"So, this is it?" Azula asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow as she studied the hot-air balloon carefully.
The workshop at the base of the mountain had been at the peak of its activity during the past few days: the Mechanist had decided that the building of the full-scale hot-air balloon had to be done quickly as possible. His usual helpers had assisted in assembling most of the structure of the first balloon, but there were extra hands involved in the process this time around: Azula's guards, and naturally, Sokka himself, had joined the crafting session. Sokka was particularly eager to see the finished version of the hot-air balloon, hoping his input for the project would pay off.
Currently, Sokka and the rest were taking a lunch break. Azula had already eaten, and she had stopped by the workshop as the Mechanist tweaked the smaller details of his latest creation. He kept checking and double-checking everything, ensuring all was in place for his balloon's eventual first flight test – the snowy weather had impeded them from testing it right away.
"Why, it is indeed," the Mechanist answered earnestly, gesturing at the hot-air balloon. "We have taken care to add a proper steering system, this way the balloon won't simply drift in the currents…"
"I fear that's still likely to be a problem. If air currents can affect my dragon's flight, they definitely can bother this contraption," said Azula, circling the balloon with a mild frown.
"You're right, of course, no doubt," said the Mechanist. "But those details will be unavoidable risks all the same, I suppose. It's the same as with ships at sea…"
"Indeed. It's an inevitable factor when traveling through these means, no doubt," said Azula, studying the mechanism within the balloon with a raised eyebrow. "Is this combustive system what you and my gladiator had been developing as of late?"
"Ah, yes. I already had worked out the basic principles for it, Sokka gave me a hand with perfecting them," said the Mechanist, smiling.
"I see," said Azula, nodding. "Did the crafting of this motor provide any ideas for the bombs my father requested, by any chance?"
"W-why…" said the Mechanist, his eyes widening. "Well, no, but… was it meant to? I mean, do pardon my foolishness, Princess, but…"
"But what?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow and regarding the Mechanist with a cold stare.
"I don't mean to… to upset you, or say anything wrong, but… won't this suffice? I mean, these hot-air balloons… they will enable your armies to travel through the air. Isn't that better than bombs?"
"I'd say it is, if only your design weren't so… well, fragile, I suppose," said Azula, frowning as she regarded the balloon with derision. The Mechanist looked at her warily.
"Fragile? But we haven't even test-…"
"Indeed, in our current weather conditions there's no way to confirm whether your grand creation works or not," said Azula, folding her arms across her chest. "But my qualms are related to something else entirely. You see, I can't quite imagine how many of these contraptions would be necessary to carry a single battalion of Fire Nation soldiers."
"Oh, you believe them to be too small?"
"Not only that, they're also not as solid as they should be," said Azula, looking at the balloon with a raised eyebrow. "You use fabric for the containment of the gas, a very logical idea, even a cheap one, but do tell, how strong can this fabric be? Not only could it rip at random if it weren't in perfect conditions… by which I mean, some fabric might break on its own after excessive, straining use. But also…if waterbenders, for instance, attacked the balloon's fabric with ice spikes, it would collapse and likely kill the two or three soldiers riding on it. Alas, that would be the end of our great advantage over the Water Tribe: these balloons might look like salvation briefly, only to become a liability in the long run. We could even lose the war in the North over this, you realize…"
"B-but… you mean if I deliver this to the Fire Lord, he'd…?"
"He might end up blaming you if the war were lost because of these balloons, perhaps," said Azula, shrugging. "Not that I expect it to be lost right away, though. As long as I inform my father of the evident risks, we could avoid massive damage to our forces… but my point is, this won't give us the advantage we seek. At least, not with balloons of this kind. Unless you were to upgrade them in some way, so they become fit for war, they won't be much help in the battlefield."
The Mechanist's enthusiasm had vanished, replaced by unease and dread. Azula gazed at him, not unkindly, yet she could see fear in the Mechanist's eyes. His orbs shifted side to side nervously, giving away that, perhaps, it wasn't Azula herself that he feared…
"Is something the matter?" Azula asked, bringing him back from his daze.
"O-oh, no, there's nothing… you're right, of course," said the Mechanist, smiling now. "I mean, of course… I made a mistake. A miscalculation…"
"It's not quite a miscalculation. I'd say this is a prototype of what could become an airborne warship in the future, but it might take a lot of work to design something of that magnitude. So, while this is quite the breakthrough, I recommend you return to the task my father assigned you. The bombs ought to suit our purposes far better."
"I… of course. Of course," said the Mechanist, swallowing hard. "But, say… if I were to redesign the airships, and make them suitable for your purposes, what exactly do you think it should be made of? Just… just so I can know once I make a new design later."
"A new design? Well, for one thing, it should be able to accommodate more than just two or three people within it," said Azula, with raised eyebrows. "Perhaps wrap the fabric around something sturdy enough to protect it, like metal. It might be that some sort of metallic, massive version of the hot-air balloons would be advised instead of this."
"Massive? And with metal? I… I can't say I'll be able to build that easily," said the Mechanist. Azula shrugged.
"Frankly, that's of no concern right now. Focus on the bombs again," she said. "You've done a grand job as it is, this is a remarkable system all things considered, but keep it as a side-project. Providing for the Fire Lord should be your main priority."
Azula could see there was something akin to defiance in the Mechanist's eyes. She raised an eyebrow slowly, waiting for the words she knew he wanted to say. He kept quiet, though, until he nodded in agreement.
"Very well. I shall do as you ask, Princess."
"Don't take this the wrong way, Mechanist," said Azula, looking at him sternly. "I'm not saying your work with was worthless. I'm only saying that riding into battle on this hot-air balloon would be akin to taking rafts into the Northern Water Tribe instead of warships. It's surely a fine way to travel, and it could even be widespread through the world in the future, for common use… but it isn't what we need for the war. You can understand this, right?"
"I do, Princess. Don't worry," said the Mechanist, nodding and sliding his fingers through his wild hair. "I, uh, ought to head to my office, then. I should get back to the bombs' project, as you say."
"That would be ideal," said Azula, as the two of them walked to the trapdoor. One of the Mechanist's assistants was waiting above to pull them up to the man's office.
The Mechanist made for his desk after dismissing his assistant. Azula was ready to leave the office, but she frowned upon noticing the Mechanist was making no move to follow.
"You'll keep working?" she asked. The Mechanist blinked, looking at her warily.
"Well… am I not supposed to?" he asked, shrugging. "I merely thought that, well… you wanted me to start with the bombs, right?"
"You could still take a break, though. You've been working on the balloon for days now," said Azula. The Mechanist waved a hand carelessly.
"You needn't fret, Princess. I can handle myself," he said, smiling.
"Alright, then. I suppose I'll send Sokka down here if that's…"
"O-oh, please, don't. He can take a break today, no need to worry," said the Mechanist, smiling. Azula raised an eyebrow.
"So, he can take breaks, but you can't," she said, and the Mechanist shrugged.
"Well, you did want him to have free time to eat and rest… he can have that for now, certainly. I will work on the bombs as long as the exhaustion doesn't get to me, Princess."
"Right," said Azula, eyeing the Mechanist with uncertainty. He was well accustomed to working on his own, she realized, but she had the distinct feeling that there was something else he wasn't telling her. Should she press the man on further? Or had she done plenty of that as it was?
She nodded in his direction, respecting his decision. The Mechanist was visibly relieved when Azula turned on her heels and left him to his own devices, choosing to trust the man, despite it all. He had to know better than to get himself in a dangerous position with the Fire Lord or his daughter…
The Mechanist released a deep breath once Azula left, eyeing the door she had closed behind herself with unease. What a fool he was… No, the hot-air balloon wouldn't suffice, the Princess had been right to say so. If his creation backfired on the Fire Nation in the battlefield, it would be the Mechanist himself, and his loved ones, who would pay the ultimate price for it: he couldn't allow that to happen. But he had damn near guaranteed it by sending that messenger hawk to War Minister Qin once the hot-air balloon designs were complete…
"I'm a fool," he whispered, taking a new scroll and spreading it over his desk. "A fool, a fool…"
He readied himself to craft a new design now, one that would address the Princess's criticisms to his original version of the hot-air balloons. There was no room for error anymore, and he had to work as quickly as he could: his life, and those of his son and friends, depended on it.
The dining room was crowded, although barely anyone was eating anymore. The room was the most centric area for people to gather, whether to share meals or not. And since all activity in the latest days had been dampened by the weather, the current occupants of the Northern Air Temple often gathered in the dining room if just to entertain themselves through small talk.
Azula guessed this would be where she would find her guards and Sokka, and thus, it was her current destination. In this weather she would have no luck flying with Xin Long, who had taken office within one of the Temple's towers while the blizzard died down. Fortunately for the dragon, the Temple's halls were spacious enough to allow him passage through them without any trouble.
She entered the dining room to find her guards sitting around the longest table, most of them talking at ease amongst themselves, accompanied by Teo and the Princess's gladiator. Sokka, unsurprisingly, was gobbling down some vegetable snack – the only kind of snack he had found in the Temple, to his utter disappointment. Rui Shi seemed to be dozing off when Azula sank into a seat beside him.
"Oh, you're back," said Sokka, lifting his gaze towards Azula slightly nervously. She raised an eyebrow in his direction. "What did you think of the balloon?"
"Uh, I suppose it's fine, even if it's not perfect. It should serve to ferry people around as it's supposed to," she said. Sokka smiled.
"Well, that's good to hear," he said. Azula eyed him warily.
"You'd better not let that go up to your head, though."
"Heh, that it's simply fine? That's not something that would go up to my head," he said. "If you'd called it a geniality, or said it was brilliant…"
"Sokka, you came up with a minimal part of the balloon's structure. The Mechanist devised most of it," said Azula, with a sardonic grin.
"Well, now, he said he'd been stuck with that project for a long time," said Sokka, lifting his index finger and looking at Azula with a raised eyebrow. "I gave him a good solution and he was ecstatic about it. So, it's a lot more important than just a minimal part, alright?"
"Sure thing. Say whatever you need in order to feel good about yourself, if you must," said Azula, smirking. Sokka pouted.
"Feel good about myself, really, as if that were all there was to it…" he grumbled. "Why isn't he here, though? Is he dealing with something else? Please tell me the water heater didn't break again…"
"No, he… he's in his office. I mentioned he ought to focus on the bombs' project now that this one was as good as done, because we'll be here for only a couple more weeks. It's time he works on what he's supposed to, don't you think?"
"Eh, sure…" said Sokka, swallowing hard and sighing. "I guess that means I ought to…"
"He actually said you could take a break, but if you want to go work with him, go ahead," said Azula, shrugging. "I didn't demand that he worked on it right away, but you know what he's like. A workaholic if I've ever seen one. And I've definitely seen some workaholics before."
"I do hope you're not implying I'm obsessed with my job…" said Rui Shi, raising an eyebrow and glancing at Azula furtively. She mustered her most ironic innocent façade.
"Why, you're the one implicating yourself, Captain…" she whispered. Sokka chuckled and Rui Shi smiled, despite himself.
Sokka and Azula hadn't been as much trouble for him as of late. Since Sokka was working hard constantly, his sleep schedule made little to no sense anymore. Often he'd work with the Mechanist through the night and sleep in broad daylight, and Azula would leave him to his rest. Whenever Rui Shi had checked on either of them, he'd find they weren't doing anything inadequate with one another, which meant that either they were being so stealthy they avoided his detection, or that they finally had stopped their recklessness. He hoped it was the latter, but he was still grateful if it was the former. He would keep an eye on them constantly all the same, but it was a relief that they were keeping to their better behavior these days.
"So, then, I can just stay here instead of freezing down in his office?" said Sokka, smiling with relief.
"Yeah. Feel free to freeze here instead, it should be a great improvement," said Azula, frowning as she glanced through the window in the room. The snow was still falling outside, slowly but certainly. She frowned and sighed at the sight. "For how long can an accursed snowfall last, seriously?"
"It has stopped a few times, mostly at night," said Sokka. "But it looks like it might stop again soon. The winds aren't so strong anymore, and it's falling way lighter than before."
"I suppose if there's something you'll know far better than us, it's snow," said Rui Shi.
"Likely," said Sokka, smiling a little. "There were some seriously dreadful storms in my tribe… we had to dig each other out after they were finished. Fortunately, we had good homes to protect us… well, most of us. Some of the warriors just had tents, so they had to crash at someone else's place in the meantime…"
"Must have been harsh," said Rui Shi, frowning. "And despite coming from that environment you adapted to the Fire Nation… well, with relative ease."
"Well, I did miss the cold a lot. Especially at first," said Sokka, frowning a little. Azula stiffened. "Dirt and sand were poor replacements. But then again, you don't have to worry about hunting for food when a blizzard is about to come, or count everyone to make sure nobody's outside in the middle of the storm… it's an improvement in some ways. And not needing to wear a parka day in and day out is a pretty nice thing, believe it or not. I honestly don't know how you guys wear those long-sleeved outfits in the Fire Nation's heat."
"We know our way around the heat just as you know yours around the cold," said Azula. Sokka chuckled.
A loud snort of laughter further down the table startled them out of their conversation. Teo was chuckling as Fei Li cackled loudly, and other guards smiled in disbelief at whatever Teo had said. Sokka raised his eyebrows and poked Taro on the shoulder, the one sitting nearest to him. Taro put down his cup of tea before turning towards them.
"It's nothing," he said, smiling at them. "Teo's only sharing some ghost stories they've come up with about the Northern Air Temple."
"Oh? Ghost stories?" said Sokka, raising his eyebrows. He remembered one or two from his Tribe… though they weren't all that scary.
"It's just something we do for fun when the weather's like this and we can't glide," said Teo, chuckling. "We try to come up with the spookiest story possible, and whoever makes the best one can sit closest to the bonfire once we can get it going…"
"Bonfire?" Sokka repeated. "You guys… do that?"
"Sometimes, when the snow stops falling," said Teo, nodding. "It's a good way to warm up after a storm."
"Yeah, it is," said Sokka, smiling. He hadn't thought of bonfires in a long time, let alone been around one. "What was the story, though? Care to share?"
"It's just some nonsense about Air Nomads coming back to the physical world to stalk the living, since they took their rightful home," said Fei Li, smiling. Teo chuckled.
"Hey, now, who knows if they'd want to do that? Spirits are real, so maybe the Air Nomads just… became spirits somehow. They might try to pull something on us, you never know."
"I do wonder if they'd be that vengeful," said Azula, frowning a little. "But then again, if they haven't come to haunt you people yet, they probably won't do it at all."
"Frankly, I doubt it would be possible," said Rui Shi, shrugging. "If the spirits of Air Nomads were out for revenge, they would have destroyed the Fire Nation's armies a century ago."
"I suppose, as long as they act rationally. But spirits aren't said to be too rational," said Fei Li. Sokka sighed and shook his head.
"Honestly, spirits. If they're really out there, as everyone says they are, they clearly care about their business and theirs alone."
"That's actually pretty close to the way Air Nomads acted, from what I can gather," said Azula, smiling a little. Sokka rubbed his chin after that.
"Huh. Well, then, that means that, whether they're dead or alive, they wouldn't come chase after you guys," he said, waving a hand carelessly. Fei Li chuckled.
"Yeah, we already guessed as much. Air Nomads blowing gusts of wind to lift people's skirts seemed a pretty far-fetched idea to me too," he said.
Azula was smiling at her guard's intervention, but she noticed then that Teo had frowned after what Sokka had said. She looked at him intently.
"Is something wrong, Teo?" she asked. He jumped. "Is it you want the Air Nomads to come chase you off this place?"
"N-no, that's not it at all. It's cold up here, but I like it anyways," said Teo, smiling. "It's just that thing about… dead or alive. Do you think there's any chance that…? I mean, never mind. I know there isn't, but it's still pretty strange that…"
"What's pretty strange?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow when he fell silent mid-sentence. Teo bit his lip.
"W-well… I hadn't really thought of this much at first, but then we started doing all those Air Nomad horror stories and, well… see, this place was empty when we got here."
"Right. We knew that," said Fei Li, looking at Teo with confusion. "All the airbenders were dead, have been for a hundred years…"
"But that's the thing, though. When we got here, all we found was an old structure, unkempt and uncared for… but nothing else."
"No bodies," said Azula, frowning. "No skeletons."
Teo shook his head. Some of the guards flinched at that.
"Heh… that's a good one, Princess. You're probably the best there is at horror stories, huh?" said Tai Wei, smiling awkwardly. Azula raised an eyebrow in his direction, silencing him effectively.
"You say the structure was unkempt, then? Was there any sign of burnt walls, perhaps?" Azula inquired. Teo bit his lip and shook his head.
"Most of the damage to the walls and structures has been done by my dad," he said, awkwardly.
"So, there was nothing else there. No signs whatsoever of a struggle," said Azula, intertwining her fingers as she placed her elbows on the table. Teo shook his head.
"Not that I noticed, anyhow. It was just abandoned. Like they'd… disappeared in thin air."
"Well, wouldn't that be amusing," said Azula, smiling. "The ultimate airbender skill: disappearing in thin air. That's one they forgot to add to their scrolls."
"Alright, but… I mean, this place was empty for a reason," said Fei Li, frowning. "If the airbenders weren't killed, then where are they?"
"Didn't you hear? In thin air," said Rui Shi, simply. Fei Li shuddered. "They're all around us."
"Is he joking? Please tell me he's joking," said Fei Li.
"I don't think the Captain ever jokes, Fei Li," said Taro. Fei Li looked at Rui Shi with panic-ridden eyes as Rui Shi did his best to feign innocence, toying with a small plum of fire in his hands.
Azula smiled at the exchanges between her guards, amused to see Rui Shi willing to play this strange game with the others. It was definitely true he wasn't given to that kind of behavior… Tai Wei had been mistaken, Azula realized: the one best suited for ghost stories around here was the very Captain of her guards.
She took her leave from the gathering in the dining room eventually, though, stopping in a balcony to gaze down on the Temple. The information Teo had given away just now had been bothersome, despite she had managed to play it as though she were merely frightening her guards with it. Something didn't sit right with her about the Air Temple, especially now that she knew the Mechanist and his group had found no sign of dead bodies around these parts…
"What's eating away at you, Princess?"
Azula didn't hold back a smile when she heard Sokka approaching her. The bad weather had kept most people huddled indoors during the past few days, so the two of them weren't in the same risk of being sighted together in hallways anymore. Nonetheless, they kept their distance, Azula with her forearms on the banister, Sokka resting with his back against it.
"What Teo said. It's… unsettling," she whispered. Sokka chuckled.
"I figure it's not spirit stuff that scares you, right?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "You're too smart to freak out over that nonsense, aren't you?"
"No, it's not that I expect some spiritual crisis to fall upon us," said Azula. "That doesn't seem likely, else it should've happened already. But even so… well, I suppose I ought to explain from the start."
"You probably should," Sokka agreed, nodding.
"I started to attend war meetings at the age of thirteen," said Azula. Sokka smiled. He had started sneaking into war meetings as a child, but he hadn't been allowed into a real meeting held by his father until he was seventeen. "And I knew better than to speak my mind as my brother had. I wasn't about to bring an Agni Kai upon myself foolishly that way. So, I kept my silence, even when War Minister Qin intervened to tell my father that he had finally pinpointed the location of the Northern Air Temple."
"He had what, now?" said Sokka, frowning. Azula nodded.
"A couple meetings later, he revealed to us that a valuable asset had taken office there, an asset who just might be capable of providing technological advancements beyond our imagination if we took him into our system. Said asset is, as you must have guessed, the Mechanist."
"Right," said Sokka.
"The thing is… about a hundred years before then, Sozin was supposed to have destroyed the Air Nomads completely," said Azula, frowning. "I've always been confused by whatever his procedure was, because I've found little next to nothing to explain how the Fire Lord split his army into at least five factions in order to take out his enemies. I say five because he surely didn't leave the Fire Nation unprotected. So, the four remaining factions would have had to travel through the world, reaching each Temple and as good as razing them to the ground in order to destroy every airbender within. Right?"
"I… suppose," said Sokka.
"But despite the Air Nomads had a non-violence policy, they should have put up a fight against the Fire Nation army. Yes, Sozin's soldiers were powered by the comet, and I know for a fact that the comet provides a mind-boggling boost to any firebender's abilities… but these airbenders had some terrifying skills, if what I've read is actually true."
"Terrifying? Weren't they pacifists?" said Sokka, raising an eyebrow.
"We were fortunate they were," said Azula. "Had they been the ones trying to colonize the rest of the world, the other nations would've lasted three years at most. These people… they bend air, Sokka. They could simply cut someone's air supply if they wished to. It wouldn't have been a big effort for them. There are thousands of things they could have done to fight back… which is why it baffles me that it seems as though they didn't. In fact, it seems as though… as though this place, the Northern Air Temple, wasn't a battlefield altogether."
"Can you be sure of that?" said Sokka. "Isn't there any chance that Sozin just got the Air Nomads killed and tossed down the mountain?"
"Without a single sign of firebending in scorched floors or walls?" said Azula, raising an eyebrow. "Were the Air Nomads such pacifists they didn't fight back against the Fire Nation armies at all?"
"It does seem unlikely that they'd be so compliant about dying, huh?" said Sokka, grimacing. "Not a lot of people would be."
"But there's also the fact that Sozin wouldn't have marked down the location of this temple if he'd found it," said Azula. "We know where the Southern Air Temple is located, along with the Western Air Temple and the Eastern Air Temple. They're of easier access than the others, really, and can be sighted even at a distance. But the Northern Air Temple… the Fire Nation armies only found it nine years ago to find it occupied already, Sokka. There are no records to indicate otherwise. The port we arrived at is fairly new, built only after we'd pinpointed this location. Qin had been searching for this place… though I do wonder what he expected to achieve by coming here, for starters."
"Perhaps confirmation that Sozin did kill everyone here? Heck, if there had been airbenders hiding in this temple I would've been pretty pissed, if I were your dad," said Sokka, folding his arms over his chest. Azula frowned.
"Maybe it was the gliders. They might have caught people's eyes, and rumors about them started to spread…" she whispered. Sokka raised an eyebrow and nodded.
"Might have been. But he never mentioned that to you?"
"I was mostly in training at the time. My father informed me of many things but not of everything," said Azula, frowning. "I suppose that ought to change now that I'm his official Crown Princess, but back then he still kept certain things to himself. I don't doubt he keeps a lot more secrets from me than I realize he does. I mean… he probably knows about whatever happened to my mother. And about my grandfather's demise. But he's never meant to share that with me, and I won't force him to do so."
"You're too faithful to him, always on your dad's good side," said Sokka, smiling. "If I were you, I probably would've asked him about it ages ago."
"Which is why it's great that you aren't me," said Azula, smirking. "I know to tread carefully so I can stay in his good graces. It's not that hard to figure out that whatever happened that night isn't something he's willing to disclose to me. The less I know about it, the better… which I guess is what Sozin must have thought when it came to the Northern Air Temple."
"You think?" said Sokka. "There's no chronicles, any journals by soldiers that came up here?"
"The events of Sozin's Comet's first appearance are a blur," said Azula. "Most the retellings I've found of them are mixed and confused, contradictory and illogical. Some history book once credited Azulon alone for the butchery of dragons, skipping over Fire Lord Hizuo's involvement in that particular enterprise altogether. And those are facts with more available and verified information than whatever happened during Sozin's Comet's first appearance."
"So, you have no way of knowing what happened in any of the Temples," said Sokka, raising an eyebrow. "For all we know, there's still airbenders hiding out there…"
"I doubt that. They would have been sighted somehow, I believe," said Azula. "Chances are they wouldn't have been able to hide for too long if they had survived."
"So, what do you think happened?" said Sokka, raising an eyebrow. "Did the Air Nomads know you guys would attack, and the people residing in the Northern Air Temple flew down to the other three temples to help fight off Sozin's armies?"
"I… suppose that's plausible. At least it would explain why there was nobody here even though there's no sign of dead airbenders anywhere," said Azula, shrugging. Sokka sighed.
"You worry too much about history, Azula," he said, smiling. "You should probably stop fretting about things you can't do anything to change."
"Granted, but I do want to discover the truth nonetheless," said Azula. "It's true that my father keeps secrets from me, but this is a different matter altogether. If these northern Air Nomads could have been a risk, it would have been beyond irresponsible of Sozin's to claim he killed them all without at least leaving a secret message to the next Fire Lords with the truth. Right?"
"Well, I can't say I mind if he didn't get these airbenders killed," said Sokka, tapping his arm with a finger "I know you guys would rather assimilate everything under the Fire Nation's banners, and perhaps you thought the Air Nomads were too dangerous to be left alive. But if they were alive… well, their nation would still stand a chance, so to say. Balance might still have a chance."
"Balance," said Azula, looking at Sokka inquisitively. He shrugged. "You do love bringing that up, huh?"
"I guess it's because of how I was raised. Lots of stories about the Avatar, balance, a world with four nations…" said Sokka. Azula raised an eyebrow.
"All four? No vengeful wishes to take out the Fire Nation?" she asked. Sokka shook his head.
"Not the way Gran Gran told them anyways," he said, smiling at her. Azula nodded, thoughtful. "So, umm… it's snowing, and it's cold. And everyone else is likely to stay cooped up in that room, so… what do you say if you stop worrying about these things, and we sneak into some…?"
"Actually, it's stopped," said Azula, surprising Sokka. He blinked a few times, confused by her statement before realizing what she was talking about: the snowfall appeared to be at an end.
"Hey, it did. The clouds look way less menacing, Azula, maybe we can…!" said Sokka, his eyes brightening as a patch of blue skies peeked out through the white clouds.
"Test the war balloon," she finished. Sokka swallowed hard and looked at her warily. "Well, the sooner that distraction is out of the way, the better for my father's project. Let's test it indeed, shall we?"
Sokka beamed at her positive response and made to hug her but held back just in time. Azula raised an eyebrow menacingly and he nodded.
"All in its due time. I know that," he said, nodding. Azula laughed softly.
"Go fetch the Mechanist. I'll tell the others," she said, brushing his forearm softly with her fingertips. Sokka smiled and nodded, darting off to do as she had told him.
He stopped to knock on the Mechanist's door before pushing it open, finding the man fumbling with some papers on his desk. He gave Sokka a guilty look, but Sokka knew by now that the Mechanist was an inherently nervous man. Surely there was no reason to worry about it now.
"Hey! The snow's stopped so we were going to test the balloon while we can," said Sokka, stepping forward. The Mechanist raised his eyebrows with interest.
"Oh, is that so? Wonderful!" he said, smiling. "You can go ahead and test it, then. I will be with you shortly, I just need to finish working with something…"
"Huh? Can't it wait?" asked Sokka, raising an eyebrow. He frowned as realization dawned upon him. "Oh, wait. You're working on the bombs."
"W-why… yes. Well, I'm only working out the basics so far," said the Mechanist, nervously. Sokka grimaced. "It's of no matter, Sokka, I can handle this myself. Go test the wa-… the hot-air balloon."
"You sure? I mean, I could stay here and try to figure out the bombs while you test it. Technically, that one's your project while this one's supposed to be my responsibility," said Sokka, grimacing. The Mechanist shook his head.
"No, you… you should go. I give you the reins for the last part of the hot-air balloon project, Sokka. Go out there and make it float!"
"I… I guess I will, then," said Sokka, frowning but nodding.
"It's in your hands now," said the Mechanist. Sokka smiled at him.
"I'll do my best not to disappoint. Come have a look when you're free, though. You shouldn't overwork yourself with that."
"I… I won't. I won't," said the Mechanist, smiling as Sokka turned on his heels and left.
He released a deep breath and shook his head. He was no good at lying, and no good at crafting bombs. His last experiences with explosive material had cost him part of his bushy eyebrows, after all. But he'd have to start with the project while Sokka was out testing the balloon. He couldn't reveal to the warrior that he was creating an advanced design of the hot-air balloon, or else he'd know this was a far more dangerous invention than the Mechanist had wanted to disclose to him…
Because the Mechanist wasn't entirely sure of where Sokka's allegiances lay. Despite they had worked together for some time now, the Mechanist had trouble figuring out the Water Tribe man. When the message heralding the Princess's visit had arrived to the Temple, the Mechanist had dreaded he'd have to work either with some brutish slave – he was spoken of as 'the gladiator', and nothing more – and if he wasn't a brute, maybe he was a broken man, of the sort that seem to be dead in life. And Sokka had been neither.
It didn't look like the Fire Nation had broken his spirits. He even got along with his sponsor, his slave master: the daughter of the Fire Lord, of all people. He was outspoken, easygoing, even kind. Had he taken so well to the Fire Nation, or was he far more complex than the Mechanist understood him to be? Was he part of a bigger plan than the Mechanist could conceive, a plan that might have required for someone like him to slip between the Fire Nation's forces, unnoticed and underestimated by the Fire Lord and his people…?
The gladiator wasn't a foe for the Mechanist, but was he his ally? Was he enduring the same pressures as the Mechanist was? Did he do this to protect his own…? If so, it made no sense that he would accept to destroy the Northern Water Tribe. Unless he had no care for anything he wasn't directly related to, and he only wanted to keep his own Tribe safe…
Regardless of Sokka's loyalties, though, the Mechanist had no choice but to pull through with this project. He didn't dare pay the price for disobedience: his fear ran too deeply to rebel against the hand tightly wrapped around his throat.
"He's not coming? Really?" said Teo, disheartened. Sokka grimaced and shrugged.
"I'm sorry. I told him to drop by when he was free, but he asked me to handle this myself," he explained. "I don't know why he's skipping over something so important."
"Yeah, well… it happens sometimes," said Teo, sighing. He smiled at Sokka. "No worries. I'm sure he's just busy."
"Likely," said Sokka, raising an eyebrow as Teo sighed again and wheeled away towards the hot-air balloon.
The guards and some of the Mechanist's assistants, directed by Azula, had brought the hot-air balloon out into the lowest courtyard of the Temple. Teo had been as excited as anyone for the hot-air balloon's test run, but now that Sokka had informed him that his father wouldn't be here, it seemed the balloon's first flight wasn't all that fun in his eyes anymore.
"Doesn't look like he's fine with it, huh?" Sokka whispered to Azula, the person to whom he'd directed his announcement about the Mechanist in the first place.
"Not at all," said Azula, raising an eyebrow. "But he swallows his disappointment and acts like it doesn't matter. His father is everything to him, it's clear enough, but…"
"But they barely spend any time together," said Sokka. "He's always busy."
"Even when he doesn't have to be," said Azula, sighing and looking at Sokka. "Well, then, if he's not going to do this and he left it all in your questionable leadership, by all means, go ahead and take charge, gladiator."
Sokka's jaw dropped. He gave Azula an affronted glare, to find she would only smirk with malice in return.
"M-my leadership isn't… Y-you know what? You'll see it for yourself right now!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking as he blushed deeply. Azula's amusement increased, Sokka was only more flustered as he stormed towards the hot-air balloon, a prominent scowl on his face.
Azula laughed softly under her breath as she followed Sokka towards the balloon, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. The cool breeze was uncomfortable, but she would brave through it as they dealt with the last stretch of this project.
"Alright, so I'm in charge of testing the hot-air balloon," Sokka declared, taking a deep breath and looking at the guards and assistants with unease. "So, umm, I guess that means I'm going on the first test flight. I'll need a firebender with me, though, for convenience… so, who wants to come?"
Several guards gazed at one another before shrugging. Some of them lifted their hands, others simply voiced they were available. Sokka cleared his throat, studying them closely. He got along with one guard, specifically, so…
"Alright, then, Taro?" he said, but before Taro could so much as smile in approval, Azula intervened.
"Not Taro," she declared, giving Sokka a meaningful look. "With his breathing ailment you're not taking him anywhere on that thing. He's had a hard time as it is to adjust to the thin air around here, so don't push his luck."
Taro seemed disappointed, but he smiled and nodded anyways. The Princess was right to look out for him under those conditions. Sokka swallowed hard and scratched the back of his head nervously.
"Eh, well then, I guess…" he said, gazing at the remaining guards with uncertainty.
"I'll do it, I'll do it!" said Fei Li, stepping forward proudly. "I've got all the firepower this balloon could need, gladiator."
"Oh. Alright, then, it'll be you," said Sokka, smiling and shrugging.
Azula's eyebrow twitched at the temporary team-up of the gladiator and her most reckless guard. Next to her, Rui Shi seemed just as nervous about this test flight as Azula was.
"They could end up ruining the balloon by mistake, couldn't they?" Rui Shi said. Azula sighed.
"I'd expect them to. Someone else needs to keep them in check…" she said, glancing at Rui Shi innocently. The man grimaced.
"Must I?" he asked. Azula smiled.
"Who knew the day would come when you'd protest my reasonable commands like this…" she said. Rui Shi sighed.
"I simply don't feel like babysitting the gladiator or Fei Li, let alone both at once, so…"
"I can do it instead, Captain," said Tai Wei, stepping forward. "If you want someone else to help, Princess, I can give them a hand."
"Huh. It's true that you've dealt with your fair share of the Mechanist's creations," said Azula, nodding. "Very well, let's give Rui Shi a break for today. Go on ahead."
Tai Wei nodded and approached the hot-air balloon. Sokka and Fei Li had already climbed onto the basket, oblivious to the fact that they'd have someone else with them on the hot-air balloon. They let Tai Wei in without a hitch, though, and Fei Li started with the slow and steady task of starting the fire that would power the balloon's engine.
"Can that balloon lift three grown men like them?" said Rui Shi, raising an eyebrow. Azula shrugged.
"I guess we're about to find out," she said, watching with interest as Tai Wei joined Fei Li with his own firebending.
Sokka watched them uneasily, his gaze moving from the two firebenders to the top of the balloon constantly. It should be moving in a little while, he just had to be patient. They hadn't done all this work to no avail, but… what if the balloon was too small to lift the basket? What if they were too heavy? All things considered, he wasn't entirely sure that this would work out as well as they thought it would. Maybe, despite all the calculations, something would go inevitably wrong…
Dusk was approaching rapidly as the Mechanist finally devised the proper structure for his upgraded project. Weariness was making way through him, but he was determined to ignore it for as long as he could. He had to finish this piece and send it to War Minister Qin as soon as he did. There was no time to be wasted with…
His door slammed open brusquely, startling him out of his careful focus on his work. He lifted his gaze to find Sokka breathing heavily at the door, his hair disorderly, his eyes wide open.
"Something's wrong," he said. The Mechanist froze.
"W-with… with the balloon?" he said, his voice hollow with dread. As if he didn't have enough bad things to deal with…
"You have to come, now!" Sokka exclaimed. The Mechanist swallowed hard, setting out after Sokka with heavy strides.
"What was it? The suspension system? Or was it the size of the balloon? I did fear it wouldn't be enough to lift the basket…!" said the Mechanist, grimacing as Sokka led the way to the courtyard.
"I don't know for certain what it was, I think it's in the engine," said Sokka, walking faster. The Mechanist had trouble keeping up with him.
"The engine? But we went over the design at least ten times, there was nothing wrong with the engine!" he said, grimacing.
"It's not propelling the hot air the way we need it to, I don't know why, but it's just messing things up," said Sokka, swallowing hard as they took a left on the hallway and climbed on one of the Mechanist's lifter systems.
"Oh, no. Oh, no, just no…" said the Mechanist, shaking his head in sheer horror. If this design was already faulty, then his preemptive message to War Minister Qin would cause him even more trouble than he'd anticipated…
Sokka nearly ran through the halls, with the Mechanist chasing after him desperately. He could hear sounds out in the nearest courtyard, and he dreaded the voices speaking would be worrying over the malfunctioning hot-air balloon…
And then he heard a familiar voice, cheering.
When the courtyard finally came into sight, the Mechanist's small eyes widened. His hot-air balloon wasn't malfunctioning at all: it was airborne. And his bushy-haired son was riding on it.
Sokka chuckled and looked at the Mechanist guiltily. The man couldn't take his eyes off his son, who had just spotted him down on the ground. He waved at him.
"Look, Dad! It works!" he exclaimed. "It really works!"
The Mechanist could barely give his eyes any credit, but soon his face broke into a delighted smile.
"It was all a ruse. You wanted me to… to see it myself," said the Mechanist, looking at Sokka in surprise. Sokka shrugged.
"It didn't seem fair for you to miss out on the whole thing, and we didn't know how else to get you out of that office, so… sorry?" he said, but given the Mechanist's smile, Sokka guessed he wouldn't be blamed for his actions.
"It works… it works perfectly," he said. Sokka nodded.
"It's great!" he said. "It can lift up to three people, at the very least. Teo is up there with Rui Shi, he wanted to try it quite badly. You should go next, with them."
"W-what, me? Oh, I…" said the Mechanist, surprised. Sokka chuckled and grabbed him by the shoulder, leading him to the landing site of the hot-air balloon.
Soon, it was the Mechanist floating in the wind along with his proud son. The man deserved to enjoy his invention fully, even though he seemed quite unsure as to how to do that. Nonetheless, Teo's cheerful attitude was infectious, and soon the Mechanist was delighted to be airborne.
Sokka could only wonder how long it had been since they'd spent time together like that. A sigh rushed out of him at the thought, but he shook his head quickly to stop himself from thinking of Hakoda. He had been far too nostalgic of his home in the last few days: the environment kept bringing back the memories he had once used to soothe himself to sleep in Hui Yi, memories he hadn't needed to resort to ever since Azula had found him anew.
She had joined her guards in building a bonfire in the courtyard, the bonfire Teo had told them about earlier. The snow had stopped, but the temperatures only kept dropping. The Princess had sent her men to gather the wood, and they were ready to set it on fire as soon as the hot-air balloon landed definitively, in order to avoid unwanted accidents.
Sokka's memories only kept coming back once the fire was lit. The current occupants of the temple came by to warm up around it, and in no time the typical storytelling sessions began around the flames. He could only smile as he watched them, trying not to glance at Azula too often. She caught sight of him eventually, though, and frowned in his direction. It wasn't like him to keep his distance from this sort of situation. She gave him a meaningful look, and Sokka smiled. Maybe he ought to tell the next story, if just to placate any potential concerns she might have had…
… By the time he was finishing his story, though, the Princess seemed to regret having coerced him into doing so.
"And they knew the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!" Sokka exclaimed, in his eeriest voice. But instead of finding terrified expressions on everyone else's faces, he only found confusion and distaste in them, regardless of whether they were refugees or firebenders. "Uh… nothing? Really? Was it that lousy?"
"Sokka, it was obvious the blade was haunted since the story started," said Azula, looking at him in disbelief. "If you meant for that to be the punchline of the story, you should've saved it for the end."
"H-hey, that's the way they tell it in my tribe!" Sokka exclaimed, blushing and crossing his arms over his chest. Azula snorted.
"Well, they have poor taste for stories in your tribe, I'm afraid," she said, with a curt grin. Sokka pouted. "Keeping an open ending only works when you actually have a plotline, which you evidently lacked…"
"It would be best if you leave the spooky stories to us, gladiator," said one of the refugees. Sokka shook his head, so flustered his ears were reddening too.
The night had arrived quickly, and along with it, a chilling breeze that had most people shivering even though the bonfire still burned powerfully. The warmth was reassuring, but only for now: retiring for the evening would be unpleasant for everyone.
"That tower will be unbearable tonight," said Azula, shaking her head as she glanced at her bedroom from where they were. "I can't fathom how those Air Nomads could live here without freezing to death."
"Oh, I'm sorry it's such a cold tower," said the Mechanist, grimacing by the fire. "It's the one place where we hadn't installed hot-air pipes yet. They usually help heat the buildings, so it's not as cold… perhaps we can find warmer accommodations for you, Princess."
"Huh. So that's how you guys did it," said Azula, frowning. There had to be a disadvantage to her privacy, naturally. "No need to worry about it. I'm already installed, after all."
"Well, if you change your mind, I'll see to it that you have a better room. I'm sorry for that mistake. We should have thought it through," said the Mechanist. Azula shrugged.
"You have enough to worry about as it is, so leave it be."
Her words sounded ominous even to Azula's ears. The Mechanist flinched, but he nodded in agreement. Azula took a deep breath and released it before making up her mind to head to her room already. The sooner she got there, the faster she could get started with heating up the room somehow.
The Mechanist watched Azula go, a sinking feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach. He had wasted valuable hours today because of the hot-air balloon's tests; he should have been working on the newer model. Whenever he had a chance to continue perfecting this project, as the Princess had demanded, he had to seize it. Especially whenever the gladiator wouldn't be around to ask what the Mechanist was up to.
"I should probably take my leave too," he said, smiling awkwardly and giving his son a proper good night for once. Teo seemed happy enough about that, which warmed the Mechanist's heart.
He had to achieve what he was tasked to, there was no other choice for him. For Teo's sake, for all those who lived in the Northern Air Temple… the Mechanist had to give the Fire Lord what he wanted, whether he liked it or not.
The rest of the group remained gathered around the fireplace for a little while longer before heading to bed, snuffing out the fire quickly. Sokka slipped into his room and glanced towards Azula's tower from his window. He could see sparks of blue glinting in Azula's room. What sort of makeshift heat system had she come up with? He smiled as he waited as patiently as he could for an hour to tick by, and once it had, he snuck towards Azula's room quietly.
He arrived to find she had lined the room with lamps. He smiled weakly as he slipped through the door, as Azula fixed one of the lights near her bed. She had evidently heard the door oping behind her: her lack of reaction towards it meant that she knew it was Sokka. She was finished attaching the lamp to the wall when his arms slid around her waist. She offered him a sly grin by angling her head towards him.
"Taking risks again, are we?" she asked. Sokka sighed, his grip tightening around her.
"I missed you," he whispered. Azula closed her eyes and dropped against him, sliding her hands over his.
"I missed you too," she admitted. "But you had enough on your plate as it was. Your work takes precedence over our nonsense, whether you're working on what you're supposed to or not…"
"I guess so, huh?" said Sokka, swallowing hard. Azula sighed.
"You need to start doing what we came here for. And to stop thinking so much with your stomach or your penis," she said, smiling as she reached to cup his member through his pants. Sokka squirmed under her touch, but he laughed.
"Hey now, I can't not think with it when you do that kind of thing," he said, grinning.
"Seriously, though… the test run for the balloon is done. It's time for you to focus on the real reason we're here, right?"
"I… guess so," said Sokka, swallowing and dropping his head on her shoulder. "No more distractions allowed starting tomorrow, huh?"
"At least not until you make decent progress, alright?" said Azula. Sokka grimaced and nodded.
"Your word is my command," he sighed, kissing her cheek. Azula closed her eyes, pressing into his body and biting her lower lip.
"Are you staying tonight?" she whispered, wishing she didn't sound too eager as she said the words. Sokka grinned.
"Well, I didn't come just to get scolded, now, did I?" he said. Azula raised an eyebrow. "I can't let you go cold, Princess."
"The lamps might help with that, if my warmth was what you were worried about," said Azula, shrugging and smirking. Sokka looked at her skeptically.
"Oh really? You were setting those up to warm yourself up? I thought you wanted to build the most romantic setting for us instead…?"
"The most what, now?" said Azula, looking at him in amusement. "Well, that's something that didn't cross my mind…"
"As if. I know better than that, Princess Azula always thinks of everything," Sokka teased. Azula finally turned in his arms to face him, a teasing smile in her face. Sokka's arms remained locked around her.
"She tries to, but there's a crazy gladiator who comes up with the least likely interpretation for her actions, and his nonsense isn't easy to anticipate to…" she whispered, surrounding his neck with her arms.
Sokka chuckled and leaned in to kiss her deeply. Azula took him in fully, showing how much she had longed to be with him again. He led her to the bed, somewhat clumsily, for he could barely see where he was going, but soon they dropped heavily, together, on the mattress. He certainly meant to provide her with all the warmth she would require in this freezing night.
The news had been rewarding, a weight off his chest when the long-awaited messenger hawk arrived with the blueprints. The Fire Lord would be most pleased with these developments.
War Minister Qin requested a meeting with Fire Lord Ozai as soon as possible, bringing the scrolls the Mechanist had sent him. The guards had let him pass without a hitch, and Ozai sat behind the curtain of fire, his golden scowl as unyielding as ever. Dark shadows were cast over his features through the effects of the flames.
"My Lord, I bring great tidings. I have received word from the Mechanist," said the War Minister, once he finished performing the proper greetings to the Fire Lord.
"Is that so?" said Ozai, raising an eyebrow. "Have the bombs been completed?"
"No. Better," said the War Minister, smiling.
He needn't say more for Ozai to understand the meaning of those words. A smirk spread over his face: after almost a century, the Fire Nation would gain airpower once again.
The explosion was so weak Azula could barely believe her eyes. Sokka grimaced at the look on her face: he was about to get it, wasn't he?
"Y-you're kidding me. You have to be kidding me," she said. "It's been a week since you started working on the bombs, and this is the best you can do?!"
Sokka swallowed hard as the Mechanist tried to hide behind Sokka's broad back. It wasn't advisable to stand in the line of fire when the Princess was angry, a fact everyone was well aware of. Even Sokka was aware of it, but he was, for some reason, always in the line of fire either way.
The joy of success with the hot-air balloon hadn't lasted as long as Sokka had wished it would. He was forced to join the Mechanist in his study to design the bombs, and to his surprise, Azula had decided to oversee them on occasion, to ensure they would focus on the project at hand. They worked so hard under her watchful eye that it was only natural that they'd have a prototype to test already, which they had just tested indeed in the Mechanist's workshop… to dissatisfying results.
"H-hey, I'd warned you that I only knew how to handle small explosives," said Sokka, swallowing hard. "That's all I ever learned! S-so… see? We designed an efficient container for it, at least, so…!"
"It's basically the same thing you use with your smoke bombs, Sokka, this is nothing new!" Azula growled, looking at him in disbelief before shaking her head in frustration.
"We're sorry, Princess," said the Mechanist, grimacing. "We could craft a design that might work with more explosive powder, but we can't test something like that. We don't have the resources here…"
"So, you want to give my father some untested design, that might actually not work?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. Sokka scratched the back of his head as the Mechanist bit his lower lip.
"I… perhaps he won't mind so much that it's not tested, Prin-…"
"Oh, of course he won't. Who do you take him for?" said Azula, shaking her head. She frowned before looking at the Mechanist. "We need stronger bombs than this. Something that would actually deliver more damage than a rookie firebender in his first lesson."
"I understand, Princess, but…"
"I wasn't finished," said Azula, curtly. The Mechanist fell silent immediately. "You said there's some sort of volatile gas under this very Temple, didn't you?"
Sokka's eyes widened. The Mechanist as well was taken aback by Azula's question.
"Y-you want us to…? To add volatile gas to the bombs?" he said, swallowing hard.
Azula studied both their reactions, noticing Sokka's easy-going behavior had disappeared for the time being. She stiffened but tried to act as normally as she could in spite of that.
"It's a thought," she said, shrugging. "If you don't have enough explosive material on your hands, that might do the trick."
"It could, but… I don't know if it's safe," said the Mechanist, frowning. "The volatile gas was awfully dangerous when I first came across it. I'm not certain it's wise to resort to it like this, not to mention I'm not entirely sure how we'd harness it…"
"I think we'll have to ponder this some more," said Sokka, folding his arms over his chest. "We shouldn't deal with the volatile gas if it's not safe, so… we'd have to think of how to make it safe. Unless we don't do this at all, of course…"
"Do you have any better ideas than this?" Azula asked. Sokka grimaced and shrugged.
"Not right now, but I'd rather not blast my arm off while trying to harness some crazy volatile gas, right?" he said. "Imagine what that could do to your troops if it were activated in the wrong moment…"
Azula frowned. Safety was a matter of concern indeed, but was it that likely for the Fire Nation soldiers to put themselves in danger with those bombs? As long as the gas was properly contained there should be no problem… but then again, did she even want those bombs to be built and used in combat? She had narrowly averted a dangerous problem by putting a stop to the war balloons before they could become a real menace, after all. But considering she had yet to find any dragons, and that her father would be furious if he received no good news after her trip ended…
"I would have to consider how to find a safe way to deal with the gas," said the Mechanist, sighing. "And perhaps a safer design would be in order."
"There's no other choice, huh?" said Sokka, sighing and shaking his head.
"You can take a break, we've been working very hard as it is," said the Mechanist smiling at Sokka. "Come back to me in the morning, maybe we'll have ideas by then."
"Yeah, maybe," said Sokka, smiling too. "You should take a break as well, though. Seriously, you can go on the balloon again with Teo. You two seemed to enjoy that."
"Oh, maybe later," said the Mechanist, smiling weakly. "For now, I'll ponder what the Princess suggested. Perhaps I can come up with a safe way to use the gas…"
The Mechanist smiled at them as he walked towards the trapdoor. Azula and Sokka shared a glance, knowing that some unwanted tension was starting to build between them with this. Nonetheless, Sokka didn't dare speak his mind until they were making their way through the Temple's halls, Azula a few steps ahead of Sokka.
She could sense his unease as they reached a hallway that should be far enough from prying eyes. She wasn't surprised when his hand reached to clasp her shoulder, stopping her in mid-step.
"Azula…" he said, as she turned to look at him. She was already frowning.
"What?" she said. Her voice was soft, unlike how it usually was when she was upset. Sokka swallowed hard. "Confused as to why I'm pressuring you so much now?"
"Not entirely, but…" said Sokka, gritting his teeth. "You do realize that making bombs with a bigger power output would be… well, exactly what your father wants, yes, but…"
"But you don't want to make such bombs, do you?" said Azula, raising an eyebrow. Sokka sighed. "Why, color me surprised…"
"I didn't think you wanted that either, though," said Sokka, stepping towards her. "I mean, when you told me about this, you seemed even more hesitant than I was. You… you don't like this any better than I do, or do you? And yet you're ushering us into doing this, and trying to make those bombs deadlier still… doesn't the cost of it bother you? As much as I get you're trying to keep your father appeased…"
"Keeping my father appeased…" said Azula, shaking her head and giving Sokka a stern look. "If you really think that's the main reason why I'm pressuring you, think again. Maybe you don't understand me as well as you think you do."
Sokka froze at that. The hurt in her eyes was evident, even though she kept her emotions steeled all the same. He gritted his teeth.
"You can't save me and damn an entire nation in the process," he said, shaking his head. "That's not the way it should work."
"There's a lot of things that shouldn't work the way they have," Azula whispered. "And yet here we are in spite of that. The world isn't ideal, Sokka, nor will it ever be. We can't have everything we want."
"And how do we choose what we'll have, then? How do we decide what's worth fighting for and what isn't?" he asked. When Azula didn't seem to have an answer for that he sighed. "I'm trying my best, whether you believe it or not, but…"
"But you're an idiot," said Azula, glaring at him. Sokka frowned.
"I…"
"An idiot who always forgets to add his life to his list of priorities," she finished. His eyes widened. "And you've been that way ever since our partnership began. Do excuse me if I get in the way of your sacrificial tendencies, Sokka. But I won't have you die on me."
He held her gaze, uncertainty filling him now. He had drawn out his own plans to sabotage this process long ago, hoping to trick Azula… but it dawned on him now that he hadn't fooled her at all. If anything, he was the fool for only realizing now that his sharp sponsor probably hadn't believed his unconvincing lies not even for a second. He gritted his teeth.
"You can't hold my life above that of everyone else, Azula," he whispered. She sighed and shook her head.
"Perhaps I shouldn't. But there are countless things that shouldn't have happened and yet they have. And we have to face the consequences for them."
Sokka frowned when Azula turned on her heels and restarted the way down the hall. Her footsteps echoed against the walls, ringing in Sokka's ears until she was gone.
His hands balled into fists as he frowned heavily. If she had understood what he had been doing, why hadn't she called him out on it sooner? Why had she acted as though she knew nothing about Sokka's plans? It was confusing… but then again, there was an evident answer to that question. She had said it enough times as it was, saved his life on many occasions and often worried for his wellbeing. She had even looked after him when their alliance had only just started, when Toph had given him that first taste of defeat, along with the tastes of sand and blood, too. Now that their alliance had turned into a dalliance instead, it only made sense for her to look out for him far more devotedly…
But he couldn't accept being safe and sound when so many others would face unimaginable pain if he didn't put a stop to Ozai's ambitions. He'd never had the means to change anything until now, though he hadn't dared do anything bold while Azula kept a sharp eye on him as she had. Had he been too deliberate in his sabotaging, she would have reeled him back into her control without a hitch. Still, now that they had as good as revealed their truths to one another, he wondered where this left him in regards of Ozai's mission: she knew he would rebel against it. He knew she wouldn't stand for that. What came next? The unavoidable fallout he had been dreading as soon as their relationship had taken this new turn? He gritted his teeth.
Whatever happened next, though, he had to stop the bomb production somehow. He wouldn't let the Mechanist devise a way to make Azula's idea come true. She wasn't likely to forgive him for his intervention, but he couldn't stand idly by anymore. Not while he still had a say upon the matter.
"Is everything alright, Princess?" Rui Shi asked, upon finding Azula sitting before her dragon in one of the courtyards.
Her eyes were closed as she meditated, Xin Long lying upside down in front of her, his paws dangling clumsily in the air. She sighed and opened an eye, looking at the Captain with unease.
"I'm not sure whether to answer earnestly or to just leave it to your imagination…" she whispered.
"Did you have a spat with… the gladiator?" Rui Shi asked. Azula sighed.
"I'm not sure it can be called that," she whispered. "Let's only say it's a difference of opinion, shall we?"
"I'm afraid of asking in what regards…"
"Your assumptions are slightly disturbing, Captain," said Azula, glaring at Rui Shi. "Not everything that happens between him and me has to be about… that."
"Well, then, I do hope you resolve it in due time," said Rui Shi, swallowing hard. "It isn't my place to inquire about private matters of that sort. I frankly don't want to know anything about it either way."
"Then spare yourself the worries and stop overanalyzing everything," said Azula, with a dry smile. Rui Shi sighed.
"I only wanted to speak to you…" he said, frowning. "About what Teo said the other day. In regards of the Air Nomads not being found here. I know I shouldn't question facts, and it is a fact that their kind was eradicated, but…"
"But it wasn't likely to be eradicated in the way we were told it was. I've concluded the same thing," said Azula, pushing herself up to her feet. Rui Shi frowned.
"What do you believe did it, then? If it wasn't the Fire Nation…"
"I'm not entirely sure," said Azula, crossing her arms over her chest. "Sokka says maybe they headed down to the other Temples, the ones we knew the locations of. Perhaps they went there to reinforce their fellow airbenders, assuming they would be able to help keep our armies at bay, but…"
"Doesn't it make more sense for them to send their people here, though?" said Rui Shi, frowning. "We knew of the locations of the Eastern, Western and Southern Air Temples. Sending a group here to avoid a potential wipe-out would have been ideal."
"It doesn't seem the Air Nomads were that clever, from a strategical standpoint," said Azula. "I've seen no evidence of there being an Air Nomad army… all their teachings are related to pacifism. Which is fortunate, since they could have easily killed even Sozin if they had organized their forces properly."
"You were reading about them, weren't you?" said Rui Shi, raising an eyebrow. Azula nodded.
"Doing as much has made me question a lot of what we understood about the Air Nomads, or as our records hold it, the Air Nation. I'm not sure how they could be considered Nomads when they lived in very specific places, for starters…"
"That's something worth questioning," said Rui Shi.
"But then again, they did switch between the four locations quite often," said Azula. "Still, I've seen nothing to suggest that this Temple would ever be left empty for long periods of time under normal circumstances. The Northern and Southern Temples were for male airbenders, the Eastern and Western for female ones…"
"An odd way to organize themselves," said Rui Shi, frowning. Azula shrugged.
"We can't expect to fully understand another culture, especially when we eradicated it. They must have had their reasons for it. But all the same, I can't see anything that suggests they had a political structure similar to ours in any sense. So, calling them Nomads, or a Nation… both things strike me as weird."
"What if they did return to their nomadic origins, though?" asked Rui Shi. "What if… they just left this place?"
"Why would they have done that, though?" said Azula, raising an eyebrow. "This would have been the safest place for them in the last hundred years."
"I guess so," said Rui Shi, sighing. "But… doesn't it bother you that we have been lied to for all our lives? If this really isn't what it looks like, it means Fire Lord Sozin…"
"I'm not entirely sure what it means, but even inside our nation there's been criticism about how much of our history books is real and how much of it is propaganda," whispered Azula, frowning. "Of course, not many dare say this out loud, but it happens all the same. Their claims might be founded in something more solid than we realized, after all."
"So, you don't believe in what Fire Lord Sozin's records say?" said Rui Shi. Azula shrugged. "Then…"
"There are far too many mysteries in this land for me to have a proper theory on everything that's happening, Captain," said Azula. "That gas down at the base of the mountain keeps coming back to the forefront of my mind because… I'd never felt anything of the sort. This volatile gas is unusual, and it gives me a very bad feeling for some reason. As if…"
"As if it were some darker secret than the Mechanist believes it to be?" said Rui Shi. Azula nodded.
"I've asked him to make use of it, but there's no telling if he will manage or not. Perhaps if he inserted a pipeline from above it somehow, but that might be a lot of work…" said Azula, sighing. "Still, he had better do something about it. It's a hazard to live right above a gas reserve. He needs to understand that."
"But they have nowhere else to go," said Rui Shi. "This is confusing too, though… why would the Air Nomads build this sanctuary, hidden and isolated as it was, right above some volatile gas reserve? They knew gases better than anyone, going by what their art was… so why would they establish their home in such a dangerous place?"
"Beats me," said Azula, frowning. "But you're right regardless. The Mechanist had better make all the use he can out of this gas before it wrecks this mountain. There's no telling what the damage would be if that reserve blows up somehow."
"What are you hoping he'll use the gas for?" asked Rui Shi, raising an eyebrow. "For the bombs…?"
"It was my best idea," said Azula, shrugging. "I told him about it already, but he claimed he needed to think of how to harness the gas safely. A pipeline really might do the trick, but regardless of if he uses this for bombs or not, he should start using it for anything."
"You ought to warn him, then. Whatever happened in this place…" said Rui Shi, frowning and gazing around him. "I have the feeling it was nothing good. Whether the Fire Nation was responsible for it or not, something doesn't feel right. It feels like… an empty carcass. Filled by something that doesn't belong in it."
Azula frowned at Rui Shi's words. A carcass… the words struck a chord inside her mind, with a disturbing thought that she wasn't entirely sure where it had come from. Gas enclosed underneath the mountain, airbenders that vanished for no understandable cause…
And an empty carcass…
Sokka swallowed hard, knowing he'd tread on dangerous grounds if he really did this. He had no choice, he told himself. He didn't want to hurt or anger Azula, but people's lives were on the line. Yes, she was right to say he had no sense of self-preservation. He had left it back in the South Pole, after all.
With a deep breath, he pushed open the door to the Mechanist's office, treading inside with heavy footing.
"Hey, I…"
"Ah!"
Sokka frowned upon noticing the Mechanist was by the window. The sound of rustling feathers surprised and confused Sokka, for he couldn't see anything that could have caused that noise…
"What's the matter?" he asked, looking at the Mechanist warily. "Is everything o-…?"
Sokka's eyes were drawn to the window again when he noticed a bird flapping its way up through the air. A brown bird, with a small cylindrical container attached to its back…
His eyes widened.
"What is…?" Sokka asked, stomping towards the window as the bird disappeared from sight, flying fast towards the horizon. "Hey, what was that bird doing here? That's a Fire Nation messenger hawk! What was…?"
The Mechanist looked more nervous than Sokka had ever seen him, and that was saying a lot. His eyes shifted around himself, his hands shivering as he struggled to find the words to explain himself, or perhaps to find somewhere to hide. There was nothing to do, though: his secret was as good as revealed now.
"Why are you receiving a bird, what's going on? Is it the Fire Lord? Did he send some…?" Sokka started, but he caught sight of a set of blueprints on the desk. Blueprints he couldn't remember having seen ever before. And he had no doubt he had seen the vast majority of the Mechanist's blueprints already…
"P-please, I… I had no choice…" said the Mechanist, avoiding Sokka's gaze. Sokka frowned as he studied the blueprints with more attention, focusing on the one that seemed to hold the full design of whatever the Mechanist had created now.
The design looked awfully familiar, but distant as well. Yet his doubts were cleared when he noticed the air container and what should serve as a basket for an air-balloon… only, it wasn't a basket anymore. It was a cabin, and a rather large one at that. The engine seemed incredibly complex in comparison to that which Sokka and the Mechanist had designed earlier, including chimneys and a large tail. But that which caught Sokka's sight was the massive figure drawn on the very center of the airship: the Fire Nation's banner.
He raised his eyes accusingly, looking at the Mechanist in disbelief.
"What… what the hell is this?" he asked.
"Y-you don't understand, Sokka…" said the Mechanist, as Sokka's heavy frown grew more accentuated.
"Well, then, help me understand," he snapped, his hands balled into tight fists. "What the hell is this design? What on earth have you sent them with that bird?!"
"Please, Sokka, I… I've never had a choice. Never…"
Sokka snarled, glaring at the Mechanist fiercely. He wasn't leaving this office without a solid answer, and the Mechanist seemed to know so; the fear in his eyes was as good as palpable. Sokka breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down, but his rage was far more fearsome once he had made it colder. The Mechanist flinched away from Sokka's icy eyes as the gladiator voiced another question the trembling man didn't want to answer:
"What have you done?"