katara grimaced.

"I'm not one to condone theft, usually… but considering that guy was absolutely stealing off his people, based on his accounting books, I'd definitely say it was warranted this time," Sokka said, nodding sagely.

"His accounting books?" Shuren repeated. "You saw his accounting books?"

"I did indeed. Azula wanted to have a look at them to confirm he was lying when he claimed he had too many big business ventures to worry about in Gaoling, too much investment into the city's upkeep, to waste any money on the Enforcers," Sokka said, matter-of-factly. "That happened the last time we were there. Bet that piece of shit made the most of the situation as of late… mustn't have done a damn thing to set up the Enforcers in Gaoling, and he probably got away with it because Ozai went on his tirade of madness and, frankly, he probably doesn't care about whatever corruption his goons are up to. But anyway… good on you guys for stealing from him. I guess that those of you who stayed there when we first visited that place must have known where to find what you were looking for…"

"Being the Princess's guards meant we needed to properly assess each location she'd be hosted at…" Taro nodded sagely. Sokka smirked. "So… yes, we took all his coal. And most his food. It was rather nice that they were that easily found and taken, honestly. His security's laughable…"

"We must have gotten in and out in about twenty minutes and we weren't even hunted on our way out," Haoren said, carelessly. "Saying him and his staff are sloppy doesn't even begin to cut it."

"After that, though, we traveled north," Rui Shi said. "As far away from the Fire Nation's main colonies as we could afford to go, pretty much. We weren't going to take chances in the Si Wong Desert itself, of course… and Ba Sing Se was the most dangerous location of all. We scouted the towns south of Ba Sing Se and found that the wanted posters for our manhunts hadn't spread this far, at least not yet… but we still split up in three different groups for safety's sake and started working different jobs."

"Me, Jianghuo and Shuren were medicine peddlers," Fei Li grinned, gesturing at his two companions.

"Who could have known the demand for midnight nectar would be quite as wild as it was…?" Jianghuo said, with a guilty smile. "Though I did branch out into other medicines eventually. Fei Li and Shuren helped me gather the materials, we prepared the medicine together…"

"And then we'd distribute them across whatever nearby towns we'd find," Fei Li finished, with a proud grin. "We also made a bunch of coughing medicine for Taro too, so rest assured, we made him drink it! We sure did!"

"They sure did," Taro smiled awkwardly. Sokka grinned at him next.

"And what were you up to, Taro?"

"Oh, me? Tai Wei came up with the idea of providing river crossing services, actually," Taro explained. Tai Wei, beside him, nodded promptly.

"It wasn't easy, we had to be on the lookout whenever a Fire Nation ship traveled the area, whether for patrols or for whatever purpose… so one of us was always on watch duty in case any dangerous Fire Nation ships were coming our way," Tai Wei explained. "We had to dismantle and hide the entire system whenever that happened… but anyway, we built a large wooden raft and we'd ferry people across the river at a much cheaper price than the ferry over at Full Moon Bay. Of course, we didn't ask for passports either, so…"

"It was a cheaper alternative to get around the law?" Sokka smirked. "And the other ones peddled medicine that causes addiction… you were also stealing, too. Interesting…"

"Oh, do forgive us for being quite so lowly, General Sokka…" Rui Shi said, with a mocking reverence that brought another laugh out of his friend. "Not all of us are as talented and brilliant as you are at becoming army leaders, and what shame befalls us for that…"

"Sometimes it blows my mind how much of a clown you can be when you try, Rui Shi," Sokka smirked. Rui Shi chuckled too, shaking his head as he leaned back on his seat once more. "What were you up to, then? Surely you were the worst of them. Bet you had a job as an assassin, or…"

"Or as a political advisor, sneaking tax money to fill my pockets? Absolutely. I'm utterly spineless that way," Rui Shi said, raising his head proudly.

"He's just saying that because the real story embarrasses him and he wants to act cool, Sokka, don't worry about it," Han reassured him. Rui Shi snorted at the younger guard's assessment while Sokka raised his eyebrows in amazement.

"You're embarrassed? Okay, now you have to tell me for sure. You're not just going to keep your secrets when it's something that embarrasses you…" Sokka smirked. Rui Shi rolled his eyes and covered his face with his hands.

"Well, to put it simply…" Han grinned: the guards didn't have a lot of luggage with them, but what few packs they carried could offer a hint as to what Sokka was curious about…

Han pointed at the one by Rui Shi's feet: the mast of a pipa protruded from Rui Shi's pack.

"Wait… you were performing! You were a traveling musician?!" Sokka exclaimed, a wild grin across his face. "Rui Shi, that's actually… a pretty reasonable job!"

"It's not even a little bit morally reprehensible, so yes, he should be pleased with himself," Han snickered.

"We played with him, but none of us were on his level, by far," Qiang added, with a nervous smile. "Han, me, Wuhan… we tried our best to keep up with Rui Shi, but not only did he vastly outdo us, talent-wise, but it didn't help that most women in the towns we visited fell in love with him at first sight, too."

"He could've been a mediocre performer, which he wasn't, and he still would have earned us some money just because so many girls liked looking at him," Han chuckled. Rui Shi sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It helped get food in our stomachs and that's all that mattered, but that aspect of it was a pain more often than not," he confessed. "If they got too awful, we'd just have to leave the town regardless of how nicely we were being paid. I suppose it was a good way to avoid staying in one place for too long, but I'd much rather have left of my own volition rather than doing it just to ensure no crazy fool would try to cajole me into marrying his daughter just because I could play the pipa properly…"

"Well, it was both that and your insanely good looks, don't be shy now," Han snickered. Rui Shi only rolled his eyes at that comment as Sokka chuckled, shaking his head.

"We'd only just arrived at a new town when we heard word about something stirring in Ba Sing Se," Rui Shi explained. "We wanted to hear as much as we could about it while not drawing any attention to ourselves, and most of it sounded terribly fantastical until… until they mentioned you. At that point, I figured it might not be that outlandish after all. If someone's capable of madness of this level, it's definitely you."

"Heh, I'm flattered to know you'd think so," Sokka grinned. Rui Shi laughed, shaking his head.

"My group fetched the medicine peddlers, then together we made our way to the river crossing group, and we walked all the way to the train station once we were across the river. We actually saw some tracks and signs of an army's presence by the Fighting Cliffs," Rui Shi pointed out. "Guess that's where your group took refuge?"

"Where we prepared our attack, yeah," Sokka nodded. "We didn't really care to cover our tracks anymore by that point, to be honest. But goodness… I'm glad you guys heard about what we did on time to join us. I seriously had assumed we'd have to mount a search party years from now to find out whatever had happened to you all…"

"You might have had to if you hadn't been so flashy," Haoren smirked. "We're glad that you were, of course. Can't pretend running a ferry was the most gratifying thing to do with our time…"

"But we're not about to sit around doing nothing now, either," Tai Wei said, firmly. "We have no idea what you're really doing, Sokka, but we didn't have to think twice about joining you…"

"Same as we didn't think twice about it when Rui Shi asked us to help you and the Princess, back in the Fire Nation," Shuren said, with a shy smile.

"Then… whatever I ask of you, you'll do it?" Sokka asked, amused. "That sounds like a whole lot of pressure, whether intentional or not…"

"To be perfectly honest…" Rui Shi said, breathing deeply, arms folded across his chest. "We've heard rumors that I'm sure have reached you too. The Princess… you know what her current situation is, right?"

Sokka's mostly placid expression shifted darkly as he nodded at Rui Shi: even if it irked him to think of what Ozai had subjected Azula to, it relieved him to recognize an outrage to match his own in the eyes of another of Azula's staunchest protectors.

"We don't accept it," Rui Shi said, and the other guards nodded promptly. "Whatever the law may say, whatever the Fire Lord may pretend… we know who's the man she chose and deemed worthy of her, and it sure as hell isn't Zhao. So… to honor the truth of what we know, the truth of your bond with her, all of us, Princess Azula's guards, offer our services as guards now to the man she genuinely married. You may have better allies than us by now, we're not in the best shape anyway… but if you'll have us, we'll serve you as we did her, Sokka."

"W-wait…" Sokka froze on the spot, eyes widening. "You're sure about this, Rui Shi? I… I take no issue with this, don't get me wrong, but… you're Royal Guards. Imperial Guards…"

"And you're the future Fire Lord's husband. Makes perfect sense to me," Fei Li said, with a shrug. Sokka's cheeks flushed, no matter if he shouldn't have been embarrassed at all around the men who had long supported him and his bond with Azula.

"Had you two been accepted in the Fire Nation… we would have been in your service just as we were in hers," Qiang said, with a small smile. "And honestly, in some ways, it really felt like that was exactly what was going on, no matter if you two were keeping things a secret and all…"

"But it sure was what happened by the end," Fei Li huffed, arms folded over his chest. "Honestly, doesn't matter if you're not of Fire Nation royal blood, we're free to swear our allegiance to whoever deserves it, aren't we?"

"Well, I'd assume whoever we're swearing it to gets to have a say upon the matter. Might be he doesn't want things to be that formal," Taro said, with a weak grin. "Want us to be regular members of your forces instead…?"

"I don't know what I want yet, I'd have to talk things over with everyone else, but… no, I wouldn't want you to fight along the regular army, frankly," Sokka admitted, smiling at the group. "I just… this is quite a big surprise all by itself. Hearing you guys swear loyalty to me in this way… it caught me off guard a bit for sure. I never imagined you'd be under my personal service on any level, not you guys… I've honestly always thought of you all as friends, to be honest."

"We can be friends and your bodyguards too," Fei Li decided, smirking proudly. Sokka chuckled and shrugged.

"I suppose so: you were with her," he said, smiling kindly at them. "Well, I'll talk about this with Jeong Jeong and the rest of the Order, but as far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to join us and take up whatever role you want. I welcome it, rather… I think our odds of success at tearing Ozai off his throne will definitely increase if all of you are part of the war effort, too."

"You, uh…" Rui Shi said, eyeing Sokka with suspicion. "You didn't join the White Lotus outright, did you?"

"Uh, no. Ours is an alliance, I'm not part of the Order and I've made it clear that I don't intend to join them at any point in time," Sokka said, shaking his head: Rui Shi let out a relieved sigh. "But I suppose it's a technicality that won't mean much to a lot of people…"

"I'm afraid it might be. It was slightly disquieting to hear you could have been associated with them… but if you didn't fully join them, I'm relieved all the same," Rui Shi said, letting out a deep sigh. "We wouldn't wish to join their ranks either, so if you'd sold your soul to those guys, you would have certainly put us in an awkward position…"

"Well, rest assured, you won't have to worry about that anymore," Sokka smiled. "I know it's crazy, all of what's surrounding me lately sounds crazy, but we're making good progress. It might not be easy, but we'll reach Azula eventually. We just have to focus our efforts, organize our forces and make the right decisions…"

"And I'm sure you'll succeed at it… but can I ask, what exactly brought you all the way here, let alone so fast?" Rui Shi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't get me wrong, it's good that you've been so efficient… I'm sure she'd be proud that you're taking after her in these regards, but…"

"Eh, she'd have made twice the progress in half the time," Sokka smiled fondly: Rui Shi and the guards grinned at Sokka's response too. "But thanks for saying that anyway. Still… how did I get all the way here, you ask? Heh. I wonder if this train trip will be long enough to explain all that."

"At least it'll be enough to get you started, I'm sure," Jianghuo said, nodding encouragingly at him.

Sokka breathed in, smiling at his friends: a part of him still felt like this was a dream, as though he could have never been so lucky as to be anywhere near his old friends… but here they were, and Sokka's heart ached with long-awaited relief because of their reencounter. If reuniting with them already stirred his emotions so profoundly, he couldn't imagine how powerfully shaken he'd be once he truly held Azula in his arms once more…

After a miracle like this one, it was easier to believe that she would be in them soon.

His thoughts brought him more encouragement than he expected them to. A soft laugh left his lips as he raised his gaze, smiling as he began telling the story that had brought him as far as Ba Sing Se, carrying the responsibilities of a full-blown army general, leader of the forces that represented the greatest threat the Fire Nation had yet seen.

As expected, he wasn't anywhere close to finished with his retelling once they reached their destination. His story was embellished further with Aang and Katara's interventions, whether those meant to poke fun at Sokka – usually courtesy of his sister – or those meant to impress proper grandeur unto matters that Sokka seemed slightly embarrassed about explaining. Nevertheless, the train stopped when Sokka was halfway through explaining their experiences in the swamp, at the Middle Ring's furthermost station: by then, it was time for them to begin a long walk into the Upper Ring next.

"The city's not fully recovered yet," Sokka explained, gazing about himself with remorse as they marched into the Upper Ring. "We haven't made up our minds about what to do with the internal walls, either. The Middle Ring's not too keen on being swarmed by both Lower and Upper Ring people, apparently…"

"I assume the Lower Ring folks always wished to level their social standing with the Middle Ring, if nothing else," Rui Shi pointed out. "And if the Upper Ring faced severe damage…"

"Not everything was damaged badly, but a lot of it was," Sokka admitted. "I wish we could have caused less chaos, but without a full surrender by Tiang, we had no choice but to keep fighting. He was a lot more difficult to deal with than Omashu's forces, he had much more time to try to assemble a defense than Omashu's disjointed leadership did."

"I suppose you must have taken advantage of their weaknesses," Rui Shi pointed out. "If you nullified the governor right away, it would have made matters easier too. I won't say this too often or else it'll go up to your head, but… I'm impressed, Sokka. I didn't really imagine you'd pull off something of this magnitude, even if it's not too surprising that you did, considering you made a living off achieving the impossible. But to come this far in merely seven months? Or however long it's been since we left the Fire Nation, anyway…"

"It's seven months, yeah," Sokka said, breathing deeply. "It feels like it happened no time ago, but it's been a while already. At least, I take some relief in knowing Azula's still holding out… but, say, have you managed to reach out to Song at all?"

"I haven't," Rui Shi said, lowering his gaze. "It was too dangerous to try so far… and it's still going to be dangerous now that I'm joining your ranks. I can't presume to know whatever mad schemes the Fire Lord is plotting… he's probably turned over every rock in the Fire Nation searching for alleged traitors to take out his frustrations on them. It's not very likely, I hope, that he'd go to the people I sent Song to… but I'd rather not risk getting her into more trouble if he has kept watch over them somehow."

"People?" Sokka repeated. Rui Shi sighed and nodded.

"It makes no difference telling you about it now, does it?" Rui Shi said, with a weak grin. "We're on the same boat, after all, the Fire Lord's not likelier to learn of it just because you know, so… alright. The truth is that I sent her to Lo and Li, in Ember Island."

"Lo and Li? Wait… Azula's old advisors?" Sokka asked, eyes widening. Rui Shi nodded.

"I'd been in touch with them, I even told them about my relationship with Song… so I hoped they would be able to watch over her while I couldn't do it myself," he said, mournfully. "They know how to navigate dangerous political waters… hopefully they've managed to keep Song properly hidden somehow. For, if you're asking these questions, it means they definitely haven't sent her to Ba Sing Se with her mother, or have they…?"

"Sadly, no," Sokka said, with a sigh. "But, hey, Myeung will be thrilled to see you for sure. She wasn't all that happy to see me, she broke down in tears… doesn't help that I was filthy as hell, stained with enemy blood, wearing my full armor and the crazy helmet the White Lotus made for me, so…"

"Is she alright?" Rui Shi asked, genuinely concerned. Sokka sighed and shrugged.

"Somedays she seems to think I'm doing the right thing… then she breaks down in tears asking why I had to do what I did," Sokka said, matter-of-factly. "I can't blame her for wondering, you and I both know how hard they've had it, how many times they lost what little stability they'd gained… but I can't let her break my resolve, you know? But even when I know that, sometimes seeing her cry is almost enough to make me think I'm an unforgivable monster for…"

"You're not one," Rui Shi said, curtly. Sokka sighed, glancing at him hopelessly. "She's emotional and struggling with loss of stability, like you said… but ultimately, your choice is the correct one. If there are other paths to saving this world, and my nation, I do not know of them. The one you've chosen may be deadly, perhaps too violent… but I think we both know, all too well, that the Fire Nation is the first to resort to violence in order to subdue all enemies. It's like trying to discipline a problem child who thrives in bullying others: unless you show them you're much scarier and stronger than they are, they won't back down, so…"

"So, the Fire Lord's a problem child throwing a temper tantrum and bullying everyone around him?" Sokka asked. Rui Shi smirked.

"Would you argue otherwise?"

"Nah. I really wouldn't," Sokka smiled back.

The Upper Ring's damage was visible across the streets they traversed, all the way to the Palace, though Rui Shi noticed quickly that it ended there. The wall seemed mostly unharmed, and the buildings within appeared unchanged since his last visit to the city. It hadn't been a whole year yet since their last day in Ba Sing Se, when he had asked Song to marry him….

His heart clenched upon remembering that moment. Upon realizing the fanfare, the fuss, the parties… none of that meant anything compared with the opportunity to be with the woman he loved. He should have acted on all impulses at once, perhaps asked the Princess to delay their departure a little longer so he could have married the love of his life as soon as possible…

But out of so many things Sokka would achieve if he succeeded in his war campaign, one such victory would be the opportunity for Rui Shi to rejoin Song in Ember Island and travel with her to the reborn Earth Kingdom. They could marry by following her people's rites, with her mother as a witness, without forcing Song to go to complicated lengths to become acknowledged as a Fire Nation citizen so her marriage to Rui Shi could be official. That, in particular, had held Rui Shi back in the past… but it wouldn't be a problem in the future anymore. Perhaps it was premature to think about such things…

But the truth was that he missed Song every day. His heart burned with his need to see her again. He empathized all too well with Sokka and Azula's pain… for he, much like Sokka, had seen the woman he loved sailing away while he stayed behind. Much like Azula, he had made difficult choices to save the one he meant to share his life with… choices that resulted in a painful separation that seemed to draw out for far longer than they could bear. He certainly hoped Song had found happiness, peace in Ember Island somehow… for he would never want her to go through the anguish and torment he endured every day so far, with the anxious spikes reminding him constantly that he was only surviving for the sake of it, with no true future to work for, never knowing if his efforts to help the people most precious to him had paid off in any way.

Maybe it was wrong of him to assume anything would change for the better right away… but as he walked into the Palace by Sokka's side, watching the White Lotus sentries bowing to the Gladiator respectfully, reverently, it felt like his anxiety was bound to recede at last. Sokka, for all his recklessness, was doing so much more than Rui Shi ever could have achieved himself… and he couldn't help but admire him for it. He had long stopped questioning the Princess's romantic interest in her Gladiator, but seeing him rise to a level of political power that could rival the Fire Lord's in a matter of months spoke all too loudly about how extraordinary Sokka truly was, about how insightful the Princess had been upon recognizing that man's potential where no one else had been able to see it.

"Have you gotten used to the reverences yet?" Rui Shi asked. Sokka winced, shaking his head quickly. "And here I thought the years beside the Princess had trained you for it…"

"They were always meant for her. Well, except for when Yang did it, he was his own case of weird," Sokka admitted, with a fond smile at the memories of a long-gone past. "It's almost unnerving, honestly. I guess I realize why the deep reverences bothered her so much once she became Crown Princess. I'm way more comfortable around people who don't bow to me at once…"

"Like your sister, and your other friends?" Rui Shi asked, glancing over his shoulder: the majority of the guards had fallen behind for a few steps, caught in conversation with both Aang and Katara.

"Heh, yeah, they don't respect me in the slightest," Sokka smirked. "Nah, I'm kidding, at least Aang and Kino aren't as bad as my sister or Zuko. But they're also not as bad as the reverential ones, either. And Toph's around too, so that also helps…"

"It'll be good to see her again. I'm glad you could reconnect with her," Rui Shi said, nodding approvingly. "You truly have assembled an impressive army, not only as far as numbers are concerned, but when it comes to the quality of its members, too…"

"Well, we've done our best. There's a lot of complicated things I never even knew went into leading armies, to be honest," Sokka said, with a soft chuckle. "I can safely say I've learned a lot, and tired myself out a lot by trying to keep up with everything. I keep making my sister worry about me because of that…"

"I'll force you to take breaks more often than she does, then. You wouldn't be so bold as to defy me," Rui Shi smirked as Sokka scoffed skeptically at him.

"Guess I'd be bold enough to defy you and you'd still find some mean thing to say to make me do whatever you tell me to…" Sokka said. Rui Shi chuckled and shook his head. "But really, I feel like I have to keep up with everything. It's no wonder Azula was exhausted whenever her piece of shit of a father gave her too many responsibilities at once… even if I delegate, I always feel like I have to know what's going on with the armed forces, the cooking groups or the ones transporting the extra weapons and armor, or…"

"You don't have to worry that much about transportation right now, though, do you?" Rui Shi asked, raising an eyebrow. "You'll be gathering your forces first, I assume, before setting out for whatever you plan on doing next?"

"Yeah, well, we haven't really had a chance to discuss what's next. Ba Sing Se was our main objective: if we failed here, we were done," Sokka admitted. "And we didn't, so once Ba Sing Se's back in proper shape, we'll have to start planning our next moves… which means, yes, I'll have to worry about transportation soon after all."

"You're as bad as her with all the… what was the name you gave it?" Rui Shi frowned, tapping his chin. "You made up a term…"

"Ah, overplanning?" Sokka smirked. Rui Shi smiled and nodded.

"Exactly," he said. Sokka chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, when you put it that way… I'm actually flattered to know she infected me with it, if anything," he said. "She always told me I didn't plan things thoroughly enough… now I'm as keen on it as she always is? Biggest compliment of all time…"

"I should've known you'd see it that way," Rui Shi smiled. "Well, for what it's worth, I'll be around to give you a hand with whatever you need from now on. Even if it's just by standing guard outside your quarters and telling people to let you sleep when you need it, or so…"

"That would likely help, actually, but I wouldn't make you do something like that," Sokka smiled, shaking his head.

"Then I suppose if you have firebending forces, we can join those, no matter if we're not in the best of shapes… but some training should suffice to change that," Rui Shi said, with resolve. "Short of that… Jianghuo can help with medicine, maybe?"

"And you with your pipa?" Sokka smirked. "You could help our music squad if you want to. Bet they could use some advice from the master musician…"

"I'm certainly not good enough to be deemed a master," Rui Shi said, rolling his eyes. "But… a music squad?"

"Oh, yeah, it's one of the things I was surprised by back in Omashu: they're really useful, they help organize the battlefield, give out orders, callsigns, all through their tsungi horns because they're insanely loud when they need to be. It's honestly pretty…"

"Tsungi horns?" Rui Shi repeated, frowning and glancing at Sokka with perplexity. Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Don't like tsungi horns?" he asked. Rui Shi blinked blankly.

"That's not it. It's only, well, a few weeks ago, maybe a month, I…"

"Sokka?! Sokka! I heard something crazy from Anorak just now! Is it true that the Princess's guards are…?!"

The voice was familiar to Sokka… and not quite unknown for Rui Shi either. It took him a moment longer to place it… and it wasn't difficult to do so once he raised his gaze up at the top of the stairs that led to the main building of the Palace, the location they were marching towards and had only just reached.

Accompanied by a flying lemur that perched upon his shoulders, an anxious, heavily breathing Kino stood at the top of those stairs, eyes wide as they fell upon Sokka, first… upon his companion, an instant later.

His loud shouting faded into silence at once. Sokka would have answered his unfinished question gladly… if only he hadn't noticed the way Rui Shi had reacted to Kino's voice, too. With a perplexed frown, Sokka glanced at the usually chatty-man, back to the typically stoic one… to find a most unexpectedly emotional expression in both their faces.

"You… you!" Rui Shi suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Kino with a finger as boldly and rudely as possible. Kino flinched, cheeks flushing crimson under the hands that covered his face. "You were…! You're…! You were traveling with him, Sokka?! With this guy?!"

"You… know Kino?" Sokka blinked blankly.

"This guy was the Kino you've been mentioning all along?!" Rui Shi nearly shrieked now: Sokka had referenced the deserter soldier several times throughout his tale while on the train, but nothing about his descriptions so far had brought him to associate him with a man he had met not long ago…

"So… you know Kino, but you don't know Kino?" Sokka smirked, amused, hands on his hips before glancing up at the mortified non-bender at the top of the stairs. "Well, congratulations, buddy! Looks like one former Fire Nation soldier kind of knows who you are, even if he didn't associate your name and face just yet…"

"I met him before!" Rui Shi exclaimed: Sokka blinked blankly and glanced at his friend in surprise.

"You mean… in the academy or something?" Sokka asked. Rui Shi shook his head, staring at Kino with wide eyes as the rest of the guards, Aang and Katara finally caught up with them.

"Kino? What's wrong?" Aang asked, puzzled by the strange, nervous demeanor of his friend.

"I… I wanted to tell you! I was going to, b-but I was so tired after we got back and then everything happened and we fought in Ba Sing Se and it all just slipped my mind…!" Kino whimpered, falling to his knees and bowing with his head on the floor, in a humbling gesture that bordered on outright self-humiliation – naturally, Momo fled from him over his abrupt movement, gliding past Sokka and landing on Katara's shoulder next. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, Sokka!"

"What the hell is…?" Sokka blinked blankly: even Rui Shi seemed surprised by how far Kino had taken his apologies, but his perplexity hadn't helped clear up the situation in the slightest for the Gladiator. "Rui Shi? Can you explain…?"

"Wait a minute…" Han stepped forward, frowning. "Isn't that the guy we met two towns ago? The one with the tsungi horn band?"

Sokka froze on the spot. His eyes widened as they shifted between Kino and Rui Shi at rapid speed again: Qiang and Wuhan hummed in recognition, next.

"Their leader, yes," Wuhan remarked.

"He wasn't half bad with his tsungi horn by the time I drifted off to sleep, heh," Qiang grinned awkwardly. "But then… they were gone by morning, all of them. Right?"

"I… got to talk to him briefly before he took off," Rui Shi said, an eyebrow twitching. Kino raised his head slightly, an awkward grimace across his face. "Did you at least fulfill my request? Or…?"

"I-it's been a crazy few weeks, so I… I really forgot to do it, but hey! T-this way you can do it yourself! Perform that wonderful song for her yourself!" Kino whimpered, bowing his head firmly again. "I'm so sorry!"

Rui Shi let out a sigh, shaking his head before glancing at the utterly stunned Sokka. The Gladiator raised an eyebrow, without saying a word, and Rui Shi raised his hands defensively.

"I have no idea what he was doing… but your friend up there, and his fellow tsungi horn performers, showed up in the town where Han, Qiang, Wuhan and I had been performing at for a few days," Rui Shi said. Sokka blinked blankly.

"So… you guys were in the town he was supposed to be distracting with his music?" Sokka asked. Rui Shi frowned.

"Wait, what?"

"Him and his squad were supposed to cause a fuss, a big one, whether positively or negatively, so that no one in that town would notice that we were building a quick earthbending bridge for our army to cross the river as safely and quickly as possible," Sokka explained: Rui Shi's jaw dropped. "Didn't really matter how he handled the situation as long as he ensured we weren't caught, so…"

"It was… a mission?" Rui Shi said, astonished. "You seriously…? Hell, I'll never understand how your mind works."

"But it worked! Right? Did someone in that town notice…?" Sokka asked. Rui Shi scoffed.

"They didn't, no, and you're insane for doing something like that with no guarantees of success," he said, shaking his head. "If we hadn't stepped in to perform with them…"

"We would have failed!" Kino exclaimed from the top of the stairs. "And I…! I thought it might be you! I did! B-but your name… I forgot what it was! Sokka referred to you as Baohu, so…!"

"You… what?" Rui Shi blinked blankly. Sokka sighed.

"What I told you, the stories for Zuko's daughter?" he said. "That was your name in them, and… damn. You're trying to say that, if I'd kept Rui Shi's name, you would've realized it was them right away and you could've gotten them to join us earlier?"

"W-well… no, because he was going by another name anyway," Kino said, pouting as he sat upright again. "Roshi, wasn't it?"

Sokka froze, glancing at Rui Shi in surprise. He sighed and shrugged.

"I can't pretend I felt like being too creative, so… I reutilized my old fake name, yes," he said. Sokka smiled a little at the confession.

"Well… a guy by your description, calling himself Roshi… I would've suspected it was you right away," Sokka said, with a sigh. "But I guess I shouldn't be too much of a grouch about it, anyway. It's probably good that you guys didn't find out about us beforehand, you would've had trouble joining us when we were in the middle of such a big operation. Lots of distrustful people might have assumed you were spies even if I told them otherwise… I think the majority of the army only started respecting me properly after Ba Sing Se was in our control. So… even if you really should've said something, Kino, it's probably for the best that you didn't."

"I'm still sorry…" Kino whimpered, bowing his head. Rui Shi sighed, a soft laugh escaping him.

"I actually thought… that something about this guy reminded me of you," Rui Shi said. Sokka huffed.

"What, me? Kino and I have something in common?" he asked.

"I know the answer to that one: you're both goofballs when you want to be," Katara chimed in, grinning proudly. Sokka pouted as Kino groaned in guilt at the top of the stairs. "Different kinds of goofballs, I suppose, but my point still stands."

"That really might be it," Rui Shi conceded, and Katara chuckled as Sokka turned his pout on his friend instead. "I can't pretend I didn't think about you, the Princess and Song more often than was probably healthy, but… something about that guy reminded me of you too strongly. I should've just followed him and tried to figure out what was so suspicious about him… I guess all his talk about meaning to take Ba Sing Se by storm with his music was a lot more literal than I thought."

"The others were a little nervous when I said that, but I figured no one would assume we were part of a massive army regardless of what I said …" Kino admitted, with a small voice. Rui Shi shrugged.

"I can't say no one would have, but the thought certainly didn't cross my mind at all," he said.

Sokka shook his head, running a hand over his hair as he smiled to himself. Perhaps, if things had turned out differently, he would be genuinely upset about missing out on the chance of reuniting with Rui Shi earlier than he had. But considering they had charged headfirst into battle, and that Rui Shi and the rest of the guards had been fighting to survive for months, leaving them out of that battle might have been for the best, all in all. The future would hopefully shape up rather differently, as Sokka deeply hoped they would stay and fight alongside him from now on, for they had already stated that was their purpose… but he'd ensure they were ready, healthy, and well-fed before they joined him in any future missions, too.

"Well, I suppose that's one less introduction necessary, then," Sokka said. "Though… Kino, did you use a fake name when you went to that town?"

"I… didn't use any names. We agreed on not using any names unless strictly necessary," Kino admitted, with an awkward grin. Sokka shrugged.

"Eh, a fair precaution."

"Reasonable, too, I'd say," Fei Li said, with a shrug. "Us Fire Nation army deserters can't risk being identified when we're somewhere unsafe, after all."

"U-uh… yes. That's right…" Kino said, blinking blankly as he rose to his feet again: awareness seemed to dawn on him now as he assessed the group that now started to climb the stairs. "Oh, shit. You're all… it's really all the guards? A-all of the Princess's guards?! Sokka…!"

"Didn't you say you read a message that said so?" Sokka chuckled as they marched up to reach him. "It's them, alright. The first Fire Nation soldiers you'll meet who won't act like you don't exist, I expect… Rui Shi found you memorable enough that he recognized you right away, see?"

"R-Rui Shi. Heh. R-Rui… Shi," Kino blinked blankly, his face paling as a disbelieving smile crossed his face. "It's really them. It's really…!"

The awareness of standing before some of the men he had idealized through Sokka's stories only dawned on him once they had risen to his level. Sokka smiled and shook his head as Kino trembled, jaw dropped, gaping at each of them in disbelief.

"Well, Kino, as you already know, these are Azula's guards," Sokka explained. "Everyone… this is our expert Fire Nation spy. If you want tips on how to infiltrate the Fire Lord's forces stealthily, you'll never find anyone with more experience than this guy."

"D-don't say that! I'm not…! N-nowhere near as impressive as all of you…!" Kino shivered, bowing deeply, his torso fully bent forward. Fei Li huffed.

"Sokka told us he had you infiltrating the group of prisoners he caught in the South Pole, and they never even noticed you were a spy!" Fei Li said. "That's pretty cool, mind you…"

"N-no, no, no! You guys are way more impressive and interesting! You're benders, and you have great musicians, and…!"

"Oh, now, is Sokka a bender and he never told us?" Tai Wei smirked. "Come on, that guy's by far the most impressive out of everyone here…"

"Well, as far as I know, he's a bit of a firebender himself," Rui Shi smirked. Sokka blushed as several of the others gasped upon remembering the stories of Sokka's indirect bending incidents with Azula. "While being a non-bender, still."

"So don't sell yourself short, no matter how short you may be!" Fei Li exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Kino's shoulders and forcing him to stand upright: the younger soldier blushed crimson, utterly shaken by the gesture. "I'm Fei Li!"

"And I'm Tai Wei."

"I… I'm… I'm Kino. N-nice to meet you all…" Kino said, with a small voice, eyes gleaming in utter disbelief: it seemed as though a moment that had started out quite poorly had taken an astonishing turn for the best. Not only were the guards perfectly agreeable, but Sokka wasn't overly upset about Kino's failure to tell him about his strange encounter with the undercover Rui Shi…

They had needed to know Sokka was safe, just as Sokka had hoped they were, too. Ultimately, the bonds between them mattered far more than how soon or how late they had been able to reclaim them: Kino's mistake, for he wouldn't stop thinking of it as one, hadn't caused irreparable damage, for they were simply profoundly grateful to reunite once again.

Little by little, each of the guards introduced themselves to Kino – naturally, the chatty Fei Li was the one who took to Kino the fastest, asking numerous questions about how he'd deserted, no doubt expecting a much flashier story than the reality of the matter: learning Kino had simply been left behind because no one in his regiment ever took notice of him was both depressing and astonishing.

But while most the others enjoyed the stories by Aang, Katara and Kino, Rui Shi and Sokka sped up their pace as they entered the Palace: the Gladiator guided everyone expertly through the corridors, on his way to a location Rui Shi remembered perfectly…

A servant stood by the kitchen's door: she flinched at once upon seeing Sokka, and she performed a nervous reverence as the Gladiator nodded in her direction.

"Is Myeung working now?" he asked.

"Y-yes, General Sokka…"

"Can you please ask if she can take a break? There's someone here to see her," Sokka said, with a weak grin. The servant eyed Rui Shi with uncertainty, raising an eyebrow upon finding him vaguely familiar… but she nodded quickly, rushing inside the kitchen without another word.

Why he was nervous, Rui Shi didn't know, but Sokka clasped his shoulder reassuringly upon sensing his friend's anxiety was spiking again. Rui Shi offered him a grateful smile in response… and then the kitchen door swung open again, revealing a short woman with graying hair and familiar features for the firebender waiting out in the corridor.

He was thinner, tanner, with a far less dignified attire than any he had worn in all his encounters with her. His hair had grown out enough that he kept some of it tied in a ponytail while his bangs fell in a graceful way over his brow… his face bore stubble that had never grown upon it before.

None of those differences could cause Myeung to fail to recognize him, however.

"Rui… Rui Shi? Rui Shi?!" Myeung exclaimed: her eyes immediately were flooded with tears as her voice hitched with amazement, with excitement. Rui Shi smiled warmly too, stepping forward and kneeling respectfully before her.

"I… I'm sorry I couldn't do more than send that one letter, but…" he said: Myeung's next shriek silenced him before she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him so tightly they both fell on the marble floors.

"Rui Shi!" Sokka gasped: Myeung was mortified at first at the sudden fear of having hurt him by mistake, but to her surprise, the stoic man laughed off her gesture instead: tears blinked in his eyes as well as he sat up again, hugging the older woman tightly too.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I…! Oh, Rui Shi! Rui Shi, my boy, you're here…! Y-you're here! You're alright, my dear, you're alright…!" she sobbed, clinging to him again as they rocked gently in place. Rui Shi chuckled softly, nodding at her words.

"I'm so glad I could see you again. And I'm glad you're safe, too. I worried about you, but… I'm so relieved to know you're okay, Myeung," he said: the woman's response was an unintelligible, emotional howl as she hugged him tighter still.

Sokka's warm smile wasn't bereft of melancholy as he watched the reunion between Rui Shi and Song's mother: he supposed Myeung would ask a million questions pertaining her daughter, desperate to learn if she might be able to see her again, if Rui Shi could bring her to Ba Sing Se too, perhaps… after having struggled for weeks with the reality of the anguish he had caused the older woman, Sokka's guilt was slightly eased by having reunited her with the man her daughter had meant to marry.

There was still, as always, so much more work to be done, so much more he had to worry about and prepare for. But for the first time since longer than he could remember, some of the fog along his path, some of the weight upon his shoulders, had either faded away or fallen out of focus temporarily. He hoped Azula would forgive him for taking his time to savor this moment… for as soon as he ensured the guards were in proper shape to join their army's forces, he would be honored to lead them into however many battles they had yet to face in order to set their Princess free, for once and for all.

---

Kneeling by the unlocked trapdoor, both Song and Rei seemed to hesitate to jump into the tunnels under Azula's room. The Princess was adamant about doing this for their safety, however:

"My father's spy isn't nearby, but if he manages to enter my room somehow, perhaps while Renkai and I are gone, I don't want him to find you alone in here," Azula said, sternly. "He probably realizes that I'm in no shape to take a stand against him, but I won't risk leaving either of you to face him in my absence."

"Do you really think the Fire Lord will try to have us restrained, though?" Song asked, grimacing. "Should we go further away, then? Maybe all the way to the house?"

"I wouldn't advise going that far," Azula admitted, with a deep sigh, sitting at the foot of her bed – she would have taken her seat with her friends by the open trapdoor, but her pregnancy made crouching terribly unpleasant. "Rather… stay nearby unless you hear noise that indicates that someone suspicious infiltrated the room, maybe?"

"We should have a code, so you can tell us it's you when you come back," Rei said, glancing at Azula. "Like… five knocks on the trapdoor at a certain rhythm, or so? If we hear someone upstairs and they don't do that, then we'll know it's not you and we'll flee. Right?"

"That's a good call," Song affirmed. Azula nodded as well.

"Very well, I'll do that," she said. "But for now, for your safety…"

"Will hiding them down in the tunnels suffice?" Renkai asked: the urgency of the situation had seen him entering the room with them once more, joining them in the preparations of their defenses, however faint they might be, against whatever advance Ozai was committing to against Azula now. "As far as I've understood, you can sense his spy because he's a firebender? A firebender with some grasp of the city's defenses would realize Song and Rei didn't just vanish in thin air… wouldn't he follow them into the tunnels?"

"Not likely. Not this firebender," Azula said. "I don't think he could get the trapdoor to unlock at all. Though I suppose the piece of shit might try to destroy it through his particular kind of fire, but…"

"His fire is… not ordinary?" Renkai asked. Azula nodded. "Is it… combustion bending?"

"It's not. I'd call it the opposite of combustion bending, but I suppose that's not accurate either," Azula said, running a hand over her hair. "It's not like he creates things rather than destroying them… but more like his process of destruction is subtle, stealthy. I don't think he'd be particularly noisy, so if he gets inside the room it might be difficult to sense his presence. If worst comes to worst… well, Song, take my sword."

"What? Your sword?" Song gasped. Azula shrugged.

"I wouldn't want him destroying it with his fire, but there's a chance that it might be able to help you defend yourselves. Your lives are more valuable than a sword," she said. "If the trapdoor, like I said, melts or vanishes or drops for no explicable reason… stab into the cloud of smoke that will probably be left in its wake? If you get close, the spy will definitely have to respond by destroying the sword… and it will be vulnerable then. So, by then… Rei would have to be the one to strike him down with another weapon, I suppose. My knife might do. Neither of you are ready for a fight, I know as much, but… you have to defend yourselves no matter what. Brace yourselves for anything. We're all aware of how little respect my father has for boundaries… he doesn't care what he does or who he hurts to get his way. And as we don't know what he's trying to do this time… you have to stay safe and out of his grasp for as long as possible. That's what matters here."

Song swallowed hard and nodded. Azula pushed herself up to her feet: a more ornate robe than those she usually wore these days already decorated her body. She had cleaned up, and Rei and Song had helped her by composing her hair properly afterwards. She was far from perfect, inevitably so… but at least her father wouldn't be able to attack her for not showing proper respect by not getting her act together for his war meeting.

Azula picked up Wolf's Bane first, then a smaller dagger she had kept near it: she handed the longer weapon to Song, who clasped it nervously, while the smaller one was assigned to Rei instead.

"It's a dagger I haven't used much, but it should help in case of any emergencies," she said. "I wish I had better weapons to offer, but…"

"I wish you didn't have to offer us any…" Rei said, gazing at her mother mournfully. "Thank you for protecting us. But… what about you? Will you be okay without…?"

"I can't even imagine how my father would react if I brought any weapons with me to a war meeting," Azula said, shaking her head. "I shouldn't even bring Sokka's necklace…"

"We can hold it for you," Song said, reassuringly. Azula sighed and nodded: she had meant to leave it in her nightstand, but it might be for the best in Song's custody instead.

"Thank you," she said, handing the bone necklace to Song carefully. "I'll try to be ready to face whatever he throws at me as I am… but I want to be sure that the two of you will be alright."

Something bad was bound to happen next, Azula knew as much. Ozai wasn't inviting her to a war meeting just because he missed her insightful input or so: he had done this with a purpose in mind, and Azula was torn between wanting to unravel what it was and wanting nothing to do with her father. Her firebending wouldn't save her… weapons wouldn't do it, either. Just as the Fire Lord liked it, she'd be at his mercy… his and that of all the goons he'd invited for today's war meeting. Shaofeng hadn't shared the meeting's subject with her, she only had a handful of suspicions regarding what her father wanted to discuss… none of those suspicions were reassuring in the least, of course. Her period of relative peace hadn't lasted as long as she would have liked, no matter if she had made the most of it while she could…

But the peaceful days had ended now. She had to face the world, and her father's wrath, head-on once more.

"Go, then. They'll be here at any moment," Azula said, gesturing at Song and Rei to climb into the tunnels.

"You… you'll be okay?" Rei asked, nervously. Azula smiled, reaching down to caress her daughter's hair.

"I don't want to lie to you, I might not be… but I'll definitely feel better if you and Song are out of my father's reach. That will be enough for me to get through this war meeting without losing my mind, I hope, so… if you want to do something for me, just go in there and wait, okay?"

"I… I will. Alright," Rei said, biting her lip before smiling shyly at Azula. "I'll run to the kitchens after the meeting is over and make sure they can make some mochi for you. I'm sure you'll want something to lift your spirits after this…"

"Ah, lift my spirits or make me gain weight?" Azula smirked. Rei chuckled as the Princess caressed her hair again. "Well, as ever, I warn you that mochi and I are a dangerous combination, but I won't say no to that offer. Thank you, Rei."

The young woman smiled, squeezing Azula's hand gently before jumping into the tunnel, now very familiar for both her and Song. The healer handed Rei the lit lantern they always used while in the tunnels, and she clasped Wolf's Bane firmly before glancing at Azula.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I'm sure I'm not going to need this sword," she said, with resolve. Azula smiled and shrugged. "We'll be okay. We'll take care of ourselves. Do what you have to do, though. Don't let your father torment you, please. After everything he's done… the last thing he deserves is to keep getting away with his bullshit."

"Unfortunately, that's his main purpose in life… but I'll do my best to keep his worst at bay," Azula said: she certainly meant to try, but she suspected there were no choices she could make to stop her father's most nefarious impulses and punishments intended for her.

"Please do," Song said, gazing at her hopelessly. "Rei and I will be waiting for the two of you, so… come back soon so that all four of us can play another Mahjong game together, alright?"

"Sure. We all love losing against Rei, after all," Azula smiled. Renkai grinned a little too, nodding gently as Rei blushed underground.

"I don't win every time…" she said, prompting Song to chuckle at her words.

"Okay, then… okay. Try not to take too long, if you can avoid it, Azula," Song said, smiling a little at her. "Good luck… and stay safe."

"I'll do my best," Azula nodded. "I'll come back as soon as I'm able to."

Song sighed and nodded: she climbed into the tunnel with the sheathed Wolf's Bane. Both women waved at Azula from below ground as Renkai stepped forward to set the trapdoor in place once more: the Princess's warm smile was the last thing they saw before they were safely hidden away in the darkness of the tunnel.

Renkai took care to roll the carpet into place once more. He picked up his helmet next, for he'd left it on Azula's desk, and he bowed in her direction.

"For safety's sake, I'll stand outside now," he said. Azula nodded.

"Please do. And… try not to take too long with your report, as well," Azula suggested. "I'll be much more comfortable if you're already by the door once I come back…"

"I shouldn't head inside to keep them safer, then?"

"Not right now. While I can't expect to fight the spy myself anymore, I certainly scared him once before," Azula said, breathing deeply. "I don't expect he'll feel the same way about you, so… it's better if you wait outside. That way, you'd make sure he can't get in unless he gives away his existence to do so, and I don't expect he wants to do that."

"This is terribly confusing…" Renkai admitted, fitting his helmet in place. "But I'll do as you say, Princess. I'll do my best to come back quickly."

"I will, too," Azula said, smiling a little at him. "Go on, then. The last thing you need is for Shaofeng to think I've gotten into your head or so…"

"Certainly," Renkai nodded, bowing his head curtly at Azula before marching to the door.

He stood outside, as always, after closing the bedroom door once more. The Princess breathed deeply as she returned to her mattress, taking her seat there: she would be alright. Whatever her father was plotting this time, she had done nothing treacherous, or at least, nothing her father could prove was treacherous. Her communication with Sokka had been spiritual, even she found herself wondering if she'd lost her mind more often than not, when she thought about it…

Her chest ached as she felt an unusual lack of weight in her pocket: she always carried the necklace with her. Parting with it was utterly unbearable… but she'd come back to retrieve it soon. Whatever her father wanted, she still had to give birth to the child he assumed would be his future heir… if just for that reason, her father couldn't be so reckless as to try to hurt her considerably, she might lose the child if he tried. He didn't know who its true father was, he believed it was Zhao, the deceit had worked on him…

He couldn't do anything to hurt the baby. If he tried, she'd sooner die than let him touch her child.

Her resolve to protect their baby strengthened… just in time for the door to swing open.

A large number of Imperial Guards stood outside: Renkai marched away solemnly with some of them, without so much as looking back – he never failed to display his discipline before the rest of his fellow guards, and he certainly had to pretend to be the perfect guard right now. His future chances to investigate General Shaofeng and protect Princess Azula would hinge on his performance right now, on how convincingly he presented himself as he reported on the Princess's activities to the General himself…

The Princess rose to her feet slowly. She tried not to eye the men reproachfully, but she couldn't repress that urge completely as she marched across the room slowly: she felt all their gazes upon her… she didn't doubt most of them would have drifted to her prominent womb, for that happened whenever anyone saw it. She hoped her pregnancy belly wasn't too big, and Song often told her it was of a perfectly reasonable size… but Azula couldn't help but worry that her father might begin to question that the child could be his wretched friend's offspring if he realized she was further along than the Head Sage had claimed she was.

Could that be it? Had Ozai grown to realize, to suspect, that the child's father was Sokka? Or was she thinking too much of it… and the truth behind this war meeting was what her father's latest discovery of Sokka's survival, what she had dreaded across the past weeks?

She'd find out shortly.

Her heart beat too fast for comfort as her body appeared to reject her current reality completely. She stepped across the threshold of her quarters, on her way to the Throne Room where Ozai's council would meet… where the latest, placid days she'd basked in with her family and friends were certain to reach their untimely end.