Azula was bored.
They had been walking around in this town for what seemed like forever, trying to find an earthbending teacher for Aang. Something that Azula could care less about, but the Avatar and his friends had insisted on it. Then they could get back to trying to find a way to change Azula back to normal.
"If we can find a way to turn the tiny princess back." Sokka had said.
Azula had never wanted to punch a person more than she did in that moment.
During her time with this weird group, she noticed that out of the three of them, Sokka was the one who got on her nerves the most. Aang and Katara usually left her alone when it seemed like she was in a bad mood, but that never seemed to deter Sokka. If anything, it just encouraged him to get on her nerves. Azula really couldn't figure him out. What kind of idiot would risk getting a fireben-
Azula's thoughts stopped in its tracks. Was that mochi she was smelling?
She quickly turned to look at the rest of the group. None of them were paying attention to her. Perfect. She slowly began backing away from them before going into a full on sprint towards the direction the smell was coming from.
The tiny girl felt something land on her shoulder and turned around to see Momo staring at her.
Azula rolled her eyes. The avatar's pet lemur wanted to babysit her? Fine. She would only be gone for a few short minutes anyway. No big deal.
"Um, Mai?" Ty Lee asked.
"What is it?"
"Where's Azula?!"
Mai stopped walking and turned around.
No Azula in sight.
She had been so busy listening to what Ty Lee was saying to her that she completely forgot to hold Azula's hand and make sure she didn't get lost. Granted, Mai hadn't expected Azula to get lost or even run off since she was still technically a teenager.
Mai really should have known better.
"Hey, where's Momo?" Aang asked
So now the lemur was missing too. Terrific. Perhaps he went with Azula.
"He may have gone with Azula. Which means if we find her, we find him." Mai said.
"This is a pretty big area though. Where on earth could she be? And why did she leave in the first pla- hey, what's that smell?" Sokka said. Whatever it was, it smelled lovely.
Smell?
Mai took a good sniff of the air, and closed her eyes trying to remember where exactly she smelled the scent before. It didn't take her long to realize that it was mochi she was smelling. Which meant only one thing.
"I know where Azula is."
"Really? Where?"
"Follow the scent and you'll see."
Azula couldn't believe her eyes. There were so many flavors to choose from! Oh, if only she could buy the entire stall….but even she didn't have that much money.
Or did she?
"Hey mister, how much for the whole set?" She asked.
"The whole set?! Kid, are you trying to make yourself sick?"
"Just answer me!"
Seriously, where was this kid's parents at? "It's 30 gold pieces."
30? She could do that.
"I'll take them!"
Azula handed the man 30 gold pieces, and happily watched him place all of the mochi into a bag. She couldn't wait to eat all of this!
" Ahem"
Azula turned around to see Mai towering over her with an angry look on her face.
"Um….hi Mai. Lovely weather this is, huh?"
"Spare me." The older girl then proceeded to pick Azula up by the collar of her shirt.
"Did you really have to run off like that? You gave us all quite a scare."
They actually worried about her? Now she felt bad.
Wait, what?! Why am I feeling bad? I'm a princess! I can do whatever I want!
Those thoughts didn't stop her from saying what she did next "I'm sorry."
Ugh. If they didn't find a way to return her to her true form soon, she was going to die of embarrassment.
"That's ok, tiny princess. We forgive you."
"Fuck you!"
"AZULA! You shouldn't be saying those kinds of words!"
"I am not a CHILD, Ty Lee!"
They immediately resumed they're search of finding Aang an earthbending teacher when Sokka stumbled across a bag. A bag that he just KNEW would look great on him. There was just one problem: it was way too expensive. And they needed to save money, not spend it on pointless things.
"Guess I'm not getting this then." Sokka said dejectedly, putting the bag back down.
"What are you doing?" A tiny voice said behind him. Sokka turned around, only to see Azula standing in front of him, munching on a piece of mochi with Momo on her shoulder.
"Oh, hey. Nothing, just putting this bag back since it's too expensive."
"Are you an idiot? Or did you just forget that you're traveling with royalty?"
"Are you saying that you'll buy this for me?"
"What does it look like, dummy?"
Sokka cheered and then bent down to hug Azula.
"You are the best tiny princess ever!"
"Yeah that's great, now get off of me you fool!"
Hopefully he wouldn't see her blushing. Seriously, what was with her today?!
Eventually, they came across an earthbending school. Aang enrolled for a lesson, but it didn't go well.
"Yeah, I don't think he's the one for me. There's got to be someone who is exactly like Bumi described." Aang said. Just then, they heard two boys walking out of the school, talking about someone called "The Boulder" and some earthbending tournament.
"Excuse me, where can I find this tournament?"
"It's on the planet of None of your business! Haha!" And with that, the two boys walked away.
Well that had to be the worst joke I've heard, Azula thought to herself.
"Ahahaha! I gotta remember that one!" Said Sokka.
Of course the fool would find it funny.
"Don't worry Aang, I'll handle this." Katara said before running off after the boys.
"Wait for me! I'm coming too!"
"Azula, wait!" Mai called after the girl. Azula ignored her and ran off after Katara.
"Ok seriously, we're going to have to do something to make her stop running off. This is going to be a problem at some point."
"Well then, what do you propose, oh great one?" Mai asked Sokka sarcastically.
"Well we either hold her hand at all times or we carry her. Both things ensure that she won't run off like this again."
A few minutes later, the two girls returned.
"Are you ready to find yourself an earthbending teacher, Aang? Because we're going to Earth Rumble Six!"
"How did you two get them to talk?"
"Oh, us girls have our ways. Right, Azula?"
"Yep!"
A few ways away, the two boys were stuck to the wall thanks to Katara's water bending.
"D-dude- I-I'm ff-freezing! A-and t-that-l-little-g-girl kicks too hard!"
"I-I k-know. D-did s-she h-have to k-kick u-us t-there?!"
Eventually, they arrived at the arena. They found seats easily enough, which seemed odd to them. The answer as to why it was so easy came soon enough when a giant boulder was heading straight towards them, Sokka picking up Azula just in time before she got crushed.
"I guess that's why nobody else is sitting here. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. Thank you, Sokka."
"Don't mention it." He said with a smile on his face.
Said smile made Azula blush.
Damnit, why does this keep on happening?!
"Hey, are you sure you're ok? You look kinda red in the face."
"I said I'm fine!"
A few seconds later, a man came up onto the stage.
"Welcome to Earth Rumble Six! I am your host, Xin Fu! The rules are simple! Just knock the other guy out of the ring, and you win!"
And with that, the fighting began. The first match was between some guy who called himself "The Boulder" (who of course Sokka liked. Leave it to an idiot to be attracted to another idiot) and "The Hippo". Dumb names of you asked Azula. The fight ended soon enough, with The Boulder winning. The next contestant to fight him was some guy calling himself…. Fire Nation Man?
"Ok, that's just weird. Why is someone from the Earth Kingdom dressing up as if he were from the Fire Nation?" Ty Lee asked.
"Like you said, the guy is weird." Mai said.
"And now I shall sing the Fire Nation National Anthem!"
Please just kill me, Azula thought to herself.
Thankfully, The Boulder took care of Fire Nation Man pretty quickly. The rest of the fights were pretty one sided, with The Boulder winning them all. Soon enough, a girl that was a little bit taller than Azula stepped into the ring.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! The Boulder versus your champion, the Blind Bandit!" said Xin Fu.
This girl was blind? And yet she was an earthbending champion? Interesting.
Perhaps this is the girl Aang has been looking for. This should be interesting, Azula thought.
The Blind Bandit made quick work of The Boulder (Azula was so happy that someone finally beat that idiot and shut up Sokka's cheers) and retained her champion title.
"How did she do that?" Katara asked, amazed at what she had just witnessed.
"She waited…and listened." Aang said. This girl was definitely the one he saw in the swamp. And she did exactly what Bumi said! He had no doubt that she was supposed to be his earthbending teacher. But how to talk to her?
Xin Fu came onto the stage once again and stood next to the girl.
"To make things more interesting, I'm offering up this bag of gold to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!"
Perfect. Aang couldn't ask for a more perfect opportunity to talk to her.
"What's this?! Nobody dares to face her?!"
"I will!" Aang shouted, making his way onto the ring.
"Go Aang! Avenge The Boulder!" Sokka shouted.
Azula facepalmed. If she didn't kill Sokka at some point during this journey, she would consider that an accomplishment.
The fight ended pretty quickly, with Aang airbending the Blind Bandit out of the ring. Which only pissed the girl off (Azula couldn't exactly blame her) and she stormed out of the arena. Since they had no idea who she was or where she went, they decided to ask around the town. Eventually, they went to the same earthbending school that Aang attended before, and right outside were the two boys who were rude to Aang.
"Oh great, it's you again." One of them said, which earned them both a glare from Katara. Azula chuckled upon seeing that. One of the boys quickly recognized Aang as being the one who defeated the Blind Bandit. Aang asked them if they knew anything about her, but all they got out of them was that the Blind Bandit appears and then disappears, and that nobody knew who she actually was or where she lived.
"That's because we're asking about the wrong person. In my vision, I saw a girl in a white dress with a pet flying boar. Know anybody like that?"
"Well, a flying boar is the symbol of the Beifong family. They're the richest people in town. Probably the whole world."
"Yeah, but they don't have a daughter." The other boy said.
"A flying boar is good enough for me! Let's check it out!" Aang said.
After walking around for a while, they came across a mansion that had a flying boar symbol on it. Which meant that the blind bandit was here. They made their way inside, but before they could decide on their next course of action, the ground moved beneath them, and they found themselves flying in the air and landing on bushes….right in front of the Blind Bandit herself.
"What are you doing here, Twinkle Toes?" She asked.
Azula chuckled. Now that was a funny nickname. Almost as funny as her nickname for Zuko. She liked this girl.
"How did you know it was me?" Aang asked
"Don't answer to Twinkle Toes, it's not manly!" Sokka said.
"You're the one with the bag who matches his belt." Katara retorted.
"How did you find me?"
"Well, a crazy King told me that I needed to find an earthbending teacher who waits and listens for the right moment to strike. Then I had a vision in a magic swamp, and-"
"What Aang is trying to say is, he's the Avatar. And if he doesn't master earthbending soon, he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord."
Not like he has a chance in hell of defeating my father, anyway
"Not my problem. Now, get out of here. Or I'll call the guards!"
"Look, we all have to play our part to end this war. And yours is to teach Aang earthbending." said Sokka.
That seemed to make the girl angry, because she turned and began yelling at Sokka.
"Excuse me?! I don't have any 'part' to play in this war. Like I said, it's not my problem. Now get. OUT!"
"Way to go, moron."
"Shut up, tiny princess!"
"Sokka, don't call her that here!" Katara said.
These statements seemed to intrigued the girl, because she stopped walking away from them.
"Hmm? Why can't you call her that here? And why do you call her that anyway?"
"Oh, you know. Just because she likes to boss us around and act like she's royalty, when she's really just a nobody like the rest of us! Well, except for Aang."
"The first half of that statement was a lie."
"You can tell when people are lying?" Aang asked, surprised.
"Yep. I can feel a person's heartbeat with my earthbending, which is how I can tell if they are lying or not." the girl responded.
"Wow, really! That's so cool! No wonder you kicked that guys butt no problem!" Azula said excitedly with her fists clenched.
"Yep, I'm the best. So 'tiny princess', what's your deal? Who exactly are you? Are you really a princess?"
"I'll tell you whatever you want to know on one condition: hear Aang out."
Toph decided to comply with the little squirt's wishes and invited them all to dinner. No matter how much she asked though, the girl still wouldn't give Toph a name. Or confirm whether or not she actually was a princess. What Toph was 100% certain of, however, was that this girl was interesting. Way more interesting than some kid claiming to be the Avatar(although that claim made sense since Toph could have sworn that he used airbending against her. Who else other than the Avatar could airbend?).
Dinner would have gone smoothly, had Aang not decided to not so subtly imply to her parents that she was a master earthbender. Seriously, was he trying to get her into trouble? She had tried sending him hints to shut up by using her earthbending on him, but it didn't work. At least the squirt seemed to find it funny. Toph could live with that.
After dinner ended, her father sent the Avatar and his friends to a room that they would be staying in for the night. A room that Toph was currently heading towards. She still had to find out some more about that girl. And she wanted to talk to Aang too.
When she got into the room and Aang noticed her, he screamed and got into a defensive position. That made Toph smirk for a second before she spoke.
"Look, I'm sorry about dinner. Let's call a truce, ok? I want to talk to you and the squirt over there. Care to take a little walk?"
"Sure!" Aang said, smiling and walking over to Toph.
"Well, I'd love to say yes, but unfortunately I have to get permission from my guardian first. Well, Mai? Can I go with them?"
The girl who was apparently Mai looked at the squirt and said "Sure, just don't run off again like you did earlier. Really not in the mood to go looking for you."
"Sounds like someone has a protective older sister. Don't worry, I'll make sure she comes back in one piece."
That ended up being a promise Toph wouldn't be able to keep. Not too long after her, Aang, and the squirt went outside for a chat, the three of them got captured by Xin Fu, The Boulder, and the other contestants from Earth Rumble Six. Something about owing them money. Which made no sense to Toph. How could any of them owe these idiots money? It's not like they stole from them or anything like-
Oh
They must have realized that Twinkle Toes didn't use earthbending to beat her, but airbending. Either that, or they just assumed that she threw the fight. Considering how dumb these guys seemed to be, Toph was going to go with the latter. Which was just insulting, because why would she ever throw a fight? She'd rather die than do that.
Eventually, her father, her buffoon of an earthbending teacher, and everyone else showed up to save them. Like she needed people to save her. She wasn't Twinkle Toes. Toph imagined that the little squirt was thinking along the same lines. Xin Fu let her go, but said he was keeping the Avatar since the Fire Nation would pay a nice price for him.
Which meant that the kid would be stuck with him. And Toph was not about to let that happen. She still has questions to ask her!
She let go of her father's hand as he was trying to leave with her, and walked out onto the stage. Toph got into an earthbending stance and smirked.
These people were going to regret messing with her.
Azula decided that she hated this town. Those idiots couldn't get three cages to capture them in instead of two? Being trapped with Aang was a nightmare! The idiot kept on reassuring her that everything would be ok and that the others would come and rescue them. As if she were a damn child that needed reassuring. She really needed an opportunity to prove to these fools that she was not in fact a child, but a powerful 14 year old firebending master.
Toph was talking to her parents, trying to get them to see things from her side(fat chance of that happening, parents never listen to their kids) and make them realize that she was a powerful earthbender in her own right and didn't need to be protected and hidden from the world just because she was blind. But of course, like Azula expected, the conversation went nowhere. And instead her dumb father decided that this incident meant that Toph needed to be sheltered even more than what she already was, and that she needed to be watched at all hours of the day. Then the fool had his guards escort them out, saying that they were no longer welcome in his home.
Well fuck that.
Azula really had no idea what came over her, but next thing she knew, she was standing next to Toph and glaring at her parents.
"Are you really going to let them tell you what to do? After everything that's happened? You just proved to your father that you are more than what he thinks you are! So forget them and come with us! You can finally be free. You don't have to be a bird trapped in it's cage anymore."
"Little girl, how dare you?! Do you have any idea who we are or what my guards can do to you?!"
"Do you have any idea who I am and what I can do to you? No. And trust me, you don't want to see what I can and will do to you, so shut up."
A small chuckle that soon turned into full blown laughter interrupted them. Azula turned around to see Toph holding her sides and laughing.
"Never thought I'd see the day where a little kid could stand up to my parents in a way that I never attempted to before. I gotta say kid, I really like you. Too bad that you aren't the Avatar instead of Twinkle Toes. I think I'd like teaching you instead."
Oh trust me, you wouldn't want me being the Avatar.
"Well mom and dad, that's how it is. The kid is right. I'm leaving with them, whether you two like it or not. See ya later! Let's go, gang."
As they made their way out, Sokka lagged behind the rest of them so that he could talk to Azula.
"I didn't know you had it in you."
"Well of course, I'm a princess after all. I know how to get people to do what I want."
"Alright, now that we're up in the air and finally away from my parents, can you please tell me who you actually are, squirt?"
The others looked at Toph with amused looks on their faces.
"You know Toph, with the way you're acting, you would think that you came along just because of her and not because you want to teach Aang earthbending."
"No no, you got it right. I am coming along because of her. She seems interesting. And I've never seen someone stand up to my parents like that before. Makes it even better that it was a little kid. So, who really are you? Are you actually a princess?"
Azula looked at her and smirked.
"My name is Princess Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai."