"Did you lose in Pai Sho again?"

Azula clenched her fists upon hearing those words come out of her brother's mouth; the mocking tone suggested that he could go any better against Iroh than she could, and she was gravely offended by the suggestion. Zuko was no idiot, and she understood that if he was a little more thick in the head, he mightn't even try to prod her with his incendiary comments; but he did, and she would bite back, and she'd do so with the one thing she knew her brother couldn't face up.

"Are you implying you beat me, Brother?" she asked him, the Prince raising his chin up.

His height on her did not make him intimidating in the slightest, but she knew that he was no joke; he worked out every single day. Unlike herself, he did not relent in the slightest when it came to the physical aspect of firebending; she was powerful and concentrated in her forms, while her brother was wild and unrelenting, like a forest-fire. Azula noted that in trying to become as good a firebender as her, he had become surprisingly athletic and well-built. If there was one thing she was sure her brother could beat her at, it would be a marathon or rock-climbing competition; she was sure he hadn't done rock-climbing before, but with his calloused hands, which grasped her shoulder rather tensely, she was sure he'd be half-decent at it.

"Well, I've never tried to play Pai Sho against you. I assume you'd just love to beat me." he acknowledged, the Princess flicking his hand off of her shoulder.

"Oh yes, but we both know I don't need Pai Sho to humiliate you, Brother." she warned Zuko, who scoffed at her words.

"Is that a challenge, Zula?" he quipped, crossing his arms, the Princess gesturing over to the courtyard.

"What, are you afraid of a little fire, Zuzu?" she mocked him in return, the Prince flaring his teeth, only for a moment, before he turned his heels, pacing over the way she had gestured; he didn't need to tell her what he had decided, it was shown all through his posture- he was in, and he was ready to throw some flames at her.

She pursed her lips upward, wanting no more than to remind her brother of his place; she was the better bender, and she would not have him act like he was her better. She followed him out to the courtyard, and she grasped the chest-plate that covered part of her royal robes, taking them off, placing them down beside her. The attire looked nice, but it impeded her movement, which she'd need to beat her brother; he was quite agile himself, and that was why he posed even the slightest of threats toward her. She could overpower his firebending, but she couldn't exactly stop him from jumping around and shooting her in the back of the head with a fireball. Zuko did the same, and pulled his sleeves up, immediately taking form; she recognised the form a little too well- it was the one her cousin had used when she had sparred him just before he left the palace.

"Are you going to fight me or are you just going to stand there like an idiot?" she prodded her brother, which made him roll his eyes before he thrust his fist forward, sending out a reasonably large fireball, which she weaved under, raising her left hand up to cut it in two, dispersing the flames before they could set the wooden pillars on the palace walls alight.

If there was one thing she didn't want to result from her little spar with Zuko, it was the palace getting set on fire; her father would be displeased, and she was sure her grandfather would be furious- she momentarily considered how amusing it would be to see the old man get properly angry at her. The idea of challenging the old fool to an Agni Kai was something that excited her, but she knew that even with his age, he was still a very powerful firebender- there was good reason her father feared him as much as he did.

She immediately moved forward, sending a volley of fireballs his way, before kicking a cutting arc of flames toward him; he blocked and dodged the former, before ducking under the latter, sending a fire stream out of his left foot. She jumped up, dodging the attack, and charged a jet on her right sole, which sent out an impressive blue stream of flames. He brother was forced to raise his hands up to block the attack, and was forced back, though his footing remained steady.

She pursed her lips up, ready to put her brother in his place; he was just as eager to fight as she was, and before she could make her next move, he conjured a fire whip, which flew forward to grasp her left hand. she grit her teeth, but the attack didn't hurt that much, and she took advantage of her brother's grip by bending the end of the fire-whip, causing it to shorten, before she flicked the end that was originally around her brother's wrist right into his face. He cried out in pain, and stumbled back with his right hand over the hurt side of his face.

"Argh!" he snarled, looking back her way with one eye open, but his glare was no less hateful than it would have been with two.

She smirked, and thrust her left fist forward, creating a fire stream which she sent right toward her brother, hoping to knock him to the ground and force him to forfeit. He spun his hands around, and for a split second, she thought he might be trying to generate lightning, but she knew for a fact that her brother hadn't learnt said technique. He instead cut through her fire stream, bending her flames, phasing them to the usual orange colour she'd expect of any fire; he held his arms out, and effectively dispersed her attack.

The look of fury on her brother's face suggested to Azula that he wasn't done, and she immediately moved into a defensive position, knowing that he was going to attack; his flames were fast, hot and unrelenting, just as she expected. She was able to weave around the first few fireballs he sent her way, but as he stepped closer, his accuracy increased, forcing her to block the attacks herself; she used her own fireballs to neutralise his attacks, embers spitting around the courtyard as their attacks destroyed each other. He got even closer, and thrust his right hand forward, sending out a fire stream, which only thanks to her left hand rising to grasp his wrist, prevented him from torching her face, something she certainly wouldn't have enjoyed. She realised how vicious her brother's attacks were, and tried to hold back her fear; she wanted to humiliate him, that was true, but he wanted to hurt her, and hurt her badly.

"Nice try, Zuzu." she mocked him, knowing that it would cover whatever unease she felt about his hostility; he tried to firebend at her with his left hand instead, but she was quick enough to kick him in the shin, and he slumped down to the ground.

"Fuck!" he cried out in pain from the hit, using his hands to prevent his face from slamming into the stone tiles.

He snarled, and looked ready to try and attack her again; she didn't let him get the chance, sending a small, rather harmless fireball into his head, which broke his hold on the ground and forced his nose right into the stone tiles below. He grunted, and groaned, now obviously too hurt to try and attack her again.

"Urgh." he grumbled, the Princess shaking her head; she had humiliated her brother, at the cost of nearly getting her face burnt off.

As she strode back over toward her chest-plate, deciding that it was best she leave before her brother decided to react poorly to his loss, "What the fuck was that for?" he asked her with a pained, clearly angry voice, and she simply turned back to face him, pointing a finger at him, just to assure him that she was being serious rather than simply mocking him.

"Maybe if you don't try to kill me, I won't break your nose again."


The village before Azula was far too quiet; she knew she was in the right place. Her sources all led to it, and it was clear that the people present had seen her coming; her Royal Barge had rather large smoke stacks, and beyond that, it was rather easy to see the sea, and thus any ships, from the village. Pulling on the reins of her komodo rhino, she sighed, certain that the Avatar was going to be waiting for her; she didn't know what to expect- all she had heard was that the Avatar was there. They might have even known that she was going after them; she couldn't be certain, and she glanced back toward her Imperial Firebenders.

"Hold yourselves. We could burn this village down to draw them out, but I have a better idea." she acknowledged, before dismounting her steed.

She eyed around the village, and was unable to see anybody; she was sure all the villagers were cowering inside of their houses. They had good reason to fear the Fire Nation, and to fear her; the Avatar, however, probably hadn't faced off against the Fire Nation yet, so she could probably at least try to assert some goodwill. It would be far easier for her and her men to force them to surrender than to actually fight them; she had no idea of the actual skill the Avatar wielded, but she was sure that they had to be reasonably powerful if they were hidden for a whole hundred years.

"Avatar!" she called out to her target, who she hoped was listening, "Now, I know you're here, and I'm not here to harm you, or whoever lives in this village. I know that Air Nomads hate violence and intervening in people's lives, so I'm going to give you this one opportunity to surrender yourself. Trust me, this is the easier option." she shouted out into the village; she didn't get a response, and the Princess rolled her eyes, "Well, then." she mumbled, turning to face her guards, "Move out. Try and not burn the place down. I don't want to deal with a bunch of angry peasants on top of the Avatar."

She turned her head to the right, hearing footsteps on the roof; a sneak attack, which didn't surprise her. A girl jumped off of the roof, dressed in green robes and some rather simple armour, with some make-up on her face, akin which she believed to be akin to that which Avatar Kyoshi herself wore. The Princess immediately responded by jabbing a fireball into the legs of the attacker, who stumbled over as she landed, her stance weakened by the burns Azula had delivered. She quickly got back up to her feet, wielding two golden fans in hand, and charged to attack her. She was joined by a number of other girls wearing the same attire, and Azula stepped back, taking a defensive position with her Imperial Firebenders; they were just there for the Avatar, but if she had to beat up a bunch of quite literal fan-girls of a previous Avatar to get to them, then she'd do just that.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the Avatar is? You all seem to be a little familiar." she asked the warriors who had surrounded her; they didn't seem to appreciate her mocking tone, and she was forced to weave out of the way of a fan that was swung around, nearly slicing through her throat, "I'll take that as 'I wanted to be interrogated first'." she deduced, smirking as she jabbed the warrior who attacked her with a number of quick fireballs in succession, before she spun her arms around, creating an arc of flames which slashed the warrior's forearms, forcing her to drop her fans.

She then kicked her right leg out, sending a fire blast from the sole of her foot, which struck the warrior right in the chest; she was flung down to the ground, and groaned with pain. One of her comrades charged at Azula, trying to trip her over with her fan. She jumped up and kicked that warrior in the chest, forcing her back, before she landed back on her feet, realising that she was surrounded by three warriors. She realised one of them looked a bit odd; the warrior was a boy, not a girl, which didn't make much sense if all the other warriors were girls.

Two of the warriors tried to strike her with their fans, and she ducked under one fan before she grasped the other warrior by her arm. She jabbed her in the gut with a fireball, before she threw her into the boy, who grunted as he had the full weight over another person on top of him. The last warrior whacked Azula's arm, forcing her to reorient her stance; she felt a stinging pain in her arm, but she was able to ignore it as she reached her left hand forward, grasping the warrior by her right hand, in which she held a fan.

"I'd prefer if you just told me where the Avatar was so I could get this over with." she admitted, the warrior snarling, drawing out a fan with her left hand.

Azula responded by breathing out a fire stream, forcing the warrior to lean back, lest she get her hair set alight. She then kicked her in the calf, forcing her down to the ground, before she eyed the other warriors. There were still a few of them fighting off her Imperial Firebenders, but given that they were outnumbered, there wasn't much chance they had of winning; she glanced over, and saw that the boy was rising up to his feet, drawing out a weapon that wasn't familiar to her- it wasn't a fan, but rather a icy blue blade of sorts. She watched as he suddenly threw it, though in the complete opposite direction.

"Was that some kind of signal?" she asked him, charging up some flames in her left palm, "It's no matter. That's exactly what I want. I need to find the Avatar." she explained, the boy smirking at her as he drew out two fans.

"Oh, good luck at that, ash-maker." he told her, the Princess glancing behind him to see that the blade he had thrown was coming right back at her; her eyes widened, and she didn't have enough time to dodge, the blade striking her shoulder, which was thankfully covered by armour.

She was flung down to the ground, and eyed the boy, and one other warrior, who had drawn out a broadsword instead to fight her with, "You are going to regret that." she warned him, before thrusting her right leg up, sending out a fire stream, which the boy blocked with his two open fans.

The other warrior swung her blade down at Azula, who weaved out of the way before jabbing her with her fist, rather than her firebending, in the side; she grunted in pain, and the Princess turned her attention to the boy, who tried to hit with one of his fans. She blocked the attack with her forearm before she kicked him square in the crotch, which his armour didn't cover.

"Argh!" he cried out, before she turned around to shoot a fireball into the chest of the other warrior, who was still trying to attack her with her sword.

She was forced to weave out of the way of the blade once more, before she made a sweeping kick, both setting the ends of her robes on fire, and striking her in the shin. She cried out in pain, before Azula swung her right arm down onto her sword arm; she dropped her blade, and thus, the Princess considered her a non-threat. She then turned around, jabbing the boy in the chest with a fireball; he fell back onto the ground, and Azula charged a fireball in her right hand, ready to start interrogating him. She hadn't even had to use her advanced forms against her opponents, so she felt confident that they were surely defeated.

"Do I need to ask again? Where is the Avatar?" she snarled at him; though at first, he seemed unnerved by her threats, his eyes widened with surprise, and he gestured behind her.

Azula turned around, and saw who she had been looking for; except, it was not what she had expected. It was what had to be a twelve or eleven year old boy, wearing the robes of an Air Nomad and the tattoos of an airbending master. There was no chance the boy before her wasn't the Avatar; she could not conceive what other kind of person would earn their tattoos at such a young age. He looked at her with a serious glare, with what had to be his glider staff in hand.

"This has to be a joke." she tried to deny what she was seeing, "A child." she mumbled, before shaking her head, taking a firebending form; she could not deny what she was seeing- it was good luck, in the end, given that beating a child would be far easier than fighting a century old master of the elements.

"Hey! Over here! Are you here for me?" he asked Azula, obviously trying to prod her to stop her from fighting the others; she began to approach him, and the Avatar immediately took an airbending form, which she understood would be augmented by his staff.

She raised a hand up, "This is rather simple. You have two choices. You can either fight me, I win, and then I take you prisoner, or you can do the smart thing and surrender right now. Do you want this village to get burnt down?" she asked him, the young Avatar looking at her with a slightly confused face, before he narrowed his eyes; his expression suggested he still desired to resist- she would break his resolve quickly, if he really was as pacifistic as Air Nomads were known to be.

He readied his staff to send an air blast her way, and Azula simply readied her hands, "Get out of the way!" she demanded of her Imperial Firebenders, who heeded her words, before she threw her arms up, creating a wall of flames which towered up between her and the Air Nomad, who tried his best to break through her attack.

He clearly failed, and when the wall of flames dispersed, his eyes widened, obviously afraid of what she had just done; she grit her teeth, and took a deep breath, before she spun her hands around, the sparks forming between her finger tips; the Avatar didn't realise what was happening until it was too late, and she sent out a lightning bolt. The bright light caught everyone's attention, as did the sound of crackling as it was fired right toward the Avatar; it struck just in front of him, throwing him back onto the ground, and flinging his staff out of his hands. He looked up at her with fear, and she approached, her guards blocking any of the Kyoshi Warriors from trying to attack her.

"Aang!" She heard a girl's voice cry out, and saw a Water Tribe girl racing toward him; Azula eyed her, and decided to aim a fireball at her- nobody would get in her way of her quest.

She realised what the Princess was doing, and cowered back, though the young Avatar was the one to disperse the flames with his airbending, before he turned back to face his opponent, "P-please, don't hurt my friends."

"I won't." she stressed, "Surrender right now, and I assure you no harm will come to your friends or the girls who attacked me." she offered, the young Air Nomad looking at her with a timid face, before he nodded.

"I have to." he conceded, before rising up to his feet, "I can't beat lightning."

"No, no you cannot." she agreed with him, before she whistled to her men, "Get some shackles!"

"You can't let them take you, Aang." the girl pleaded to the Avatar, who shook his head.

"I can't put you and anybody else in danger. This is my fault, Katara. We should have left, like you said." he admitted, before turning his eyes to Azula, "Wh-who are you?"

"Your captor." she clarified, before her men approached him, "Don't harm the boy. I just want him restrained." she clarified, the boy looking at her with confusion as her men shackled his hands and feet; he rose up to his full height, an Imperial Firebender on each side, holding him to make sure he could be moved.

"Why are- I thought the Fire Nation wanted to kill me." he mumbled, the princess scoffing; he was obviously misinformed- killing the Avatar was never her goal, but rather to capture him and bring him to the Fire Lord.

"Well, perhaps Fire Lord Sozin did, but I'm sure Uncle will want to meet you." she noted, before she gestured to her komodo rhino, "Put him on my steed. We're leaving!" she ordered her men, before turning to face the warriors who had attacked them; most of them seemed injured, and were in no state to resist them.

"Aang!" she heard the boy call out, "You can't let them take you!" he pleaded, the young Air Nomad grimacing.

"I'm sorry, Sokka. Take care of Momo and Appa for me while I'm gone." he asked, the boy looking at him with a pained face; he obviously was one of the Avatar's closer friends perhaps he wasn't from the island, and from some other place- the Water Tribe, perhaps, given the girl that seemed to be with him.

The girl was looking at the Avatar with a clearly worried face; she remembered her to be called Katara, and crossed her arms, looking at her with an annoyed expression- she had no idea how she had come across the Avatar to begin with, and why he was only twelve years old, despite the fact he must have been born a century prior, after the death of Avatar Roku.

"Where'd you find him?" she asked the girl, who narrowed her eyes at her with a hateful expression.

She didn't tell her, and simply turned to address the Avatar, "Please, just... don't let them take you, Aang."

"I'm sorry." he apologised, and Azula leaned over to pick the boy's staff off of the ground.

"Hmph... he could make use of this." she noted, before tossing it away, "He's not getting a chance." she decided; if she had taken it with her, he might have had a chance to take it and escape her ship, if he was able to somehow break out of wherever she ended up putting him.

She then strode over to her saddle, and mounted it, noting that the young Avatar was sitting beside her, looking at her nervous, "Uh, can I at least know your name if I'm going to be your prisoner?"

She looked at him blankly for a few moments, considering whether it was proper to introduce herself; she didn't want to become familiar with the Avatar, despite how intrigued she was by his people and their culture, "Azula." she clarified, before she narrowed her eyes; she realised that she ought to tell him the more important part of her name.

"I'm Princess Azula."


Aang was a little confused by his situation; he had expected that getting captured by the Fire Nation would actually be bad, and it was, at least in the sense that they invaded Kyoshi Island, and were led by a surprisingly cordial Princess who was more than capable of defeating him, despite the fact she could have only been two years older than himself. Azula had taken him aboard her ship, and put him in a decent-sized bedroom, not a prison cell, which surprised him to say the least. She acknowledged that given that he wasn't violently minded and had little opportunity to escape while they were at sea, so imprisoning him was pointless.

She had left him alone in his room, though he'd been given some food to eat for dinner; it was just plain rice, which intrigued him- she didn't even ask if he was a vegetarian. Princess Azula seemed to be knowledgeable in the culture of his people, which made him think only for a moment that some of them still lived; he dispelled that thought from his mind, knowing that she must have just been well-educated, which was no surprise, given she was royalty.

He knew the Water Tribe siblings might come after him, but he hoped they did so smartly; they were going to put themselves in needless danger if they came aboard with Appa and Momo, when a bunch of rather powerful firebenders could kick their butts. Sokka had gotten better at fighting thanks to his Kyoshi Warrior training, but he wasn't capable of taking down the best trained firebenders in the Fire Nation, and Katara was an untrained waterbender, and was otherwise incapable of fighting. He almost felt a little annoyed about that, given that her brother was more than capable of teaching her how to use the kinds of weapons he used, even if she couldn't learn waterbending; he assumed that it had to do something with Water Tribe culture, just his vegetarianism and pacifism derived from his people's own.

He'd gotten a good sleep on the ship, which hummed through the night; that was a little annoying, in his eyes, but the warmth was something that compensated well. Even if the metal was cold to touch, the air inside the ship itself was rather warm. He had been woken up by somebody knocking on his door; he was given some rice porridge for breakfast, which was not that bad, and it had some Fire Nation spices in it which improved the flavour. He would admit that Fire Nation cuisine was actually pretty good, at least in terms of the flavours, while Earth Kingdom cuisine tended to be more varied in terms of ingredients but bland in taste.

After he'd finished his breakfast, he had been alerted that the Princess wanted to speak with him, and at that very moment, he was walking down the corridors of the ship, flanked by guards; he knew that without his staff, he could not escape, and he decided he wasn't going to try and do so until they reached port. He knew that getting out was possible there, though actually getting back to his friends would be a challenge. He just hoped they were tailing the Princess's ship, so they'd be poised to assist him when he did break free.

When he approached the door to the Princess's room, it was opened at once, and Azula stood there, patiently waiting for him; she was not suspicious in her glares, but rather intrigued. She stood there in similar attire to that which she wore to Kyoshi Island, though she wasn't wearing any kind of armour at that moment, the only aspect which reminded him of that being her boots, which had interestingly curled tips. Her hair was up, and she looked at him with a straight face; she had make up on too, but he just assumed that was part and parcel of being a Princess and didn't have to do with her meeting with him.

She obviously wanted to talk to him about his position as the Avatar, though he was unsure what she would have to say. The Fire Nation had killed his people, and he could have stopped it; they wanted to capture him, and the Princess had succeeded. Perhaps they believed him to be a threat to their war of conquest against the rest of the world; they would not be mistaken to believe that, given what he already understood about his role as the Avatar- he was meant to help the world, and he guessed that stopping the Fire Nation was how that would work, in the end.

"Guards, leave us." she requested, the two men who had been escorting him nodding, before they left them alone, pacing back down the corridor; she remained silent for a few moments, before gesturing into her bedroom, "I'd like to speak with you, Avatar."

"Uh, yep, that's what they said." he commented, her narrowing glare making him feel a little nervous, before he stepped inside of her room; he could see a table by the corner of the room, where there was two cushions and a pot of tea, which looked to be fresh, "Oh, we're having tea."

"Tea makes anyone more amenable to speaking their mind. That's something I learned from my uncle." she noted, before she sat down; he followed her, and sat across from her, awkwardly placing his hands in his lap, unsure what to say or do.

"It smells nice." he observed, the Princess raising her chin up.

"Well, I'd hope so." she snidely added, before gesturing to the pot, "Pour yourself some."

"Uh, yep." he nodded; he heeded her suggestion, and poured some of the tea out- he was pretty sure it was just green tea, but it smelt better than any green tea he'd had before.

Once he had the cup sitting there in front of him, brimming with the steaming liquid, he turned his eyes back to the Princess, "So... uh, I really don't feel like I'm that much of a prisoner here."

"I do not want you to escape." Azula stated bluntly the fact of the matter, "By treating you as a guest, I hope you would do me the courtesy of not running away... or swimming. Can you swim?"

"Uh, yeah. You know yesterday, I swam out into the bay at Kyoshi Island, because I-" he began to explain, before she raised her right hand up, silencing him.

"I don't care." she admitted bluntly, her glare not seeming angry, but just frustrated, "I don't want to talk about whatever fun you were doing before I showed up on that island." she clarified, "I want to speak about you. Your name is Aang, correct?" she asked him; he nodded in confirmation, the Princess picked up the teapot, pouring herself a cup, "Aang, you are the last Air Nomad. Do you know what that means?"

"Uh... that the Fire Nation... they killed them." he mumbled, the Princess' serious expression faltering, if only for a split second; perhaps she felt a tinge of guilt, or even regret over what had happened to his people a hundred years prior.

"They did." she confirmed, "Now, you might be surprised to hear this, but a lot has changed in the Fire Nation, and by that I mean in the past three months." she clarified, Aang scrunching his lips up.

"What do you mean? Did you... win?" he nervously asked, the Princess narrowing her eyes at him.

"We won five years ago when my uncle, former Crown Prince Iroh, conquered Ba Sing Se." she explained with a straight face, though her expression seemed slightly off; she obviously didn't like saying that, but it confused him- he thought she would be happy that her people had won the war, even if he clearly wasn't.

"Okay, so, wait... what happened?"

"My uncle became the Fire Lord." she clarified, before placing her hands together, "He's far kinder than his predecessor, and that's why I'm not interrogating you... properly. I'm more than capable of doing so, but I think that my uncle would like to speak with you before we do anything." she noted, the young Avatar narrowing his eyes.

"But... if he conquered Ba Sing Se... how nice can he be?" he asked her, the Princess scoffing; she looked like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"If you met my father and my uncle, you'd understand." she raised a hand, "You certainly don't want to meet my father. He might want to kill you." she noted, making Aang's eyes widen.

"We're... we're not going to him, are we?"

"We are going to the Fire Nation Capital. My uncle and father are both there, but as a prisoner of our nation, the Fire Lord is the only one with authority to say what happens to you. I could do whatever I pleased with you, but I am here to serve my uncle, not to destroy you." she explained, the young Air Nomad placing his hands together.

Azula made him nervous, and not just because she was undeniably pretty, but because she was casually suggesting that her father might want to kill him, like there was nothing wrong with that; he didn't know why the Fire Nation was fighting the rest of the world, but with a casual acknowledgement of murder like that, he knew they had to be bad.

"So... what did you want to know from me? You said you wanted to know me."

"No, I want to understand who you are, and if you pose a threat to my nation." she clarified, "I assume that you can only airbend, given that if you could waterbend, it would be far easier for you to escape this ship." she noted, the young Avatar timidly nodding; he didn't want to reveal his own weaknesses, but her deduction skills had already found them.

"Y-yes." he mumbled, "I really... I really should start learning waterbending."

"Well, good luck doing that." she smugly noted, "You can't exactly learn it anywhere else other than the North Pole. How are you going to get there?"

"On Appa." he clarified, before forcing his mouth shut; he really ought to shut up, but he couldn't resist her interrogation tactic, which was really just a roundabout way of having a conversation with her, "I should just shut up."

"No, no, I'm intrigued. This Appa, it'd be you sky-bison, correct?" she asked him a rather simple yes-no question; he tensed up for a few moments, before nodding, knowing that it was probably easier to just go along with her questioning, "And did your Water Tribe friends take the bison?"

"I told them to. They'll take care of him while I'm gone." he explained, not wanting to mention the fact that he wanted to get away from the ship, hopefully with his sky-bison's help.

"Well, you might be gone for some time. You are my prisoner, remember that." she warned him, before sipping from her tea-cup.

"Can... can I ask why you came to look for me? Was it your uncle that told you to?"

"No." she shook her head, "It's a family tradition. Ever since Fire Lord Sozin failed to find you when the Air Temples were attacked, members of the Royal Family have gone to look for you; I'm just the first to actually succeed."

"Oh." he scrunched his lips up, "So, that's it? You want to take me to the Fire Lord because everybody in your family has tried to do it."

"Well, it's a great way to earn the respect of my uncle and father. I'm only fourteen, but I desire to find honour and respect from the people of my country."

"I guess... everybody doesn't like the Avatar anymore." he mumbled, cringing slightly, "I was gone for a hundred years."

"Speaking of which, why are you still twelve? That makes no sense whatsoever. You should be over a hundred years old." she asked him, sounding almost annoyed by the illogicality of it, the young Air Nomad nodding.

"I mean, I am, but my body didn't age when I was frozen."

"Frozen." she repeated his last word, perplexed by it; he hadn't explained why he was frozen, and he guessed her next question would cover that topic, "Well, I guess you are the Avatar. If anybody could survive that, it'd have to be you." she conceded, before a knock hit her door, "Urgh, right as I was getting to the interesting part." she snarled, before rising up to her feet.

She paced over toward the door, and opened it up, "What is it?" she asked the guard who stood there, holding what looked like a scroll in his hand, "A letter? Ah, perhaps the Fire Sages finally got back to me about the glowing statues."

"Wait, is that how you knew I was alive?" Aang spoke up, intrigued that she had seen that; he hadn't seen the sanctuary's statues glow himself, but Katara had explained to him how their eyes and tattoos had glowed- perhaps other Avatar statues had glowed across the world, and the Princess had seen one herself.

"Shut up." she raised a hand toward him, not even looking his way.

"It's a Fire Navy message, your highness." the guard clarified, Azula took it into her hands, and turned around, unfurling it; the young Avatar couldn't see or read it, given the way it was facing, but her expression widened- if she had felt uneasy about Ba Sing Se and the fate of his people, she was utterly terrified by what she had just read.

She turned back to the guard, "Tell the helmsman to go to these coordinates." she asked the guard, who looked at the scroll, before he stepped back, seeming afraid of what he had just read.

"By the spirits." he gasped, before he nodded, "Of course, your highness." he accepted her command, before pacing down the hallway.

She turned around to face him, and Aang scrunched his lips up, a little concerned and confused by what the letter contained, "What's... what's happened?"

"Somebody has tried to assassinate my uncle when he was sailing to the Earth Kingdom. We're not going to the Capital anymore." she clarified, placing the scroll down on her desk, "I'm going to find whoever's responsible and kill them."

His jaw dropped, realising her immediate shift in demeanour was caused by none other than fear; the fear of losing a loved one, the kind of fear he hadn't even got to experience- all he had was the grief of losing Monk Gyatso, along with all the other Air Nomads, even if he tried his best to ignore the pain and look forward to the future. The future didn't seem very bright to begin with, if the war really had taken a turn for the worse with the fall of Ba Sing Se.

"You must really care about him." he noted, as despite the fact he wasn't the kind of person to kill somebody for another's sake, he could certainly understand the anger that she was feeling; it was the same that Katara had when she spoke about her mother, even if she had never had the chance to save her to begin with, just as he hadn't with Monk Gyatso.

The Princess clenched her fists, and straightened her expression, moving to sit back down across from him, "I won't have them get away with it. My uncle is the most important person in the world," she argued, before narrowing her eyes, "and you're the second-most."

"Is that why I have to see him?" he asked Azula, who raised her chin up, almost sounding annoyed by the question itself; perhaps it was a little too self-evident for her to have to address.

"That's exactly why."