A/N: New chapter! Hope you enjoy it! As always, let me know what you think. I always enjoy feedback and interaction, it's why I published this story to begin with!

Word Count: 5215

18. The Turtle Ducks (I Don't Get It)

Percy was standing there, watching the princess go, when he felt himself get tugged forward.

He wasn't completely paying attention before that. If he was completely honest, he'd thought she would just leave. Not that he wanted her to, but just because of how they'd ended their conversation. It'd been uncomfortable and awkward.

And yet he was pulled forward, his lips connected with hers. Immediately, it felt different. Not terrible, just… difficult to describe. It was cold, but not dispassionate. He kissed back, equally. The demigod wanted to do it more, until his brain began working again and he realised what he was doing.

Just when Azula pulled away, a sickening feeling fell into his stomach. The feeling of betraying who he was, who he loved, turned him inside out. He was almost too shocked to realise the princess blushing and jumping on her animal.

With the sounds of the mongoose lizard echoing around the trees and the disappearing figure of a girl laying on the back of a pelt into the darkness, Percy stood frozen. She could've said something to him before leaving, she probably had, but he wouldn't have heard it. Blonde hair and grey eyes just kept haunting his vision. The stars, usually soft in the night sky, seemed to glare down on him.

He knew, somewhere deep down, that none of that was happening, but it seemed so very real to him. The guilt ate away at the demigod, until finally a nudge and shouting from Siosi broke him out of his paralysis.

'Dumbass!'

He stumbled to the side as she hip-checked him. He often forgot that she weighed many times more than what he did.

"What?" He said, dazed.

'I asked if you were alright and why she called you that? About ten times I asked you.'

"I am. Thanks."

Percy tried to shake himself off, until he realised what she'd asked.

"Wait, called me what?"

'Oh, before she left, she called you a "stupid turtle duck". Any idea what that means? Because if I can add it to the insulting nicknames to call you, I want to know.'

"No. No idea." He replied, off-kilter.

'Alright, weirdos.' She ruffled her feathers, clearly sensing that he wasn't in a good headspace. 'I'm off to sleep. Don't do anything else stupid tonight without me there to… make fun of you.'

Siosi had paused and Percy knew she was going to say something else, which he appreciated even just that thought. The ostrich horse turned around and trotted back to the cabin. She left a confused son of Poseidon standing in the dark night, looked upon by the stars questioningly and endearingly.

Azula didn't quite know what had come over her. She'd never done anything like that, save for Ember Island.

And even then, it'd never felt like that.

Both her embarrassment and awkwardness at having him be pretty much statuesque after kissing him had overwhelmed the princess. She'd leapt almost immediately onto her animal and ran off into the night.

She spent her ride back to the Fire Nation ship replaying the kiss, over and over. Her face flushed at each memory of it. It'd felt simultaneously like an explosion and simply just melting away. She knew why Percy's eyes looked at her from the ocean when she'd been kissed before at the party. Even for the short period of time with his lips on hers, she felt she could just stay in that moment for as long as she wanted, without a care.

The only thing the princess was confused about, was why her mind had decided to blurt out 'stupid turtle duck'. It was the only thing bothering her, until about the tenth replay of the kiss pushed her into a deep sleep atop his fur blanket.

(-)

Azula woke up with the sun high above her head and much closer to where she'd ordered her ship to set up and wait for her.

Within seconds of waking up, the kiss came flooding back to her mind. Only this time, she wanted desperately to have waited to see Percy's reaction. She wanted to be able to ask him so many questions.

Did he want to kiss me? Did he like it?

The princess looked over her shoulder as she rode, her attempt to see the frustrating waterbender ending in vain thanks to a day of solid riding.

What did he think of the kiss? Did he want to come with me? Oh Agni… I called him a turtle duck. To his face! Why did I do that?!

Over the course of the day, the questions kept building up. Azula's worry over what she'd done didn't cease in the slightest. Her anxiousness began to make her fiddle away her braided hair.

Towards the end of the day, the looming Fire Nation vessel started to come into view around the shore of the lake. It looked to be another day's ride and the princess was about to kick her steed to continue it moving at their fast pace, when she saw its laboured movements.

Slowly, she began to untighten the reins around her hands and the mongoose lizard came to a stop. It seemed to look at her appreciatively, before collapsing in a heap. With the sun setting to her left, away from the lake, she started to set up camp.

A fire burned brightly next to her within minutes, and she sat in front of it. After digging through her bag, Azula found some of the leftover travel rations she'd been given. She felt the sniffing of her animal over her shoulder. Without even thinking, she split the ball of food into two and held one half in her palm facing upwards.

The mongoose lizard seemed to hesitate slightly, before its long tongue snapped out and pulled the food into its maw. It shuffled closer and seemed to bask in the heat of the fire a little.

The princess thought about trying to set up the tent again, but as she looked up to see a sky full of brilliant stars, her golden eyes didn't want to cover it up. She pulled the fur blanket around her and curled up under twinkling of the night.

Azula went to sleep, for the second time in a row, with the feeling of soft lips pressed against her own.

Ty Lee paced back and forth across her floor. Images of Percy and Azula fighting flashing through her mind much like they had done the previous time the princess was away. The girl nervously tapped her thumb and index finger together as she walked.

"She won't hurt him." Mai intoned from where she sat on the floor, leaning against her bed.

"I know." The girl replied, exasperatedly.

There was a silence as she went back to her pacing. Her fingers didn't cease their movement.

"Especially now that we know about Azula…"

Mai trailed off as Ty Lee gave her a glare. The anger felt odd on her face, but the gymnast was at the end of rope with the way her brain didn't stop swinging.

"Thank you, for putting that in my head."

The images shifted to only slightly less aggressive romantic entanglements between the two. Ones she desperately tried to shake out of her head.

"Sorry, just trying to put your mind at ease a little."

Mai shrugged nonchalantly, but she could tell her friend was genuinely trying to help.

Still…

"And you thought that was the best way to do it?" She asked, semi-rhetorically.

Her stoic friend shrugged again. Ty Lee stopped her pacing to point accusatorially at the girl on the floor.

"Oh, and don't try and say again that you didn't know about that before the beach. Because I know you, and I know you did."

Mai looked up at her finger, following its path to her friend's grey eyes.

"And what would you have wanted me to do if I did?" She challenged.

The gymnast wanted to be mad at her about it, but couldn't. She knew, just like it was in the room, that if Mai had told her, it would've just given her something extra to worry about. Because now, she was equal parts worried they'd come back together or one of them would kill the other. She went back to her pacing.

"Where is your boyfriend anyway?" She asked, changing the subject even though her mind didn't let her completely.

"He got a scroll a while back and he's trying to figure it out."

Mai looked out the door, hopefully. It was no surprise to the both of them that he'd been acting slightly differently after coming back from Ember Island. A touch distant from his typical princely routine. Ty Lee knew her friend was trying to help Zuko in much the same way that they were helping Azula, and for the most part, it seemed to be working.

"But that doesn't matter." Mai continued. "I'm here for you, to help you."

She paused to give her friend an appreciative smile, before she was walking back and forth once more.

There hadn't been much they could do in the time Azula had been away. They'd given quick briefings to the royal guards that greeted them, although they'd mainly focused on Zuko with Azula not returning. They hadn't heard so much as a word from the Fire Lord, but that wasn't abnormal. Usually all they heard from him was through Azula, if they heard anything from her at all.

Mai had broken up her routine of staying with Zuko to accompany, or distract, Ty Lee throughout their days in the palace. They'd managed to go this far talking about things other than Percy and Azula but apparently, that day was the day that they'd either ran out of things to discuss or her friend thought it useful to talk about.

It'd been difficult for her, knowing she'd sent one of her closest friends off to maybe try and get with the guy she had a huge crush on. She was increasingly glad that she'd only chose to expound that information to Mai and not Azula.

She also didn't know how Percy would react to knowing that both of them liked him. Of course Ty Lee wanted to be with him, but she knew he wouldn't disregard the princess for what she portrayed on the outside. That wasn't like the boy she'd gotten to know. No. He would get to know her.

Whether or not he'd like who he got to know was an entirely different matter. Mainly because under the surface, even Ty Lee wasn't completely sure who Azula was. Getting through her façade, she didn't know if Percy would like it. She didn't know if she would like it either, but she would definitely do her best to support her and Percy with whatever happened. No matter how much it hurt.

The gymnast didn't even really know how long the princess had been gone. She'd spent most of those days anxious and distracted by all the situations she'd created in her head. All she wanted was answers, but she was yet to receive even one.

Her grey eyes mimicked Mai's, looking out the window in hope.

When are you getting back, Azula?

Azula stood on the bow of her ship in her flowing royal robes. They'd passed through the lake, the river and were out in the open ocean with barely an interruption. The one oddity being a few hours of unnaturally thick fog along the river that the captain had had to navigate through. But the only thing the princess was thinking about was floating in the water below her. She craved the combination of security and freedom it gave her, to just float around.

Her distractions and fidgeting with her still-braided hair took her to the Gates of Azulon. The nights were spent cocooned in her fur blanket with fingers brushing against her lips. It was fading in feeling but not in memory, and was mixed in with daydreaming of being weightless surrounded by the cool, healing waters. Her war meeting scroll remained undisturbed and not thought of on her desk.

She didn't know what the crew thought of her different attitude, but she found she really didn't care. The princess hadn't even ordered the captain to ignore the tides. They'd stopped at regular intervals in their journey along the coast and rivers of the Earth Kingdom while keeping a consistent speed for their arrival. Approaching the Fire Nation capital in the dying light of the day, she only had one plan in her mind.

Uncle Iroh…

Maybe he'd been right. Maybe she could surround herself with people who knew only love. Or, whatever that type of love was. She didn't quite know, but she wanted to find out.

Find out with him.

The other reason to go to her uncle was that his advice had helped. As much as she'd been loath to admit it, opening herself up had gotten Percy to open up about himself. And she'd just felt something she hadn't before when that happened. Not truly understanding what it was, but she wanted more of it.

The Gates of Azulon stayed open and they passed the statue to her deceased namesake. She stood, calmly, watching the water as the ship slowly came into the harbour. The only indication of her accelerating mind was her hands playing with her still-braided hair. That was when she first got the suspicion that something was up.

It was only relatively early evening, but it was still odd that there were a group of royal guards waiting to receive her on the shore. Her princess façade returned slightly as they came up the ramp to meet her.

"My stuff is down below for you." She said.

They remained unmoved from their position of cordoning off the exit to her ship.

Has something happened to father?

"I will be doing some personal errands so you don't need to stay long." She told them.

"I'm sorry princess, but we're under direct orders of the Fire Lord." The closest to her finally replied.

Azula's heartbeat started to increase again. Her hands met behind her back, hiding her clenched fists.

"And what are those orders?" She asked, nose and chin tilted towards the sky.

Internally, her mind raced.

How much does he know? Does he know where I've been? Where I went? Who I was with?

"You are to be taken directly to the throne room. No interruptions, no diversions and no personal errands." The same guard replied.

He said it entirely too haughtily for her liking, even as her nails dug deeper into her palms. Her eyes narrowed and she could start to see him sweat a little under her gaze. The princess took a step towards him and watched him shuffle back slightly towards the rest of the guards.

It looked like she wasn't going to be able to talk to her uncle with things as they were. She also knew that she couldn't see the Fire Lord dressed the way she was.

"I will get dressed, then see my father."

Azula emphasised the 'father', making that very same guard flinch. She spun on her heels and entered her room. The girl didn't need her servants for it, as she quickly disrobed and put on the underlayers of her royal armour. Her hands shook as she placed her pauldrons on her shoulders. Her mind didn't stop as she prepared herself to uphold her royalty in front of the men.

She strode out of her room with her head held as high as she could manage as she was encircled by the guards. They brought forward her palanquin. Her trip up the dark path to the Fire Nation Capital was shrouded by the transparent fabric.

With the dormant volcano towering over her, a helplessness began to settle over the princess.

Percy felt and heard the Water Tribe ships before he saw them. The lake rumbled slightly to him, as they made their way over to his beach.

It'd been a couple days since Azula had left, and he hadn't quite been able to process all that had happened. His lips still stung with his own betrayal, even though he had Annabeth's voice in his head, repeating over and over, that he shouldn't feel guilty. But he did.

That also didn't help his thoughts, be them waking or asleep. Having the daughter of Athena at the forefront of his mind once more made him want to collapse all over again. He'd spent his evenings and mornings talking to the stars, having faith that she was listening to him.

Afosiosi had been helping, being a distraction and having him talk about his previous adventures with her. It didn't ease his mind that much. Though thankfully she'd decided not to tease him about the kiss. He appreciated that. She'd also not used 'stupid turtle duck' as an insulting nickname. Percy was still figuring that one out for himself.

As soon as he knew the ships were coming, he began to pack his things. He went to his old cave and picked up his Earth Kingdom satchel. After packing his extra set of clothes in there with the notes, some food rations and the money, the demigod rolled up the two blankets and pushed them in. He wandered down to the sand with Siosi trotting behind him.

The ships came in with a slight mist surrounding them, one that Percy didn't need to see through to know where they were. The first ship came out into the evening light with a recognisable figure standing towards the front.

'Who's that, dumbass?' His ostrich horse asked from next to him.

Percy sighed. Even with all that happened, that specific name hadn't changed.

"That's Hakoda." He replied.

'Oh right, the one who doesn't listen.'

The demigod chuckled to himself.

Yeah, that one indeed.

It docked on the sand, sliding slightly up the shore. The Southern Water Tribe Chief leapt over the side and landed in the shallow water.

"Percy, it's good to see you."

He walked up the beach and extended his arm out. Percy met his in the warrior's handshake.

"It's good to see you too, Hakoda."

'Yeah, I'll bet.'

Percy fought hard to keep a smirk off his face. All he got was a weird look from his Water Tribe friends' dad.

"You ready to come?" The man asked, apparently deciding to disregard his odd reaction to an animal squawking.

He secured his satchel over his shoulder and looked back at his log cabin. Seeing Annabeth's golden frame in the doorway, smiling at him and waving from the doorway. Percy looked up to the first stars peeking through the fading orange sky.

"Yeah. I'm all ready to go."

With a thought, a solid ice staircase raised itself out of the water, leading up to the side of the ship. Hakoda looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but it wasn't anything like what he'd shown he could do before, so it was brushed off quickly.

"We have a ramp, you know?" He said, somewhat jovially.

Percy just shrugged with a smile. He followed the man up onto the boat, with Siosi trailing behind, and saw very quickly that it was close to full. Odd people bustled about the deck that he'd never seen.

"You've been pretty busy." He said, impressed.

"We stopped by a few places. After picking up our ships again."

Percy just hummed as a reply. A couple very strange, underdressed looking men came up to him wearing what looked to be timber breastplates and shin guards, and leaf hats and skirts. He let the ice melt and crash back into the lake behind him.

"And one of those places, was the swamp." Hakoda finished, exasperatedly.

It seemed to be related to the two men in front of him.

"Well I'll be."

The tall one of the two spoke first, speaking with a very southern American twang.

"Would you happen to be a waterbender?"

"Uhhh, yeah?" The demigod replied, not quite knowing how to deal with them.

"Hey, Tho. We got us some more kin. Bring her here, brother."

Before he could even really think about being called a 'brother' by them, the man wrapped him in an awkward, hug. Percy looked over to Hakoda who showed an interesting mixture of amused and deeply concerned.

"Due, leave the kid alone."

The shorter one extended his hand out to give a regular handshake after the man Percy figured was named 'Due' finished hugging him. He only hoped he didn't get any splinters from his timber breastplate. Nevertheless, the demigod reciprocated the handshake.

The two turned to another swamp man, that Percy assumed was also a waterbender, who scratched his belly. He waved although didn't seem to feel the need to introduce himself. The boy nodded back, taking his time to peruse the rest of the occupants of the deck. A hodgepodge of the dark and light greens of the Earth Kingdom and the blues of the Water Tribe littered the boat.

It seemed the three swamp men then saw Siosi hop onto the ship as well, as all their attention turned to the animal.

"Look at that, Tho. That's a hefty piece of meat right there."

Percy stifled a laugh as he heard his friend snort angrily, insulting them using some quite colourful language.

"I believe that's an ostrich horse."

"It definitely would taste like possum chicken."

'I bet you'd taste like possum chicken.' Siosi replied, and the demigod let out a quick laugh.

"Again with yer possum chicken." Tho said, obviously not hearing his ostrich horse's biting remark.

He did feel like he needed to intervene though.

"Guys, she's my friend. No one is eating her."

"Is she like a member of your family?" Due asked.

Percy pushed down the stark reminder of his lack of any real family he had left. But when he thought about it, she really kind of was. He'd always considered the horses and pegasi back home family. And they were quite literally that, in a way he tried to not remind himself of too much time. So Siosi being a part of that wasn't a stretch.

"Yeah, kinda like that."

"Oh, like old Slim back home."

"I guess?" The demigod said uncertainly.

"Well alright then, let's get some food in ya."

The men wandered off, Percy assumed to get his companion some food that was much to her appreciation, and the boat began to drift back towards the fog. Hakoda started towards the stern of the ship and the demigod followed.

"Seems like you've been around a lot of places."

"Yes, we have. Sokka gave me a very thorough list of people who could help us. There are even more on the other boats."

He turned to the demigod slightly, with a 'gotcha' type face, as though him having multiple other ships were a surprise to him.

"Oh yeah, the other four sitting in the mist." Percy said nonchalantly, enjoying the bewilderment in Hakoda's expression. "Did you have to do that often when getting the… troops?"

The demigod gestured towards the fog that surrounded them. He used the term 'troops' lightly, as a lot of them didn't seem battle-ready. That wasn't new to him though, considering who he fought with in the Battle for Manhattan and Olympus. The Water Tribe Chief got over his surprise at Percy knowing exactly how and where his hidden ships were with a put-out sigh.

"Yeah, we didn't have to use the fog for too long, but after passing a Fire Nation ship on the river here, we decided it was safer to keep it that way."

A Fire Nation ship they passed on the way here. Azula's?

"You know the ship?" Hakoda questioned as the visibility started to decrease from the fog.

Percy shrugged.

"They may have passed by here once or twice." He replied, noncommittally.

"Alright. Well, we didn't have much trouble after that." The man continued.

A young man with a moustache and goatee came up to him, wearing the different greens of the Earth Kingdom.

"This is Haru. Apparently him and his family met Sokka, Katara and the Avatar a while back."

The demigod turned to him, feeling a little bit tall.

"Hey, what was your name?" Haru extended his arm out in another handshake.

"Percy."

He gave back a nod and reciprocated the shake.

"Nice to meet you, are you a waterbender?" He asked.

"Something like that." Percy said with a smirk.

"Oh cool, I'm an earthbender."

"Nice, sounds like we're going to need everyone possible."

"Yup."

Their introductions were interrupted by Hakoda, who'd made his way to the Water Tribesman controlling the ship.

"Alright, we're off into Fire Nation waters. Everyone stay wary. We're going to have to see if we can get good winds to make it to the island in time for the invasion. We're running late as it is." He called out to everyone.

Percy listened on with a smirk.

Oh, time getting there definitely won't be a problem.

He felt the ship turning underneath him until it matched the four others off to either side. As soon as they were about to start forward, he pushed back with a light tugging sensation in his gut. The five ships sped through the water at a pace that they rarely got to. He didn't push it too hard, knowing the limits of their construction, but it was enough to get pretty much everyone on all the boats to stumble backwards.

Once Hakoda had regained his footing, he looked directly at Percy with a knowing eyebrow raised. All Percy gave in return was a wink.

"Hey Tho, what was that? Is there a monster below us?"

"I don't think so, Due. Sure doesn't feel like a monster."

"No need to panic." Hakoda called out. "It seems like we're lucky to have caught a big wind today."

Percy smiled to himself, feeling even more comfortable by the second as the waters were soon to become even saltier.

After an eventless but stressful trip through Harbour City and up into the capital, Azula was dropped off at the palace entrance. She made her way briskly towards the noren in front of the throne room. All the time, the only things that were running through her head were questions.

Does father know about Iroh? Does he know about Percy? Does he know about my thoughts? About how I feel?

Of course he does. It's only a matter of time. So many people know what you've been up to.

Mai and Ty Lee! Mai and Ty Lee? No, they wouldn't have told anyone.

How do you know? They don't fear you anymore.

Would they tell on me?

There were a strange number of guards still posted at this hour in certain parts of the complex, two of which stood either side of the entranceway.

"Princess, you'll have to wait. He's meeting with a few advisors."

She turned away from the throne room. Her braided hair never straying too far from her clenched fingers.

Is he delaying me? Would he do that? Why would he do that?

Of course he would. Look at what you've been doing. Do you really think you deserve to be a priority, acting like you have?

Azula walked out of sight of the guards and then shook her head, allowing her princess façade to drop slightly, away from the watchful eyes of everyone who served her father.

She saw the garden off to her side, with the pond shining under the moonlight at its centre. The eerie flickering of the flames disappeared as she sat next to the water, focusing on the silvery shimmering turtle duck home.

As if they knew she was there, one of the animals swam out, leaving ripples through the reflection of the bright moon. She followed the little baby turtle duck with her eyes as it paddled around the edges of the pond. It seemed to be diverting from its intended course as it swam through the areas tinged with the red of torchlight that encircled the little garden.

To her immense surprise, the small creature stopped in front of her and its beady black eyes looked up. The princess found herself enraptured by the little thing, its gaze more curious and intrigued than anything else. The naivety was still there, but it was somehow a lot more endearing than when she'd seen it before. She let her hair drop out of her grasp.

It ruffled its fur on its head and drifted ever closer to her side of the pond. A side pooling with the blue, silvers of the moon. The animal dipped its head as it almost touched the edge. Azula was confused, but extended her hand out instinctively. Lowering one finger, the turtle duck took advantage and twisted its head sideways, brushing itself along the length of her hand.

She found, even in her situation, a smile appearing on her face. She pulled her finger underneath the head of the duck and gave it a few scratches. Instantly, the baby curled more into her hand. A quiet quack from across the pond alerted her to another animal's presence.

Azula looked up to see the mother making its way over to her. She retracted her hand and the little one did a spin in front of her and then dart off back towards its parent. It did another circle around the older turtle duck before staying still in the water next to her. The princess found a couple pairs of beady but soft eyes looking at her.

One more turtle duck, another of the young ones, came up to the two. It splashed the first kid, making the animal chase it around the adult. After a few rings, the mother snapped its beak and the two immediately stopped. But, instead of flinching away like she'd expected. The two kids just leant into both her sides. She herded the two away from where Azula sat, and the princess found herself incredibly alone in the cold night.

A pool of tears built up in the corner of her eye. Whether from jealous envy, anger or sadness, her brain didn't understand. But the moon didn't feel as bright and the firelight seemed to encroach on more and more of the pond. Red overcame the cool blue of her surroundings as her fingers longed for the softness of the turtle duck. Her lips still felt his.

Azula closed her eyes, counting in her head, trying to keep the spiralling thoughts out of her head. Then the fire descended on the lunar reflection. A tear drop fell into the pond.

She heard the crunching of guard's boots coming from behind her.

"Princess Azula. The Fire Lord will see you now."

Azula stood gracefully, opposing the ragged thoughts she was having, and strode over towards the throne room. She took a deep breath outside the entrance, gathering herself in one last attempt to quieten the voices that had grown erratically.

She pushed open the noren to meet the blazing flames.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! I just managed to sneak this out before going back to uni, but it'll be very busy for me over the next few weeks so I'll try my best to continue pace with this story but I don't think I can promise anything faster than what I'm doing right now.
But, more importantly, let me know what you think of the chapter! This concludes one of my favourite little arcs I've written, the Turtle Duck arc. It began in Azula Alone and comes to a resolution (at least partially for the reader) in this chapter. Got a glimpse into what Azula's friends are doing and, canonically, this is during 'The Avatar and the Fire Lord' Episode. Thank you all for your patience and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

Some review replies:

Backpack Bandit: I appreciate your lack of a spoiler, and I can't help but agree with you. I do hope you enjoy what I do with them after that though, because while I wanted to make it earned, I also will be making every attempt to follow logical realistic decisions in regards to each character. Also thank you for the review!

dohoon0322: That means a lot! I truly appreciate that. As you can probably tell, I'm a huge fan of both so it has been a lot of fiddling and thinking how to tell a story and making each character not act uncharacteristically. I humbly thank you for your praise and I hope you continue to enjoy my work!

Guest(1): I know what I'm going to do with the characters and their potential love interests, but I won't spoil it for any of you. I do hope you enjoy how I write this story though.

Artorias78: You know what, I agree with you, at least on the first part. There are very definitely reasons as to why she doesn't here. I'm not sure about the second part, at least in this story (with Percy's promise to help the Avatar for the invasion), but I can definitely see what you're saying in regards to his character. I hope you like how I approach this next section though. We're delving into exactly what you're thinking about in that last half of your review. Who can Azula trust, and how that affects her.

Anvith Mithra: Thank you! I have definitely seen a drastic improvement in it from the beginning. Just shows what a year and a half of consistent writing will do. Plus I think I'm editing a lot more and just have a better grasp of the characters and how I want to portray them. I appreciate it!

Grieflord 101/Consuldiana/CRUDEN: I couldn't agree more.

HaywireEagle: Honestly, that's very fair haha. Glad it was cathartic for you.

Jctherebel: Thank you, I hope you enjoy this one and those to come!

Vosck: Thank you! Glad you see that coming across. That's exactly what I'm trying to do, keep the complexity of the other characters while deepening Azula's.

Death Fury: Glad you enjoyed that! I guess you're seeing how he reacted in this chapter. This definitely isn't the end of the implications of the kiss though, so don't worry, that'll continue.

Gigachad: I truly appreciate that! Hopefully the new ones can at least attempt to live up to it! That is very high praise.

Guest(2): Thank you! Another slight cliffhanger in this one too, though powerful for a different reason.

SpeedCannon: Thank you! I hope the story lives up to the potential! Will definitely keep attempting to grind out these updates, though I won't push them out too fast.

HellRaider: Thank you! I appreciate it and hope you enjoyed this chapter!

WildMan98: It did! I agree. Ozai's influence definitely wouldn't disappear in a few weeks, much less due to one kiss. It's still there and is something Azula is yet to overcome. Hope you continue to enjoy!

Guest(3): Here it is for ya :)

Conner W: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Here is the next one!

As always, thank you to all of those that reviewed, and those that just read, I appreciate you too! I can't believe that this story has past 1000 followers so quickly and that the first has past 1000 favourites! That's insane! Thank you all and I look forward to any and all feedback and updating you. Until next time :)

-PS