Azula weighed her options. She could either make a break for it (even though she had nowhere to go), deny Kanna's claims and play dumb, or tell the truth.

"And don't even think about lying. I'm old, not stupid. The way you carry yourself reminds me of how a royal would behave."

Azula pouted. And here she thought that she had been doing a good job of keeping that part of her identity hidden. Sokka, Katara, and Hakoda didn't seem to have noticed, at the very least. Although she couldn't really be sure about Katara, since the girl still avoided her. If Kanna had already noticed that much, then she supposed that there wouldn't be much of a point in lying to the old woman. Azula wanted to make sure of one thing first, however.

"If I tell you the truth, will you kick me out?"

That question alone pretty much confirmed Kanna's suspicions. And while she knew exactly why Azula was asking her that question, she was still baffled by it. Why on earth would she kick out a child?

"Kick you out? You're a little girl. You won't be able to survive on your own out there. I'm pretty sure that my son wouldn't take too kindly to me kicking you out either. He trusts you, and I can see that you've grown on him. My grandson seems to be taken with you as well. So rest assured, you'll be staying with us, no matter what your story is."

Azula nodded. That was reassuring to know. That made some of the apprehension that she had about telling Kanna the truth go away.

"Like you guessed, I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. Or, at least I was. By now I'm pretty sure that everyone thinks that I'm dead."

Kanna wasn't sure what to say. Why would they think that Azula was dead?

Seeing the look on Kanna's face, Azula continued, "One night, I heard my father and grandfather having a conversation. Father said something that grandfather didn't like, and as punishment he said that father had to kill me, the child that he favored. At first, I wasn't worried at all because I knew for a fact that father wouldn't kill me, and would reject what grandfather had said. Only….he didn't. He agreed to the punishment. I wasn't going to stick around and wait for him to kill me, so I ran away by using the secret passageways in the palace, this way I wouldn't get caught. Eventually I found myself sneaking onto a ship that was heading for the Earth Kingdom. I was only on the ship for around two weeks until we were hit with a storm. And the rest is exactly what Hakoda described." Azula finished, trembling slightly. She didn't like remembering the night that changed her life forever.

Whatever Kanna was expecting to hear from the little girl's mouth, it definitely wasn't that. The last thing that she had expected to hear was my grandfather ordered my father to kill me so I ran away as to why the princess of the Fire Nation was so far away from her home. The other occupant there was just as shocked as she was.

Hakoda had gone back inside their igloo after Sokka told him that Azula had been feeling down. He was worried about the girl and wanted to check on her and find out what was wrong. The conversation that was currently happening between the girl in question and his mother was the last thing that he was expecting to walk in on. His mind was trying to make sense of everything that he heard so far. The story that Azula had told him was a lie, and she was actually the princess of the Fire Nation. Her father had been ordered by her grandfather to kill her, which led to Azula running away and ending up on that ship, which led to his crew finding her when the ship had capsized due to the storm. It was no wonder that she lied to him about her origins: had she told the truth, it would have been much harder to convince them to help her. She was scared because of what happened to her, and scared of the thought of being on her own with the possibility of being found by her father. It really was a good thing that he decided to take Azula home with him. The Southern Water tribe would be the last place anyone would think of to go looking for the Fire Nation princess.

Really, Kanna shouldn't have been surprised. She had a front row seat to the Fire Nation cruelty for years now, so it really shouldn't have been much of a shock that they would treat one of their own like garbage too. She looked at Azula, who was avoiding looking at her. Almost as if she was scared of the old woman's reaction to her story. Not that she had any reason to be. Kanna did say that she wasn't going to kick her out, after all.

"Well rest assured, you'll be safe here, little one. This is the last place your father would think to look for you. As long as there's no more raids on our village, you'll be fine. I do have one question for you: do you plan on telling Hakoda, Sokka, and Katara?"

Before Azula could answer, a voice interrupted her.

"No need, I heard everything."

Azula looked at Hakoda with a mix of apprehension and fear. Crap, she wasn't even sure that she wanted to tell any of them yet! What was she going to do now?!

Hakoda looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face, and for a moment, Azula thought that he would yell at her for lying to him, and say that a Fire Nation royal was not welcome in their tribe, even though Kanna had said the exact opposite. As he walked towards her, Azula flinched and closed her eyes, waiting for him to yell at her, or even possibly hit her, for lying to him. Neither thing happened, however. Instead, he kneeled down and hugged her, much like he did back on the ship.

"Now everything makes sense"

Azula blinked. 'Now everything makes sense'? What did he mean by that?

Hakoda continued, "I don't know if you've realized this or not, but you have a habit of always looking at your surroundings. Always looking behind you, as if to make sure that you aren't being followed. You're always so..tense. You were like that back on the ship, too. At first I didn't think much of it, considering what you had been through. After a while though, I realized why your behavior seemed odd to me: you said that your mother hid you from the bandits. If that were the case, then you shouldn't be worrying about them coming after you, since they wouldn't even know that you exist. So I began to suspect that there was something you weren't telling me. I didn't want to pry though and decided to wait for you to tell me on your own. I never expected the reason to be something as huge as this. Well, harboring a Fire Nation royal family member is something that I'd never thought I would do, but I suppose for you I can make an exception, Azula." The last bit was said a bit dramatically, hoping to get a laugh out of the little girl. He felt her shaking against him, and at first he thought that she was crying, before he heard her giggle. Mission accomplished. He let go of Azula and rose to his feet.

"Like my mother said, you're safe here with us and we won't kick you out of the village. Do you want to tell Sokka and Katara this or do you want to wait?" Hakoda asked, although he had a feeling what her answer would be.

Azula contemplated the question. Did she want to tell Sokka and Katara the truth? That was debatable. On the one hand, she didn't want to lie to them (especially Sokka, since the boy had been so kind to her ever since she first arrived) and they deserved to know the truth. On the other hand, what if this changed how they saw her? What if this changed how Sokka saw her? He was her only friend in the village. The other kids were still afraid of her, and while the adults never said anything mean to her (most likely because of Hakoda) they were still wary of her as well, and didn't want their kids to be around her either. And then there was Katara. The girl was already terrified of her enough as it was. And to Azula's utter shock, she actually did want to make some headway with her. They would be living together for the foreseeable future, it would be annoying if Katara was constantly afraid of her and looking the other way whenever she entered the room.

(This doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Azula doesn't want people to fear her. Nope, nothing at all. She just wants to make another new friend. She had two friends before, after all.)

(Azula always lies)

Looking at Hakoda and Kanna, she said "I don't want to tell them just yet. I wasn't even sure about telling you, Mr. Hakoda, but that plan has gone out the window since you were eavesdropping on our conversation."

Kanna looked at her son and smirked, "Yes, he really has no shame, doesn't he? You should know better than to listen in on other people's conversations, Hakoda."

"I - it's not like I did it on purpose!"

As she watched the two of them playfully bicker with each other, Azula felt a little weight being lifted off of her shoulders.

It had been nearly two months since Azula's death, and Zuko would be lying if he said that he didn't miss his annoying little sister. The palace felt strangely empty without her. Sure, he still had mother and father, but it just wasn't the same. Nothing would ever be the same again in their family. He had learned pretty quickly to not mention Azula's name at all in front of his parents. Father would either get very angry or very quiet, and mother would start crying. The two of them seemed to have grown closer in the aftermath of Azula's death, which was strange for Zuko to see. His parents had been distant with each other for a while now, so to see them suddenly acting the opposite was going to take some time to get used to.

Zuko didn't understand why, but something about Azula's death felt off to him. Father had told them that she had been burned to death, but her room didn't smell like burnt flesh at all. The fact that nobody heard anything was also strange. Assassin's break into the royal palace, fights Prince Ozai's youngest daughter, and nobody hears anything? Zuko found that hard to believe. Then again, he hadn't heard anything either, and his room was around the corner from Azula's room. So what did that say about him? It said that he was a failure of an older brother who couldn't even protect his little sister-

Wait.

His room was right around her corner from Azula's room. He should have definitely heard something.

The fact that he didn't was nothing short of suspicious. Then there was the fact that trained assassin's were trying to kill his grandfather, but some found themselves in Azula's room. If they were really pro assassins, wouldn't they have scoped out the palace for a long time in order to figure out where exactly grandfather's room was? To figure out when would be the perfect opportunity to kill him? None of this made any sense to Zuko. Something didn't seem right. Didn't feel right. He had to get to the bottom of this. The quickest way to do that would be to ask the servants and guards if they heard anything.

Zuko got to work immediately, looking for each and every guard and servant that he could find, asking each and every one of them if they had heard any noise coming from his sister's room the night she was killed. As expected, they all replied "no." Something was definitely going on. Zuko didn't know what that something was, but he did know one thing. It more than likely had something to do with father and grandfather. Speaking of father, there was one more thing that was suspicious to Zuko: the funeral itself. It all happened way too quickly in his opinion. He would have at least thought that it would have taken a few weeks to make the necessary arrangements, giving mother and father time to grieve for Azula. But instead the funeral happened in a matter of days. As if father wanted to get it over and done with as quickly as possible. Something was definitely going on, and Zuko didn't like it.

The next day when Mai and Ty Lee came over, he told them about his investigation, although he was hesitant to do so at first. The two girls had been Azula's closest friends, and much like mother Ty Lee would burst into tears the moment Azula's name was mentioned. Mai wouldn't cry, but the girl would have this solemn and melancholy feel about her. Almost as if she was thinking about Azula but didn't want to say it. Didn't know how to express it in the same way that Ty Lee did. When he was done explaining everything to them, the two girls looked at him as if he had two heads.

"You really think that there's some kind of conspiracy going on in regards to Azula's death?" Mai asked incredulously.

"Well, what else can it be?! Nobody heard anything the night these supposed assassin's entered her room and fought her, the scent of burnt flesh was missing from her room, which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be there when someone is burned to death, AND they mistook Azula's room for grandfather's room? None of that makes any sense! Not to mention that her funeral happened way too fast! There has to be something else going on, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it!"

"...Even if it gets you into trouble?" Ty Lee asked

Zuko hadn't really thought about what the consequences of his actions would be. Why would he face consequences in the first place? This was about his sister, a little girl who's life was tragically cut too short. If there was indeed something else going on, then he owed it to her to find out what.

"Yeah, even if it gets me into trouble. It'll serve me right if that's what happens. I didn't protect her. I'm her big brother and I failed to protect her when she needed me the most. She must have been so scared." Zuko said, clenching his fists.

The two girls stared at Zuko in shock. They were used to the boy showing any kind of care to his sister, let alone older brother protective instincts. The relationship between the two of them wasn't exactly the best. Azula being killed most likely bought those feelings out of him. If only that happened back when the girl was still alive.

"What are you going to do? Talk to your mother about this and see what she thinks?" Mai asked

Zuko shook his head, "No. It's kind of an unspoken rule to not mention Azula's name in front of her. She just breaks down, not that I can blame her. Talking to her about this would only make it worse. It would give her a false hope that there's a slim chance that Azula isn't dead, and that she's out there alive somewhere. But what if I'm wrong? I can't do that to my mother. I won't do that to her."

"So then what do you want to do? Talk to your father or grandfather about this?" Ty Lee asked.

Zuko pondered her question. He could ask one of them, but grandfather scared him. And he was more than likely to ignore Zuko at best. That left father. And while the relationship between them wasn't exactly ideal, he would have a better chance at getting some answers from him. Father had been taking a keen interest in him, after all. He had begun to train Zuko himself, and even helped him with his studies. It seemed like he was preparing Zuko to become a worthy heir, even though father wasn't next in line for the throne. Zuko didn't mind this of course. It was the first time in a long time that he had actually spent any time with father, and his firebending had been improving a lot, although he did feel tired after his training was over for the day. Father was adamant that he learn all of the basics, and wouldn't let Zuko take a break until he perfected whatever move he was learning. Zuko wondered if this was what Azula had to go through back when she was still alive. Grueling training sessions that made her feel as if she were about to drop dead, and endless hours of studying. He quickly cleared his head of such thoughts. Now wasn't the time.

"Yeah, I think I'll ask my father about this. It's worth a try, right?"

Mai and Ty Lee just shrugged their shoulders.

Zuko sighed. So much for their input.

Engrossed as they were in their conversation, the three children didn't notice a figure glaring at them, hidden from view.

Ozai decided to go train, a good way to vent out his current frustrations. Curse that boy. Of all the times for him to be smart and quick on the uptake, he had to choose now? Maybe those study sessions were doing more harm than good. The last thing Ozai needed was his idiot son sticking his nose where it didn't belong. He didn't need to lose another heir. Not one his father could die any day now, what with how old he was. Since Iroh had yet to return, he would be crowned the next Firelord. If that were to happen, Zuko would need to be around to serve as his heir. The boy wasn't anywhere near as talented as his sister, but that didn't mean Ozai couldn't mold him into the perfect heir. Zuko had potential. He just needed help with bringing it out of him. And who better to do that than the boy's own father?

Getting back to the matter at hand, Ozai thought about what he should do. He couldn't let Zuko keep on snooping around if he didn't want his father to find out. Azulon was convinced that Azula was dead, and Ozai would much rather keep it that way, even though there was the problem of Azula actually being alive and knowing far more than she should about what actually happened that night. He had no idea where the girl was, but he couldn't risk that information becoming known. Under no circumstances could he allow Ursa or his father to find out that Azula was alive. Ozai thought about it some more before an idea came to him and smirked.

Perhaps there was one other way for his idiot son to be useful to him.

Ozai found an opportunity to talk to Zuko the next day, when the boy had asked him if they could train. Ozai knew that Zuko was just using that as a way to ask him what he wanted, but Ozai agreed regardless. The whole time they were training, Ozai could sense that Zuko was struggling to start the conversation. Perhaps he could help with that.

"Is there something on your mind, Zuko? You don't seem to be focused."

Not that that's unusual for you goes left unsaid.

Immediately, Zuko stopped doing the forms that Ozai taught him, and looked at him with apprehension. Finally, he said "I'm sorry, father, it's just….I've been thinking about Azula lately. I can't get what happened out of my mind. There's a lot of things that I can't wrap my head around."

Ozai nodded, not saying anything, and waited for the boy to continue. Waited for him to ask the question that Ozai was craving for him to ask. He wouldn't be able to enact his plan otherwise.

Zuko continued, "I know that this is going to sound crazy, but did something else happen that night? I can't shake the feeling that something seems….off. As if what happened didn't actually happen. What I'm trying to get at here is…..is Azula actually alive?"

And there it is. The long awaited question.

Ozai stared at Zuko, not saying anything at first. He had no idea how his face looked, but it must have been pretty intimidating because Zuko looked as if he was about ten seconds away from running off. He couldn't let that happen. Time to become an actor once again.

"I knew that you would notice eventually. You're a smart boy, after all. What I'm about to tell you must stay between us. Under no circumstances are you allowed to tell your mother, understand?"

Zuko beamed at the compliment before nodding his head. Good.

"That night, I said things that angered your grandfather. Things that I should have known better to not say. As punishment, my father decided to kill Azula, since he knew that we had a strong bond as father and daughter. Since the Firelord's word is the law, I was unable to stop him. Azula somehow found out, and when my father reached her room, she was already gone. Not wanting to waste time doing a massive manual for his granddaughter that had seemingly run away, he decided to make it appear as if she had been killed, and he had me help him do it."

"So then Azula really is alive!" Zuko exclaimed happily, which shocked Ozai, knowing how the relationship between his two children were.

"Yes, she is. And while I want nothing more than to bring her home, I can't do that as long as your grandfather sits on the throne. Thankfully though, his age is catching up with him. With any luck, he'll be dead by the end of the year. When that happens, I will more than likely be crowned to be Firelord since my brother is still nowhere to be found. At that time, I will give you a very important task. A task that I have no doubts you will be able to fulfill since you will be old enough to do so, and by that point you will be much stronger thanks to your training."

As he said this, Ozai could see the interest in his son's eyes, in anticipation of what he was going to say next. It was always so easy to lie to Zuko.

"What kind of task is it?"

Hook, line, and sinker.

"When you are old enough to go fight in the war, your mission will be a simple one: find your sister and bring her back home."