The old man was cackling as he placed his steaming tea cup atop his tiles on the Pai Sho board. Azula scowled as her uncle smiled, with a glint of malice in his eyes he wouldn't dare show in public…
"You have been beaten," he declared, proudly. "Again."
"I have not been beaten at anything, you plump, pompous fool!" Azula exclaimed, but Iroh only laughed, the sound resounding through the dark room.
"You are now a tea-drinker! You have a cup every day, my brother told me so!"
Azula's eyes widened. Her father had told her uncle…? Wait, how did her father find out in the first place? This was wrong, it was completely wrong…
"Y-you don't understand, I'm doing it because…!" she started, but her hands flew to her mouth. No, she shouldn't talk. She couldn't talk! There was no telling what would happen if her uncle knew she drank the tea to avoid conceiving a child…
But it was no use. The tea was no good, she realized, when she gazed down at herself to find she was sporting a large belly. She was with child, despite all the precautions they had taken… but there was nothing to be done about it now. She had to hide the pregnancy somehow, or at least pretend it wasn't Sokka's…
"I'm holding it for a friend," she said to no one in particular as she stood in the middle of the Palace courtyard, with turtle-ducks around her, flying on gliders. How could she be holding the baby for a friend? The creatures glared at her judgmentally: what a ridiculous explanation. The next time she tried to come up with an excuse for her escapades with a Water Tribe boy, she had to do better than that…
With the blink of an eye, though, the child was there! What a relief, Azula thought, that there had been no labor – at least, not that she could recall –, and so she held the bundle of blankets close to her chest… but when she pulled one of the blankets away from the baby's face, so she could gaze upon her newborn, she realized that hiding the identity of the child's father would prove far more difficult than she had anticipated before.
"It has a wolf's tail?!" she exclaimed, horrified. There it was, a baby with a mostly-shaved head, with only enough hair on the top of his head to tie it up in the same way Sokka did.
There was no mistaking it, Ozai would know it was Sokka's son right away upon seeing the red, crying baby, and once he discovered the truth he would find Sokka and kill him, or dismember him, or set him on fire, or all at once. The flashes of Sokka's eventual fate passed through her mind, and then it was Ozai charging towards her, Wolf's Bane in his hand, ready to slay his treasonous daughter for disappointing him as she had…!
Azula woke with a start, breathing heavily as she sat up on the bed, her eyes wide in panic as the nightmare's influence upon her faded away gradually. Reality returned slowly, and Azula sighed with relief as it did. All thoughts of gliding turtle-ducks would soon disappear once she calmed down: it was just a dream, there was no baby and she was safe, in her room in the Air Temple's tower. She brought a hand to her forehead as she calmed down slowly, the ridiculous dream too vivid to go forgotten easily.
"A baby with a wolf's tail…" she said, shaking her head. "Sokka would have a kick out of that."
No doubt he would have found it hilarious, and she would have gladly told him about it, but Sokka wasn't here yet. Azula frowned and turned to gaze out the window next to her bed: it was already deep into the night. Sokka's visits came at a later hour every day now, and he was far too exhausted to do much other than have a brief conversation and hold Azula as they both slept. It wasn't like Azula had meant for them to do anything else, for she had made certain to keep the physicality of their relationship to a minimum during the last week… but by now she suspected they could return to their previous romps at last. She had been drinking the tea dutifully, as Mai had told her to, and had even expected Sokka eagerly tonight, thinking he would be thrilled to know she was ready to resume their nightly activities…
But he hadn't showed up yet, and the damn tea had probably triggered the absurd nightmares that had startled her out of her sleep just now. She shook her head and slid her fingers through her hair, trying to stop worrying about the weird messages her subconscious was sending her way. She wasn't pregnant, that was a certainty by now, so why on earth would she dream otherwise? It was unsettling, no doubt, especially when the image of a baby with Sokka's hairstyle was stuck in her head.
She snorted at the thought and shook her head again before dropping on the mattress, her eyes on the ceiling. She had no idea what time it was, so perhaps Sokka wasn't all that late after all. The nights were far lengthier than days in these mountains, especially during this time of the year. Azula gritted her teeth and wrapped her blanket around herself a little tighter, as she stoked her inner fire to flare and offer her further warmth. She could bear with the low temperatures, but after a week of nothing but low temperatures, she found she missed the Fire Nation's heat much more than she had expected to.
Her week hadn't been particularly eventful: the first two days in the Northern Air Temple had seemed quite hectic, but the next ones weren't much to speak of. She had spent most of those days in her room, reading some Air Nomad scrolls Teo had leant her. It was rather curious to read about their take on the world, despite it was outdated by over a hundred years. Their way of living proved surprisingly interesting for Azula, surely because she had grown rather fond of flying after finding Xin Long. The scrolls with airbending forms stirred her curiosity, and once she wasn't in any real pain, she actually tried her hand at incorporating the katas to her own bending. The result wasn't outstanding, but, if anything, it had served to amuse Azula for a couple of hours.
She had fallen asleep while reading scrolls of what she could only describe as lousy poetry by some self-absorbed guru. Perhaps her absurd dream was the poetry's fault and not the tea's… or perhaps she ought to blame it on the combination of both things. She picked up the scroll she had been looking at, rolled her eyes at the words scribbled on it and set it aside on her nightstand. She would return the reading material that didn't interest her to Teo tomorrow, and she was most certainly giving this one back to him as soon as possible.
The night skies were overcast with dark clouds. Normally, the clouds were below the Air Temple's level, especially below her tower. She wondered briefly if they heralded a storm… perhaps a snow storm. She had never seen snowfall before in: even during her brief visit to the South Pole she had seen no snow, regardless of the cold temperatures.
Her thoughts served to distract her from her disturbing dream for a while, but it came back to her again and she huffed in annoyance over it. Her uncle's words at the start, his declaration of triumphing over Azula… it was only a dream, but it was enough to make her blood boil again. She couldn't let him win against her ever again, whether at Pai Sho or in the battles between her gladiators, or when it came to tea. She'd had more than enough of the old man as it was. She wouldn't let him hear of her new habit if she could avoid it.
Just as she decided to rest for a little longer, guessing she'd wake up whenever Sokka knocked on her door, the welcome sound of knuckles striking wood startled her. She smiled and climbed off her bed, the chilly air enveloping her body as she stretched a hand towards the doorknob.
"It was about time you got here, I was starting to lose my mind after…" Azula started, but as she swung the door open she found she wasn't quite facing the person she had been expecting.
"You were starting to lose your mind?" Rui Shi repeated, a raised eyebrow. "Was the gladiator bothering you so much you wanted me to remove him from your presence?"
Azula blinked blankly a few times as she stared at Rui Shi in complete confusion. He mirrored her expression with his own stare.
"W-why are you here so early?" Azula asked, and Rui Shi tilted his head sideways slightly.
"It's not early at all, Princess," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's the same as always. A few hours before dawn. Is something…? Wait, did he not show up?"
"He… didn't," Azula whispered, frowning. She had thought she hadn't slept that long: no wonder she had enough time to dream up such nonsense. "I dozed off for a while, I didn't realize how late it was."
"I was certain he'd be here," Rui Shi said, though he didn't seem disappointed in the slightest about it. "I checked his room first, as always, but he wasn't there."
"He wasn't?" Azula repeated, frowning slightly.
Rui Shi watched her carefully as realization dawned upon his Princess slowly. Her brow drew together in an irritable frown, and suddenly Rui Shi wished he hadn't come up here at all.
"Y-you don't think he was up to something stupid, do you?" Rui Shi asked, and Azula shook her head.
"No, it's not his fault. It's the Mechanist," Azula whispered. "The man has no concept of human needs, seems like. Sokka has told me about it before, he doesn't seem to remember Sokka needs food or sleep whenever they're working. So, chances are that he's forced Sokka to pull an all-nighter."
"Really?" said Rui Shi, frowning. "Then the Fire Lord's request must be well on its way to completion, right?"
"I would not be so certain of that," said Azula, crossing her arms as well. "Sokka hasn't reported any progress on that front. If anything, the Mechanist is wasting Sokka's time with this all-nighter, most likely."
"Why, though?" said Rui Shi, and Azula shrugged.
"He's probably fickle, that's bound to be it," she said, as she grabbed the doorknob again to close the door. Rui Shi raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you going to do something about your father's fickle associate, then?" Rui Shi asked, and Azula nodded.
"I will. By morning," she said. "It would be slightly odd for the two of us to knock on the Mechanist's door before dawn. We should be asleep, not uncovering conspiracies we only figured out because Sokka didn't visit me tonight."
"True," said Rui Shi, nodding as well. "I suppose we'll deal with it by daytime."
"Indeed. Good night, Captain," said Azula, closing the door and sighing deeply once she did.
She hadn't expected this new factor to present itself, but she knew she should have predicted it from the start. Her only question was whether Sokka and the Mechanist had decided to join forces to rebel against the Fire Lord's wishes, or if they were sabotaging the Fire Lord independently…
The inventor acted aloof and distracted, as though all he cared about was his work, but Azula had heard him speak fondly of his son. She had seen most of the man's inventions to improve life for his family and friends in the Northern Air Temple. He was relied upon, an unlikely leader who probably didn't know how to handle the responsibility of taking care of so many people. He wasn't a trueborn leader… he was far more nervous and fragile than Azula had expected him to be. He would shatter under pressure, undoubtedly, but if there was no pressure upon him, he would seek to rebel in subtle ways, without anyone's awareness.
But he wasn't as subtle as he believed: Azula's suspicions had been on the rise ever since Sokka had first told her of the task the Mechanist had given him. After at least two days of hearing that he was still learning the basics with the inventor, the Princess's guesses were as good as confirmed. She hadn't expected the Mechanist's techniques to be this refined, though. Tiring out Sokka so he would fail to give his best to fulfill the Fire Lord's demand was quite an underhanded technique, but it would be effective all the same.
The same frown Sokka always teased her about was present on Azula's face as she slid under the covers once more. Her eyes gleamed with determination even as she lay in bed. She had understood Sokka's intentions from the start, but she knew she couldn't turn a blind eye to them anymore. She was committing treason on enough fronts to cover for the Mechanist's crimes as well.
The guards ate breakfast silently in the dining room, an unequivocal sign that something wasn't right this morning. Teo wheeled his way to his spot amongst them, as ever. He smiled at Fei Li, who had become his favorite guard quite easily due to the man's easygoing behavior and contagious enthusiasm.
"Everything okay?" he asked the firebender, who gave him a guilty grimace as a response.
"I'm not entirely sure. Heck, I think… well, the Princess is not happy, is all," said Fei Li, biting his lip before returning to his bowl of rice. Teo raised an eyebrow.
"That does sound scary, but… what's she up to? Where's the Captain?" he asked, glancing around himself to confirm that the raven-haired leader of the guards was nowhere to be seen, the same as the Princess.
"Y-you see, to put it simply, I'm not sure, but… well, the fact of the matter is…" Fei Li said, grimacing and avoiding Teo's stare hopelessly. Fei Li had no idea what the Princess would do to the Mechanist for whatever slight he had committed against her, and, frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. And he most certainly didn't want to be the one to break the news to Teo that his father had gotten into serious trouble with Azula.
"What is it?" Teo asked again, frowning, but his question was left up in the air when a new arrival stumbled his way into the dining room.
Sokka's footsteps were unstable, his legs giving way underneath him as he stretched out towards the nearest dining table, the one where the guards sat. He crawled towards it, his eyes set on the prize: food. The guards looked at him with unease when the gladiator slid between two of them, ready to stuff himself with whatever was within his reach, no longer making any distinction between vegetables and meat. All that mattered was to fill his stomach as quickly as possible.
"Gladiator…?" said Tai Wei, his eyes wide.
Sokka didn't answer, devouring a bowl of noodles desperately as he was. The bags under his eyes suggested he hadn't slept at all during the past days…
"Are you alright?" Taro asked Sokka. The gladiator only answered after finishing the bowl.
"I… will be. Heh," he said, smiling. His brain was finally starting to feel less foggy. "I just need some more food and I'll be… I'll be perfect."
Upon seeing Sokka's sorry state, Teo's questions were answered. He glanced at the gladiator guiltily, but also worriedly. No doubt the Princess was giving his father the scolding of the century for this, but just how far would she go with the punishments she would certainly deliver to the Mechanist? The thought made Teo shudder. She had been quite amicable, at least compared to what Teo had expected from her. While she kept her distance from people and wasn't quite friendly, it was possible to hold conversations with her. She was interested in hearing what Teo had to say, and she was a remarkably inquisitive soul. Teo frankly had grown to like her, despite she had a reputation of being unapproachable. But depending on his father's condition after this, Teo would know whether Princess Azula's dark reputation had any foundations in truth or not…
"What happened?" Tai Wei asked, once Sokka had eaten enough to answer questions.
"Uh, well..." Sokka said, gulping down the last of a dumpling. "It's a little complicated. But she's not in a good mood, I can guarantee that."
"Well, we had already guessed as much," said Tai Wei. "What is this about, though?"
"Eh, she's not very happy about our lack of progress," said Sokka, reaching for a bowl of rice now. "So she's, eh... giving the old man a piece of her mind."
"Yikes," said Fei Li, grimacing.
"And you got away unscathed? Really?" Taro asked, surprised. It was Sokka's turn to grimace, dread plain in his blue eyes.
"S-she said she'd deal with me later," Sokka muttered, and the guards looked at him sympathetically. It was no secret that there had been tensions between the Princess and her slave as of late. No doubt he wouldn't be able to escape the Princess's bad mood. "She ordered me to eat as much as I could and get some rest today, but she warned me that I wouldn't get away with this..."
"With what?" Taro asked, and Sokka sighed.
"With not doing what I was tasked to," he muttered under his breath, Azula's ominous words playing back through his head along with her angry glare.
Sokka had been dozing off while reading about the design of the time candles when the door of the Mechanist's office had swung open violently. He had woken up abruptly as Azula and Rui Shi entered the room, and when the Mechanist had failed to deliver a report that would satisfy Azula, Sokka knew his days of reading were at an end. It would be a relief, in a sense, for he was tired of the endless, complicated papers that he had been reading through the week. Yet it meant, as he knew, that he wouldn't get away with the lack of results anymore. The knowledge was enough to make him shudder in dread. Crossing Azula was never a wise course of action...
He hadn't known for certain whether Azula was putting up an act with her display of cold anger towards him or not. He had been at the receiving end of her rage plenty of times, but while this felt different on some level, Azula had given him no signs of complicity upon her arrival to the office. Not a wink while the Mechanist wasn't looking, nor a smile, let alone the soft grazing of her fingers against his. He wanted to trust her, to believe she was truly that great an actress, but he couldn't avoid the unease brought upon by his insecurities mixed with his guilt. He knew he would be at the opposite end of the Princess's wrath eventually, but it was happening much sooner than he'd expected.
He obeyed her orders, though, and he ate until he'd had his fill. He bid good night to the guards, despite it wasn't even noon, and he left to his quarters. He had the feeling he would sleep all day after the night he had.
But as he undressed and settled into bed he heard a soft knock on his door. He thought to himself that he shouldn't get his hopes up, but he wanted it to be Azula, despite what that might mean for him in the long run.
"Yes?" he said, with a thread of a voice as he sat up. The door swung open after his reply.
What he wished for and dreaded simultaneously came to fruition as the Princess stole into his room stealthily, glancing around herself carefully to make certain she hadn't been seen. Sokka was immediately relieved to see her behaving that way, despite he knew he shouldn't let his guard down just yet.
"Hey," he said, smiling awkwardly at her. Azula nodded in his direction as she closed the door quietly.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, and Sokka's unease decreased further. She didn't look angry, despite she didn't look too happy either. Perhaps it had just been an act after all.
"Better now. The food helped," he said, smiling comfortably.
"You should get rest too, though," Azula said, stepping towards Sokka. "We both know you're no good unless you've tended to your bodily needs properly."
"True enough," he said, with a crooked grin. "Thanks for saving me from the Mechanist's office, by the way. I was starting to think I'd die in there."
"It did seem he had meant to starve you to death," said Azula, taking her seat at the edge of the bed. "And I can't have you dying just like that, can I?"
Sokka smiled as Azula stretched a hand to touch his cheek. He reached up to take it in one of his own.
"Sorry I wasn't with you last night," Sokka whispered, frowning and turning his face into her hand.
"Considering you were being tortured and famished by the Mechanist, I can't say I'm that angry about it," said Azula, and Sokka smiled a little. "You should've tried to get out of it somehow. The man claimed that if you'd expressed directly that you wanted to eat or sleep he would have let you go."
"I suppose he would have, but I wanted to be done with all that reading as soon as possible," said Sokka, sighing. "I think I'll have a headache for three weeks after this…"
"Well, fortunately you won't be doing that anymore," Azula said. "I've ordered the Mechanist to start working on my father's project immediately, and to remember both his and your physiological needs once in a while. He seems to suffer as well from the lack of sleep and food, but he doesn't pay any mind to it, for some reason beyond my understanding…"
"Really? He didn't show any signs of being affected by it," said Sokka, raising an eyebrow. Azula smiled weakly.
"I suppose you don't know what signs to look for, then. Or you were too hungry to think straight," she said, leaning close and kissing his forehead. "Get some rest now, alright? I need to give you another proper beating tomorrow, looks like…"
"Is it going to be a beating like the last one you gave me?" he asked, with a crooked smirk. Azula gave him a meaningful look.
"Not likely," she said. "Unless you're talking about the part where Xin Long was tossing you around? I'm willing to repeat that if needed…"
"Do you have to do it at all, though?" Sokka asked, with a grimace. "I mean… this isn't really my fault, or is it?"
"It's your fault for not putting your foot down and stopping the situation before the Mechanist got carried away," Azula said, with a sarcastic grin. Sokka groaned. "Face it, Sokka, you could have gotten food or rest if you'd tried. That man's anything but scary, yet for some reason you decided standing up to him wasn't worth it… so yes, you need to be punished, whether you like it or not."
"Well, I sure don't like it" said Sokka, pouting.
The Princess smiled and leaned in to kiss his brow again. Sokka reached up, though, and caught her lips with his. His arms surrounded her as he fell back on the bed, bringing her with him as he sought to make up for the lack of kissing between them for the last two days. But to Sokka's disappointment, Azula pushed off him as soon as he was lying on the bed again.
"I need to go now, and you need to sleep," she said. Again, Sokka groaned.
"I need to sleep, but maybe I need you too…" he whined, and Azula rolled her eyes.
"Not right now," she said. "I can't just vanish coincidentally on the very same day when you're supposed to be resting. And I do mean to have you rest. I've kept you up for enough nights as it is."
"Doesn't feel like enough of them to me…" said Sokka, with an innocent smile. Azula shook her head and he sighed in resignation.
"Maybe tonight, if you're fit for it already. But right now, you're sleeping," she said, brushing a few loose strands of hair away from his face. "Got it?"
"Fine. But can't you stay a little longer…?" Sokka asked, taking her hand in his and looking at her pleadingly. Azula snorted.
"Do you want me to tuck you in and sing you a lullaby too?" she asked, and when Sokka smiled mischievously she could only roll her eyes and laugh for good. "You're unbelievable."
"You say it like it's a bad thing," he said, and she gave him an earnest grin before lifting his hand to her lips, kissing his fingers. With that, she stood up and walked to the door again. Sokka's arm fell over the side of the bed, another sigh escaping his lips as he watched her go.
"Sleep. We can spend more time together later," she said, with a small smile. "If you're feeling any better by night I'll even tell you about my freakish dream and everything…"
"Your freakish what?" said Sokka, his eyes widening as Azula laughed.
"Go to sleep. I'll explain later," she said. Sokka smiled and nodded, slipping under the covers again, his eyes still on Azula's back.
She stood by the door, waiting for the footsteps she could hear out in the hallway to disappear. She was quite aware of Sokka's stare on her, though, and she gave him a meaningful look.
"Sleep, Sokka," she said, and he refused with a shake of his head, a smirk on his face.
"Can't sleep when I can be looking at the most beautiful girl in the world instead," he said, and Azula rolled her eyes but smiled, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly.
"Then it's a good thing that the most beautiful girl in the world will leave you to your own devices now," she said, as the last set of footsteps couldn't be heard anymore. "See you later, Sokka."
"I love you," he said, smiling. "Thanks for saving me today… or, well, for saving me all the time, really."
"Right," said Azula, smiling as she opened the door and stepped outside. "Bye."
"Bye…" Sokka whispered, as the door closed slowly behind Azula, leaving the gladiator with the task of recovering his energies through his sleep.
Azula made her way through the Temple, a frown on her face as she strode towards one of the open courtyards. It came as no surprise that people would glance at her with unease now, considering she had given the unofficial leader of this Colony the reprimand of a lifetime. She had no time to worry about their feelings, though: at the rate things were going, Sokka would blow his cover and reveal his true intentions of sabotaging Ozai's operation any day now. And if she was going to prevent his premature death through her own schemes, she had better get started with them as soon as possible.
She met Xin Long in one of the courtyards, and together they flew into the Earth Kingdom, after Azula explained her intentions to Rui Shi and the other guards, who watched them take off into the overcast skies. There was a deep frown on the Princess's face, but it was no longer caused by anger: determination was what fueled her actions now, despite she feared this venture wouldn't be likely to pay off at such short notice. But she wouldn't be likely to succeed if she didn't do her best, to begin with.
Xin Long didn't dart away into the mountains immediately, though, for he was sensing warmth within the Temple itself. As he communicated his thoughts to Azula, she took a deep breath and focused on the fire as Xin Long had taught her to. Yet what she could feel under the Temple wasn't actual fire, as Xin Long had noticed. It was spread out too far, and not powerful enough to be actual combustion.
"It's the gas," she said, and Xin Long groaned in confusion. "The Mechanist mentioned there was some volatile gas under the Temple when we arrived. I doubt it'll give us what we're looking for, though. Dragons don't produce this kind of gas, or is this some strange ability of yours that you never explained to me?"
Xin Long chuckled and Azula smiled, but they were on their way moments afterwards, knowing they'd likely find what they were looking for further away from here.
The dragon remembered which places he had already scouted during his previous travels in the Earth Kingdom, so he made certain to head through different territories this time. The Princess allowed him to lead the way, trying to sense fire down below as she sat on Xin Long's saddle. The search wasn't yielding results, though, for every spark of fire Azula felt couldn't belong to powerful dragons. Some of the fire she sensed could only be another firebender's inner fire, or even small fireplaces in cabins and houses down below.
"No wonder my nation is in the land of fire," Azula whispered to herself as they continued to travel through the skies. "I can barely sense any fire underground here. It's likely so deep down that I can't quite feel it, if there's any at all."
Xin Long nodded in agreement. He suspected that they had found one another as they had because of the Earth Kingdom's characteristics. Their inner fire had resonated against each other with ease because there was little fire within the land itself, and it didn't interfere in their communication.
"Do you think dragons might choose to live in warmer places?" Azula asked. "Because, in all honesty, I'm not sure we'll find any around here. We ought to consider that maybe other dragons weren't confined to living underground like you believed to be."
Xin Long didn't seem to agree with Azula's notion entirely, though. For, if other dragons were free to travel the world, wouldn't people have spotted them? Wouldn't there at least have been rumors of remaining dragons in the Earth Kingdom?
Azula had to admit Xin Long was right: maybe this was as much of a goose chase as Zuko's search for the Avatar. The difference was, of course, that she had imposed this one on herself…
Azula stretched a hand to caress Xin Long's neck, noticing the pang of loneliness the dragon felt upon sensing Azula's hopelessness. She gritted her teeth.
"We won't stop looking, Xin," she said. "Perhaps they're underground somewhere, just as you were. Or maybe we haven't searched in the right places. But even if it's the search of a lifetime, we'll find the rest of your kin. If they're out there somewhere, we'll definitely find them."
Xin Long cheered up a little thanks to his rider's thoughts, despite he kept in mind that it was better not to get his hopes up. He would never stop searching for more dragons, but he had best keep a realistic approach to that matter. Hope was only worth holding onto when it paid off, despite that defeated the purpose of hope in the first place…
Their trip carried on until the sun started to descend in the horizon. Xin Long flew them back to the Temple; both him and his rider were quite tired and not in high spirits after a fruitless journey. At the very least, now they knew of more places where they wouldn't find any dragons. Xin Long took off to find food, lost in his own thoughts, and Azula followed his lead by heading into the dining room, still frowning.
"I take it the search yielded no results," said Rui Shi, raising an eyebrow when Azula took her seat at the end of the table. Her guards regarded her warily, but respectfully.
"None," Azula replied curtly. She had a plate full of food before her, but she didn't have much of an appetite right now. The thoughts coursing through her mind were becoming more distressing with every moment that passed her by.
She hadn't cared for the acts of the Fire Nation in the past, finding more than enough reasons justify the destruction of the Air Nomads, or to justify the Hundred Year War as a whole. Any word against either thing fell on deaf ears, for she didn't care about who the Fire Nation leaders had hurt in order to achieve their ends. The Fire Nation's growth, and the spreading of their 'greatness' through the world, were goals she had found honorable once.
She had thought Sokka was to blame for her change of mind, but on great measure, it was Xin Long's doing instead. Sokka had certainly planted the seed of doubt in her mind, but it hadn't germinated until her dragon had accepted her fire offering. After that, his sorrows became her own. His loneliness affected her as well. She had known loneliness of her own, though it was of a very different nature. In Azula's case, she had a difficult time bonding with people genuinely until she and Sokka had connected as deeply as they had. More often than not she had felt alone despite she had a dozen guards, two good friends, and the admiration from all sorts of people who met and feared her.
If she had felt alone while having company, it was only natural that Xin Long's pain would outdo hers by miles. With every failed attempt to find his kin, it became more likely that he'd be the only dragon left in the world. And the only ones to blame for the disappearance of the dragons were those noblemen who had slaughtered them by Fire Lord Azulon's wishes. Glory and honor were the motivating factors behind it all. But Azula had never seen the glory or the honor in the act, thanks to her father's influence. He believed the slaughter of the dragons was a waste of resources… and that was why Azula had also disliked it at first. By now, though, she had a different take on the matter. Xin Long's pain was indeed her own. She truly wanted to find more dragons, in a desperate hope to fix what her ancestors had broken… but it was a dream beyond her reach, most likely. How could she make amends for such deplorable acts?
The massacre of the dragons had driven her to a brand-new understanding of the world around her: by now she was completely aware of the wrongdoings of the Fire Nation. So, while she had once excused the military strategy to destroy the Air Nomads, by now she couldn't help but think of the dragon's massacre while pondering the deaths of the airbenders as well. The Hundred Year War had been, in truth, quite a waste of resources. The Fire Nation had lost as much as it had gained, if it hadn't lost much more still. Countless lives had been wasted in a political squabble to obtain more power…
But there had been more to Sozin's decision to destroy the Air Nomads than that, Azula recalled. The manuscript Rui Shi had searched for high-and-low while trying to earn his place as her guard had demonstrated it. Azula had always wondered why Fire Lord Sozin had chosen to utilize the power of the comet for the destruction of the Air Nomads, first of all. Granted, they would have made dangerous foes if given the chance, but the same could have been said for the Water Tribes. The Fire Nation was barely utilizing the lands of the Air Nomads, just as they hardly would have done anything with the Water Tribes if they had been the conquered civilization instead. So why the Air Nomads, for starters…?
That manuscript had cleared it up. Reading about Sozin and Avatar Roku's bond was strange for Azula, to say the least. Yet it had explained how Sozin's war had begun, along with how he had left Avatar Roku to his death… in the cycle of the elements, air followed fire. The next Avatar would have been an Air Nomad, and that was a threat that the Fire Lord had to nullify right away. There were many legends about how Avatars could be defeated definitively: one of them said that killing the Avatar while in the Avatar State would put an end to the reincarnation cycle, so the Avatar would cease to exist. Another legend said that the Avatar needed to learn and master each element in his lifetime, or else their ability to bend all four elements would disappear altogether. Given that neither thing had happened before, Azula wondered where such legends had spawned from. Regardless, Azula guessed the reason why Sozin had chosen to attack the Air Nomads was because he knew the Avatar would have been reborn there. Roku had failed to stop Sozin, but another Avatar might not show him the same mercy, or behave with the same carelessness. Had Roku been slightly more concerned with the political situation of his nation, he might have known how to steer his good friend away from the warpath he had been hellbent on. But thinking of what could have been wouldn't yield any results in the long run, Azula knew as much.
She had never expected to grow so cynical about the war, and about her forefathers' struggle to grant further greatness to their nation. Yet it was too late to do anything about her change of mind anymore: she could see the Fire Lords had done all the damage they could, and there seemed to be no way to repair it. The dragons were gone, so were the airbenders, and if Sokka and the Mechanist succeeded in their mission, the Northern Water Tribe would join that list soon enough…
The knife's edge Azula was currently balancing herself on was terribly stressful. She wasn't sure what was the wisest course of action anymore: she couldn't simply tell her father that she believed the war was pointless, just as she couldn't let her father's war trump everything else either. Enough massacres had taken place as it was. The Fire Nation had spilled far too much blood, both of their enemies and of their own people. But how to fix what was broken when, even as Crown Princess, she didn't have enough power to make a real difference without causing an uproar? How to remain loyal to her Nation and to her new beliefs at the same time? Was it even possible to do both things?
Rui Shi had already warned her about her predicament a few days earlier: she had to make a choice eventually, one way or another. It was either placing the Fire Nation above everything else, as her father had taught her to, or finding a different path… a path to help others who had suffered by the hands of her own people. But how to choose between two sides of herself? How to hold one thing above the other? It was why she'd had no choice but to terrify the Mechanist into no longer sabotaging of the mission… but if she made certain that their mission was accomplished, she would become a direct accomplice to a brand-new massacre. She wasn't sure she would be able to live with the weight of such actions hanging over her head: she had to prevent this somehow, and finding the dragons had been her safest bet… but if she failed, as it seemed she would, how would she prevent the Northern Water Tribe's utter destruction? And how would she save Sokka from her father's wrath?
She didn't eat as much as she should have, her thoughts were too distracting and distressing. She was on her way back to her room, hoping a good night's sleep – or, all the better, a visit from Sokka – would help ease her worries, when she heard a voice behind her.
"Princess…?"
"Teo?" Azula said, as she turned around to face the man. He didn't look half as cheerful as he always did. "Do you need something?"
"I just… wanted to know if my father is alright," he said. Azula raised an eyebrow.
"If you fear I hurt him in some way, you can go to his office and see for yourself that he's perfectly fine," she stated. "There's no need to be so paranoid…"
"I don't mean physically," said Teo, frowning. "I mean… is he in trouble with the Fire Lord because of whatever he did?"
"Why… not yet, I suppose," said Azula, looking at him inquisitively. "I haven't reported this to my father, and frankly I'd rather not have to do it. But that depends on your father, not on me."
She had been strict and unyielding when she spoke to the Mechanist, handling the scolding of a rebellious man perfectly. She had gone through the motions, though, saying many things she hadn't quite meant, simply to play her role as a loyal daughter to her father. The Fire Lord needed to remain unchallenged, and all his subjects had better believe as much… so they couldn't know the Crown Princess was having second thoughts about the mission her father had sent her on.
"I guess," said Teo, lowering his gaze. Azula's frown deepened. She had seen the expression on Teo's face many times, in countless other people.
"You have no love for the Fire Nation, do you?" she asked, and the young man flinched. "Did… did the Fire Nation destroy your village, by any chance?"
"N-no, it wasn't the Fire Nation," said Teo, with a weak smile. "It was a flood. It's why we're here now."
"I see," said Azula, surprised to hear a story that didn't feature her nation as the villains for once.
"I lost my ability to walk while we struggled to survive the flood. My mother died there, too," said Teo. Azula tensed.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she said, and Teo raised his earnest eyes to find hers.
"My father has worked for the Fire Nation for many years now. He's done everything he can… all so I can have a good life here, with everyone else. So please… don't take him away."
"Take him away?" Azula repeated, and Teo gritted his teeth.
"People who rebel against Fire Nation authority become slaves, don't they? Isn't… isn't that what you did with your gladiator?"
"Not quite," Azula confessed. "He attempted to kidnap me, I fought back. It's not quite as simple as it might look."
"O-oh. Well, I didn't know that," said Teo, smiling awkwardly. "Still, I just…"
"You've lost enough," Azula said, and Teo nodded. "So you don't want to lose the one thing you have left."
"This place has become a home to me, and it's all thanks to him. He's always tried to protect me from harm, so… so now I'm asking you not to hurt him even if he fails you. I know it's hard to believe, but he really does his best with his work."
Azula regarded Teo with uncertainty. He returned her gaze through his bushy hair, waiting for a response that would either relieve him or make him more miserable.
"I'll take your needs into consideration, then," Azula said, nodding. "Sometimes parents need their children to look out for them, huh?"
"W-well, yes. Actually, yes," said Teo, smiling and blushing a little as relief washed over him. He had dreaded the Princess would lash out at him for his bold words. "I know it's true for my father, at the very least."
"Indeed. In any case, I'll try to trust your judgment," said Azula. "And hope that he indeed makes every effort needed to fulfill his task. In the meantime, though, I really could use some rest. I'll see you later."
"Certainly. Thank you, Princess," said Teo, smiling as Azula turned to leave.
The Princess arrived at her room while indulging in the hopes that her secret lover might already be here, waiting for her. He'd had the entire day to rest, after all, so he might have enough energies to join her by now. Her hopes went up in smoke, though, for her room was empty. She sighed and berated herself internally. Welcome as it may be, Sokka's touch wouldn't help her resolve any of her predicaments. If anything, being around him only served to confuse her further. She didn't know how to stay away from him, undeniably… but that didn't mean she had to seek him out on every opportunity that presented itself. Perhaps he was still resting right now, after all. She would do best not to bother him.
So Azula sighed and dropped in bed, burying her face in the pillow and hoping a solution, any solution, would present itself eventually. But if everything carried on at this rate, their return to the Fire Nation would be a thing to dread rather than to look forward to…
It was dinner time when Sokka woke up from his long day of resting. There was still too much activity in the Temple to risk sneaking into Azula's room, so he figured having some dinner would be fine for now. He could take his time while eating and visit her afterwards.
He arrived in the dining room to find out that Azula had retired moments earlier. Their bad timing almost made him sigh in disappointment, but he held it back. He was supposed to be dreading his next encounter with the Princess, not looking forward to it.
There was a nagging thought on the back of his head, though… one that he could easily associate with guilt. While Azula meant to punish him somehow for not standing his ground while dealing with the Mechanist, he knew she wouldn't be as harsh on him as she had been with the inventor. Her visit to ensure he was fine had implied as much. Yet the Mechanist had received the full brunt of Azula's displeasure… and Sokka knew just how uncomfortable it was to be on Azula's bad side.
Since he still had time to burn while he waited for the Temple to empty at night, he decided to pay the man a short visit. Perhaps if he apologized for the trouble and gave the Mechanist his support, he would help the man feel better about himself after Azula's scolding. If the Mechanist was anything like Sokka, he would definitely need to hear something uplifting right now.
He had no trouble figuring out where to find the man. Sokka pushed the Mechanist's office door open to find him mumbling as he worked on a small contraption that sat on his desk.
"Uh… hey?" Sokka said. The Mechanist was startled by his voice, and he nearly dropped the utensils he'd been using as he recognized Sokka at his door.
"Oh, it's… it's you. Are you feeling better yet?" he asked, uneasy. Sokka smiled and nodded.
"I'm fine now, don't worry. I just wanted to make sure you're fine too," said Sokka, stepping inside the room. "I know Azula has a way with words, she can destroy a man without even trying just by saying the right things…"
"Oh, no, none of that," said the Mechanist. "She wasn't half as bad as War Minister Qin. At the very least she didn't threaten to… w-well, never mind that. I'm perfectly fine right now, Sokka. You can go back to resting if you need it, I'll be fine…"
"I've rested plenty as it is, don't fret," said Sokka, smiling. "I'm glad she wasn't that harsh, then. Still, you should probably come out and eat something too, or get some rest… either thing is good. Sometimes you need to pull away from your projects for a little while to find the solution you need for them."
"Oh, I wish I could, but… but I'm afraid I can't be distracted just yet," said the Mechanist, grimacing. "You needn't worry, Teo came by to deliver some dinner for me a while ago…"
"And you haven't eaten it yet?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow. The Mechanist's guilty expression was all he needed to know what the answer to that question was. "Eat now before you leave your food lying around for weeks again, alright?"
"Fine, fine…" said the Mechanist, sighing and taking a basket that had been sitting under the desk.
Sokka approached the desk with curiosity: the model the Mechanist had been working on was resting on it. It was a large sphere, with an open space in its lower area. It was linked to a small basket with delicate ropes, and there was a candle at its center. Sokka raised an eyebrow as he analyzed it.
"Is this another experiment with hot air?" he asked, and the Mechanist nodded as he gobbled the muffins his son had brought him.
"It is indeed! But… it hasn't been successful so far, I'm afraid," said the Mechanist, with a sigh. "It was the project I had been working on before the Fire Lord's notice arrived…"
"What is it supposed to be?" Sokka asked, as he took the contraption in his hands.
"A hot-air balloon, if you must know," said the Mechanist, smiling a little. "I have struggled with designing it, though. Every new model I've tried has been yet another failure, including this one, of course."
"Why?" Sokka asked, and the Mechanist set his food aside briefly to demonstrate what he had just told the gladiator.
"You see, it's complicated because the balloon hovers successfully at first," he said, lighting the candle in the basket. After a few instants, the gas exuded by the flame had filled the balloon, and the entire contraption began ascending, as the Mechanist had said it would. "But as you can see…"
The balloon kept floating upwards, but upon reaching the ceiling it was engulfed in flames, causing it to collapse on the floor. The Mechanist rushed to put out the fire clumsily, using a previously prepared wet cloth to muffle the flames, and he offered Sokka a disappointed grimace.
"And this has been happening constantly for years now," he said. "I'm afraid I don't know what to do to stop it from going upwards, or to prevent the combustion…"
"Huh," said Sokka, frowning. "Have you tried using more resistant material? Maybe something non-flammable?"
"I have, but that only presents further problems, since the balloon still flies out of my reach and the ropes and basket will burn regardless, so the entire model becomes useless all the same," said the Mechanist. "And I fear that anything heavier than what I've used would still be a hindrance in the balloon's system. I've done everything I could think of, but the solution still eludes me…"
Sokka frowned as he studied the balloon closely. The real problem wasn't the material, which achieved its purpose of enclosing the hot air just fine. The real problem was…
"It's because of the fire, isn't it?" he said. "If you could regulate the flames somehow, keep them at the steady rhythm that the balloon needs so it can hover at a manageable level…"
"Perhaps the model is too small?" the Mechanist asked. Sokka shrugged.
"Maybe. Your idea was to make a bigger version of the balloon, then?"
"Well, yes. The plan is to make it into a vehicle, so it helps people travel with further ease through the world," said the Mechanist, smiling.
"I see…" said Sokka, rubbing his chin in deep thought. "And you need to get it right while it's a small model first of all, because you can't afford to make a full-scale balloon unless you know for certain that it can work."
"Precisely," said the Mechanist, nodding. "It would be a waste of resources."
"Makes sense," said Sokka. "So you just need to figure out a solution… I do think regulating the fire is the best way to keep things less dangerous, but maybe there's something else that can be done. Maybe something to release some of the hot air while the balloon is flying?"
"What… release it? But wouldn't it collapse if we just release the hot air?" said the Mechanist, confused. Sokka nodded.
"Yeah, but only if you released all of it," he said, smiling. "I think… maybe something like a lid. You could just lift the lid through a system of ropes while you're inside the balloon. You can release some air, and that way you can prevent the heat from going overboard while controlling the altitude of the flight. Right?"
"Right… right," said the Mechanist, stroking his beard. "Granted it would require some sort of method to measure the system's heat, so you know when to open the lid…"
"But it would work, right?" said Sokka, smiling. The Mechanist smiled back.
"Perhaps. We need to try it first, though!" he said.
It was no surprise that the man would set his food aside and dive headfirst into work once more. But Sokka didn't scold him for it this time, for he had become as interested in this project as the Mechanist was. Figuring out the solution for this problem poised a rather appealing challenge to Sokka.
They had to build another balloon, for the first one had caught fire and was no longer usable. Crafting it didn't take long, for the Mechanist clearly had made enough failed models to create new ones without needing to give the matter much thought. Sokka merely helped whenever the Mechanist requested it, but even that didn't happen all that often. Sokka's real role in the creation of this new airship was related to designing and crafting the lid's system, along with the ropes that would hold it.
A few hours later, the inventor and his new assistant were ready to try the new hot-air balloon model. Sokka swallowed hard as the Mechanist lit the candle in the small basket. Sokka was charged with dealing with the ropes once the balloon was afloat.
"Be careful not to lift it too much, or too soon…" the Mechanist told him, and Sokka nodded.
Time seemed to slow down for them both as they waited for the balloon to hover higher, close to the height it always reached before catching fire. The Mechanist gritted his teeth as he watched the balloon with unease.
"Now, Sokka!" he exclaimed, and Sokka obeyed, pulling the rope weakly to prevent the hot air from leaking out fully.
The balloon became unstable for a brief moment as the lid fell in place again, but it returned to its flight as soon as it did. Sokka followed it through the room warily, pulling the lid whenever he feared the balloon wouldn't be able to take any more heat… only when he heard the Mechanist laughing in amazement behind him, Sokka realized his idea had been, surprisingly, successful.
"You are a genius, young man!" the Mechanist exclaimed, and Sokka smiled as he pulled on the lid again. "A true genius!"
"Now, now, you're just saying that…" said Sokka, smiling goofily as the Mechanist blew out the candle in the balloon.
"I have been working on this project for years, Sokka!" he exclaimed. "And now, finally… ah, today is a day to remember!"
"Well, I sure won't forget it," said Sokka, grinning. It was hard to believe that the very first solution he'd proposed for a problem had actually paid off.
"We shall toast to it!" the Mechanist exclaimed, jumping towards a storage room at the far end of his office. Sokka winced. "I'm certain I have a good bottle of rice wine in here somewhere…"
"U-uh, well, sure, but just one drink, alright?" he said, grimacing. His last two experiences with alcohol had been too chaotic, and he knew better than to tempt fate by going on another drunken spree.
He kept checking the balloon's system with interest, a smile on his face. There was a pleasant feeling nestling within him, over having helped the Mechanist, and for having finished the design that had been bothering the man for so long. Surely a full-scale version of the hot-air balloon would work differently, though. A single candle wouldn't provide enough hot air to lift a larger and heavier version of this model.
"What's your plan for the real balloon, though?" Sokka asked. "You'll need actual fire for that, not just a small candle…"
The Mechanist didn't answer, but Sokka figured he was still busy trying to find the bottle he had mentioned. He figured he'd ask again when the inventor returned. A system with oil might work, Sokka reasoned. If it were necessary, the lid would help keep the balloon at the proper temperature.
"Still… the landing's a bit of a worrisome thing," he thought, scratching his head. He still remembered Xin Long's catastrophic first landings, and he most certainly didn't want the same to happen to whoever would operate the hot-air balloon. Lifting the lid completely, or turning off the flame fueling the hot air might result in a troublesome landing…
More questions arose in Sokka's mind, but the main one he had after ten minutes of waiting was whether the Mechanist had run out on him or if he simply couldn't find the bottle he'd been looking for. Sokka frowned and glanced into the storage room warily.
"Hey, is everything…?" he started, but he fell quiet as soon as he spotted the Mechanist.
The man was lying on the floor with the closed bottle in his hands. For a moment Sokka feared something had happened to him, that perhaps he'd hurt himself in some way… but upon closer observation, he realized the Mechanist was finally doing the one thing he'd deprived himself from by working as hard as he did: sleeping.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Sokka, with a weak smile. "So, you only ever sleep when your projects get results, huh?"
The Mechanist didn't reply, but Sokka didn't need nor expect him to. He took the bottle from the man's hands and set it aside before lifting the Mechanist with ease. He carried him to the one couch in the office, and he placed a cushion behind his head, so he could sleep more comfortably.
"There. Good night," said Sokka, smiling. The Mechanist didn't seem to have noticed Sokka's words, nor that he had been carried to the couch. Sokka guessed his exhaustion would prevent him from waking up for at least half a day.
This gave him the perfect chance to head to Azula's room, he thought, with a smile… but when he glanced at the spark candles the Mechanist had invented, he noticed it was already three in the morning. He was awake, for certain… but he rather doubted Azula would be waiting for him by now. She needed to rest, and showing up at this hour wasn't wise. He'd likely just bother her.
"Darn it," he said, sighing and sitting on a free chair. Meeting up with her to tell her all about his success with the hot-air balloon would have been ideal, but he doubted she would welcome any sort of news unrelated to the bomb building as it was.
Still, perhaps if he gave her the news by morning she would be pleased. Azula wanted results, and this way Sokka would prove that he could help deliver them… even if the hot-air balloons weren't bound to interest her in the slightest. But despite that, she would be happy to know he had actually helped the Mechanist with something. At least he wasn't a complete failure of an assistant, right?
Nevertheless, he still didn't want to build those bombs. The more he stalled that process, the better for everyone. Perhaps if he pretended to have grown too involved with the hot-air balloon project, Azula wouldn't notice he was wasting time once more… he groaned in irritation, wondering if that would work. At the very least, he had better try to stay on Azula's good side for as long as possible. His upcoming sabotaging plans would have to be refined later.
But for now, he could try to do something to make amends for his absence during the last two nights… chances were Azula wouldn't care for any gestures he made towards her, but it was still worth a shot, just in case he was wrong.
The Princess rolled awake in her bed after a dreamless night, to her relief. It was still a few hours before dawn, but she had woken up nonetheless. It seemed her body had grown conditioned to waking up whenever Rui Shi came knocking on her door. She glanced at the empty side of her bed and wondered if Sokka was so worn out he hadn't gotten up yet, despite he'd been sleeping since the morning of the previous day.
She stared at the ceiling, her thoughts no longer as jumbled as they had been when she fell asleep. But surely if she started thinking about her troubles, her mind would become a mess again. She groaned to herself and sighed, running her hands over her face. Today would be yet another day of searching for dragons, there was nothing more to it…
The sound of something brushing against the tower's walls startled Azula. She frowned and glanced towards the window where she had heard the sound, and her eyes widened when she noticed something had been crashing against her windowsill.
"What in the name of…?" she whispered, sitting up as she watched the strange balloon sliding inside the room with difficulty.
Azula climbed off the bed, flinching at the unpleasant sensation of the cold tile floor of her room against her bare feet as she approached the model hot-air balloon. She caught notice of two small papers inside the basket: one said 'pull me', tied around a rope, the other one was rolled and held together neatly with a ribbon.
She frowned as she clasped the balloon's loose rope, pulling at it as the message had indicated. The balloon nearly collapsed when the hot air escaped, so she maneuvered to catch it before it could fall, blowing on the candle to prevent the contraption from being set ablaze in the midst of the strange struggle.
"What on earth…?" she said, staring at the hot-air balloon in confusion. Only then did she notice that there was another rope tied to the balloon. One end of this rope was linked to the basket, the other end was out of sight for her, since the rest of this rope was dangling out the window. Someone had been steering the strange object from outside her room…
Azula started to suspect the identity of whoever had sent the balloon brief instants before glancing through the window. Her suspicions, unsurprisingly, were spot-on.
Sokka stood in the closest courtyard to Azula's tower, glancing up at her room hopefully as he stood amid trees and wild flora. Even at a distance, Azula saw his eyes light up upon seeing her with the balloon in her hands.
She gestured at him, trying to ask wordlessly what this was about. Sokka grinned and gestured at the basket. Azula raised an eyebrow before pulling out the small scroll. She set aside the balloon for a moment, unfolding the scroll swiftly to find a surprising sight within it.
The turtle crafted
His means to fly with the hawk
I hope you slept well.
Azula read the small haiku with confusion, but despite herself, she soon started to smile. Sokka could still see her from below, so he beamed at her positive reaction. She glanced down at him again, gesturing for him to wait where he was. Sokka nodded, determined to do as she wished. It was rather cold outside right now, but he could brave through it while he waited for the Princess.
She showed up brief minutes later, fully clad in her daily clothes and armor, and she sped her way towards him, her arms crossed as she braced against the cold morning breeze. The courtyard in which they stood seemed to have been built for the exclusive use of the highly ranked Air Nomads, for it was secluded, but notoriously beautiful, regardless of its unkempt state. Seeing how Azula was the only current occupant of the tallest tower, their meeting in this garden shouldn't be spied upon by prying eyes.
All the same, Azula chose to exert caution, standing at some distance from Sokka. Despite he longed to take her in his arms as usual, he understood her body language quite easily and didn't push his luck this time around.
"What on earth…? What are you up to, you crazy gladiator?" Azula asked, looking at him in disbelief. Sokka chuckled and smiled gently at her.
"I just wanted you to be the first person to see it," he said. "See, I… I wanted to meet with you last night, but I thought I'd pay the Mechanist a visit first, to make sure everything was okay. He was working on this old project of his and I decided to help… and before I knew it, it was too late to go see you. So, I thought I'd show you why I wasn't around all night…"
"By sending some flying object into my room?" Azula asked, smirking skeptically. Sokka chuckled.
"You were pretty annoyed because of how much time we had been wasting, the Mechanist and I," said Sokka. "I thought, since we've finished an old project of his, that this might make you feel a little less nervous about this whole endeavor."
"So, is it meant to be a token in good faith or so?" Azula asked. "An attempt to show me you can get the job done?"
"Well, maybe we can't be completely sure that we can get the job done, but it's proof we'll try, if nothing else," said Sokka, smiling a little. "Sorry about this first week, really. I'm sure the rest of our time here won't be that messy. The Mechanist seems to have become a human being again, surprisingly. He actually fell asleep after we got the first model to work properly, believe it or not."
"Oh, so he does sleep? Fancy that," said Azula, and Sokka laughed again.
"It's quite a surprise, huh?"
"And then you decided to write a poem and send the model to my room?" Azula asked, and Sokka shook his head.
"In fact, I decided to write the poem, and then took my time creating a second model so he wouldn't freak out if the first one had gone missing. This one's just for you," said Sokka, grinning. "I built it from scratch."
"Well, aren't you a dedicated man," said Azula, smiling earnestly.
"I hoped you'd like it," said Sokka, grinning. "Though, granted, now I've been up all night and I need some rest again, but…"
"Your body's schedule is upside down now, it seems," said Azula, looking at him sympathetically. Sokka shrugged.
"Well, it wouldn't be such a bad thing if I put those night hours to good use, huh?" said Sokka, raising an eyebrow and smirking.
"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way," she said. "You're here to work: whether it's under broad daylight or at nighttime makes no matter. So, I suggest you stop getting funny ideas about what you want to do during the night hours…"
"I'd love to, but the ideas just keep coming no matter what I do," said Sokka, shaking his head and prompting Azula to laugh.
"You're just…" she said, smiling and looking at him gently.
"Just what?" he asked, looking at her eagerly. Azula shrugged.
"Ridiculous, probably," she said, and Sokka pouted.
"Here I thought you'd say something like 'handsome', or 'clever', or 'brilliant' instead," he mumbled. Azula looked at him skeptically again.
"You did prove how brilliant you are with that haiku, I must say," she said, and Sokka blushed now, tapping his fingers together awkwardly.
"I know it wasn't that great, but I kind of ran out of things to say after finishing the second verse," he said. Azula laughed.
"You don't say," she said, grinning. "The change of topic was quite abrupt…"
"I know, I know. But poetry is harder than it looks like," said Sokka, smiling a little. "I do hope it wasn't so bad that you burned it or something…"
"Oh, I wouldn't possibly dare. I need to keep your poems around to blackmail you if it ever proves necessary," said Azula, smirking. Sokka laughed.
"Let's see if that works out for you, Princess," he said, smiling.
The urge to kiss him burst within Azula once again, but she repressed it, despite herself. It helped to be distracted by something else that caught her eye: something small and white that fell on Sokka's hair.
Azula lifted her head and glanced at the clouds with curiosity. Sokka followed her lead, and both caught sight of the elegant snowflakes dropping from above. Sokka smiled fondly as he stretched a hand and caught a snowflake carefully.
"Heh. It's been a while since I last saw snow," he said, grinning. Azula raised an eyebrow as she continued to watch the snowflakes falling around them.
"I'd never actually seen snowfall until now," she whispered. Sokka smiled.
"Can't say that surprises me, considering where you hail from," he said.
"Did you miss it?" Azula asked, and Sokka shrugged.
"Kind of, but it's not that similar to the snow that falls on the South Pole. This one's more… subtle, I guess," he said, lifting his head again. "Though with those clouds I guess it's only likely to get worse as the day goes by. No wonder it was so cold…"
Azula nodded in agreement. She was starting to shiver by now, and Sokka frowned as he noticed it. He made to take off his coat so she could wear it, but she lifted a hand to stop him.
"No need. I'll be fine," she said, and Sokka bit his lip.
"We can keep talking elsewhere if you like… unless you'd rather we go our own ways, since it's nearly dawn by now," said Sokka. Azula gave him a sad look.
"I'm afraid we can't take chances. It's better if we go back to our rooms for the time being. But… thanks, Sokka."
"For the balloon?" he asked, blushing a little as he smiled.
"And for trying as hard as you do. You just might succeed at impressing me one day if you keep this up," said Azula, smirking at him. "I'll see you later. Get more rest, alright?"
"Your wish is my command, Princess," he said, bowing in her direction.
Azula smiled at him as she walked away, hugging herself as she fled from the snow and the cold inside the building. Her accommodations had some undeniable perks, but she had the suspicion that the tower with the least resistance to the icy weather was this one.
She closed her room's door, dropping her head against it as her hands balled into fists. She had refused to let herself think of the consequences of Sokka's actions right away, for maybe she was only making a bigger deal than necessary out of it… but those hot-air balloons were meant to be used by the Fire Nation in the war. Sokka didn't realize that, of course… the Mechanist surely hadn't explained that it was yet another task the Fire Lord had given him, a task he had failed to fulfill until just now.
Unless she got in the way of the final design of the war balloons somehow, taking it into her own hands to sabotage that other mission, the Fire Nation was likely to acquire weapons deadlier than the bombs the Fire Lord had requested. The war balloons could prove to be the very advantage the Fire Nation had needed to win this war. Unbeknownst to Sokka, he had as good as provided the Fire Lord with the perfect means for absolute victory after what he'd done. How could he be so blind to his own actions…?
"I never did tell him about that project, though, did I?" Azula grunted to herself. Truth be told, Sokka couldn't have known better. The Mechanist relied on countless hot-air systems to make life in the Northern Air Temple easier for himself and his fellow refugees. The hot-air balloons could simply be means of traveling for the Mechanist and his people, from Sokka's point of view.
With a single blow, they had as good as condemned another nation to utter annihilation. If the hot-air balloon designs reached the Fire Lord, the Northern Water Tribe's fate would undoubtedly be the same of the Air Nomads, and of the dragons. They would become nothing but new stepping stones for the Fire Lords on their quest for more power.
At this point, there was but one thing Azula could do to prevent the destruction she had started to dread…
A/N:
Here's to the start of a new year, so far it's been good for me, I only hope it has been nice for you guys too :D Thanks for reading and reviewing, for your favorites and follows, and I do hope you enjoyed this one!
P.S.: extra cookies to reviewers who congratulate me for my b-day *cackles*