Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

326. Chapter 326: Rescue NAT-Preparations 2

Rescue at the Northern Air Temple/Preparations

2

The large airships towered over the temple, large, dark and daunting. For a moment, Sokka's mind seemed to cease functioning altogether as he gazed at them in utter shock, much like the others accompanying him: Aang and Katara had never seen armored airships before, and while Sokka's descriptions of the massive vessels were mostly accurate, nothing had prepared them to encounter the airships here.

Sokka blinked hard, letting out a huff of frustration as he scowled in the direction of the airships anew. For the first time since he began pushing back against the Fire Nation in the war, it seemed that his side had been outplayed.

"Back under the clouds. Everyone, back below cloud cover, now!" Sokka exclaimed, turning towards the other hot-air balloons. The guards were quick to obey, and Aang and Katara helped by raising the clouds with their bending, masking their presence anew as they returned to lower altitudes.

No one seemed to know what to say, or how to react to the sudden upset: of all scenarios they could have prepared for, they had failed to consider that the Fire Nation might beat them at reaching the Mechanist.

"What do we do now?" Rui Shi asked Sokka, frowning heavily. The Gladiator snarled – once again, his demeanor was that of the hardened leader of the army that had taken residence in Ba Sing Se. "Sokka…"

"Back to the mountain chain," he decided, shaking his head and walking towards the steering helm of the hot-air balloon. "We'll find someplace to land, we'll calm down, think this through… and plan a new approach."

Rui Shi swallowed hard and nodded: he helped Sokka guide their balloon towards the mountains and the others followed promptly. It took them about five minutes to find a surface spacious and flat enough for every balloon to land safely, and they kept the engines running as they dismounted, tense and uneasy over their unnerving discovery.

"Three. Those were three airships," said Fei Li, staring at Sokka in chagrin. "Why would there be three airships in the Northern Air Temple right now? I mean…! Is the Fire Lord asking the Mechanist to build them for him?"

"That's unlikely," Sokka said, with a heavy scowl. "They're probably the remaining airships, the ones that were produced before the factory was rendered useless. As for why they're here… it seems unlikely, too, that Ozai would feel the need to send three full armored airships to threaten the Mechanist into doing one thing or another. Yet… it's very likely that he'd want the Mechanist threatened anyway. Those airships aren't here just for a maintenance check-up, that's for sure."

"Did we just came across the Fire Lord's preparations to strike back at your forces in Ba Sing Se?" asked Tai Wei, frowning too. "He might have sent the airships to restock on supplies here, maybe on fuel, before attacking the city from above."

"It could be, but we can't assume anything yet," Sokka said, shaking his head. "Whatever Ozai is up to, I… I can only wonder if he's been bothering the Mechanist for months. If he hasn't, though, then it means..."

"This could be his retaliation for your conquest of Ba Sing Se," Rui Shi said, frowning. "He sent you to the Mechanist in the first place, long ago. He would have guessed that the two of you were allies, and perhaps he simply wanted to use him as a hostage against you… much as he's likely to use the Princess, and everyone else we left behind in the Fire Nation, once we draw closer."

"Maybe…" Sokka said, gritting his teeth. "The reason why he hounded the Mechanist, the main use he had for him, was tormenting him into providing the Fire Nation's armed forces with new technologies and new resources. And…"

A sudden burst of clarity, an unwanted memory snapped back into focus… a memory of his last time on this very route between Ba Sing Se and the Northern Air Temple: he and Azula had flown on Xin Long's back, and the Princess had been alarmed by the bombs the Mechanist had offered him. It wasn't solely a concern brought on by how dangerous the bombs were, in general… but brought on, instead, by her awareness that, if Sokka ever used the bombs in combat, word of it inevitably would reach her father.

Sokka had used the bombs indeed… and Ozai had witnessed the result of it with his own eyes as the Grand Royal Dome burned down violently to its foundations.

He snarled, a hand on his brow as he reasoned with an unwanted possibility… one that he knew was terribly likely to be the truth behind the Fire Lord's actions.

"I… I don't know if I'm giving the bastard too much credit. Maybe I am, huh? But maybe… maybe Ozai has been forcing the Mechanist to hand over new technologies. Because Ozai… he saw what I did. He saw the destruction the volatile bombs could cause. He may have commanded the Mechanist to build him some, and he's sent those airships to collect them."

"He…? Oh, no. Oh, shit…" Fei Li covered his mouth with a hand, shaking his head as the possibility took full form in his mind.

"Provided he hasn't been up to this for too long…" Sokka reasoned, glaring in the temple's direction. "The Mechanist may not have anything to offer him yet. But if I'm wrong to think so, the situation could be dire."

"You don't think it's possible for them to… well, recreate the destructive firebending of Sozin's Comet with those bombs, do you?" asked Taro, wary. "I mean… what the others described to us about the burning Arena didn't sound too different from that. If that were the case…"

"Success at recreating the comet's destructive force means they wouldn't need to wait a hundred years for another powerful method to boost firebending? Yeah," Sokka said, frowning heavily. "And seeing how patient and reasonable Ozai is, I wouldn't be surprised if he had decided he had to win the war by his own hand as soon as possible, rather than leaving it to the Fire Lord that comes after him. Might be he knew that no successor he'd leave behind would care to continue the war. But honestly? While… while I know I shouldn't underestimate him, reaching out to the Mechanist doesn't sound like a choice he'd be likely to make… not when he's bound to be unhinged and irrational over the losses we've dealt him so far."

"He has other advisors. I wouldn't assume it was entirely his idea," Rui Shi said, frowning. "War Minister Qin might have suggested this. He's the one who was in charge of everything to do with the Mechanist, isn't he?"

"Could have even been Zhao, too," Sokka sighed, shaking his head. "But at this point, finding the culprit isn't going to help our case: we have to get into the Temple, and we have to help the Mechanist and the rest of his people at once."

"Do you think they're in serious danger?" Katara asked, frowning. "Would they be resisting whatever the Fire Lord is demanding of them?"

"I… I doubt that," Sokka admitted, grimacing. "The Mechanist… he's done everything he has just to survive. That's the main thing that occupies him and his people, and that's exactly why Ozai's threats have worked on them as often as they have. Every last one of them would have been killed when the War Minister first found the Air Temple, but the Mechanist's usefulness with technological advancements turned him into an asset to exploit. If he refuses to cooperate, they'll have no problem with killing him on the spot and the rest of his people will follow…"

"Well, we're not letting that happen," Fei Li said, stubbornly. "But… what are we going to do? How will we get there and how will we help them?"

"We can bend the cloud cover to keep us hidden," Aang said, gesturing at himself and Katara. "We could approach the temple safely that way."

"And then do what?" asked Haoren, frowning. "Attack the airships from behind, or so? We don't know what's happening within the temple…"

"That's a priority: figuring out what the hell is going on," Sokka said, with a heavy frown. "And to do that… the cloud cover idea is a good one, actually. Aang, there's a lower entrance into the Temple… the Mechanist calls it the garage at times, it's his workshop, it's lower on the mountain than the base of the building. We can help you find it, if need be…"

"Would it be within sight for the airships?" Katara asked. Sokka grimaced.

"I hope not, but I'm not sure right now," he said. "If it is, you'll have to hide us with the clouds. Once we reach it, I should be able to carve a hole into the door with Space Sword: we can get inside that way, and with any luck, I can maybe find Teo or someone who can tell us what's going on… because I'm pretty sure the Mechanist himself is going to be dealing with the airships personally."

"Is it wise to seek someone out?" Rui Shi asked, raising an eyebrow. "You want us to stay hidden for as long as possible, but we don't know where he'll be…"

"I know, and I do want that, just as I want our balloons to stay safe," Sokka said, frowning. "We can probably fly them inside the workshop if we get the door properly open… preferably, silently. We could attack them from within the building, they surely won't see it coming if we go about it this way. They probably already searched the entire temple, confirmed they were defenseless… this won't be easy, and I have no doubts they'll use the refugees as hostages as soon as we show ourselves… so we have to be fast and give them so much grief that they can't take to using the Mechanist and his people against us."

"We should prioritize finding them, shouldn't we?" asked Jianghuo, frowning. "The full group of refugees, I mean. Knowing the Fire Nation army's procedures as well as we do, rounding up the refugees somewhere to threaten them would be their preferred way to force the Mechanist into doing their bidding."

"Hopefully, they won't have been dragged to the area with the volatile gas," Sokka said, frowning heavily. "But… that would be unlikely. The main thing they're bound to want is the volatile gas, threatening to blow it up to torment the Mechanist would be pointless, since they'd likely want to use the hostages against him instead."

"Then the volatile gas bombs are the objective…" Aang said, eyeing Sokka with uncertainty. "How does someone fight those things? Could we maybe counter them somehow? Or…?"

"I… I honestly don't know," Sokka admitted, frowning. "It's basically setting the air itself on fire. It spreads, it goes entirely wild, I… I only had five of those bombs and they burned down an entire building. They were small bombs, too: if they get anything bigger, the damage the Fire Lord can do would probably be an attempt to mimic their destructiveness during the Comet's arrival, worse yet now that they have airships from which they can rain fire upon everything. The sooner we stop that from happening, the better.

"So… yeah, let's prioritize finding the hostages first," Sokka nodded in Jianghuo's direction. "The workshop is bound to have machines and even some weaponry that we could try to use against the enemy. But we need to get moving, fast. We have no idea what's really going on there, and the sooner we figure it out, the better."

"We have to be ready for a fight," said Qiang, firmly. "Who knows if there's soldiers in the workshop, too?"

"They can be anywhere," Sokka agreed, nodding. "Airships aren't fully crowded with soldiers, the basics for them are the same as the hot-air balloons. Thus, while their balloon is made of metal, it's huge compared to the cabin, same as in our balloons. The main areas of the airship won't be so large, so… I'd expect we could be up against around fifty people on each airship, at most. Could be less than that."

"Sounds doable," Katara said, frowning. "I could use the clouds' water to tear down the airships if…"

"Wait…" Sokka said, raising a hand and stopping her on her tracks. Katara raised an eyebrow. "Tear down… the airships? I mean, that's not bad as a last resort, but…"

"But what?" Katara said, immediately wary of Sokka's latest potential ideas.

"Remember how we turned the warship against the Fire Nation navy in the South Pole?" Sokka asked. Katara nodded, realization dawning in her eyes upon hearing that. "We wouldn't really have to do that here… we could very well just capture all three airships instead."

"Capture…?" Han said, lips parting.

"If we did… well, for one thing, we wouldn't need to do multiple trips to take the refugees to Ba Sing Se," Rui Shi reasoned, looking at Sokka meaningfully. The Gladiator nodded.

"The Mechanist designed the airships' flight system personally. He could teach us all how to fly them… and depending on how the situation turns out, we could even take a few hostages, I'd say," Sokka said. "But I may be getting ahead of myself there. Anyway: we'll try to seize control of the airships if we can, right after making sure the Mechanist and his people are safe. We'll assess the situation after we enter the temple through the workshop, and after that, we'll use whatever machinery we find in there to spring an attack on them that they won't anticipate. Aang, Katara, the two of you may need to help us set up an ambush, like in the South Pole, to make sure the airships can't escape…"

"Shouldn't be too hard," Katara said, breathing deeply. Aang nodded.

"If the winds aren't in the airships' favor, they're not bound to fly very well, are they?" he asked, with a weak grin: he raised a hand towards his sky bison, who groaned appreciatively as Aang patted his fur gently. "I think Appa and I can see to that."

"Let's eat something quickly before charging in, then… we won't be likely to have time to replenish our strength once we get there," Sokka said, glaring in the direction of the Northern Air Temple: the cloud cover kept the building and its current assailants hidden… just as it would conceal their raiding group from sight until they struck when the Fire Nation forces least expected it.

About thirty minutes later, the hot-air balloons took off once more. Appa flew at the head of the group, enabling Katara and Aang to bend the clouds to properly hide everyone as they progressed towards the Temple, cutting that distance slowly and surely – the airships weren't too noisy, but they certainly were much louder than the smaller hot-air balloons. The generally silent environment of the Northern Air Temple was disturbed by the whirring sounds of machinery, the occasional release of steam, and the voices of demanding men… likely threatening whoever they were speaking with. Sokka snarled at the sounds, but he continued to steer the hot-air balloon until they finally reached the uphill climb that led to the Mechanist's garage and workshop.

Long ago, so long it felt like a lifetime, Sokka and the former guards had entered the Temple through that very entrance, riding the train-tank the Mechanist had designed for the Fire Lord, and that had been granted to Azula for her personal use during some of her journeys in the Earth Kingdom. The realization that he was coming back now… that he would be in this place without Azula for the first time, that the people in the temple had known of his relationship with her and supported it, keeping the truth to themselves so Ozai wouldn't learn of it…

He knew that setting them free wouldn't be easy, but he had to do his best on this mountain today for their sakes. He had given the Mechanist a hard time for his choices long ago… only to realize he had been no better than the nervous man. Only to realize that the engineering genius needed someone to help him, to break Ozai's chokehold on him and his people…

At last, Sokka could do right by him. Today, Sokka would set things straight and ensure the Mechanist and his people would never again be forced to do Ozai's bidding.

Two of the hot-air balloons touched down softly, while the others remained airborne: the angle of the ramp that led into the workshop was too steep for anyone else to land safely. Sokka leapt out of his balloon's basket, the first to land, and Rui Shi followed suit.

They approached the door. The Gladiator breathed deeply, withdrawing his sword and aiming it carefully towards the metallic gate that sealed the entrance. Rhone and his people had torn down this doorway once before… doing it too didn't sit well with Sokka, but he had no other choice. If things went well, perhaps they would have a chance to fix whatever they broke eventually… but either way, the intent was to convince the Mechanist and the other refugees to leave and no longer live in a place as unsafe as the Northern Air Temple had become for them, as evidenced by the airships stationed on those courtyards.

He slid the sword through the small opening between the door and its frame. Slowly, he lowered the weapon until it met resistance: he applied further power, and it wasn't long before the metallic lock and mechanism began to split under the edge of his blade.

"Sokka…" Rui Shi held up a hand, urging the Gladiator to stop his motions. Sokka frowned, and Rui Shi pressed his ear to the door, carefully.

It wasn't too loud, but he could hear the rumor of noise… light noise within the workshop. Voices… those were voices, even though Rui Shi couldn't easily understand them with a metallic wall standing between him and those he was eavesdropping on.

"There's people inside," Rui Shi said. Sokka gritted his teeth. "I can't tell what they're talking about, but I can hear them, Sokka."

"Okay… okay. I'll carve a small hole, then," Sokka suggested. "I'll be careful… and with any luck, I won't make a ton of noise by doing that."

Rui Shi bit his lip as Sokka withdrew the sword, slowly slipping it into the metal itself now. He did the same thing four times, creating a square that was then slightly difficult to remove – the large metallic door was surprisingly thick, but within a few moments, Sokka and Rui Shi succeeded at reeling back some of the metal block they'd carved, and together, they removed it slowly…

They had to jump out of the way to avoid receiving a sizzling attack of compressed hot air, pouring out of the hole immediately.

Whoever was inside had noticed they were up to something. But whoever was inside the workshop had attacked with the Mechanist's primary development in the temple… a burst of hot air.

If nothing else, the workshop didn't appear to be occupied by Fire Nation soldiers.

"Hey… hey! Whoever's in there…!" Sokka spoke, raising his voice as he leaned towards the hole, through which hot air continued to pour until he spoke. It slowed suddenly, and Sokka breathed out as he waited for it to cease entirely. "Hey there? We're here to help. I don't know what's going on, but…"

"Sokka?"

Teo's voice nearly broke Sokka out of sheer relief. The Gladiator gasped, letting out a soft laugh as he placed a hand on the metal door: he exchanged a glance with a relieved Rui Shi as well before answering.

"Teo, it's me!" Sokka said. "Not just me, the guards are with me, and I…!"

"S-Sokka? Oh…! Oh, shit. Oh, hell, e-everyone be quiet! And you guys outside, can you be quiet too? Just… just give us a second!"

A rumor of louder voices had started within the workshop, but it calmed down after Teo's wheelchair moved away from the door. Sokka and Rui Shi waited patiently, gesturing at their allies on their hot air balloons, as well as on Appa's back, so that they'd know they'd set something in motion already.

Suddenly, the massive garage door that led into the workshop slid open: Sokka breathed out in relief for it, but it moved slowly, terribly slowly… no doubt, because it wasn't supposed to be moving at all. If any sound of the opening gate reached the Fire Nation soldiers within the Temple, all hell would break loose.

Even so, Sokka stepped towards the slowly ajar door, a hand still gripping his sword – while it didn't seem likely that whoever was within the workshop would be dangerous, he had to keep his guard up. Rui Shi, behind him, was just as guarded…

But the men reeling the door open slowly were the Mechanist's assistants. And right beside them, with a disbelieving smile and tearful eyes, Teo sat in his wheelchair, gaping at Sokka in utter amazement.

"Sokka…!" he gasped: Sokka brought his fingers to his lips to silence him, but even so, he slid through the door and offered Teo a quick hug.

It was probably inappropriate for him to hug the other man in such a situation, but Sokka took the opportunity to analyze matters while he crouched by Teo's side: the lamps and lanterns within the workshop revealed that Teo and the assistants weren't alone. Numerous refugees were in the workshop as well, and they gaped at Sokka with just as much hope as Teo had…

"You're alive, and you're…! Y-you're here, Sokka!" Teo gasped breathlessly as the Gladiator pulled back, still crouching on the level of the wheelchair. "The things we heard, we…! We had no idea what was going on, it sounded like you were in trouble…!"

"I was. I've been in a lot of trouble since we last met, but I'm here now," Sokka said, firmly.

He clasped Teo's shoulder as the young man gazed at him with hope and despair alike: the others didn't appear to feel any differently, but they were quite keen, he noticed, on keeping silent – anything too loud might be overheard by the Fire Nation soldiers, giving away that they weren't safe, or entirely alone.

"What's going on, Teo?" Sokka asked. Teo swallowed hard. "We saw the airships, we were coming here to ask for your help…"

"H-help?" Teo said, swallowing hard. "I… I wish you'd gotten here three days ago. Then… then none of this would be happening."

"Three days?" Rui Shi said, stepping through the far more open workshop door now as well: many of the refugees gasped at the sight of him too, and he nodded in their direction appreciatively as Teo smiled brightly at him as well.

"Captain Rui Shi…!" he said, Rui Shi grimaced and shook his head.

"Haven't been a captain for a while. And I'm not with the Fire Nation, anymore, to begin with," he said, firmly. Teo's eyes seemed to glow with determination and approval upon hearing those words. "None of us are. Not as long as the Fire Nation is helmed by Fire Lord Ozai. But Teo…"

"What's going on? Why are you and the other refugees down here, exactly?" Sokka asked, soft but firmly.

"The… the airships arrived three days ago. The notice about what the Fire Lord wanted… it arrived about two weeks ago, instead," Teo said, swallowing hard. "My father… he didn't want to do it, but the threats were worse than ever before. We thought to fight, but they were going to send all those airships here, so we really had no choice and…"

"What did the Fire Lord demand?" Sokka asked, frowning. "He got your father up to developing some other new tech? Or is it the volatile gas bombs…?"

"I… I guess a mix of both," Teo admitted, swallowing hard. "You see… he wanted my father to modify the airships. To add a new system in them… a system to channel the volatile gas."

"To channel it?" Sokka asked, frowning. Teo nodded.

"Dad… he had to design a big, safe container where the gas will be kept compressed, within the balloon, and then, when they want to, the balloon itself will unleash a huge burst of fire? At least, that's what I've understood," Teo said. "It's… it's meant to be a way to allow them to attack from the air and not be helpless in those airships, I think…"

Sokka frowned, pondering Teo's words: the gas inside this container couldn't possibly last forever, much like his dispersers were one-use only… but that didn't help matters much, not when he knew personally just how dangerous the volatile gas might turn out to be.

"Is he still developing this system?" Sokka asked. "Testing it, maybe? Or…"

"He… he has already set it up in five airships, I think."

Sokka froze. Rui Shi, as well, was stunned cold by Teo's revelation.

Five. Ozai already had five airships equipped with a highly destructive method to unleash firepower upon the world, without needing Sozin's Comet to bolster his firebending's strength.

Sokka snarled, lowering his head as his circumstances in this war grew more complicated yet. Rui Shi gritted his teeth, watching as the Mechanist's assistants finished pushing the door open, and he encouraged the rest of the guards to steer their way into the workshop.

"Sokka," Rui Shi called him, and the Gladiator breathed out before rising to his full height. "This isn't good news, goes without saying, but we can stop him from setting up more than five airships with this system. There's three out there right now, there may be more coming in…"

"We need to get rid of the volatile gas. As soon as possible."

Sokka's conclusion startled Rui Shi. The Gladiator's eyes were sharp and determined as he scanned everything within the workshop: he recognized a few projects, while others were entirely unknown to him. Some could be useful, such as three tanks stationed by a wall, while others weren't bound to be much good in the likely battle that awaited them. He needed to pool all the available resources to devise a quick plan, here and now, to put a stop to what was happening beyond the workshop…

"There are two ways out of the workshop and into the temple," Sokka said, pointing towards the pulley system they had used, long ago, to enter the Mechanist's study… and towards another door, smaller than the metallic one that led outside, but still large. "Are there guards posted outside, Teo?"

"Soldiers?" Teo said, gritting his teeth and nodding. "I'm afraid so. We were… we were told to gather here while my dad and some of his assistants handle setting up those new systems. That's how War Minister Qin wanted it, so…"

"Wait," Sokka said, freezing on the spot before glancing at Teo again. "Just a second now: Is War Minister Qin here?"

"Yeah… yeah. He's right there, keeping my dad on task," Teo grimaced. "I don't know what to do, I don't… uh, Sokka? Why are you smiling?"

The Gladiator's disposition changed suddenly. A rather confusing amusement appeared to have taken hold of him as he glared at the still closed door behind which stood guards, meant to keep the refugees in place.

"Oh… I'm just keen on having a word with the War Minister, that's all," Sokka said, his voice dark and menacing. "Why were you all sent to gather here rather than elsewhere?"

"Well, it's spacious here, so they could fit everyone in the garage. And they locked all the exits, so we couldn't hope to go anywhere without them noticing," said Teo, with a shrug. "In fact… we wouldn't have been able to open this gate if you hadn't sliced the mechanism open with your sword. We thought for a moment that it might be another trick by the Fire Nation, it's why we tried to attack you…"

"Makes sense. You guys haven't seen my sword in action much, I'm afraid… and I'm sorry that you've had to see it now," Sokka said, breathing deeply as he sheathed the weapon again. "You're being used as hostages to force your father to cooperate, then?"

"Yeah… if he makes any mistakes, by War Minister Qin's standards, soldiers are bound to start throwing us off the mountainside or so," said Teo, with a grimace.

"Well… that's not going to happen to any of you," Sokka said, squeezing Teo's shoulder gently. "We're here to help."

"I… I don't know how you guys got here, but I'm glad that you did," Teo said, with a bright grin: the other hot-air balloons were starting to filter into the workshop by then.

Teo smiled brightly at the sight of his favorite guard and pen pal: Fei Li only waited for the balloon to be static again before jumping off the basket and rushing in to hug Teo. The young Earth Kingdom man held in some tears as he hugged his friend too, while everyone else continued to dismount their respective balloons, quietly reassuring the refugees that they'd do their best to set this matter right.

"And… what about them?" asked one of the refugees, pointing at the two strangers riding the sky bison, hovering right outside the door still, beneath the mist they were concealing their presences behind.

"Oh… keep it down," Sokka warned them, and the refugees nodded promptly. "The girl is my sister. She's a waterbender, her name is Katara…"

"Hi there," Katara smiled: once the last of the balloons was properly stationed to the side, Appa finally had enough room to enter the workshop too.

"And the guy there… is an Air Nomad. An airbender. Avatar Aang," Sokka said, with a simple grin.

He genuine expected and feared noise, a ruckus, a scandal… but the revelation that the Avatar was alive, and not only alive but among them, caused the refugees to fall completely silent, slack-jawed and shocked beyond any ability to articulate words. Sokka blinked blankly before shrugging.

"Well, can't complain if this is your reaction," he said, with a weak grin.

The group that had accompanied him in this incursion dismounted the balloons gradually as the refugees processed the shock, slowly crowding Aang and asking quiet, eager questions. Once everyone was on solid ground, though, the time to interrogate Aang on his survival and whereabouts across the past years was cut short: the new arrivals and refugees gathered around Sokka at a safe distance from either the door or the pulley system, to ensure that no sentries at either area would notice something was happening within the workshop.

"Alright… I need to know which ones of you would like to fight and are in any condition to do so," Sokka said. The refugees were startled by the question. "It's fine if none of you want to help, too, I'm just thinking… I'd rather make sure that the ones who don't want to fight are safe and sound outside the temple's premises before we charge ahead. I'll say, though, we could use the help if any of you can give us a hand by piloting the leftover tanks in the workshop."

"I can pilot one," Tai Wei said. Sokka nodded approvingly.

"We can take the other two," said one of the burlier assistants of the Mechanist, clapping another one on the shoulder – the second assistant nodded in agreement, and Sokka released a relieved breath.

"Then, all of those who would rather not fight… we'll evacuate you now, as quietly as possible," Sokka said, glancing at the rest of the group. "We'll fly you out to nearby mountains for your safety. We really don't know what's going to happen, and we can hope that things will turn out for the best… but the less of you can be held for ransom to manipulate the Mechanist, the better. We'll appreciate any support you want to offer, too… but it's fine if you'd rather sit this out and stay safe. It may sound crazy of me to say we can handle this… but I think we can."

"Well… you do have a lot of benders with you," Teo said, with a weak smile. "That's bound to help. But… how did you guys even get here? It's not that we're not grateful that you are, but you came by at such a convenient moment, too… my dad had been left alone by the Fire Nation for so long. Did you guys know we'd be attacked?"

"We… we didn't," Sokka said – an unsettling, sinking feeling in his gut said he should think about that question, about his answer, a little further… but he overlooked it for now. "We wanted your dad's help in the war effort… clearly, Ozai thought about the same thing."

"The war effort?" Teo asked, glancing at Sokka in confusion. "We… we heard you were in trouble with the Fire Lord months ago. But… you're fighting in the war, Sokka? W-what about…?"

"Much like War Minister Qin was hoping to use all of you as hostages… Ozai is using her as a hostage against me, or he will be soon," Sokka said, his frown heavy. "I want to end the war, Teo. I want to break every chain and set the world free… and every step I take to that end is a step that brings me closer to her."

"You…" Teo gasped, eyes heartfelt and pained. "Then… you were torn away from her? Against… against your will?"

"She sacrificed herself to ensure I survived," Sokka said, a fist tight by his thigh. "And that's why I have to make the most of the time and the chances she created for me. I'll fight to save her… I'll fight to save all of you. That's why I'm here now, and I won't leave until I've succeeded."

Teo's eyes lit up, and his lips curved into a gentle, heartfelt smile. He nodded approvingly… and then he turned towards the other refugees.

"Well… you heard Sokka. Who's staying and who's leaving?" he asked.

"Are you staying?" Fei Li asked, perplexed. Teo smiled and nodded. "Are you sure?"

"I might not be a lot of help… but I want to work alongside you guys. I want to do my best to help my dad," Teo said, determined. Sokka smiled.

"I'm sure there's some crazy weapons in here that your father's been developing… not the snack-hat, obviously, but still…" Sokka said, with a shrug. Teo chuckled softly.

"We'll rummage through everything and find useful stuff. At worst… we'll still find drills and hammers, right?" Teo said, smiling at the Mechanist's assistants, the two others who had already chosen to stay: they nodded in response to Teo's question before setting out, quietly, to search through the Mechanist's storage to find any usable weapons for the unexpected battle they'd be facing next.

Most of the guards, Aang and Katara would take care of evacuating the large number of refugees who had chosen to leave the temple while the others waged their battle against War Minister Qin and his forces. Sokka stayed in the workshop, intent on organizing their defenses by gathering everything he recognized, every useful gadget that could be purposed to attack the Fire Nation forces. Bomb prototypes, drills, explosives generally used for construction purposes, air compressing devices… even discarded dispersers, like the ones Sokka had built, stashed away in the workshop's shelves. Tai Wei took to checking the three tanks that were ready to be used, confirming that they wouldn't malfunction, while Teo and Rui Shi organized the escaping refugees, helping them climb on the hot-air balloons quickly while reassuring them that they'd do everything in their power to defeat the forces invading their home.

It would take a long time for everyone to be ready to strike: the trips back and forth would take them well over an hour. Sokka breathed heavily as he glared at the door, pondering their procedure now: he knew the only room in the temple's lowest depths hosted the volatile gas, and it might be better to deal with that once the battle had ended. They had to leave the workshop, presumably doing so with the tanks, though wrecking the Air Temple's infrastructure by driving huge tanks through its hallways didn't seem to be a good idea.… but perhaps there were other ways for the tanks to provide them with an advantage. Something came to mind as he eyed the constructs, an idea that might not be so destructive for the temple's integrity…

"Tai Wei," Sokka approached the expert driver, who glanced at him and nodded, encouraging him to speak his mind. "How many grappling hooks does a regular tank have?"

"Uh… two," Tai Wei said, raising an eyebrow. Sokka nodded. "Grappling hooks, then? Do you want us to climb over the mountainside, by any chance?"

"I thought about just barreling through the corridors first, yeah… but this way, we wouldn't endanger the structure of the building as much," Sokka reasoned. "We can split their forces this way, too. They'll be likely to react by attacking the tanks, and that will mean that those of us who attack from here can charge against whatever guards they leave here, or we can outright ambush the group in the courtyard from behind, if everyone takes off to deal with the tanks."

"Hmm. That's not a bad idea," said Tai Wei, with a smirk. "Won't hurt either that we could firebend through the tank's windows… that should give them pause. They wouldn't be likely to expect firebending from an enemy force, should they? They'd likely assume we're just the refugees, after all"

"Probably, yep," Sokka said, with a nod. "I'm not completely sure about what we're going to do afterwards… but we have to capture War Minister Qin at all costs. I don't want him dead, I need him captured. If you can lure the soldiers away from the armored airships, that would be for the best: War Minister Qin, as far as I know, isn't a particularly brave guy… so he'll likely stay back, away from the threat, hopefully unaware that there will be another threat lurking right behind him."

"Good. This sounds promising," Tai Wei smirked.

"Sokka… we have the gliders," Teo said, surprising Sokka once he approached him from behind. "I know it might not be very useful, but those of us who stayed could maybe help from the air, too."

"Huh…" Sokka frowned, tapping his chin. "Does your dad have any leftover bombs? And huh, maybe leftover food, that'd work too…"

"Uh… I don't know. I don't think so?" Teo said, grimacing. "The finished bombs would be in his study, I think these are just prototypes, and I don't think we can get up there safely right now. I'm pretty sure there's soldiers there…"

"Well, there are some explosives here anyway, even if not the strongest ones: lead the group on the gliders, take everything from the workshop that we could use as projectiles. Tools, scraps, anything… and once you're airborne, you'll toss them from a safe distance at the soldiers attacking the tanks," Sokka said, with a smirk. Teo's eyes lit up with Sokka's latest idea. "I advise that you stay out of their reach, of course… but you'll have a chance to help this way, if you want to."

"Absolutely," Teo grinned, nodding proudly.

Rui Shi approached next: the hot-air balloons were back, and this time, they were here to stay. About twenty refugees had decided to stay and fight, and Teo proceeded to urge them to pick out gliders and sort out through his father's workshop in search for useful projectiles to throw at their enemies.

"Got a plan yet?" Rui Shi asked. "Seemed like you did…"

"Something of a plan, yeah," Sokka said, nodding promptly. "It's coming together slowly, but it is. If you have any ideas, feel free to share… if you don't, I'll go on and explain what I've got to everyone now."

"Best do that already. If anything comes to mind, I'll let you know," Rui Shi said.

Sokka smiled and clasped his friend's shoulder before stepping up to the next group he'd lead into battle: he'd done this far too often lately… and he certainly hoped today's venture would have a favorable result yet again. Three airships wouldn't be a noteworthy enemy force… and they wouldn't have a strong response for a surprise attack like the one they were about to unleash.

He began explaining his plans with a hushed voice to a silent group, assigning duties for each fighter to handle in the coming fray. Little by little, their plan grew more solid, more doable, and with it, Sokka became confident and eager to see this impromptu mission through: after many years, he would finally set his mentor and friend free, and he would finally take a prisoner from the Fire Lord's highest circles, someone cowardly and sleazy… someone highly ranked, close enough to Ozai to finally reveal the truth of Azula's circumstances to her anguished, desperate Gladiator.

---

"Okay… everything ready?" Song asked: Rei fastened the bag and nodded positively.

"All the spicy food is packed and ready to go," she said. Song smiled as Rei turned towards Azula. "Do you need us to bring him anything else?"

Azula, relaxing against the headrest of her bed, smiled and shook her head: her requested spicy treats for Xin Long would be a good gift to her dragon, who longed to see her again… but knowing she was sending him a fun meal that she couldn't enjoy herself seemed to be cheering him up already.

"Just make sure to feed him and play a few songs for him," Azula said: Song nodded, holding onto her new pipa tightly – Azula had asked Rei to purchase it for her, on one outing they took to buy everything they still needed in preparation for the baby's arrival. "Maybe clean him up a little, if you think he looks unkempt. He might protest over it, but I'll just scold him from here anyway…"

"It's really interesting that you can communicate with him that way," Rei said, with a giggle. "I should read more about dragons and their bonds with riders."

"Well, the day will come when our draconic ally will be free again… maybe you'll get to see plenty of that bond directly, hopefully much sooner than you expect," Song smiled, patting Rei's shoulder. The younger woman smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically. "So… need anything else from us before we go, Azula?"

"Not that I can think of," Azula said. "Hug that mischievous dork for me, though, if you dare…"

"No need to be so ominous about it," Song smiled. "Rui Shi told me your dragon had hugged him once… he basically wrapped himself around him completely and he could barely move."

"Oh… I remember that," Azula smiled fondly. "That was… back when Sokka decided to make armor for Xin Long. I had strange dreams of Xin Long hugging Rui Shi and I couldn't understand they were real until I found out that he'd gone to his refuge in secret at night to take measurements for the armor…"

"What simple lives we lived, when our biggest concern was keeping you from finding out that Sokka was scheming to build a crazy armor for your dragon," Song smiled fondly, stepping up to Azula on the mattress and offering her a quick hug. "Renkai and whoever's guarding with him will be right at your door, so if you need us at all, just call them and they'll come to fetch us, alright?"

"Alright. Though I could also convey that I need something through Xin Long, if we set up some sort of coded sign for that…" Azula said, though she frowned. "Though I'm not sure he'll be in the mood to behave himself. Might be he'll decide to use whatever sign we come up with to alarm you both when nothing's going on, huh?"

"Well, if he's in a silly mood of the sort, I would forgive him for indulging in some mischief… but it's probably better if we don't do that, then," Song said. Azula smiled and nodded.

Rei offered her a quick hug of her own, too, before she and Song set out to Xin Long's refuge… and prison. While their circumstances had changed, improved, the truth was still the same: Azula and Xin Long were prisoners, if in very strange ways. That Azula's jail was no longer as harsh as before didn't truly change her circumstances sufficiently…

But now, she had to stay in bed and rest as best as possible for the child's sake. She sighed, resting a hand upon her womb… her ridiculously large womb. She had asked Song multiple times if this was a reasonable pregnancy belly, only to receive the shocking answer that other women could have even larger ones than hers, at this stage of pregnancy. The very notion was mindboggling for the Princess – never had her body changed to this extent before, evidently. While she had certainly lost considerable fitness over the course of the past year, her body's new shape still took her by surprise more often than not. The discomfort, the strange sensations that didn't fully belong to her… she knew some belonged to Sokka, through their spiritual bond. And some… to their child.

"How are you feeling in there?" she asked, softly. Light vibrations within her suggested her very calm child was moving, if only a little bit. "Everything comfortable? I hope so… because I'm not very comfortable, but if you are, I'll bear with it. We've been really lazy lately, haven't we? I suppose you'll be grateful for that, after what I put you through that day. I'm sorry, but… but you're really strong, huh? You endured it and got through it without much trouble, if Song and the Head Sage have it right. So… good work. You're a survivor, just like your father."

She smiled, trying not to focus on the darker side of things now. Trying not to think of how complicated her circumstances were, how Sokka had made her life more difficult without meaning to. She sighed, still staring at her womb… acutely aware that the child would be born soon.

Sometimes, the thought of the baby's birth was frightening – how painful would childbirth be? Probably worse than most pain she had experienced so far, and that was saying something… how would she protect the child properly? Even if they had ideas for that, there was no telling if they would pay off or not. Sometimes, she'd feel a strange burst of enthusiasm: the child was eight months in the making now, almost nine. In all that time, she had been preparing, whether consciously or not, to meet it… and she couldn't help but wonder who it would resemble most. Would it be a boy or a girl? Would it have Sokka's eyes, or hers? Would it still be so calm once it was born… or would it begin to make a show of either of its parents' personalities? Was that something children could inherit from their family? She had no idea…

"Well… never mind who you resemble more, frankly. You can be anything you want to be," Azula said, with a gentle smile. "Rest assured… I've long been cured from my family's gruesome expectations. If you want to make a living by selling good luck charms or so, I'll be thrilled to support you. We'll just make the best good luck charms of all time, how about it?"

She smiled as she stroked her prominent belly, feeling the child stirring within – at times, it felt as though it responded to her voice when she spoke to it directly. Was that reasonable, or was she imagining things? She might be misunderstanding the child's reactions… but she wondered if the baby might recognize her voice once it was born. If it would know exactly who its mother was… if it would feel safe with her. She certainly had no recollection of feeling that way around her own mother… but she could only hope to offer her baby a very different living experience from her own.

"I suppose we'll just rest again… gather our strength, huh? It's like we're hibernating somehow, you and me," Azula said, still brushing her womb gently with her fingers. "Not that I know a lot about hibernation… though I suppose it could be suitable to call it that, as winter's already begun in the north. It's summer in the south… though your father's certainly experiencing the north right now, if he's in Ba Sing Se. If he's still in Ba Sing Se, that is…"

She wasn't supposed to think too much about it, about any of it… but Sokka's current whereabouts, his next choices, his future endeavors kept sneaking into her mind, especially when she was left alone with her thoughts. She couldn't stop worrying, couldn't stop treacherously hoping he'd either succeed on all fronts of the war or stay put, safe and sound, someplace where her father wouldn't reach him… she couldn't stop missing him, even now, when she knew she had done terrible things that might ensure she'd never be with him anew. But sometimes, the hopes of seeing him again, if just one more time, flooded her wounded heart all the same…

She let herself evoke his image, let her heart pound painfully at the memory of his gentle blue eyes. The sensation of his touch, the firmness and warmth of his embrace, the teasing laughter that would leave his lips just before he pressed them to hers…

That the day had come when she would willfully fantasize about him, careless and comfortable in the protection of her own mind, brought a smile to her face. Her past self, from over five years ago, would be mortified to know she'd dived into memories, clinging to the bright days she had shared with her handsome lover, her true husband, all be it to find even a sliver of tranquility… so long ago, she had been utterly aghast upon letting herself speak out loud that, if only she weren't a Princess, she might have a chance to be with Sokka. That she had been willing to indulge in that fantasy as well, in wishfully wanting to love Sokka freely, had felt like some manner of horrific self-betrayal back then… nowadays, she could only laugh upon remembering that moment, thinking back on it with unexpected fondness.

"We did so many stupid things, your father and I," Azula smiled, shaking her head. "And we would've done thousands more, if we'd had the chance. But I suppose we got a few things right… you among them, of course. Just so you know? If he were here, if he'd had a chance to be with us this whole time… goodness, he would've been the most obnoxious father-to-be of all time. He'd have been talking to you constantly, at every moment of the day… and trying his best to pamper me, panicking over every small thing, scolding other people for overwhelming me and so on. If I'd dared do anything reckless, he would've lost his mind about it… he already did that even before you came along, so it's guaranteed that he would've been worse about it once you were here. Oh, and I bet… I bet he would've decided to sing strange lullabies to you, absolutely. I would've begged him to stop, he would have disregarded my requests every time…"

Just picturing such situations brought her to laugh, even if some tears formed in her eyes as well. Her chest tightened, as did her throat… but she wouldn't cry. Not even if it was out of happiness, not even if it was out of fondness…

"Nope… no crying, or I'll worry you. Same as I worried your father every time it happened," Azula said, breathing deeply and closing her eyes. "Don't mind me, dear. I think I'll just… try to sleep some more. If that's all I can do."

For that was, unfortunately, the main thing she did as of late. Being bedridden hardly allowed her to do much else, so, if there was nothing else demanding her attention, nothing beyond the strange bursts of determination and anxiety in her heart, which she knew didn't belong to her, she'd drift off to sleep…

Just as she wondered if she might see Sokka in dreams, if she might have a chance to connect to his soul – something that happened far too infrequently for her tastes –, the door to her room was pushed open: Renkai slipped inside, and Azula raised an eyebrow as she glanced at him questioningly.

"Princess…" he said, his melodious voice betraying some unease. "The… the Fire Lord asks if you would receive him right now."

Azula froze where she sat. All exhaustion, all heaviness, faded at once as she pushed herself up further on the bed, winding up in a sitting position. She stared at Renkai apprehensively before nodding.

"I… I will. I suppose you don't know if… if he needs me for something?" she asked. Renkai shook his head.

"I don't. But I'll let him inside now. I… I will be right by the door, as always."

That he'd feel the need to say as much worried Azula: perhaps it was simply the shadow of what Zhao had done, still looming over them all, that caused Renkai to be so uneasy. Perhaps Ozai's agreeable mood and less uptight demeanor had finally run their course, though. Whatever the reason for his visit, however, Azula's gut churned as she nodded at Renkai, ushering him to allow her father into her room, for the first time in years.

He didn't enter right away, but he didn't take too long to do so, either. The two guards standing by the door bowed to him, as did the Imperial Guards who had escorted him, before the door closed, leaving him alone with Azula once more, weeks after their last encounter in the physicians' wing.

Azula breathed deeply, hoping to calm herself as Ozai stood by the door for a moment – she didn't realize right away that he was assessing the changes in her room, taking them in, though fortunately, not with judgmental disdain.

"Is it to your liking?" he asked. "Do you find the changes suitable for your needs, or…?"

"I do. Quite so," Azula said, with a nervous, uncertain smile.

"The carpet is… plain," Ozai remarked. Azula's smile gained a little more strength.

"Lady Wen has some ideas for it. I don't quite know what, exactly, but she reassured me that it won't remain so plain and simple forever," she said. Ozai hummed.

"A most unusual, lively midwife you have, frankly. She has very little in common with her aunts," Ozai said, stepping closer to Azula's bed. "Though that must please you, I suspect. You weren't keen on their services anymore, a few years ago. Perhaps the newer generation of their family was better suited to serve you."

"Perhaps," Azula said, nodding slowly.

Ozai breathed deeply as he gazed at her, once he stood by her bedside. Azula raised her eyes to meet his, and Ozai regarded her with uncertainty.

"How are you feeling today?" he asked. Azula's dishonest smile spread over her face again.

"I… can't quite say I'm feeling well, but there's nothing to worry about," she said. "Just the usual pains and discomfort over… well, over having doubled my body's girth in a matter of a few months, I'd say."

"Indeed," Ozai said, glancing down at her womb – as ever, Azula felt a burst of protectiveness, a need to shield the child from her father, no matter if she was already shielding it, in a manner of speaking… "May I?"

Azula raised her eyebrows, finding that her father was gesturing at the nearby chair that Rei usually sat at. Azula nodded, and he took his seat by her side. Even then, his eyes lingered upon her belly.

"You will think me a fool… and you wouldn't be mistaken, if you did," Ozai said. "But I suppose the reality of… of what it would mean for you to bear a new heir for the Royal Family hadn't truly dawned upon me all along."

"What do you mean?" Azula said, uneasily.

"I… I just can't seem to grow used to seeing you pregnant," Ozai confessed.

Despite everything, Azula let out a choked, soft laugh. She shook her head before shrugging.

"I can't seem to grow used to being pregnant, so… I suppose I can understand that," she said. "I haven't looked in a mirror for weeks and I'd rather not do it anytime soon, too."

"You're not unsightly," Ozai said – they were the most reassuring words he could say, Azula supposed. "But the reality that you'll have a child of your own is… strange, perhaps difficult to fathom. Children are, well… complicated."

"I'm aware," Azula said, with a sad smile. "I suppose no one's ever genuinely prepared for this, are they?"

"I certainly wasn't. I can't presume to say your mother had better preparation for it, either," Ozai said, breathing deeply. "Though she handled it far more gracefully than me, without a doubt."

"Really?" Azula raised an eyebrow. "Were you that nervous about it? Or…?"

"About raising a child?" Ozai asked. "Well… yes. Though not solely for the reasons why you might think. Truthfully… those were difficult days in the Palace. Your uncle's wife passed away briefly before we learned Ursa was with child… Fire Lord Azulon did not react positively to the news, of course."

"Oh," Azula said, with a slight frown.

"You, surprising as it may be, provided us with a chance to experience a much more normal period of preparation for a child than Zuko did," Ozai said. "There was no such baggage weighing over you, once we knew we were expecting you. The main issue was… getting Zuko to behave himself, of course.

"He was unnervingly attached to your mother, as you have always known," Ozai said, rolling his eyes. "Ensuring he'd understand that he'd have a sibling was no easy feat, made all the more difficult because… because he didn't want anything to do with me, of course."

"He… what?" Azula asked, puzzled. "You mean that, when he was a baby, he…?"

"The first time I held him?" Ozai said, his eyes narrowing into a deadpan glare. "Well, to put it bluntly, his diaper bore the consequences of it."

"Wait, you mean he…?" Azula said, with a nervous, awkward grimace – no wonder her father's relationship with Zuko had been contentious all along…

"Yes, I mean he pooped himself. Most unceremoniously. Then he started crying and howling like a beast, demanding that I unhanded him," Ozai said, shaking his head. Azula covered her mouth with a hand, and to her surprise, Ozai actually smiled slightly. "It's just like him, isn't it?"

"I… I suppose so," Azula chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing, but…"

"You needn't apologize… though what you do need to do is take note, and take heed," Ozai said, grimacing. "Once you have a child, you'll be forced to face its many… excretions, I suppose, would be the right word? So… you'd best brace yourself for that."

"Why… thank you for the warning," Azula said, with an awkward smile. "Was Zuko really that messy? Or… well, was I?"

"Hmm… I hardly had to face Zuko's messes, to put it mildly, as he had a tendency to cry whenever I dared to so much as have eye contact with him," Ozai said, folding his arms over his chest. "As for you… you will be alarmed to know that you were quite messy when you were a newborn."

"Huh… I mean, I suppose that's how most children act, but I guess some part of me wondered if I'd been any better," Azula said, with a sad smile.

"You were keen on spit bubbles," Ozai said. Azula snorted. "And I cannot quite recall how many times I had to wipe off your snot. And the barfing…"

"Oh, hell. Sorry… even if it's an apology arriving so many years later, I am sorry," Azula said, eyes wide. To her surprise, Ozai let out a soft chuckle.

"You needn't apologize for it. I… I found it a lot less revolting than you do, at the moment," he said. "And you'll be no different once your child is born. At that stage, everything that might disgust you conceptually about this will stop being important. It's your child, so… you have to look after it, it's as simple as that. It can't look after itself, not when it's so young, so it's up to you as its parent to help."

"And… you did that for me?" Azula asked, surprised. "N-not that I don't believe it, I just… by the time I had a better sense of self, I suppose, I spent more time with Lo and Li rather than with anyone else, so…"

"Well… yes, you did. I was responsible for that, of course," Ozai said, frowning. Azula raised an eyebrow. "Your mother had her own designs regarding your education, and I grew rather busy over time, in my personal war against my father. I simply… saw an opportunity in you that was entirely non-existent with your brother. You were the child who had gotten everything right… the prodigy, firebending within moments of your birth. Your mother didn't have the easiest of times when she was carrying you, there were a few minor complications… contractions began quite early, and they were more painful than anticipated. But you were born safely in the end… and you were a firebender right away. The more talent you showed, the easier it was for me to see that you… that you were the most gifted child out of the three grandchildren of Fire Lord Azulon. He could barely contest such a reality… you made me a stronger contender for the throne than my father had ever meant for me to be."

"Did I really do that all along?" Azula asked. Ozai nodded.

"A firebender of your prowess… the fact that the joint lineages of Sozin and Roku had successfully resulted in an extraordinary child, as we hoped, took my father aback," Ozai continued. "Naturally, he didn't want this… he wanted Iroh to be his heir, his grand legacy, and I foolishly sought to contest that belief for years. But it should have been obvious all along… that you could never be the legacy of a man like him, and neither could I. We were better than him, deserved better than to be weighed down by him… but at the time, he was the high authority I had to answer to. And as that was the case, I made efforts to ensure that you would have a brighter future in this family than what he would allow you to reach for, for you were…"

"A girl," Azula finished, with a tight grin. "Is it bold of me to ask… if he took offense to your choice of naming me after him?"

"I'm unsurprised that you would unravel as much," Ozai said. "You may not know this… but Zuko's name was meant to honor your grandfather, on your mother's side."

"Really?" Azula asked, perplexed. Ozai smiled and nodded.

"I proposed that idea to your mother. Her father was called Jinzuk. I repurposed Sozin's ideograms for the sake of honoring him through Zuko's name, as well, but whatever the ideogram, the truth was that I meant to honor your other grandfather, seeing as Fire Lord Azulon seemed to want nothing to do with our firstborn. Naturally, my father did not take that well. Had you been born a boy, he might have still sought some excuse or another to argue that my choice to name my child after him was offensive somehow… but that you were a girl meant that, regardless of your bending prowess, he would find you unsuitable. If I'm honest… I expect he was jealous. He knew he hadn't been remotely as prodigious a firebender as you were, no matter if he was deemed a prodigy as well… he couldn't acknowledge you without accepting that he wasn't on your level, I suppose."

"So, he was… competing, to a fault, with his newborn grandchild?" Azula asked, puzzled. Ozai shrugged.

"If it sounds disturbing and illogical… surely it is," Ozai said. "Our family has never been reasonable or healthy. I made countless mistakes in raising you and your brother, though I fear that in his case, no choices I made could have prevented him from becoming the failure he was…"

"Huh," Azula said, with an uneasy smile – if anything, Zuko probably had made his peace with Ozai's terrible upbringing, considering it meant that he was free to fight alongside a righteous army to put an end to Ozai's rule… had he received any better treatment from their father, he might be in a similar situation to hers, who knew if perhaps worse yet.

"But I do admit… I should have been more present than I was, rather than focusing as much on clashing with my father. I should have ensured to clean your diapers and wipe your nose as many times as you may have needed me to do so," Ozai said, with a weak smile. "You… you didn't cry at all when I held you. Instead… you pulled my beard, actually."

"I… I did?" Azula said, with a nervous grin. Ozai chuckled.

"You weren't too strong yet, for which I was quite fortunate," Ozai said. "It was endearing, if anything."

"Weren't you afraid that I might burn it, or something?" Azula asked. "I mean, I don't really remember when I started firebending with my hands, so I suppose I started early enough to have no recollection of it…"

"Not too early, however. As a newborn, and for a few months, it only happened when you cried. You had powerful lungs," Ozai said, with a chuckle. "The entire Palace would learn of it whenever you had been displeased by one thing or another. Your mother was mortified by it, she hardly knew how to calm you down, and if you got started, Zuko often followed with his own tantrums…"

"Heh. That sounds like a nightmare," Azula said, eyes wide. Ozai's laughter was stronger still.

"Oh, it may have seemed to be one back then. It's quite amusing to recall now, for some reason," he said. "Either way, you were a much stronger menace for our eardrums than for my beard, if you truly worried about that."

"Well… not that I'm any happier to have been a screaming child, but I'm glad that I didn't burn your beard," Azula said, with a weak smile. "I suppose I'll have to brace myself for the screaming and the tantrums, too?"

"Indeed," Ozai said, with a sigh. "Also, though this isn't bound to be a problem until later… picky eaters are quite messy as well. Lu Ten was one, actually…"

"Oh?" Azula raised an eyebrow, inquisitively. Ozai grimaced.

"If he could have lived his life off fire flakes alone, he would have done it," he said. "I was quite relieved that neither you nor Zuko were that much of a problem…"

"Here I thought I stole too much mochi…" Azula pointed out. Ozai scoffed.

"Hardly," he said. Azula smiled. "Your mother made too much of a fuss about that, I always told her so…"

"And I'm sure she always replied that you made too little of a fuss about it," Azula said. Ozai smiled and shrugged.

"Of course," he said. "But mochi won't be a problem for the time being, nor will fire flakes… breastfeeding, on the other hand, can be complicated."

"Complicated? How so…?" Azula asked, blinking blankly.

"Not every woman can do it easily," Ozai explained. "I can't pretend to understand the minutiae of it, but… your mother had it easier with you, much harder with your brother because he was the firstborn. We considered finding a wetnurse, since it seemed he wasn't eating sufficiently at first, so… I'm only warning you so you'll be patient. Perhaps ask Lady Wen if there are diets you can rely on to ensure you can do this safely? Either way, should a wetnurse be necessary indeed, reach out to me and I'll find one at once."

"Thank you. I… I hope it won't be necessary, but thank you," Azula said, gritting her teeth.

Ozai fell silent for a moment, still watching his daughter with unusually calm eyes. Azula, of course, remained quite nervous instead.

"I'm not exactly an expert at parenthood… which isn't something I needed to say out loud to you, of all people," Ozai said, rolling his eyes. "But… if there's anything you're nervous about, anything you'd like to ask, feel free to do so."

"Is… is that why you wanted to see me today?" Azula asked. "To offer advice?"

"And to ensure that you're handling your bedrest well, or at least, without much struggle," Ozai said. "I also thought to ask… if you've thought about names yet."

"Ah… names?" Azula raised her eyebrows. "Huh. To be honest, I… I haven't. I should have, shouldn't I?"

"You needn't worry," Ozai said, with a weak smile. "At times, it takes seeing your child to be certain of what name you wish to give them. Your mother and I had ideas already, both for your brother and for you, but we expected you to be a boy, frankly."

"Azulon, the second?" Azula said, unamused. Ozai sighed.

"And what a burden that would have been. As it is, surely you already feel burdened by being named after him," he said.

"I didn't always. But… I suppose the weight of it became more obvious as I grew older," Azula said. Ozai nodded.

"If I may suggest something… do not waste your time seeking to honor your ancestors by naming your child," Ozai said, gesturing at Azula's baby bump with his chin. "We haven't proven all that worthy of being honored as of late, have we?"

"Are you… are you quite sure?" Azula asked, uneasy. Ozai shrugged.

"You're free to choose whatever name you wish, of course. But where your name and your brother's were derived from either of your parents, as well as our fathers, you truly needn't placate anyone with your choices. Who knows if, perhaps, your child will thrive all the more if it's not burdened with the weight of countless generations of mistakes?"

Azula remained silent upon hearing those words. She hadn't truly pondered naming the child after anyone… though honoring Sokka's family wouldn't have been a bad idea, she thought. Still… it would be too risky, wouldn't it? It would immediately give away who the father was, and her father's amicable behavior would likely fade away quickly if she dared be so reckless…

The freedom to choose a name untethered, disconnected from the heavy burdens of her family's expectations, was probably a more suitable choice. She had only just told the child that she would forsake those things… her baby would grow free and, with any luck, it would do so far away from the environment that she had been restrained and oppressed by all her life, even if she had failed to notice as much in her younger years.

But her father's stories about the past, about her childhood, about her screaming and the gross substances he'd had to clean off her – and her brother – were strangely endearing. As her father spoke, she couldn't help but wonder if her child would be quite as spirited as she had been, if she'd have to clean them as zealously as Ozai seemed to do for her, in her younger years…

She wanted to do all those things. It didn't matter if she had to deal with snot or drool or vomit… she wanted to look after her child. She wanted to protect it, to soothe it, to feed it… to experience everything her father had, and the countless things her father had missed.

She wanted to be her child's mother.

It was no true realization, she had known this all along… but her heart pounded with the certainty she had never thought she'd feel about her own children. She had spent years running away from the concept, disgusted and disturbed by it, rejecting the very notion of becoming a mother… but right now, she wanted nothing quite as strongly as to be her child's parent, with all the complications it might entail.

She dared place a hand upon her womb, slow and carefully, and she smiled upon feeling more movement inside her. Ozai raised an eyebrow.

"Is it… very active?" he asked. Azula shook her head.

"Not really," Azula said. "It has moved around more often lately, but… it used to be very calm. Sometimes I can feel… well, I think it's parts of the baby's body? Like… like the elbow? It's a strange sensation…"

"I can only imagine how strange," Ozai said, eyes wide. Azula chuckled.

"Were we more active than this?" she asked. "Me and Zuko, I mean…"

"Hmm… you certainly were quite feisty," Ozai said. Azula smiled. "Your mother… she may have been arguing with you from the womb, I suppose."

"Well, that hardly surprises me," Azula said. Ozai smiled sadly at her.

"It won't do any good to say now that she genuinely cherished you, when you hardly felt that she did… I fear she was much too preoccupied with countless matters to show it, too," he said. Azula gritted her teeth, shaking her head. "Zuko didn't help, of course. He was innately jealous of you once you were born, you got far more attention than him for a time… and Ursa was far too weak for that boy all along. Strangely, that you would respond so much to me is the only reason why Zuko started setting aside his fear of me… and the main reason why he started making efforts to impress me, too."

"He was bothered to hear you praising me since then?" Azula asked. "Or… to see you holding me, perhaps?"

"He was a child, admittedly. No child is ever rational or reasonable…" Ozai said, with a shrug. "But indeed, he grew to covet the attention he couldn't get from me because I… I set him aside, as he gave me too much trouble before you were born, and by then, I suppose I assumed that all he wanted was to keep me at bay. My bond with you was much stronger right away…"

"Even though I wasn't bound to ever become your heir, for I was a girl," Azula said. Ozai shrugged.

"I won't pretend I was impervious to the demands of society… but I wanted to ensure that you could rise as high as possible, regardless. It was one more reason why I dedicated much more time and efforts to you… you would need it far more than Zuko would. He was the firstborn child, a boy… even if a late bloomer, a firebender, too. My intentions weren't solely noble, no… but you wouldn't have been all that likely to succeed without me. It didn't help that your mother wasn't concerned with allowing you to succeed, either."

"She wanted me to become the perfect daughter of a Fire Nation Prince, never aspiring for more than she should, never stepping out of line," Azula said, with a deep sigh.

"That was how she was raised," Ozai said. Azula frowned. "You challenged her in every way she never had been challenged… and I fear she didn't want to accept those challenges. Not as you were presenting them, anyway."

"Was I forcing her to question everything she knew, by any chance?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows – if so, it would be rather confusing to find that she had played that role for her mother at such early age, when Sokka had been the one to do so for her, years later…

"I suppose you were trying to… but she didn't quite wish to face it. She would shut you down out of fear, I never lied to you about that… but it wasn't so much fear of you, as it was fear of acknowledging that perhaps she had been wasting away her own potential, and that she was attempting to make you waste yours as well."

"Well… wherever she is now, I can only hope that she has learned to embrace that potential somehow," Azula said, closing her eyes. "You… you do believe she's still alive, don't you?"

"I cannot say," Ozai whispered. Azula eyed him with unexpected compassion. "Sometimes a part of me grows convinced that she's still out there, though I don't know why, exactly. But I suspect that, if she is, she would only return home to inform me of what a disappointment of a Fire Lord I've proven to be, especially as of late."

"Would she really…?" Azula asked. Ozai smiled.

"She wouldn't be wrong," he said. "And I… I would welcome to hear those words, if those were the only ones she would deign to speak to me. If I could see her once again… whatever punishment she deems necessary, whatever she wishes to say, I will accept gladly. Perhaps I could have been a better Fire Lord if she had been by my side… a better father, too."

"You did everything you could, within the constraints of your own upbringing," Azula said, her chest burning with guilt as she spoke those words. "I mean, when I was a child, you… you were my whole world. As long as I knew you were on my side, I felt unstoppable. I don't know what might have happened to me, what kind of person I'd be today, if… if I'd obeyed all her demands without fail, instead."

"I cannot know the gravity of my earlier mistakes… not for certain, not as we are," Ozai said. "But I can certainly speak of those I made in recent times. I have failed you far more than you ever failed me… and I'm certain your mother will have come to the same realization regarding you by now, wherever she may be. You were extraordinary… and no one around you understood what that truly meant. Not even I."

Azula swallowed hard: maybe someone had understood, if she truly was extraordinary at all. Maybe one person did cherish her for everything she had been…

One glance at Ozai brought her to wonder if he knew that too, even if he didn't dare say it out loud.

"Thus… I'm quite certain your child won't face the disappointments you did," Ozai said, nodding as he glanced at the baby bump once more. "It will grow safely, knowing its mother will encourage and protect it, all at once. As it is, you have sufficient experience and sense to know what to do, and what not to do… but should you need any advice, help in any regards, I will aid you however I can. Being a mother isn't easy… but it's your very nature to excel at things, even when you're facing new challenges you're barely acquainted with. Though you're not entirely new to motherhood… Rei has certainly helped you grow accustomed to the concept in some ways, hasn't she?"

"Oh… indeed," Azula smiled. "Though she was almost fully grown by the time we were better acquainted. This is bound to be quite different."

"May she be a better older sister than either of our older siblings were to us," Ozai said, with a grimace. Azula smiled sadly. "In any case… I should leave you to your rest. I cannot say if I will be free to drop by more often…"

"There's much for you to coordinate and work on, I imagine," Azula said.

"And you have much work ahead of yourself as well, ensuring this child is born safely," he reminded her. Azula nodded. "For now, know that we are in no immediate danger and that we shouldn't be during the coming months, either. You'll be free to give birth to your child without further strain."

"I would welcome that," Azula said, with a nod. "Thank you for… for watching over me, Father."

She dared say the word, consciously, even if she knew he felt unworthy of it, even if she knew he probably was, in the end. The years of her childhood when he had been her one and only ally, when he had stood by her side against all those who saw in her a threat, a nuisance, an obstacle… nothing could truly erase them from her heart.

Just so, the pain he had inflicted upon her throughout the past year could not be disregarded. The horrors she had faced at his hand were as vivid now as when he had first inflicted them upon her. Her affection for her father might be eager to rear its head anew… but she wouldn't succumb to it blindly. She knew all too well that everything he did could be a front… even if, for now, he seemed more genuine than ever before. His latest encounters with her, after the war meeting, had brought her to wonder if he truly respected her nowadays… if perhaps he had only grown to do so as of late. Or had she merely lost that respect with her choices? Had she never truly warranted it in the past, to begin with?

Asking herself such questions was pointless. She knew her father, she knew all too well how dangerous, conniving and treacherous he could be. Whatever he might say, whatever he might believe, he could change his mind over any whim… so she'd do best not to give him further cause to do so.

"I… I shall try to come by again, then. I do not know if I will have the opportunity, but confirming you are well, safe and sound, is good to know," Ozai said, rising to his feet. Azula nodded. "Rest, then. If you require anything of me, please ask either the guards outside your room, or send Rei or Lady Wen to bear your message."

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind," Azula said. Ozai nodded.

"I hope I helped, somewhat," he said. "Not that any preparation will suffice, when it comes to parenthood… but perhaps knowing that none of us knew what we were doing could reassure you that you're not on the wrong path, thus far."

"Well… that only sounds like being on the wrong path is somehow right, contradictory as it may be," Azula remarked, with a weak grin. Ozai smirked.

"Perhaps what appears to be the wrong path can be the correct one in ways we did not fathom all along," he said. "Have a good day, Azula."

Azula nodded, watching her father march up to the bedroom door. Within less than half a minute, the busy Fire Lord was gone… and Azula was left behind, in her room, going over her latest interactions with her father.

She was no longer barred from calling him her father. She was free to ask for anything, no doubt within the realm of possibilities, but it was still a generous offer. His guilt was certainly doing a number on him, for that was all there was to it. Guilt, and manipulation, and self-victimization whenever it suited him, and…

Azula raised a hand, dropping her brow upon it: whether she wanted them to or not, tears had spilled down her cheeks as soon as Ozai was gone, as soon as she grew acutely, unbearably aware of the fact that her weak heart continued to cherish him, no matter if he hadn't done nearly enough to deserve it. But she knew all too well that love was not reserved only for the worthy… otherwise, she would have seen none of it throughout all her life. She would have received none of it…

Her hands fell upon her womb again, and she deeply hoped to never cause her child any such turmoil. To never confuse it, to never mortify it… to never lead it to fear her as deeply as she found herself fearing her father now. Any mishaps, any new mistakes, and her life of submission would be certain to come to an end, just like those of everyone she held dear. She wanted her child to grow in a world where it would never face the hardships she had. Her child would thrive in every bit of affection that had been denied to Azula while growing up…

But her child would have to leave her side eventually, for its own safety.

She had certainly resolved to send the baby away, she had said so as many times as she had… but suddenly, it seemed that Song's warnings would prove to be correct. The child would need her… and perhaps Azula would need the child, just as badly.

She couldn't be like either of her parents. She couldn't abandon her child to confusion, to pain, to suffering while cut off from its parents when she could keep the baby safe with her instead. Ozai's behavior was a secondary matter, even: she'd find some way to keep the child out of his reach. She'd keep it safe and sound…

She wanted to keep it.

She had to keep it with her… she already loved it too much, too deeply, to let her baby go.

"I… I'm a fool, aren't I?" she said, sniffing softly. "I… I'm so weak against my own father. So helpless whenever he shows me even a smidge of kindness. You'll be stronger than that, won't you? I… I'm sure you will be. I know I will raise you into being stronger than that. Even if I can only do it briefly… but you see, I don't want to do it briefly. I don't want… I… I want to be your mother. I want to be your mother. I…"

She couldn't contain the sobs as she continued to grip her womb with trembling fingers: the baby moved, as if to follow her touch. She let out a soft laugh upon feeling the motion… upon wondering if her hand was touching her child's, somehow.

"I love you," she dared say, uttering words that had once been near-impossible to say. Uttering, with them, a resolve to keep her child with her until she couldn't do it any longer. "I love you… and I'm proud of being your mother."

Her fragile smile was no less sincere upon saying those words. Her resolve was far from iron-clad… but it was resolve, nonetheless.

She would hold onto this child for as long as possible. She wouldn't send it away at haste… she would protect it from her father somehow, for just as the child would need her, Azula wanted to live for this child… for she finally felt a greater, long-term purpose beyond surviving long enough to birth it.

For that was but the first stage of being its mother, and it would be challenging too… but after today, she knew she wanted more than that: she would ensure to keep the child by her side for as long as she was able, for as long as it might need her.