Azula watches Sokka talk to his mother's grave. She doesn't know why he asked her to come along. It's not like Kya was her mother or anything. Maybe it's because she's his girlfriend (somehow Azula still isn't quite used to referring to herself as such, even though the two of them have been together for more than a year) and this is something that's important to him, and couples are supposed to support each other through hard times. He has been there for her through her recovery process, so she supposes that this is the least she can do for him.

Still though…why her and not Katara? Katara is his sister, after all. Kya was their mother, not Azula's. Shouldn't the two of them be visiting her grave together? Isn't that what families are supposed to do? Maybe she should ask him.

Before she can get the words out of her mouth, however, Sokka speaks up "Thanks for doing this with me. I know you have a bunch of other things to do."

She shrugs "Not really. Plus, getting away from Zuko for a little while is always nice. Although I do have one question for you. Why are you doing this with me and not Katara? She is your sister after all."

"And you're my girlfriend. This is something that's very important to me and I wanted to share it with you."

So she was right about that part after all. Azula senses that there is more to this though and presses on "How very sweet of you. But that's not the full reason, is it? Did you and Katara get into a fight?"

Sokka sighs "Well…not really. Do you remember back during the war when you attacked us at the Western Air Temple?"

"How could I forget? But what does that have to do with anything?"

Sokka takes a deep breath before responding "After what happened, we relocated to another location. We made a toast to Zuko for helping us out the way he had at that point. Everyone but Katara that is. Ever since your brother joined us, she had been giving him the cold shoulder. And he couldn't figure out why. So he decided to confront her about it."

Azula chuckles. Zuko always was pretty dense when it came to anything other than himself "I would think that the answer would have been obvious. What did she say to him?"

"She said 'Then you didn't love her the way I did!' When she said that to me, it hurt a lot. I thought to myself, what was I doing wrong that my little sister thought that I didn't love our mother because I didn't want to hunt down the man who took her away from us? In the end, she decided to spare him and she thanked Zuko for doing that for her. After that, she forgave Zuko for what he did. But she never said a word to me about what she said. It's like she just forgot all about it. I'm glad that Katara was finally able to get closure for mom's death, but she was my mom too. What about me? When do I get my closure?"

Well then.

That wasn't what Azula was expecting to hear at all. It does make sense though. Why Sokka didn't want to come here with Katara and decided to ask her to come along instead. She supposes that she may have done the same thing had Zuko said something like that to her in regards to Ursa.

But Azula doesn't want to think about mother right now. This isn't about her after all.

Azula wants nothing more than to go find Katara and smack the shit out of her for causing her boyfriend such pain. But today is not the right time. Azula is certain that Sokka wouldn't forgive her if she started a fight with his sister on the anniversary of Kya's death. So she will have to wait until tomorrow. Today, she will remain with Sokka and give him the comfort that he needs. Tomorrow, she will give Katara a piece of her mind.

Katara decides to take a walk around the village. She wishes to be by herself after the rather emotional day she had yesterday. Suddenly, she feels someone bump into her, enough so to make her fall to the ground.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you? What a terrible person I am. Let me help you up." And then a hand appears in front of her face.

Of course it would be Azula.

Katara takes the hand offered to her and rises to her feet "It's so nice to see you today, Azula. Is there something I can do for you?"

"I'm so glad you asked. There is indeed something you can do for me. Mind if we talk?"

Talk? Why does she want to talk? Sure, the two of them are cordial with each other (which is more for Sokka's sake than anything else) but Azula never actually seeks Katara out for a chat. So why the sudden change?

"Do you mind if we talk later? I kind of want to be by myself right now."

"Oh I assure you that this won't take long. You know how I love to make things short and to the point."

Katara sighs "Fine. What do you want, Azula?"

"Sokka told me something very interesting yesterday when he and I went your mother's grave to-"

"Wait, what? Why did he go with you instead of me? I'm his sister and that was our mother!"

Azula smirks "Oh, so you finally acknowledge that she was his mom too? Well this is wonderful, you're already on the right track."

The bewildered look on her face must be priceless because Azula's smirk only widens "What are you talking about?"

"You see, Sokka told me about a certain incident that took place not too long after I attacked you all at the Western Air Temple. Said incident being you and my brother going after the man who killed your mother. And when Sokka voiced his opinion on the matter, you said 'Then you didn't love her the way I did!' Do I have everything right so far?"

"...He actually told you that?"

"Yes he told me about that, it's what couples do, we share shit. Shouldn't you know this?"

Katara blushes. The nerve of this girl! Who does she think she is?!

"Shut up! Anyway, what are you getting at here?"

"Answer my question first. Do I have everything right so far?"

"Yes, you do. What's your point?"

Must she spell everything out for this girl? "My point is a simple one. You don't seem to understand how much you hurt your brother when you said those words to him."

Katara scoffs " How much I hurt him? He hurt me by not understanding where I was coming from that day! Not like I expected him to, seeing as he was clearly over what happened to mom!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you? He had a talk with Toph when she and I had one of our usual spats back when we were undercover in the Fire Nation. I was underneath a cliff bathing when the two of them sat down to talk. Sokka explained to Toph my side of things and why I acted the way I did. One of the things he said stuck out to me. He said 'Whenever I try to remember our mom, all I see is Katara.' Do you know what that said to me? That he had gotten over mom's death since he had replaced her with me."

Azula can't believe what she is hearing. Really, how can someone be this stupid? And she thought that Zuko was an idiot.

"...You heard all of that and you still don't understand where he's coming from with all of this? Spirits, why on earth are you with Aang? You would make a much better match for my brother, seeing as you two can;t seem to think about anyone but yourselves when it comes to the topic of parents."

"EXCUSE ME?!"

"You're excused."

Katara is about two seconds away from chucking ice spears at Azula, but holds herself back. She's pretty sure Sokka wouldn't like it if she killed his girlfriend "Since you seem to think that you know so much about us, why don't you just come out and say what I don't understand?!"

"What you don't understand is this: everyone grieves differently. Just because Sokka didn't outwardly show his grief over the death of your mother like you did, doesn't mean that he got over it. It's the exact opposite. Sokka can be protective over the people he loves. You are his little sister. So what do you think he would do if he saw you not doing ok after your mother died?"

"...He would put aside his feelings about it and focus on me. Like an older brother should."

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that last part. Anyway, yes, precisely. Sokka would push aside all of his grief to focus on you. And for the record, him not being able to remember what your mother looked like doesn't mean that he processed her death and got over it. It means that he never did."

This time, Katara didn't seem to have a rebuttal.

Good. Let this sink in. Hopefully she comes to the correct conclusion.

"Well, I'm so glad we had this chat. I'm going to go back to your brother and make sure he's doing alright. I'll let you get back to your walk. Do keep in mind this discussion though, will you?"

Katara doesn't know how to feel right now. Or what to think. She was so sure that Sokka had gotten over Kya's death. He know longer comes with her to visit Kya's grave on the anniversary of her death, like he used to before they had found Aang in the iceberg. So didn't that mean he was over it?

Wait

Before the two of them had gone off with Aang to end the war, Sokka had no issues with going with her to visit Kya's grave every year. So what changed? Why doesn't he ever come with her anymore? Why did he choose Azula over her, his own sister?

My point is a simple one. You don't seem to understand how much you hurt Sokka when you said those words to him.

Oh.

Could that be why? Had her words back then truly hurt Sokka that much, to the point where he felt like he wasn't wanted at their mother's grave? That she doesn't want him to go with her?

"Has Sokka been going to mom's grave by himself ever since we returned home?"

Katara quickly rushes off to find Sokka. She needs to talk to him. It's time that they have a talk. It's long overdue.

If there is one thing that Sokka enjoys more than anything else, it is cuddling with Azula. The two of them had spent quite some time talking about many things before he declared that she was tired and that she was going to take a nap. She always looks so peaceful in her sleep, as if nothing can hurt her in her dreams. Sokka wishes that she can always be like this. Even though the war has ended and she is in a much better place than she was back then, there are some days where Azula still looks haunted by her past. Almost as if she expects the hallucinations to come back.

His thoughts are interrupted by a knock on his bedroom door.

"Sokka, it's me. Can I come in? I need to talk to you. It's important."

So much for spending the rest of the day relaxing with Azula.

Sokka gently lets go of Azula before he slowly rises from the bed, not wishing to wake her up. Azula gets very cranky when her naps get interrupted. He is surprised that Katara's knocking didn't wake her up.

Sokka gives Azula a kiss on the head before he makes his way over to the door and steps out the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He does a quick observation of Katara and determines that she is distraught. Over what, Sokka doesn't know. But he is determined to find out.

"What's wrong? Everything ok?" Now Katara looks nervous. It takes her a few seconds to respond "Can we talk about mom? It's about something that I should have said to you much sooner."

Sokka's heart leaps. He has a funny feeling that he knows exactly what she is talking about.

"Sure. But let's take this outside. Azula is asleep and I don't want to wake her up."

Katara snorts "Of course."

"So? What did you want to talk about?"

Katara takes a deep breath. She can do this. It's not as if Sokka hates her because of what she said back then, right?

Although I can't blame him if he does. Here goes nothing.

"Why didn't you come with me to visit mom's grave yesterday?"

"I wanted to take Azula so that I could introduce her to mom. It was important to me. I wanted to share that with her."

"Alright, let me rephrase that. Why haven't you been coming with me to visit mom's grave over these last couple of years, Sokka?"

At this, Sokka pauses, unsure of what to say. The last thing that he wants is for Katara to blow up at him for saying something that she thinks is stupid. So he takes the road less taken and says nothing.

Katara sighs. She had a feeling that Sokka would do this. Not answer her question in fear of her reaction. It appears that she will have to play her hand first. She supposes that is fair.

"I have a confession to make. Do you remember back when we were in the Fire Nation, and you, Aang, and Toph were doing those scams? And how Toph and I got into a huge fight over it?"

Sokka nods "Yeah, and then after a while you went off somewhere. You were fed up with all of us by that point. So I decided to go and talk things over with Toph. Felt like that would help things."

The moment those words leave his mouth, Katara looks away from him with a guilty look on her face. This confuses Sokka. Why does she look like that? Before he can say anything, Katara speaks again.

"I know. I heard you two talking on that cliff. I was beneath the two of you in the water, bathing. So I heard everything. Particularly the part when you said to Toph that whenever you try to remember mom's face, all you see is me. I think when I heard you say that, my mind registered that as you saying that you had gotten over mom's death by replacing her with me. And I know now that's not what you meant at all. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to realize that."

Ah. Now it's all starting to make sense.

"Is that why you said what you did back then? You know, when you and Zuko went to go look for Yon Rha?"

Katara nods, and he notices that tears are beginning to form in her eyes. There are tears coming to his eyes too. Funny how that works.

"Yes, that is why. And I'm so sorry for what I said to you that day, Sokka. I'll understand if you can't forgive-"

The words die in her throat as Sokka pulls her into a tight embrace and says "I forgive you."

Katara holds onto him tightly, unable to hold back the tears any longer. The two of them stand there for a while, just hugging each other and crying.

It feels good to have finally let this all out. Sokka can't even remember when was the last time he cried thinking about they're mother.

After a while, Sokka and Katara pull away from each other and wipe the tears from their eyes. Sokka looks at Katara and grins.

"Not that I'm not glad about finally speaking to you about this, but what brought this all on?"

Katara blushes "Well-"

"Azula spoke to you, didn't she?" He says with a smug look on his face.

"How did you know?"

"Katara I love you, but you are the most stubborn person I know. The only way you're admitting to your faults is if someone spells them out for you."

Katara punches him in the arm and mumbles "Shut up" before declaring that she is going back inside to get started on dinner. He watches her go with a smile.

He will have to thank Azula properly later on tonight.