Azula stared at the man named Hakoda with curiosity and a mix of fear. He claimed to be a water tribesman, so why wasn't he trying to eat her? Or kill her? Why even bother saving her? At the Fire Nation royal academy for girls they were taught that the people from the water tribes were barbaric and killed any fire nation person on sight. So what was his deal? He also wanted to know her name, something that she wasn't sure she should tell him. While it was unlikely that her or Zuko's names were known outside of the Fire Nation, she still had to be careful. There was no telling what Hakoda and his crew would do if they found out that she was the Fire Nation princess.

Unfortunately, Azula couldn't think of a fake name to give to the man.

Oh well. I'll just tell him my name and see how it goes.

"My name is Azula." she said, hoping that he wouldn't recognize her name as being the name of the Fire Nation princess. Besides, it's not like it would be uncommon for a Fire Nation citizen to name their child after the Fire Lord, right?

"Azula, huh? That's a lovely name. It's nice to meet you." Hakoda said.

He decided not to comment on the fact that her name sounded eerily similar to Fire Lord Azulon. Then again, it probably wasn't uncommon for people in the Fire Nation to name their child after their ruler.

"So um….is this the part where you eat me?"

Hakoda was stunned by the question. Why did she think he was going to eat her?

"Of course I'm not going to eat you. Where did you get an idea like that?"

"That's what they taught us in school. We were told that people from the other nations would eat Fire Nation children! And that's why they're bad people" Azula explained.

Hakoda blinked. What in the world did they teach at those schools?

"Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you. Neither is Bato, or any of my men."

"Bato?"

"He's my best friend and my right hand man. He's someone that I trust very much."

"Oh"

It must be nice to have someone you can trust, Azula thought. For the longest time she thought that she could trust her father, and that he would always be on her side and have her best interest at heart. Clearly she had been wrong. Her mind went to Zuko and her mother. Did they miss her? Were they out searching for her? She wondered what father told them to explain her disappearance. If he wanted to cover his own tracks, he most likely told them that she had been killed by assassins. It's not like he could tell them the truth, after all. She was broken out of her thoughts when Hakoda spoke again.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you? Why were you on that ship?" he asked.

Azula contemplated her options. She could tell him the truth, but if he knew that she was a member of the royal family, there was no telling what he would do to her. Perhaps she would be used as a bargaining chip. She didn't even want to think about what would happen to her if her father or grandfather got ahold of her. Lying it was, then.

"Bandits broke into my home and killed my parents and my older brother. I would have been dead too if…if my mother didn't think to hide me. They took some things and then left. I wasn't sure if they would come back or not, so I ran away. Eventually I came across that ship and decided to get on it. I didn't really care about where it was going. It's not like I have anything to go back to now anyway" she said. Even though she was telling a lie, she had tears in her eyes, still not able to believe that her father would have actually killed her, and that she had to leave her home as a result. Even though her mom really didn't care about her, Azula couldn't help but want one of her mother's warm hugs right about now. Next thing she knew, she was pulled into someone's arms. Well, she got the warm hug that she wanted. But it wasn't from her mother.

It was from Hakoda.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that, Azula. I can't even begin to imagine how scared you must have been. You're safe now, I promise."

Azula tried to hold back her tears, she really did. But between Hakoda's promise that she was safe and his warm hug, she started sobbing.

A short time later, Hakoda quietly closed the door to his room, not wanting to wake up Azula. The girl had cried herself to sleep. As he made his way out onto the deck, he thought about what he should do with her. She quite obviously had nowhere to go, and it didn't feel right to drop off a child somewhere in the Earth Kingdom and leave them to fend for themselves. That left him with one choice. He would have to take her back home with him to the Southern Water tribe. Of course he would have to talk it over with his crew, but he was sure that they would understand. Hopefully. He looked up when he heard footsteps walking towards him. It was Bato.

"So how's the kid doing? Is she ok?"

"She's asleep. Although I wouldn't actually say that she's ok," Hakoda said, telling Bato everything that Azula told him.

"That's - that's terrible. I can only imagine how scared she must be. And going by what she said, she doesn't have anywhere else to go. So, what do you want to do with her?" Bato asked, giving his friend a knowing look. Hakoda chuckled. His friend knew him too well.

"Was I that obvious?"

"No, I just know how you think and who you are as a person. You don't have it in you to abandon a kid, whether or not they're from the Fire Nation. You do know that you'll have to talk it over with the others though, right? They may not be too keen on having someone from the Fire Nation living amongst us. Not to mention how the people in the tribe will react to her being there. And of course you have to ask the girl herself if she wants to live with us."

Hakoda knew all of this, of course. After the last raid on their tribe, the last thing anyone wanted was someone from the Fire Nation living with them. Not to mention that he had to consider how his kids would react, especially Katara. She was the last one to see Kya alive, only to return to their hut and find her mother dead, burned to a crisp by a firebender. He didn't know how she would react to actually living with one, even if the person in question was a child. That last line of thought gave Hakoda pause. Was Azula a firebender? He realized that he had no idea. That was the farthest thing from his mind when he spoke to the little girl earlier, especially after she had told him what happened to her. He would have to ask her later when she woke up. Of course, her answer wouldn't change his mind. He still wanted her to come back with them. Assuming she said yes, that is.

Hakoda spoke to his crew about the situation, and asked them how they would feel about the possibility of Azula living with them. As expected, some of them looked unsure of having someone from the Fire Nation living with them, but nobody objected to the idea, most likely because Azula was a little kid. Much like Bato, they had warned him that not everyone in the tribe would take kindly to her. It was possible that they may never warm up to her. While he hoped that wouldn't be the case, Hakoda knew that was a possibility. He decided that he would worry about that later. He still needed to ask Azula what she thought about all of this.

Azula woke up to find herself alone. She wondered where Hakoda went. Thinking about the man reminded her of how she had cried in his arms. She mentally scolded herself for showing such weakness, especially in front of someone she just met. What had she been thinking? Didn't father tell her that crying, especially in front of others, was a weakness? That it was unbecoming of someone of her royal status?

Then again, father was going to kill me. Maybe I shouldn't take what he taught me so seriously anymore.

She knew that it would take a long time for her to disregard her father's teachings. Perhaps she would never fully be free of them. She had hung on to his every word for years, never thinking for a second that he could be lying or that he was wrong. Now, though? Now she wasn't so sure.

"Oh good, you're awake."

She looked up at the sound of Hakoda's voice. He had a bowl in his hands as he walked over to her. Based on the smell she could tell that it was food. She had no idea what it was though. And it smelled weird. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't anything that she was used to eating. Hakoda saw the look on her face and chuckled. It was a mixture of confusion and slight disgust at the smell.

"I know that you aren't used to this at all, but you have to eat something. It's stewed sea prunes. You'll get used to the taste and smell with time." he said, handing her the bowl. She took the bowl from him and took a bite of the stewed sea prunes. It wasn't….bad, she supposed, but it did taste weird. She entertained the idea of spitting it out before quickly disregarding that. Hakoda had been nice enough to get her something to eat, and she was hungry. Not to mention that him and his crew didn't have to save her either. They could have left her to her fate once they realized that she was from the Fire Nation, but they didn't. It would probably be best if she ate what he gave her, no matter how much she didn't really like it.

Hakoda stared at the girl as she ate. He could tell that she didn't really care for it, but she seemed to be ignoring that fact in favor of feeding her stomach. When she was finished eating, he took the bowl from her and set it down.

"How did you like it? Was it good?"

"It was….something. Thank you for the food."

Hakoda chuckled, "You're welcome. Do you mind if we talk?" he asked.

Azula looked at him warily, "About what?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kick you off my ship, nor am I dropping you off somewhere. I wanted to ask you if you would like to live with me at the South Pole, in the Southern Water tribe."

Azula blinked. Out of all the things he could have said to her, that was the last thing she was expecting.

"Live…with you?"

"Yes. I know that it'll take you a while to adjust to living among people who aren't from the Fire Nation, and the cold, but I promise you that you will be safe there. I have two kids as well, a son and a daughter. My daughter is actually around your age. I talked it over with my crew as well, and they all agreed to the idea. So what do you say?"

Azula weighed her options. She could either reject the offer and ask to be dropped off at the nearest Earth Kingdom port, despite having nowhere to go and zero survival skills to speak of. Not to mention the possibility of Fire Nation soldiers coming across her. It wasn't uncommon to see them in the Earth Kingdom. Or, she could take Hakoda up on his offer and go with him to the Southern Water tribe, where she would be safe. Sure, it would take her time to adjust to the cold, as well as having to live among peasants, but it was better than dying. Anything was better than dying.

She looked at him and nodded her head, "Ok. And….thank you. For everything."

He smiled, "You're welcome. One more thing: are you a firebender?"

To answer his question, Azula stuck her palm out, and a second later, a bright and intense flame appeared. Hakoda backed away from it, surprised at how intense it was. And from a little kid, no less!

"Well, I suppose that answers my question. That's a very powerful flame."

"Of course it is. I'm a prodigy after all." she said with pride. Then she thought about why he asked that question to begin with. Why did he want to know that?

"Um…me being a firebender isn't a problem, is it?"

"Huh? No, no, I just wanted to know if you were or not, this way the people of my tribe won't be surprised if you happen to bend."

"Oh"

Hakoda stood up, "Would you like to meet the rest of my crew? They wanted to see how you're doing."

She supposed that made sense. Getting out of the bed, Azula walked over to where Hakoda was and grabbed his hand, shocking the both of them. She didn't know why she decided to do that, but it was probably because Hakoda made her feel safe. His presence felt very calming to her. A voice in her head told her that he wouldn't want her touching him. Not wanting to upset him, she tried to pull her hand away, but Hakoda kept a tight grip on her, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"It's ok, I don't mind. Now let's go introduce you to everyone."

Over the next few weeks, Azula got to know everyone on the ship, including Bato, Hakoda's best friend. He seemed nice enough, as we're the others, but she could still tell that they were a bit nervous around her. The feeling was mutual. Azula mostly stuck close to Hakoda, never straying too far from his side. Especially if they were hit by a storm. She was practically inseparable from him whenever that happened, something that didn't shock Hakoda much at all. The last time she had been on a ship during a storm, she had been thrown overboard and nearly died. It was only natural for her to feel scared.

The more time Azula spent around them, the more she became convinced that what she was taught at the Fire Nation royal academy for girls about people from the water tribes were lies. None of them had tried to eat her when Hakoda introduced her to his crew. Her teachers would refer to them as savages, people who were unrefined and disgusting. But they didn't seem like that to Azula at all. They couldn't be bad people if they saved her life, after all. Aside from the fact that they were from different nations and she was a member of the royal family, Azula really couldn't find any differences between her and them. They were people just like her.

Azula wondered what Hakoda's children were like, and if they would like her. She knew that they probably wouldn't get along at first, what with her being from the Fire Nation and all, and the fact that she had no idea how to act around children from a different nation than her own, but she hoped that they could become friends. Having some friends would be nice, she thought. Especially since Mai and Ty Lee wouldn't be there.

A few days later, they stopped at an Earth Kingdom port. At first she was terrified, thinking that they had gone back on their word and ditch her. Hakoda saw the look on her face and quickly reassured her that he wasn't going to leave her, and that they were just stopping for some supplies, as well as a coat for her. When she had asked why she needed a coat, Hakoda chuckled and told her that she would need it when the weather inevitably changed as they entered the south pole.

When they finally did reach the south pole, Azula was thankful for the coat. While she felt somewhat warm thanks to her inner flame, the coat definitely helped. The soup that they would make helped keep them warm as well. Azula never thought that she would be grateful to be eating water tribe food as she was in that moment. As she was eating, she felt something cold fall on her face. Startled, she looked up, only to see white stuff falling down from the sky. She tugged on Hakoda's sleeve to get this attention. She had to know what this stuff was!

"What is it, Azula?"

"What's that white stuff falling down from the sky? It feels wet and cold." she asked.

Hakoda looked at her for a moment before realizing that she was from the Fire Nation, so of course she wouldn't know what snow was.

"It's called snow. Don't worry, it's nothing to be concerned about. It's pretty common here. It's the same up north too." he explained.

Up north? Now that she thought about it, she did remember one of her teachers talking about the Northern Water Tribe, and how the Fire Nation had fought against them a few times. She decided not to mention that though. Probably for the best that she didn't.

"Does snow fall here often?"

"Yes, it does, since it's cold all the time. We also have something called the Polar Night, where nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours. When this happens, the sun isn't visible, which makes it colder than usual." he explained.

No sun?! How was she going to survive? Or practice her firebending?

"How long does it last?"

"A few months"

….she was going to die, wasn't she? Perhaps it would have been better if she stayed in the Earth Kingdom after all.

A few weeks later, Hakoda woke Azula up. The girl yawned and stretched her limbs, before realizing that it was still early. Why had he woke her up? As if sensing what she was thinking, Hakoda said, "We're here. Welcome to the Southern Water tribe, Azula."