A/N: New chapter! So much good feedback on the last chapter, I appreciate all of it. This chapter is continuing a lot of what was started in the last two.

Quick **TW**, scene depicting an anxiety attack (bracketed by **AA**)

As always, let me know what you think and enjoy!

Word Count: 5781

5. The Princess Lies Once More (Why Does She Keep Doing It?)

Mai sat on Zuko's bed with him laid around her. In comparison to traveling around with his sister, it was rather blissful. She was quite enjoying seeing the battle of her boyfriend's conscience. The pain wasn't great, but it was quite clear that the path Ty Lee, Percy and her were trying to give Azula, was something the prince had found too. And with how much he spoke about Iroh, either mumbling it to himself or outright saying it, Mai figured he was the one to show him that path.

Over the past few days, Mai had been subtly attempting to convince the Fire Prince to go see his uncle in his cell. She found a certain similarity in comparing that to Azula with Percy on the tank train. And finally, FINALLY, her idiotic boyfriend had seemed to get the hint.

Mai was going to go see Ty Lee in the evening before coming back to his room, and Zuko had told her to 'not wait up' for him. She'd rolled her eyes then, and rolled her eyes now just thinking about it. Zuko wasn't known for his subtlety, and she liked him even more for it.

He hadn't spoken much of his time in Ba Sing Se, and that was curious to her. Whether or not he was afraid of admitting what happened because of some things the Fire Lord wouldn't approve of, she wasn't sure.

She'd also noticed the very distinct difference in his scar. The deep red that once surrounded his eye was many shades lighter. She loved her boyfriend either way of course, but moving towards healing wounds from the Fire Lord was something Mai was very okay with. He didn't deserve to live with a reminder of his father's terribleness, but it would hopefully push him away from what he thought his destiny was. She'd seen too many times now the effect the Fire Lord had had on his children.

Annoyingly, all he'd told her about his trip was that he was a refugee and his uncle had owned a tea shop at some point. She was always amusingly frustrated by Iroh's fascination and enthusiasm over tea. It… endearingly got on her nerves. So being a refugee and making his way up to owning a tea place just seemed very in character for the old man.

In speaking with Percy below Ba Sing Se, he'd clearly had some interaction with her firebending boyfriend. Mai was curious as to what that was, and what happened.

Leaving those thoughts out of her mind, she got up from the admittedly comfortable hug that she'd been receiving to place a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek.

"I'm going to see Ty Lee." She said, startling herself with how soft her voice was.

It wasn't this usually, and she didn't know how to feel about it. The dagger-thrower was becoming more okay with… feeling stuff. She hadn't lost her signature dry sarcastic wit, but around a few people, Mai was feeling a lot more open and comfortable.

"I'll see you later then."

That was all she got from an obviously distracted Zuko.

Good, hopefully he'll finally see his uncle.

Mai moved leisurely down the hallways of the palace, before coming upon Ty Lee's room. The poor girl had been worried out of her mind about what was happening with Percy. It was even worse as Mai was the only person she could talk to about it and, admittedly, she'd been spending a bit too much of her time with her boyfriend.

There was some progress on the Azula front though. She'd shown compassion.

Or, what Azula would think is overwhelmingly compassionate and probably some kind of weakness.

The princess had seen Mai's want to stay with her boyfriend and allowed her friend to be put before herself. It really was the first time Mai had experienced that with Azula and it felt good. She was doing something she wanted, and not a pawn of someone else.

But then she'd heard what happened with Ty Lee, and that had all just gone a few steps back. Azula really didn't handle that one well, and the dagger-wielding girl had an inkling as to why.

The Fire Nation Princess was jealous. She may not know that yet, or realise it, or just not want to admit it to herself, but she was. It made sense, though it didn't really bode well for Ty Lee or Percy on that front.

She knocked on her friend's door, and it was almost immediately thrown open. Apparently even her knock was recognisable to Ty Lee. The rather bleary-eyed gymnast tacked her in a hug. Mai was quickly pulled into her room by her surprisingly strong grip and placed down on the bed.

Mai looked around the room to see quite the mess. Clearly, her overly energetic friend had too much going on in her head, and bottled-up energy, to keep still. Some letters were scrawled into parchments on a desk, all of which were crumpled and either tossed about the room or into a pile in the corner of her room.

I should really spend more time with her. I'm not being the best of friends.

Mai just sat there, waiting for the incoming worries over Percy. It was understandable, with Azula taking a full group of Fire Nation soldiers and benders to track him down. Mai was quite worried herself, but she always reminded herself of the power shown by the waterbender. It would take quite a lot to do any kind of damage to him. She didn't put it past Azula, but she hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

"I'm worried about Percy." Mai looked at Ty Lee sympathetically. "I know! I know. I shouldn't, and he'll probably be fine. But… Azula said…"

Ty lee became uncharacteristically shy and small in front of her.

"Azula said she'd kill him." She whispered.

"I know, Ty Lee. I do."

Mai put at arm around the chi-blocker, only for her to jump at her and wrap two arms around her.

Great, I didn't ask for this amount of contact.

She sighed, good-naturedly. If this was what her friend needed, gross, then she'd give it.

"But remember how strong Percy was?"

She felt Ty Lee nod into her chest.

"Don't tell anyone this, but I think he could beat Azula too. Even if Azula had a full night's sleep." Mai continued.

That got a chuckle out of the girl in her arms.

"Yeah, I think he would too." The gymnast replied.

She was giggling a bit now, clearly thinking about that. There was a long pause, as Ty Lee seemed to be trying to get her emotions under control. After a while though, Mai thought she had to ask the question.

"So what's with the letters?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, pulling away from her friend slightly.

Yes! Ahhhh personal space. Wonderful.

"Are they all to Percy?" Mai asked.

Her friend was a blushing mess, and couldn't meet Mai's eyes.

"No… yes." She resigned herself to admitting it. "But I can't send them."

At Mai's questioning glance, she continued.

"Well, for one, I don't even think I could give it to one of the royal messenger hawks. That seems, like, a bit too risky. But the main one… what if Azula found out? Or what if she was with him, just attacking him, or captured him. And then she got the letter."

Mai gave an understanding nod.

She's been thinking a lot about this then. She couldn't blame her.

"So let's read some of these then." Mai said, standing up and walking over to the desk. "Let's see what you want to say to your little crush."

She smirked at her friend, happy that she could do some teasing now. It'd been years of playful teasing from Ty Lee about Zuko and her as kids, so she was going to get her revenge.

It had the desired effect, her friend becoming even more red-faced and embarrassed. But, feigning her disinterest in reading the letters, Ty Lee made her way over to the desk as well.

The two girls set about going through which letter would be best, intercut with Mai's sarcastic comments at some of the more cringy things Ty Lee had written. All about a boy who, as far as they knew, their friend was trying to kill.

Azula was going to kill Percy.

Well, actually no, but- YES. Do it!

That was the crux of her problem. She didn't really know what she wanted. Or, the voices in her head were telling her two very different things.

She'd only just stopped screaming at both herself and him about his idiotic claim about understanding and speaking to ostrich horses. Surprisingly, her fire wasn't going out of control. Azula was just plain confused and in shock. Percy seemed to be quite entertained by what she assumed was an odd look on her face.

"You mean to tell me that thing-"

"Afosiosi."

Azula just looked at him strangely again. Cheeky peasant!

"Whatever. You're telling me that you can understand it?"

"Her." He corrected.

She just looked him, almost in despair. The princess waited for his proper reply, not even giving him the benefit of responding verbally to his quip. She thought back to oh so long ago, after chasing the Avatar, he'd ignored her question like the stupidity that it deserved.

And now he says this?!

"Fine." He spoke as though she'd ruined his fun. "Yes, I can. I don't know how, but I was told it was something to do with spirits." He just shrugged at her.

That is not a sufficient reply!

Percy seemed to get as much from her look, but he didn't exactly do anything to aid her grievance.

"That's pretty much the best way I can describe it. My father could too… as far as I'm aware."

Azula kind of just stood there, bewildered. The fur blanket still wrapped around her shoulders seemed to be the only thing that was keeping her from falling over. The man in front of her couldn't have been telling the truth, but she knew he wasn't lying. Percy looked to be trying not to laugh.

Could this be the reason for all the things he's been doing? All the different bending? All the power? Spirits?

After a couple minutes of silence, the unendingly frustrating waterbender decided to interrupt her racing thoughts.

"Anyway, while you think that over, I'm going to go for a late morning swim. Let me know if you want to ask more questions, but I'll be…" He pointed out to the lake. "Yup. I'll be there."

He chuckled to himself, and started wandering out of the clearing. His 'speaking' ostrich horse left with him. He'd left a completely dumbstruck princess, with a gaping mouth, to try and figure out all the information she'd been given.

When Azula saw that the sun was definitely in a much higher position in the sky, she thought that maybe it might be a good time to move again. Picking her jaw off the ground, she followed the pair of footsteps leading through the trees to the water letting the blanket fall from her shoulders just outside the clearing.

As she arrived, she saw the ostrich horse calmly looking out at the lake. There was absolutely no sign of Percy, but some of his robes appeared to be wet and hanging loosely off a low branch near the animal.

It- she. IT!

She shook her head. Who knew an ostrich horse could cause her such a headache? Whatever Percy wanted the animal to be called only just noticed her arrival and seemed, once again, on edge. Deciding she liked it that way, she just sat down by the water's edge, enjoying the sun and looking out over the lake.

The Fire Nation Princess hadn't done this in years. Not since their trips to Ember Island as a child. She found it oddly calming, very different to her palace lifestyle, though she wasn't quite dressed for the occasion. A similar beach memory swirled below the surface of her mind but she managed to push it out.

Her childhood was mostly a blur. Azula's want to have 'not a hair out of place' giving her the motivation for constant training. And when she wasn't doing that, she was trying to learn about being Fire Lord, or manipulating people to bend to her will. She hadn't had the chance to… relax, in what felt like forever. And the princess couldn't really deny that she enjoyed the feeling.

You don't need to relax. You need-

The aggressive and deep voice in her head was interrupted by a disturbance in the water in front of her. About a hundred feet offshore, a head poked out of the water. It was moving all too quickly for someone to be swimming.

He must be waterbending.

That thought was thrown out of her mind as his full body emerged from the water. Azula could've sworn she saw some fins poking out right in front of where his feet slid effortlessly over the surface.

Is he standing on fish?!

Some part of the back of her mind remembered his little joke about his family being good at fishing. Was this what he meant? Because it was certainly more impressive than what he'd made it out to be.

Just like the rest of him. He's still a savage peasant.

Percy had the gall to wave at her as he rode over the undulating water, his knees bending and legs flexing to keep himself perfectly balanced in an all-too-natural manner.

It did remind her though, that he wasn't bending. At least, he wasn't utilising any kind of bending technique she'd seen, without legs or hands.

The fish must just… want to help him?

She couldn't really find an explanation for him not bending the fish to his will. Both figuratively and literally.

As he got closer though, the more distracted she was. She didn't quite realise when he was so far out, but he was shirtless. He had some robes on below his waist, the greying robes she'd seen him have on in Ba Sing Se that went under the darker green ones that lay over the tree branch just to her side.

The midday sun reflected quite attractively off of his lean, muscled chest. Percy looked every bit in his element with the wind blowing his hair back, covered in water and sunlight hitting his slightly dark skin. She hadn't ever seen anyone with such a complexion before, but Azula thought she'd heard someone describe a 'tan' on an Earth Kingdom person, which was the closest she could come to describing it.

Azula couldn't take her eyes off him, and he was quickly closing the distance between them. His eyes, that always seemed to be a reflection of the sea, sparkled at her as his legs got engulfed by the water once more. She could see the fins of what she assumed were two fish turn and swim back to the deeper waters of the lake, but the princess couldn't find it in herself to focus on that. It took all her strength to not gape at him some more. She'd already done that enough for one lifetime.

"Whatcha lookin' at, princess?" He asked, as he purposefully came out of the shallow water.

For some reason, even in the much more casual tone he used, she still didn't like being called that by him.

Percy had a stunning smile splitting his face. In the back of her mind, she recognised that this wasn't the attitude of someone who'd lost a friend recently. Especially not when they were talking to the person who was supposedly responsible. But she needed to answer his question and didn't want to think about it, so that had to be shelved for a later date.

When he was much closer to her, she began to really appreciate the Pai Sho board of scars and white lines that crisscrossed his upper body. She was sure that she'd find a lot more everywhere else, the more she looked. The princess recoiled in her mind. The idea of scarring had always been looked down upon. Especially considering the mark of the banished that Zuko had had on his face for so long. It was something she'd always prided herself on. Not a blemish on her skin, not a hair out of place, unlike her failure of a brother. But the princess struggled to see any ugliness in Percy though.

Azula was desperately trying to find something to say that wouldn't make her keep gaping like a fish. Ah yes! The fish!

"The-They were fish?"

Even to herself, it was probably one of the more stupid questions she'd asked. And this annoying boy had gotten more of those out of her than everyone else combined.

"Oh yeah, they just told me they found something, and then they offered me a ride back in."

He seemed so incredibly happy to see that the princess was once again wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Mainly because, once again, she couldn't find any kind of deceit in his words.

That can't be true!

"Anyway, that was a good swim. You can go out if you want," he strolled up to her, the princess very much still in shock, "but beware. Monsters and snakes lie in the depths." He said, waving his arms about in an almost funny attempt at scaring her.

Azula caught herself from snorting at his weirdness, but it seemed Percy realised what reaction he'd caused in her. His smile brightened even further and he began to hum to himself.

As Percy breezed past her, towards his hanging clothes, Azula caught the same salty fragrance from the blanket that she'd found so comforting earlier on. He passed close enough for her to almost be overwhelmed by it, and she felt all her defences just fall away. His topless form pulled the robes from the branch and began to put them on. The princess felt herself leaning into his space, feeling intoxicated by the sight, sound and smell.

Azula found herself blurting out something that she absolutely didn't want to. No, she really didn't. And she definitely wouldn't be caught dead flirting with some waterbender. She absolutely wouldn't. And yet…

"You look strong. Like… a Fire nation army."

She was practically kicking herself. That was the first half coherent sentence she'd managed to put together in his presence in over a day and it was utterly humiliating. But it seemed that her voice had a mind of its own.

"You know, because you look so strong." She continued, for some reason unknown to her.

Percy turned to her with an extremely confused expression. One where, under any other circumstances, she might've enjoyed. But in this one, she found it was the absolute last thing she wanted. It was in stark contrast to the face he'd just had. All the previous joy had disappeared for awkwardness. His head was barely all the way through the hole of his robe and he was still pulling his arms through.

"Ummm… thanks?"

He turned away slowly and began back to the clearing. The ostrich horse followed him, and appeared to be squawking loudly. Azula almost mistook it for laughter, then she remembered Percy saying it could talk.

So why wouldn't it be able to laugh at me? She thought to herself, miserably.

"Well, that went excellently." She grumbled to herself.

Azula couldn't really figure out why she was so disappointed with how things had gone, but the shame she felt formed a huge pit in her stomach as she sombrely followed Percy once more.

Percy was confused. He knew why Azula was confused. That was the fish and Afosiosi. That was all too easy, and so deeply amusing to him. Her puzzled face was something he was finding more and more entertaining. No, what confused him was that really odd thing she'd said at the end.

Strong like the Fire Nation Army? Was she trying to… indoctrinate him?

It was all just very weird.

If she was paying me a compliment, then that's a strange way to do so. You're like the thing that, for all you know, killed my friend and is the reason for the war.

It disturbed him the more he thought about it.

The demigod hadn't been lying about the fish though. They had told him that they'd found the satchel that he'd asked Ty Lee to have dropped into the lake for him. Apparently it was a rather long swim, so they were going to come back when he wouldn't be leaving a fiery princess alone with his ostrich horse friend. But thinking momentarily about the gymnast gave him a smile. That was before his mind turned back to the princess.

He was back in the clearing and heard the stumbling footsteps of Azula enter barely a minute after he did. She'd been following him around quite a bit, though that wasn't a surprise. She was probably sent to kill him, and even if she wasn't going to do that, there wasn't much else to do around here. Especially not for a princess.

There was another reason for his confusion, though. Afosiosi.

She hadn't stop laughing since Azula had said it. So much so, that he was getting quite frustrated with the ostrich horse at not being let in on her joke. Or whatever was funny about that situation. Typically, she'd just hold it over his head blatantly.

"Could you stop laughing?" He asked his friend.

She answered him with more laughter.

'You can't see it?!' She said in between laughs. 'Wow, you're dense!'

"Dense about what?" He asked.

Azula seemed awfully quiet, sitting against one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. She was most likely in earshot, but Percy was speaking to an ostrich horse. So how much of the one sided conversation she was picking up was beyond him. But she seemed quite down and not at all the princess he'd experienced. Even the devastatingly tired Azula seemed to have more energy and aggression than the one that sat across from him. She wasn't even meeting his eyes.

'Oh wow! Of course you don't see it, dumbass.' She just kept laughing.

Percy decided that he'd best ignore her and get back to chopping wood. He picked up his very homemade axe from next to the stump, giving himself some protection from the inevitable splinters with a sheet of water around the handle, and began swinging.

(-)

The time flew by. With Azula reticent to say anything in the shade and the afternoon sun on his back, his efforts to complete more of his project were only interrupted by the snorts of Siosi. That was before Percy heard the fluttering of wings coming from above them.

'Messenger hawk.' was all the information he got from Siosi.

Percy looked up to the sky to see what was definitely a hawk, wrapped in the insignia of the Fire Nation. A little tube at his back was what clearly held the message.

Finally, an animal that is similar to home.

He didn't really count the King's bear, as that was rare and also… barely acted like an actual bear. It was more dog than bear.

The red bird landed just a few feet from Azula, and she looked tentative about opening whatever was there. The beady eyes of the hawk just seemed to push her past whatever held her back. Percy watched with interest as the princess read her message.

**AA**

Based on her reaction, she really didn't like what it said. The downtrodden look she'd had all afternoon was replaced with one of horror. It was the first time he'd seen her look like that, and it was only on her face for a second, but he'd felt it.

Percy's eyes travelled down her arms to see her clenching her hands. Her breathing shortened, and it was quite obvious that her heart was beating way too quickly. The demigod could almost hear how loud it was in the quite clearing. Even Siosi had decided to be quiet for once, thankfully.

"Breathe."

It was all he said to begin with, but it didn't have nearly the same impact it'd had previously.

Percy moved over to the princess and squatted in front of her. Her unfocused eyes and shaking body were all the indication he needed that this was much worse than before. The demigod rolled up the sleeves of his robe.

"Hey, Azula. It's okay. You're okay."

This kind of disassociation was something he was all too familiar with. The ugly feeling of controlling poison, the curses, or any number of other inflictions he'd given or received over the years, it all overtook his reality at some point or another after the war ended.

"Listen to my voice. I'm here for you. You're not alone in this."

He saw that she was breathing too irregularly. Percy gently took a hand in each of his and squeezed them slightly.

"Azula, look at me. We're going to start counting again, okay?"

He felt her grab hold of his hands desperately, and her grip was extremely tight. Percy noticed that his hands were beginning to feel quite warm, even with the coldness of her skin, but he disregarded that. He began counting and heard her mumble something along with him.

After what felt like a couple of minutes of extremely slow counting, he saw her eyes focus on him and felt her grip ease up. The scroll that had triggered the attack lay face up on the ground beside them. The messenger hawk was nowhere to be seen.

**AA**

That was when Percy noticed his singed arm-hairs.

Ahh, that's a problem.

As soon as the princess let go of his hands, which was pretty quickly, he rubbed up and down his arms. The fire really hadn't done much, but his hair could only protect itself for so long.

He looked back to the princess, in what he hoped was a curious but comforting look. Azula seemed much more concerned with the open scroll. She quickly scooped it up and tucked it into her clothes.

"Did you look at that?"

It seemed like an awfully insecure question, but she was entitled to privacy and whatever caused that attack mustn't have been nice for her. In all honesty, Percy hadn't even thought about looking at the message.

"I really didn't."

He looked her straight in the eye and saw the worry and fear. That was unusual for the princess, even Percy knew that.

"And even if I did look at it, I couldn't read it."

Azula seemed confused by that. This time, given the circumstances, Percy didn't find it amusing.

Well… not as amusing is probably more accurate.

"I can't read that language… whatever language that is written in."

She rose her eyebrow at him.

"Then how can you speak this language?"

Percy just shrugged in response. That was unlike his usual evasion. He genuinely didn't know why they seemingly wrote in an Asiatic language, had a combination of different Asiatic cultures and yet spoke perfect English. It had confused him to no end throughout his stay in Ba Sing Se and it being brought up here only increased that.

"You're weird."

That didn't seem entirely insulting, so Percy decided to take that as a compliment.

"Thanks." He said. His smile returning to his face.

Percy made a point of sticking around, letting her calm herself down. The talk about him not being able to read seemed to help her do just that. She was much more comfortable when he spoke next.

"Well, I'm going back to the wood so…"

He looked around only to see that it was practically sundown. He sighed deeply. A decent chuck of the afternoon was spent counting. Granted, it was necessary counting, but it still wasn't… productive. Yeah, that's probably the right word.

"Or not," he said, "I guess I'm going to set up to go to sleep."

He moved away from the still sitting Azula to begin picking up some good kindling for his fire. After doing that, and piling it all back inside his cave, he started to try and spark a flame. His ostrich horse came in to watch him. She always enjoyed the struggle he had every night.

It was getting easier each time he tried, but it still usually took a good ten minutes. Oh how he missed the simplicity of matches and lighters. Thankfully, there was an opening in his little enclave that let him see out into the lake and the night sky, so he could always look at the stunning lake while he failed. The moon usually hovering just over the frame of the natural doorway.

Percy heard the scuffling of someone entering his cave. He sat back, and just in time too, as a ball of fire lit up his small pyre of wood. Siosi startled and moved protectively around him, eyeing the princess who'd just entered the cave. The demigod just watched her, wary, but intrigued.

Azula walked up to the fire and sat across from him and Siosi. She didn't meet their watchful gazes, but looked into the flame. The hand holding the message crumpling the parchment.

Percy settled in, the flames roaring higher than he'd ever had them, feeling the heat radiate quite nicely on his skin.

For the first time in a few days, her father's face didn't stare back at her from the flickering flames. She'd had a difficult afternoon, so that was a small miracle to her.

The scroll from the Fire Nation, it spoke of the one thing she didn't want from her father. The topic he'd forced upon her at her previous return. A hero's welcome sullied by a proposal.

Some proposal it is. She thought, snidely.

The princess knew she was on borrowed time here with Percy, but she didn't want to leave. And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

She'd also been surprised that he'd actually helped her. After embarrassing herself in front of him, why would he? But he did, and one of the more terrifying moments of her life had been made just that slight bit better.

Azula still had no idea what it was. If that was part of the anxiety attacks Percy told of, she was getting much more scared of having them. She couldn't really hear or see anything. Everything became a blur and she had no idea what she would've done if he hadn't helped pull her out of it. She felt more indebted to him the more time she spent with him.

His cave was so homey too. It almost felt like a different world. She bathed in the warmth that such a place offered. The usual cold, unfeeling heat of fire disappeared to create a pleasant atmosphere. But of course, it had to end almost as quickly as it had begun.

A red flickering ball flew across the lake, lighting up the whole area. Azula didn't see it at first, but she did see Percy's focus shift to it. The princess turned and her heart sunk. It wasn't something she could've controlled, and she knew her angry inner voice would destroy her for it later, but she didn't want it to be a thing. Not right then, not so soon.

But it was. The signal that she was needed urgently back to ship flew high over the water. Resigning herself to her fate, she stood, much to Percy's surprise.

"I'm leaving?"

She said it with about as much conviction as she'd spoken on the rest of her time with him. He looked upon her, more curiously than she'd hoped.

Did you hope he was upset that you're leaving?

The much milder, gentler voice spoke to her in her head. She couldn't really argue with it at this point.

"And why is that?"

"I am needed." She said, quite shortly.

He didn't seem at all offended by her disregard of his question. Annoyed by that and pushing for some kind of reaction, it prompted her to continue in that vein.

"I never wanted to come here. I'm glad I get to leave."

She didn't know why she said it, but that was becoming a recurring theme with this waterbender. Unfortunately, he just lowered his head and sighed.

"Don't make me say it, Azula."

She was too distracted to even correct him and tell him to call her by her title.

He's called you Azula enough already. And you like it.

She shook her head.

"What? What am I making you say?"

She wanted to know. Azula didn't know why, but she really did.

He looked up at her with those all-knowing sea-green eyes. The ones that felt like they pierced her soul.

"You're still lying."

Her heart flickered, and she found she didn't mind it in this instance. It didn't cause nearly as much anxiety to fill her as it did all the way back on the tank train. Neither did it come close to making her feel as bad as the message she'd just received.

Azula didn't know what it was, but she felt… seen.

Leaving, and trying to ignore the new feeling, she briskly walked back towards her mongoose lizard. On the way, she spied a certain fur blanket laying on the ground. In a moment of weakness, she swooped down and wrapped it around her shoulders once more.

Azula put it on the back of her saddle, untied the animal, leap up onto it and kicked her ride into action. The lizard creature ran off into the night, with a princess on its back who was slowly falling asleep with the scent of the sea surrounding her.

Mai lay on her bed, very much not asleep, waiting for Zuko. It had been a while, so she hoped that he'd done what he needed.

The door creaked open from behind her and she felt the bed shift. Sliding back, she moved into Zuko's warmth. But it was a very restless warmth. Damn.

"What did you get up to?"

"Oh," he paused, sounding genuinely surprised, "you're still awake?"

"Yeah."

He sounded like he didn't want to reply to her question.

"So what did you get up to?" She asked again.

"Nothing. It… it ended up being nothing."

Well, maybe I can get him to see Iroh next time.

A/N: So what did you think?! A progression of Azula's anxiety and her emotions towards Percy. Some of her social ineptitude as well. Caught up with Mai, Ty Lee and Zuko (a little) which was fun as well. Hope you enjoyed, and this won't be the last time Percy and Azula interact in this type of way, even with Azula returning to the Fire Nation.

Some review replies:

HellRaiderS/Tom2801/Jctherebel/IanOfTheG/Death Fury/Guest: I'm glad you're all enjoying and this will keep being updated weekly (unless you're told otherwise by me)!

Artorias78: Thank you! That's freaking awesome! Percy's effect of Azula is kind of a tightrope. Trying to not have her change too fast whilst also showing character progression. I've gotten comments both sides but as long as it's entertaining and realistic that's all I'm going for. I'm glad you think it's accurate! I do have some experience with friends who have them, so drawing from that and some personal research. You hit the nail on the head with why she's confused and attracted to the way Percy acts around her. Also yes, I think we're all united in our hatred of Ozai. Hope you enjoyed this one.

Bromance22: I've kept the potential love interests vague enough that it also could possibly not be Azula too. Honestly, the Ba Sing Se stuff was some of my favourite stuff from the first book as well, but it's gotten slightly mixed reviews and not as much interaction. It definitely won't be the last time Percy is in that city though. You might be slightly sad on the Percy/Gaang front, but there are a whole host of reasons why I'm doing that. And he'll spend a lot of time with them over the course of this whole story. A Gandalf/Aragon saviour thing would be cool, but I definitely have a plan for it all. That's so good that you're enjoying it! I truly appreciate it and hope that continues!

WildMan98: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Yeah, Azula's internal conflict is one of the more important story elements so it's good I'm getting it right! Percy being Percy is always entertaining! And it definitely continues in this chapter. Take care too!

Gabe1234: We will be getting periodic updates out of the Percy/Azula storyline (which has now ended for a little while). We got mainly Mai in this one, the Gaang in the last one. It'll be used to take a little break and also like you said, to show things that happen slightly differently. But, in all honesty, the episodes I'm writing through won't change too much. 'The Headband' and 'The Painted Lady' have very little effect on any of the main characters in this story so you can pretty much assume they remain almost identical. Azula is growing, but I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible. It would be awesome to see them all against the Ozai and his army, I do have plans though. Azula's fight though is more with herself and Ozai than I'd say Zuko's is.

A-gods-flame: That's some of the highest praise I've received for this so thank you! I do try and keep a lot of the tv style elements of the story, that also work well with books (cliff-hanger endings etc.) as when I write it, I'm kind of visualising what the tv show would look like.
She is broken and takes a lot of things literally, but also the knowledge surrounding mental health in such a time period would be minimal too.
Percy and Iroh will have their moments (some together), and we'll get some more Zuko (although usually through Mai's perspective).
It's be awesome to be able to put out daily chapters, but that's quite a lot hahah. I wish. I'll hopefully be keeping it at weekly for now, and deadlines help keep my motivated to stay writing (and the reviews of course).
Stay safe yourself and I hope you keep enjoying!

Picklesandpizza: He absolutely is. At this point that's very much what he's feeling like, shown with his practically negligible attraction to her. There have been maybe two moments where he's thought about her in any capacity outside of just being a good person and helping her out. I appreciate the compliment and I hope that I do make it make sense, so far I think I'm doing a decent job of making it work (my writing is a ways ahead). I'd agree that socially Azula is stunted to that degree, but in every other aspect, she's probably just as mature if not more so than Percy

CRUDEN: Absolutely, she's one of the most fun aspects to writing this story. She's great haha

arkon3321: So, for (1), I didn't really think of Appa as being someone Percy could possibly talk to, mainly because he never struck me as a sea-dwelling or horse-like animal. A bison is not really related to a horse like, say, a zebra is. So I don't think that would make me have Percy able to do that. I get the manatee tail and everything, but it's really not a sea creature, so I'd have to say no. But it is interesting and a valid question. (2) The Cabbage Merchant will pop up, it won't be huge (according to the plans I have), but there will be something in this story involving him. (3) No, not really. Unless there is a crucial story or character reason for it, no other riordanverse characters will enter this story

Hope you all enjoyed and thank you all for your reviews!

-PS