Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

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

186. Chapter 186: Whaletail Island 6

Sokka chose a tavern that was hosted in an old, wooden building, one of the port's facilities that hadn't been refurbished in recent years. The lighting inside the place was poor, with weak candles spread too thin, so the room's atmosphere was quite dark. The walls were scarcely decorated with occasional ornaments, and the wooden planks on the floor creaked with every step they took. There were five tables within the establishment, only one of them occupied, and a long bar with stools was erected by the wall opposite to the building's entrance. A bartender stood there, astonished to receive so many visitors so suddenly.

"Okay… you guys can just pick a table, I guess?" Sokka said, smiling as he squeezed Katara's shoulder "I'll go order drinks and… food, actually. You look like you haven't eaten anything decent in, uh…"

"A very long time" Kino said, with a small voice. Sokka chuckled.

"Fine, then. It's all on me, or, uh… not exactly me" he said, with a guilty grin before making his way to the bar.

Katara's unease had yet to recede, and with Sokka making comments like he had just now, she doubted she'd feel any better about his situation anytime soon. If she'd had it in her to be more rational yet, she would have demanded harshly for explanations about why he would ever agree to work with his captor already… but she was still too overwhelmed about being with Sokka again to ask the important questions right away. So she did as he asked, and took her seat at a table at the center of the tavern, where she was joined by Aang and Kino.

"S-so… I take it you're mad at me?" Kino asked her, with a sad grimace. Katara shot him a glare.

"You were in league with Zuko, as far as I understand" she said "You knew they were here, didn't you?"

"U-uh, yeah, but… I didn't know if I agreed completely with Zuko, just as I didn't know if I wanted to risk you trying to kill the Princess, so…"

"Why does everyone assume that I would've tried to kill her?" Katara said, rolling her eyes.

"Because you've said you'll make her pay for everything wrong the Fire Nation ever did ever since I first met you?" Kino said, with a guilty grin.

"Well…! I didn't do it anyhow! S-so, see? You're the one who was out of place" Katara huffed, sinking in her chair as Aang smiled, sitting across her.

"It really is him, though" he said, chuckling softly "It's almost like… I don't know, like meeting some sort of hero out of legends. You guys talked so much about him… it's amazing to actually see him in person"

"Says the Avatar…?" Kino said, raising his eyebrows. Aang pouted.

"W-well…!"

"Guys…" Katara said, frowning suddenly and leaning over the table "I get this may sound weird, but… maybe you shouldn't say that here. Maybe… maybe Sokka doesn't have to know who Aang is"

"Oh?" said Kino, blinking blankly "You want us to hide that Aang's the…?"

"Look, it's not about him, it's… it's about her" Katara huffed, shooting a glare at the Princess: she had only just walked through the tavern's entrance, with Zuko in tow. That they were smiling only irritated Katara more "I have no idea how deep inside his head she is just yet. The less Sokka knows about Aang, the better"

"So, that means… oh! We actually gave him a fake name!" Kino said, looking at Aang quickly. The Avatar nodded.

"Kuzon. That's how I introduced myself to Sokka" Aang said, nodding. Katara sighed.

"Well, that's a good idea, then. You're… Kuzon"

"My fellow former soldier from the settlement…?" Kino added. Both Katara and Aang approved quickly of that false storyline, glad to have settled on it before Sokka returned to them.

As it was, though, Sokka was quite busy, running a finger down the menu, a list of meals and drinks that the bartender had etched into the wooden bar. Azula eyed her gladiator with uncertainty, as the bartender took note diligently of Sokka's order…

"And I want these fried noodles, also these boiled noodles, the meat broth, also the vegetable broth, and after that a plate of rice balls, with that side dish of boiled picken eggs and…!"

"Are you planning on buying up their entire food stock in a single try?" Azula asked skeptically, stopping right next to Sokka. Sokka raised his eyes to meet hers and grinned proudly.

"Oh, come on, you have more than enough to afford this! Look at the prices!" he said, beaming and pointing at the counter. That he would be right, and that the apparent cost for each dish was so small, only gave Azula a bad feeling.

"Something this cheap can't be good" she blurted out, with no regard for hurting the bartender's feelings.

"Now, now, I assure you, we have the best Whaletail Island can offer!" the man said, pouting. Azula scowled.

"Says he has lychee wine, even" Sokka said, smirking. Azula raised an eyebrow, skeptically.

"I'll believe it when I taste it, I suppose" she sighed, climbing on a stool. Sokka frowned upon noticing she had taken her seat just there.

"What… what are you doing, Azula?" he asked, an awkward grin on his face "There's plenty of room at the table…"

"Sokka… don't push it" Azula said, with a deep sigh. The Blue Wolf's easy smile turned around then, and now he regarded his sponsor with sad disbelief "You need to talk to your sister about a lot of stuff, so go do that while I… sit here, drinking the fake lychee wine"

"It's not fake!" the bartender huffed. Azula waved a hand, disregarding his protests.

"You're… not going to go around getting drunk while I'm not watching, now, are you?" Sokka asked, raising his eyebrows "C'mon, things are hardly dire enough to warrant that…"

"I might agree, if you'd chosen a nicer establishment" Azula said, with a weak smile. She elbowed him gently in the ribs now, though "Get back there. We both know you've been through more stuff than you can recount properly in a single day, best not waste your time with me"

"But I hadn't even ordered dessert yet…" Sokka pouted, glancing back at the menu and the bartender. The man blinked a few times and shrugged, his displeasure at Azula's cutting words fading quickly.

"Well, considering you've ordered every item on the menu so far, how about I give you one of everything indeed?" he asked, beaming. Sokka grinned broadly and nodded.

"That ought to do! Thanks!" he said, and the man smiled as he walked to the kitchen, through a door that stood right behind him. Sokka was still grinning once he turned to Azula again, finding Zuko was taking his seat beside her "Well, then, to each their sibling, I take it?"

"Seems so" Azula said, shrugging "Don't worry, I don't think Zuko will exasperate me nearly as much as he used to"

"I sure hope so" Sokka smiled, glancing at the exiled prince.

"You really ought to go back to Katara" Zuko advised him, pointing at the waterbender with his thumb "The last thing I need is for her to be pissed because you spent more time trying to make fun of me with my sister than talking to her"

"You know, it's really sad" Sokka chuckled "Didn't we always say Zuko and Katara would get along because they were the boring, serious, straight-laced siblings while we were…?"

"The fun, clever ones, yes" Azula finished, with a dramatic sigh. Zuko scoffed at their words, and Sokka chuckled.

"Seems you weren't all that clever if you really thought we could get along" Zuko growled "She outright froze me alive the first time we came across each other"

"Heh. That's definitely a story I need to hear" Sokka said, amused.

"And I'm sure you'd rather hear her version, so…" said Zuko, before jerking his head at Katara's table again. Sokka chuckled and patted Azula's shoulder.

"Shout if you need me" Sokka said, and Azula nodded as he returned to his sister.

The Princess couldn't help but glance over her shoulder after a moment, watching as Sokka took his seat next to Katara. He seemed to be explaining now that the Fire Nation royals would stay at the bar, and Katara would likely only rejoice upon hearing that…

"You don't have to worry that much anymore, I think" Zuko said. Azula tensed up, having disregarded his presence entirely just now. It wouldn't do to watch Sokka wistfully when her brother was right next to her "If she didn't attack you on sight, I'd suppose she's not going to do it anymore. I thought she'd prioritize her grudge against you over being happy to reunite with Sokka again… but I guess I was wrong"

"Fortunately for all of us. Especially me" Azula said, with a dry grin. Zuko snorted.

"In all fairness, I doubt she would be all that dangerous for you. I mean, you've always been stronger than me, so… you'd likely evaporate her attacks before they can so much as reach you, right?"

"I would hope so" Azula smiled, though she lowered her gaze, pretending to be focused on the menu.

As much as she would have been willing to defend herself, some part of her, a very loud part in fact, believed she should just take anything Katara threw at her, without complaint. It might be foolish of her to feel that way… but the magnitude of her crime against the Water Tribe had grown more apparent to her with every day she spent with Sokka. And the more she grew to love her gladiator, the more she understood why his tribe would never forgive her from taking such a wonderful man away from them…

"At any rate… this does seem like a step-down for you" Zuko sighed "Sokka couldn't have picked a lousier-looking place, huh?"

"He likes tormenting me this way" Azula snorted "It's not even the worst place he's dragged me to…"

"What could be worse than this?" Zuko asked, looking at Azula worriedly. Azula smiled and shrugged.

"At one point last year, we… we traveled on foot through the Earth Kingdom, and we wound up in this really nasty tavern, full of drunkards. It didn't look much better than this, even if maybe it was better lit… but it smelled worse. And the company was a lot less civilized"

"It's hard to imagine you putting up with that kind of thing" Zuko said. Azula shrugged.

"It's hard to imagine you living in the South Pole, but I'm assuming that's where you've been all this time?"

"Uh… yeah. And I did say I'd tell you the story, so…" Zuko sighed. Azula smirked as the bartender returned, a tray of drinks in his hands.

He set down a small bottle of sake before Zuko, but he handed Azula a lychee wine bottle instead. Azula's insides jumped, knowing Sokka had ordered this especially for her. Whether it was a good or bad batch, it still stirred her heart to think he would have gone out of his way to make sure the bartender knew exactly what to bring her.

"So…" Azula said, nodding at the bartender in acknowledgement before he walked around the bar, carrying the rest of the bottles to the newly taken table. She glanced at Zuko, raising the still corked bottle in his direction "Do enlighten me, Zuzu: how does someone accidentally wind up in the South Pole?"

Zuko sighed in submission, knowing his sister would hold this over his head for the rest of their lives. If just for that, it was a relief to know they weren't all that likely to run into each other often in the future…

The bartender carried the bottles to the table now, where Sokka was still chuckling as he smiled at his sister in joyful disbelief. Katara was happy too, there was no denying it… but there was a reluctance to her, unease, surely born from the uncertainty of not understanding what was happening between her brother and the woman who had stolen him from his tribe.

"Here you go!" said the bartender, beaming as he set down the drinks "I'll bring the food shortly"

"So, you really ordered food…?" Kino said, eyes gleaming. Sokka nodded.

"Of course I did, you guys could use a good meal. Or twenty" he said, biting his lip "Azula told me Zuko had brought you all here to find jobs and buy food?"

"How did you…?" Katara said, before huffing and shaking her head. Aang swallowed hard.

"We went to watch Sokka's fight, like I mentioned… Zuko vanished after it ended, though. I guess he was talking to her?" Aang said, glancing at Sokka questioningly. Sokka nodded promptly.

"No one had heard a single peep from Zuko for ages" he said "Azula seemed to think it was all because he didn't want to be found, which I guess he mustn't have anyhow… but of all things, it never crossed anyone's mind that he would be living in the South Pole… though granted, three Fire Nation guys and one Water Tribe girl isn't a reasonable proportion, is it? Did you leave the Tribe, Katara, or…?"

"No, I didn't" Katara said, biting her lip "Kino and A… Kuzon, they were soldiers from the settlement who decided to join the Tribe rather than leave. That's all"

"Wait…" Sokka said, his eyes gleaming expectantly now "Wait, wait, wait… you two were from the settlement? So, it really was emptied? Did you guys get the order to…?"

"Oh, crap. You did have something to do with that, didn't you?" Kino said, blinking blankly "Zuko didn't know anything about why we got recalled, but he said maybe you'd done something…?"

"Well, he couldn't have known, really" Sokka shrugged "It was far from public information anyhow, and Zuko and I weren't exactly friends, so I didn't feel the need to tell him…"

"What did you do?" Katara asked, staring at him in amazement "Sokka, how did you…? How did you get them to leave?"

"I guess… it'll be a difficult thing to explain" Sokka said, biting his lip and eyeing his sister with uncertainty "It boils down to, well… I kind of cornered the Fire Lord into owing me a couple of favors, and with one of them I… wait! Woah, just a second now, I just remembered! There's another waterbender down south, right?! A guy!"

Aang's eyes widened, and Kino, who had been taking his first drink, snorted it out all over the table again. Sokka's insistent gaze was upon Katara, though, who had frozen cold.

"H-how did you…? You heard about that?" Katara said. Sokka nodded promptly.

"The Fire Lord wanted to attack the Tribe because apparently that waterbender was so very strong and… hell, when Azula told me about Ozai's plans I just went after him and made him withdraw his troops from the south altogether. I didn't get it, though: there had been no other waterbenders before I left, so if it was a new one, he couldn't possibly have been that much stronger than you, right, Katara?"

"… Wait just a moment, what does that mean, 'made him withdraw his troops'?" Katara said, eyeing Sokka with genuine fear "Sokka, i-it's one thing, I guess, if you kind of… get along with the woman who stole you from home? Though, I guess it doesn't sound like that's understandable when I put it that way, but still! You don't… y-you don't get along with the Fire Lord, do you? Zuko said he liked you better than him, but I mean, he did set Zuko on fire, so I just assumed he hated him and was, at best, neutral towards you? Please tell me I'm not wrong…"

"Well, you're not entirely wrong, no" Sokka said, his face darkening "But if you want to know why I didn't outright try to kill him on sight as soon as he showed up in front of me, well…"

"Well?" Katara said, raising her eyebrows. Sokka sighed and shrugged, pouring himself his first drink.

"I thought about it, I really did. I had my sword, my weapons, I could've just gone right there… element of surprise, you know?" he said, shrugging "Though he was surrounded by guards, so maybe I wouldn't have succeeded anyhow. And I wasn't all that trained yet, so… anyways, the point is, I did want to do it. I did intend to do it, for a moment. And then I thought… if I killed him, Azula would have turned into Fire Lord right after him, and she would've likely had me killed for what I'd done, and then taken out her wrath for her father's death on the South Pole. So…"

"So she's a loyalist to her father, whom you do despise because he deserves it, but somehow she's fine?" Katara said, looking at Sokka in disbelief. Sokka grimaced and shook his head.

"Okay, you know what? We need to slow down here. If I tell you everything out of, uh, chronological order and context, you'll be very confused and you'll keep on thinking Azula is the worst, and…"

"I'm not sure telling it all chronologically will change my mind" Katara said, dryly. Sokka sighed.

"I know. I know" he admitted. Katara raised an eyebrow, skeptical "Look, I know it's all going to be hard to swallow, and I sure as heck don't expect you and Azula to become best buddies just because I ask you to, but… if you gave these guys a chance, you can give one to Azula too, can't you?"

"I don't really know how their crimes compare to hers" Katara huffed "In case you forgot…"

"Oh, she took me from home, I'm aware" Sokka sighed "Remember how my original plan was to make the officials in that meeting our hostages?"

"I know, but…"

"It's not like I was all that innocent myself, Katara" he said "Had I defeated her… well, I wouldn't be any different in her father's eyes, I guess, than she is in yours right now. Though, well, I would be different: I'd probably be a charred corpse right now…"

"Come on…" Katara said, rolling her eyes "There's no point of comparison! They're the ones who were invading our lands, the ones who had no right to be there and we had to throw them out!"

"And now they are out" Sokka said, with a simple smile. Katara froze "Maybe it wasn't the ideal way to go about it, but… if it's true that the settlement was evacuated, I succeeded. Took longer than it should have, yeah, but… they're gone, except for these guys. And apparently you do like these guys, so…"

"It shouldn't have taken what it did" Katara huffed "You shouldn't have had to sacrifice yourself to make sure we could be safe from them…"

"And yet the alternative was just more and more warfare until either side got the advantage and obliterated the other" Sokka said "Going by how the war has developed, the side most likely to get that advantage was the Fire Nation… so, how is it not a better compromise?"

"We lost you, Sokka" Katara said, eyes wide "We… do you have any idea how much it hurt to think you could be dead? If it weren't because these guys found out about the Princess having some Southern Water Tribe gladiator, and then when Zuko showed up he confirmed it was you, we would have still believed you were dead!"

"I know, Katara. I know" Sokka breathed deeply, rubbing his forehead "And I wish it hadn't come to that, too. But as I am, I can't imagine any other way I could've gotten rid of the settlement without a larger cost. I can't imagine any outcome through which I could've helped people the way I have without becoming a gladiator"

"That's ridiculous" Katara huffed. Sokka snorted.

"You think so already?" he whispered "And I've barely even gotten started, Katara…"

"Well…" she said, gritting her teeth and shaking her head "It's just wrong, Sokka, that you seem to even be grateful that you were… that you were taken, and tormented and tortured and who knows what…!"

"It wasn't all fun and games, there's no denying that" Sokka said "But the worst… the worst I put up with wasn't Azula's doing, even if I'm sure you'll hold her responsible for it anyhow"

"Maybe… maybe we should hear him out" Aang said, glancing at Katara with unease. She glared at him, though not too fiercely "I know it may not be what you wanted to hear, but… it could be we shouldn't make any judgments without hearing the whole story, right?"

"The same thing happened when we found Zuko and Suki" Kino said, closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest "You jumped to all the worst conclusions, even thinking the Fire Lord would've traded Zuko for Sokka…! And yet everything turned out for the better because you didn't do something so silly, right?"

"I wouldn't know. Considering Zuko was a jerk who didn't want me to meet my brother…" Katara huffed. Aang sighed before speaking pleadingly.

"Please, Katara?" he said.

"You don't have to agree with me, or see the world the way I do now" Sokka said, smiling weakly "I wouldn't expect you to change your mind about a lot of things in a single night, after all. But… life's a bit more complicated outside the South Pole than what it looks like when you're down there"

Katara gritted her teeth, but this time she said nothing. Sokka waited for any indication on her part to either stop or continue, though, keeping the table in suspense until suddenly the bartender reappeared, bringing a tray with bowls of soup this time.

Even though she held Sokka's situation as a larger priority than just about anything else in Whaletail Island, Katara's mouth watered at the scent of the meal. The man smiled proudly as he set down bowls before each of them – Aang was ecstatic as he reached for the vegetable broth, his heart soaring happily at the thought of eating a proper meal to his liking after living in the Water Tribe for so long.

"Well… dig in, you guys" Sokka said, smiling sympathetically once all the food was on the table.

He didn't need to say the word twice: the three began eating hastily, gobbling down as much of the first course as they could. It wasn't the greatest soup ever, Sokka thought, for Song's cooking was superior to this… but it was bound to feel like a feast for Katara and her friends.

"And I suppose, while you guys eat… I ought to start talking?" Sokka asked, with an awkward grin. Katara swallowed a mouthful of noodles before nodding.

"And start from the beginning. From when she took you away, and turned you into a slave" Katara huffed. Sokka nodded.

"That is, indeed, the beginning, so… here goes nothing" he said, sighing as he let his mind rewind, all the way back to his first fateful encounter with Azula…

Zuko seemed to have forgotten all the table manners he had ever learned, as far as Azula could tell, when he dug into his own bowl of soup. She had scarcely touched her own, not particularly desperate for a meal when her stomach was strained as it was, but she suspected she could push the bowl over to her brother and he would devour it without leaving a single drop anyways.

He had told her about his failed trip to Kyoshi Island already, though, and the food had arrived just when Azula was about to react to the story. So far she hadn't laughed… though she wasn't very far from it, as it was.

"So… you thought the best way to travel to Kyoshi Island was by using a small emergency boat that couldn't break the currents and got swept down all the way to the South Pole" Azula repeated, breathing deeply "Why didn't you just go on your actual ship, Zuko? You could've spared yourself… well, all of this"

She gestured at him as he slurped a noodle, and he raised his gaze with uncertainty. He swallowed, shaking his head and slowing down on his ravenous eating, half his bowl already empty.

"I didn't want to be a burden or a bother to my men anymore" he said "They had their own lives, families, enough stuff to do… I thought it'd be for the best if Suki and I took off by ourselves once we were close enough to Kyoshi Island to do that. But, well…"

"You weren't successful. And from what you implied about her being sick, I take it she was already pregnant?" Azula asked. Zuko nodded, blushing "Gee, Zuko. You sure didn't waste time…"

"I-I didn't exactly… w-well, it's not like we knew any way to prevent it!" Zuko pouted. Azula laughed softly.

"Well, I suppose if you hadn't left in such a hurry you could've asked Mai for help. She grows some plants in her garden, uses them for tea. They're pretty effective… according to Ty Lee, anyhow"

"Huh. That didn't even cross my mind" Zuko sighed, and Azula was relieved he seemed not to have noticed she knew more about contraceptive tea than what was reasonable for his allegedly pure sister "Honestly, I was too caught up in the adventurous side of things to ponder the consequences of, uh, being too reckless with Suki. So, in a sense, I had it coming"

"I suppose. It's still awful that you would be stuck in the South Pole with Suki in that condition, though" Azula said, grimacing "Because I doubt they were all that friendly when they found you… or am I wrong?"

"Not in the least" Zuko said, eyes widening before he sighed and dug into his dish again.

Azula bit her lip: if they had been ruthless with Zuko, who had done nothing to the Southern Water Tribe directly, there was no doubt they'd be far worse to her if she ever traveled there…

"… And so, seeing as the alternative was staying in the Amateur League, killing people for the satisfaction of Hui Yi's sickest bastards, I accepted Azula's offer" Sokka was saying by then, with a shrug.

"To be honest… I would've done the same thing" Aang chimed in. Katara had been scowling, but she looked at Aang in indignant disbelief now "What? I…! I wouldn't want to kill people, Katara… nobody should"

"Couldn't you just…? Find a way to put a stop to that damn Amateur nonsense, or whatever?" Katara huffed. Sokka sighed.

"Maybe I could've tried to riot. And then… I'd be dead" Sokka shrugged. Katara froze "An Amateur Arena rioted recently… and the Fire Lord's answer was to execute them, so I don't think I would've had it any better if I'd tried to do the same thing"

"B-but…"

"It's not an easy life, being a slave in the Fire Nation" Sokka explained "When you're in the lowest levels, you seldom eat, you don't know anything about where you are or what's happening in the outside world. Everyone is your enemy, even those who should be your friends. The chances of survival if you become a fugitive… they're really not good"

Katara sighed in defeat, shooting a quick glare at her brother from the corner of her eyes.

"Fine, then. You did all you could do, I guess" she grumbled "But it sounds really fishy, though. That she'd just find you again, after two years… for what?"

"Oh, I didn't get to that yet. Maybe you'll even feel slightly sympathetic towards her once you hear why she needed my help" Sokka smirked "Turns out she was trying to get out of an arranged marriage, of all things…"

"Arranged marriage?" Kino and Aang exclaimed, eyes wide. Sokka grimaced, glancing over his shoulder quickly to make sure Azula hadn't heard that… though she had. She scowled at him, and he only waved at her innocently before turning to his table again.

"She was… set to marry someone awful?" Katara asked, wishing she didn't feel sympathetic at all. That did seem like a dreadful deal, though… "Wait, and how does that have anything to do with you becoming her gladiator?"

"The only way she convinced her father to let her prove the guy wasn't worthy of her was by challenging him to a gladiator fight" Sokka said "If we won, she'd be free from the engagement, if we lost she'd go through with it… and as you can guess, if we'd lost we wouldn't be here now, eh?"

"So, you won your first fight ever in the Superior League? That's really awesome!" Kino exclaimed, beaming. Sokka chuckled.

"Well, I didn't do it without proper training first. Azula took me to the best swordsman in the Fire Nation, Master Piandao. He decided I was worth teaching, saw some sort of untapped potential in me…"

"And that's how you became a swordsman" Katara sighed "Kino and Zuko did say something about you having a sword, but…"

"Heck, I wish I could show it to you, but I left it in the Barge" Sokka chuckled "It's a black sword, made from meteorite ore!"

"Meteorite ore?" Katara repeated, eyes wide. Sokka nodded promptly.

"A meteorite fell on the island Piandao lived in, Shu Jing, a few years back, and together we hauled the meteorite to his mansion and…!"

"Woah, mansion?" Aang said "He lived in a…?"

"I didn't know he would live in a mansion either" Kino said, interrupting Aang abruptly "I always heard such great things about Piandao, though! I wish I could've learned from him, but… I never had the chance"

"Well, no one does these days, as far as I know" Sokka said, sighing "Back then, Azula would leave me for a month with him, then she'd come fetch me for fights, but when she took me to him after my third fight, he was gone"

"Gone?" Aang repeated.

"Vanished without a trace. And then it turns out he was a White Lotus agent of some sort so maybe it's all the better" Sokka sighed, shaking his head "He was a great master, though. I learned a lot from him, and he was the first Fire Nation person I met who actually seemed to be against the Fire Lord"

"He was?" Katara said, suddenly growing more intrigued by the sword master. Sokka nodded.

"Word was he might have been involved in an assassination attempt on Azula and Zuko's uncle, Iroh, back when he was fighting in the war" Sokka said. Katara's interest only seemed to increase with every word Sokka said "It was never proven, but it's possible he had something to do with that… so yeah, see? Not every Fire Nation person is a blind, mindless follower of Ozai's doctrines"

"Huh, well… and your favorite Princess isn't?" Katara asked, spitefully. Sokka sighed.

"Not anymore, she's not. Can't lie, she was at the start, back when we started working together we clashed a lot because of that" Sokka said "But even then, she had her own qualms with how things were handled in her nation"

"Such as…?" Katara asked, before raising her soup bowl to her lips.

Sokka breathed out in relief upon hearing Katara wanted to know more, even if it seemed she was profoundly skeptical still. It was a step-up from earlier, at least… and he could only hope that, once he reached the more complex points of the story, his sister would be more open to the possibility that Azula could grow, change and even become the better alternative to her father's violent regime.

The bartender reappeared with new courses, gyozas and rice balls, the picken eggs Sokka had asked for and a few other dishes. Zuko was devouring Azula's soup bowl by then, so the man only stared at Azula with a raised eyebrow briefly, uncertain of what to offer her from his tray. The Princess eyed the food nonchalantly, though she took one of the rice balls carefully.

"I stand corrected: the lychee wine was, indeed, lychee wine" Azula admitted. The bartender smiled proudly "How on earth do you sell all this at such cheap prices, though? This is adequate cuisine, better than much I've been forced to eat in the Former Earth Kingdom…"

"Oh, if I charged what my products are worth, I wouldn't make a penny" said the bartender, shaking his head "People here aren't very liberal about spending their money… well, other than your group, that is"

"Makes some sense" Azula said, biting her lip as Zuko finished the second soup bowl.

"Hell, that's good" he sighed happily, reaching for the new dishes and taking a couple of gyozas before the bartender carried the rest to the table "I feel like I haven't eaten real food in ages"

"You certainly look like it" Azula said "And? What happened after they dragged you into the tribe, tied up and whatnot?"

"W-well, it took me a while, I guess… but within a short time I put things together, you know?" he said "When the Chief identified me as the Fire Lord's son, and they started talking about trading me for Sokka… I kind of figured out they were his family"

Her heart skipped a beat, foolish as that might be. Zuko knew Sokka's father, of course… Zuko could, presumably, tell her more about what the man was like. Perhaps he could clarify, right then and there, if Sokka's fears of being a disappointment for him were off-base or not.

"I see" Azula whispered, biting her lip as Zuko devoured the gyoza quickly "I suppose you told them he was alive and well?"

"They knew he was alive, it seems. Kino had heard rumors about your Blue Wolf, so he went to the Southern Coliseum to figure out if it was Sokka… he didn't learn anything conclusive, though. They confirmed everything through me" Zuko said "And yeah, they really didn't believe Father wanted nothing to do with me at first, so they honestly thought they could get away with trading me for Sokka… completely ridiculous, huh?"

"Quite" Azula said, with a weak smile "You wouldn't have made half as good a gladiator as…"

"Hey! I could be a good fighter!" Zuko growled. Azula laughed.

"If I wanted a firebending gladiator, I would've looked for one all along" she said "In any case, it's not like you wanted me to trade him for you, or did you?"

"Well… maybe at first I would have wanted you to. Things got better after a while, but only…" he said, though he paused halfway through his train of thought.

The reason they had accepted him… it was because he hadn't tried to take Aang back to the Fire Nation after all. Because he had given up on his accursed quest, after so many years of chasing after the Avatar to no avail.

If there was something he couldn't share with Azula, it was Aang's true identity.

"O-only after they listened to Suki and gave her the benefit of the doubt" he said, biting his lip. It wasn't a lie, after all "They didn't trust me, but as she was pregnant and not Fire Nation, they… they gave her more credit than me. They held us as prisoners, to some degree, I guess… and the worst part of it is that they wouldn't let me and Suki be together because we weren't married"

"They what?" Azula said, smiling in disbelief "Goodness, that's backwards…"

"Well, if Sokka never told you how traditionalist his Tribe is, now you know" Zuko huffed "I had to build an igloo from scratch, all of it: I piled up the ice blocks, used bamboo wood for the flooring, hunted down plenty of creatures and used their pelts to keep the place warm…"

"Wow" Azula said, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"I told you they made me work for things" Zuko sighed, albeit his smile had some pride to it "Though Hakoda did help out a bit, gave me advice… I didn't really expect him to, though. Uh, Hakoda is the Chief, I mean. Sokka's dad"

"Oh. I'd never heard his name before" Azula said, with a weak grin "Whenever he mentioned him it was just 'Dad', so…"

"But you did know he was the Chief, didn't you?" Zuko asked, raising his eyebrow "You're not even slightly surprised to hear that…"

"He mentioned it, yeah" Azula said, with an unintentional melancholic smile "Not right away, but he claimed it meant the two of us were of the same standing. That he was the South's prince…"

She spoke the words mockingly, though with an underlying hint of affection that didn't escape Zuko this time. She collected herself shortly though, glancing at Zuko with a slight frown.

"I take it, though, that there's no real monarchy there, right?" she asked. Zuko shook his head.

"Seems like they choose the Chief out of merits, or so I understood" he said. Azula snorted.

"I'll shut down all his princely theories as soon as I have a chance, then" she said. Zuko chuckled "So, uh… I take it they all want Sokka back? Quite desperately?"

"Something like that, yeah" Zuko said, nodding. Azula closed her eyes upon hearing confirmation of those words.

"Even his father?"

"His father probably wants him back the most" Zuko said, bluntly. Azula gritted her teeth "He doesn't show it, though. He's… he's actually a pretty great guy, you know? Once we moved past all those initial reservations we had towards each other, he… he became a sort of role model for me, on some level. He's wise in different ways than Uncle Iroh is, and he always has great advice at hand. When Mari was born, I… I was losing my mind, and he helped me cope with it all by telling me stories about his wife's pregnancies too, and Sokka and Katara's early years…"

"Oh?" Azula said, hoping not to seem too eager to hear about Sokka's stories in particular. Zuko smiled.

"Seems like he was a piece of work even as a kid. He hasn't changed all that much" Zuko said, glancing at the gladiator, who was in the middle of some pretty wild explanation, going by his arm gestures and sound effects.

"… So he attacked! He bore his fangs at us, and boom! Fire everywhere! But Azula just stood there, and she shielded us from the attack like it was a piece of cake! Honestly, I… I thought we were goners, but she held her own against dragon's fire like it was nothing!"

"Unbelievable…!" Kino said, eyes so wide it looked like they might fall out of their sockets.

"And so, when the dragon realized he was facing a powerful firebender, he backed down… and Azula stepped forward" Sokka said, his voice lower now "She spoke to him, offering him a chance to bond with her, and then she raised a flame towards him…!"

"Oh, yeah! That's the dragon-firebender bonding rite!" Aang said, beaming at Katara, who seemed dumbfounded by the wild tale Sokka was telling now. Her expression made apparent that she wasn't all that certain she believed it.

"Next thing I knew, the dragon opened his jaws… and the entire cave became nothing but darkness" Sokka finished, his voice eerie. Kino yelped, hands going to his mouth in shock. Katara scoffed.

"Oh, come on! If it had eaten her she wouldn't be sitting right there!" Katara said, gesturing at Azula off-handedly.

Sokka laughed at Katara's matter-of-factly comment, though it hardly seemed to reassure Kino to hear that.

"B-but what happened?! Sokka…!" he whimpered.

"What happened was that the dragon had eaten the offering and BAM! He had bonded with Azula, she tamed the dragon, and the two of us rode it out of the cave together!"

"Wait… you didn't" said Aang, with an awkward smile "A rider's first flight should be…"

"I know, I know, but it didn't occur to Azula that she could've had the dragon carry me on his talons rather than helping me climb on the back with her, right, Azula?"

With that, he turned to glance at her. And oh, how she wished she hadn't blushed, but she smiled dryly regardless and shrugged.

"I can't say I was too preoccupied with upholding traditions when faced with the possibility of rotting inside that cave forever" she said. Katara looked at her uneasily.

"So, wait…" she said, addressing Azula directly now. All the men in the group seemed to hold their breath for it "You're seriously saying my brother didn't just make up all this nonsense to impress us? You two got lost in a forest, ate komodo rhino for a week and…"

Azula shuddered at the mention of the komodo rhino, a displeased grimace on her face. Katara raised her eyebrows at the visible reaction.

"I wish… I wish some of it weren't. Especially the komodo rhino part. I really do" said the Princess, breathing deeply and turning around to face the bartender, who was fully loaded with new dishes.

Katara stared at Azula in disbelief before turning to Sokka again. His satisfied smile spoke for itself.

"I don't buy it" Katara said, bluntly. Sokka laughed and shook his head.

"Hell, if you already can't believe this, I have the feeling you'll be protesting plenty through the rest of the story…" he said, as Katara scowled at him.

"A wingless dragon, inside some forsaken cave, that you two just happened to find because you got lost in some ridiculous chase after some criminals? I'm sorry, but that's one too many coincidences for me to believe…!"

"And yet we are all here now, apparently as the result of plenty of coincidences too" Sokka said, smiling proudly. Katara froze "Still think it's impossible?"

"I think… it's implausible, I guess. Not impossible outright, but… ugh, continue with whatever happened next" Katara groaned, as Kino clapped happily at the apparent defeat of Katara's skepticism. Sokka smirked and bowed his head towards them.

"Alright, now I guess comes the part about… oh, yeah! I taught Azula how to swordfight!"

"You did WHAT?!"

There had likely been few evenings as lively and loud in the tavern as that one. As time went on, Azula asked the bartender to bring less meal courses, as, regardless of how starved most their group was, their ravenous eating was slowing down. Even then, Sokka seemed to eat anything the others didn't, only interrupting his long tales to take a bite out of whatever new dish was on the table at the moment.

The White Lotus' attack, their chaotic second visit to Ba Sing Se with Iroh and Toph, the Slate, and then the Northern Air Temple… Azula only paid attention to Sokka's retelling on occasion, merely curious regarding what point of the story he was explaining now. She guessed he was skipping over several events, especially those that concerned their relationship, for she never heard him mention Ember Island, nor did he explain why Azula could bend gold fire. The others asked questions often, though where the pair who had pestered Sokka at the Southern Coliseum seemed amazed and fascinated by the stories, Katara often sounded far more skeptical, even if still curious enough to want Sokka to keep going.

Meanwhile, Zuko had been talking quite a bit about his own experiences: how hard it was to raise a child in the South Pole, how long it had taken for most the Tribe to warm up to him, and how the latest blizzards had landed them in the tight spot they were in.

"So, well… after Yuro and Siku's baby didn't make it, I panicked" Zuko was admitting now "Living in the South Pole had never been that difficult, really. The thought that I might lose my family… it was something I couldn't handle"

"You did the right thing" Azula sighed, shaking her head "There's not much else I can think to do for the Southern Water Tribe other than give you money right now, but… I don't know. Maybe we can reach some sort of arrangement in the future…"

"What, send convoys with food down to the pole?" Zuko asked, with a skeptical smile "Father would never allow it, would he?"

"Well, I might be able to go around him, I don't know" Azula huffed. Zuko frowned, glancing at her with unease.

"I don't exactly find it bad that you're somewhat harsher on him these days, from the looks of it…" he said "But that you sound so annoyed with Father seems, well… out of place for you. Did he… do something? Force you to get engaged again, or…?"

"Fortunately, he hasn't done that" Azula answered, toying with the half-empty bottle of lychee wine "But he hasn't been much better than that either, truthfully. Especially not as of late"

"I would've thought you'd be used to it" Zuko mused "You've seen his schemes up close all your life… why is any of what he's done lately worse? It's not that I could know, I haven't heard anything about the Fire Nation in a while, but…"

"He's been irresponsible" Azula said, bluntly. Zuko frowned "He's made decisions that have thrown the city into chaos, decisions that could have cost him more than he could afford if I hadn't stepped in when I did. I've been working with, well, I mentioned it earlier, the Social Rehabilitation Center… it started because a group of homeless people showed up in the Capital, ran to him in the middle of the festival's parade, and his best idea for how to deal with them was to execute them. Hadn't I done something, he would've just gone forward with that, no thoughts given…"

"You offered to take care of them?" Zuko asked, surprised "Really?"

"Something like that" Azula said, shrugging and pouring some more wine on her cup "I had a theory, and it turns out I wasn't wrong: they were manipulated by a White Lotus agent into making Father react exactly as he did. Had he gone forward with the executions, turmoil would have arisen easily because… they were trueborn Fire Nation people, traceable even if not easily. Killing a group of people for begging him for help, when his own factories, refineries and ambitions were what made them homeless in the first place, would have been… well, I suppose it would have been just fine by him, but I wasn't going to sit by and let him do it"

"Wow…" said Zuko, eyes wide "Though… a White Lotus agent? You said earlier that there were more of them than the ones who attacked the Capital that one time… is that what you meant?"

"Not quite" Azula said, her stomach sinking upon letting her mind slip into the dark places she often drew it back from "At one point, well… we were in Yu Dao, and Jeong Jeong, the Deserter, attacked Pohuai Stronghold. I brought my guards and Sokka to help fight his men, since Colonel Shinu asked for reinforcements, but eventually we reasoned that perhaps he was… a-after me. Once we reached that conclusion, Sokka and the Captain of my guards traveled with me, incognito, through the Earth Kingdom. That's when we went to that tavern I mentioned, remember?"

"Yeah, the one that was worse than this, right?" Zuko smiled. Azula nodded, breathing deeply.

"Indeed. And…"

"And?" Zuko said, when his sister fell silent briefly. She breathed in, shaking her head promptly and pouring herself more wine.

"And we… found this bounty hunter" Azula said "I… figured out a plan to help her track down Jeong Jeong, and she followed his men into what she described as an army camp. She was captured, her shirshu was taken forcibly from her, and…"

"Shirshu?" Zuko repeated, frowning "Hey, I know her"

"You… what?" Azula said, grimacing in distaste. Oh, she certainly didn't want to hear that her brother had any sort of history with June too…

"What's with the face?" Zuko said, raising an eyebrow "She just… ugh, cost me a lot of money, actually. Her shirshu tore up the deck of my ship once, there was a stowaway hiding inside and she was looking for him. She didn't bother making up for the damage, and Uncle Iroh… well, he just thought she was pretty and didn't care one bit about the ship"

"Color me surprised" Azula said, with an awkward smile.

"But… they took her shirshu?" Zuko asked. Azula nodded.

"Apparently, the scent of blood drives them mad" she said "Sokka, Rui Shi and I were on our way back to Yu Dao, as we traveled in disguise, when they ambushed us with the creature. I… I wasn't their target, though"

"What?" Zuko said. Azula gritted her teeth, clutching the bottle hard again.

"They separated Sokka from us, the shirshu paralyzed me and Rui Shi, so I… I couldn't move properly, not for a long while, and by the time I managed to go after them…"

Azula breathed deeply, steeling herself: it had been a long time since she'd had to tell that story. Zuko stopped asking questions, though, for his sister's silences were speaking louder than any words could right now…

"They wanted to use the shirshu to… to kill Sokka" she finally said. Zuko's eyes widened "They cut his cheek, he bled, the creature went mad… they all left, expecting him to die at the clutches of the shirshu rather than doing it themselves. Though, I guess… I guess that was for the better. Sokka managed to knock out the shirshu, but… not before it got him"

"But he's…" Zuko said, glancing back at the table, confused by how Azula seemed to speak of Sokka as if he had died that day. But he sat there still, rambling on about some speech Azula had given, to a surprised but still slightly skeptical Katara: the two other men at the table had fallen asleep by then, lulled into unconsciousness by the alcohol, surely.

"He didn't die. He… he nearly did, though" Azula said, lowering her gaze "I… cauterized the wounds"

"Oh… that had to hurt" Zuko said, looking at her sympathetically.

"And yet the alternative was worse" she whispered, shaking her head "Had I been any later, he…"

Again, she shut down, bringing a hand to her forehead. Zuko's chest tightened upon seeing his sister like this: he couldn't remember her displaying emotions so openly ever before. Perhaps it was the drink's doing… or perhaps it was something else entirely. Something he had thought was impossible… but he had been a fool in regards of his sister enough times before. He might have underestimated the depth of her bond with Sokka.

"But you saved him, then" said Zuko, swallowing hard "He's alive and… still being his ridiculous, annoying, reckless self, right?"

"I suppose" Azula muttered, reaching for her cup to finish it quickly. Zuko frowned as he watched her with uncertainty.

"You okay?" he asked. Azula shrugged.

"These days? I… I never really know if I am or not" she admitted, without quite meaning to. The drinks seemed to be affecting her by now if she was being so honest with her brother "Most the time it feels like I'm just going to… to make a mistake, anything, and that'll be the end of it"

"Of 'it'?" Zuko repeated "You mean, of being Crown Princess? Or…?"

"Everything" she whispered, sighing and crossing her arms over the bar, letting her head rest atop her forearms "The higher I rise, the easier I'll fall. Doesn't matter how hard I hold on if… if something goes wrong, I'll still fall anyhow. And everything I've worked for, everything I've fought for, everyone I've… protected, all of it will just… go to waste"

Zuko frowned, uneasy over Azula's words. He had never expected to see her vulnerabilities up close, let alone had he expected he'd see them tonight, but all things considered, Azula had been acting slightly strangely all along. Most of all, whenever it had to do with Sokka, or Katara, or Ozai. That she would be troubled by their father's mistakes felt natural to Zuko, who had no love for the Fire Lord whatsoever… but that she seemed so uneasy about Katara, so concerned about Sokka…

"Okay, well… you shouldn't think about that right now" Zuko said, swallowing hard "It's been a good day, right? I mean, barring me getting frozen alive, and Sokka's fight, and… uh, never mind, it was actually a messed-up day, wasn't it?"

Azula snorted and laughed softly at his realization. Zuko smiled too, relieved by his sister's reaction.

"Whatever, what I'm trying to say is you should probably get rest. Looks like the drink got you all groggy, so…" said Zuko, reaching for the bottle of lychee wine. It wasn't empty yet, but his sister certainly had downed it quickly… while scarcely having anything to eat, too. He grimaced, hoping she wouldn't throw up anytime soon "Good night, I guess"

Azula hummed softly as a response, her amusement already gone as she dozed off where she sat. Alcohol certainly had a way of tiring her out quicker, so, despite the discomfort in that position, she allowed herself to fall into an uneasy slumber.

Zuko sighed, thinking it might be a good idea to follow fit with Azula's example… yet he glanced at Sokka and Katara quickly, to find the other two siblings were still alert and talking, even if more quietly than before.

"… So, well, I suppose I'm all caught up now" Sokka said, biting his lip "Her new slavery laws are definitely going to help a lot of people, and it's the first seriously big thing she's been able to do to make a change in the world. She's nervous as hell about it, even if she won't admit it… but I know she can do it. She always pulls off unbelievable things, like she did in the ceremony, so…"

"You never did explain how she did that" Katara said, raising her eyebrows. Sokka blinked blankly "The golden fire? And then multi-color fire? Or is it you don't really know how she pulled that off?"

"Uh, well… is it really that big a deal?" Sokka asked, with an awkward grin. Katara shrugged.

"I guess it is, just like whatever you guys went through while in the forest, since you panned over the whole week you spent there without going into details…" Katara said, eyeing Sokka questioningly. He grimaced, wondering why his sister had to be so sharp with matters that she probably wanted to know nothing about "The biggest holes in your stories, really, are the ones that I'm pretty sure ought to explain why you're so attached to her now. I mean, I don't think you made up any of this, as implausible as I've said it sounds, but… you've somehow hoped to convince me that you went from not wanting anything to do with her to trusting her with your life?"

"Well, it wasn't all that simple" Sokka sighed, shaking his head "Look, I did hate her for a long time. Two years, back in the Amateur League. But by now, those two years feel… like they happened a lifetime ago. I… I can't even bring myself to imagine hating her again"

"Because nowadays you love her" Katara blurted out, bluntly. Sokka grimaced, and she breathed in deeply, shaking her head "Maybe this is the point where I ought to bend myself into an iceberg for a hundred years…"

"Into a what, now? Why would you want to do that…?" Sokka pouted, blushing a little. Katara fixed him with a skeptical glare.

"You know, you could at least try to deny it. Pretend that you don't care about her in any sense you shouldn't" she growled "But you won't even bother?"

"What for? Everyone sees right through me that easily" Sokka huffed "Katara, if you must know, back in the day I… I told myself pretty much everything you must be thinking right now. That it was insane, that I was a fool for caring about someone who subjected me, even if unintentionally, to the Amateur League, and so on and so forth…"

"Then how can you not see this for what it is?" Katara asked, looking at him in disbelief "Sokka, I love you, but you're a mess. As pretty as she might be…!"

"She's stunning, mind you, but that's not the reason I feel the way I do" Sokka declared, proudly. Katara's eyes widened "If it were just a matter of looks, I probably wouldn't have hated her at all, she's been beautiful since the first time I saw her. But Katara… I hated her, for a long time, and when I no longer hated her, I hated myself for not hating her. And then I hated myself some more because I…"

"Okay, okay, you've punished yourself a lot about it. I get that" Katara said, sighing loudly "And I understand feelings aren't all that easily forsaken. But… this woman is sending you to fight in deadly battles all the time, you're being targeted by dangerous organizations like those White Lotus people because of your association and loyalty to her, and who knows what other kinds of deadly trouble you've faced, all because of her. Do you seriously think it's worth it? You have some sort of impossible crush on her, when most of what you've lived by her side has put you at risk, constantly, for ages. My brother was the most goal-oriented, stubborn pragmatist I'd ever met: how are you so swayed by your feelings this time around?"

"Because…" Sokka said, breathing deeply and lowering his gaze "Because there's something about her that I'm drawn to, that I've been drawn to from the very beginning. I don't even know what to call it, Katara, but… I've never met anyone like her. She's inspired me to challenge myself to the utmost, to improve my skills, to hone them until I can be the greatest warrior possible. She listens to me, even when she maybe shouldn't… but she listens enough to even quote my advice to other people in pretty serious conversations"

"Your advice?" Katara asked, raising her eyebrows "Was it about what was the best kind of Fire Nation snack, maybe…?"

"Haha, very funny" Sokka said, pouting "I told her she shouldn't think of the Fire Nation as lands, as territory, but as its people. She has been saying that to others for ages, and heck, she even based a lot of her speech in the Festivals on it. I get it, she did something you won't ever forgive her for, but… is it that hard to believe she could learn from her mistakes, grow and change?"

"Sometimes it is. Especially with Fire Nation royals" Katara growled, glancing at Zuko, who was now sitting straight with his eyes closed, his arms folded over his chest as he tried to rest on the stool "I don't trust her, Sokka. How do you know she's not just playing you because she figured out exactly how you felt about her?"

"Oh, I've heard that one before…" Sokka smiled, shaking his head "If she takes advantage of my feelings by doing the right thing, such as establishing new laws to help slaves, or by telling me about what happens in her war meetings, which enabled me to cajole Ozai into withdrawing his troops from the South, or…"

"Ugh, okay, I get it" Katara sighed, rolling her eyes "You don't mind if you get played and burned if that's the cost for setting the world right, that's what you're trying to say"

"Pretty much" said Sokka, smiling weakly "There's no need to be so upset about it, though. Katara…"

"Are you ever going to come home?" Katara blurted out, surprising Sokka "Because… honestly? M-maybe you're right. Maybe she's not that terrible, maybe she grew up, maybe she changed, maybe she's the nicest person in the world!"

"I didn't say she was the nicest person in…"

"But that doesn't change that you… you belong with your people" Katara said, pleadingly "You're part of our tribe, Sokka. We… we love you. We do, fully, and you wouldn't have to doubt that we do. We've wanted you to come home for ages. You won't have to fight against anyone dangerous there, you'll be safe…! And you'll be with your family. With me, with Dad, with Gran-Gran…"

"Do they really want me back?" Sokka asked, his voice small. Katara's jaw dropped.

"Are you seriously asking me that?" she said "W-why would you think otherwise?! Sokka…!"

"I fucked up, Katara" he said, his eyes darkening now. His sister was taken aback by his sudden, serious tone "I… I shouldn't have planned that mission the way I did. I don't exactly regret having come as far as I have since then, but it doesn't change that I shouldn't have done it, and… and Dad told me so"

"Okay, sure, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't want you back home" Katara frowned "You went on that mission to free us from the invaders, and granted, it was not the way you originally planned, but you still succeeded, didn't you? If that's what you're afraid of…"

"It's not just that" said Sokka, shutting his eyes "Look, I just… I don't think I'm the best man I can be yet. I used to think I was going to be a great leader, but truthfully… I still have a long way to go, so much to learn, in just about every regard. And honestly, I…"

"You think you'll learn it better with her?" Katara asked, unable to mask the disappointment in her tone. Sokka breathed deeply.

"I think I'll have a better chance at shaping the world differently by her side, yes" Sokka concluded. Katara huffed, shaking her head "We always dreamt of it, didn't we? Leaving home, becoming heroes, ending the war… they were the dreams of children, of course. But I've helped keep the Northern Water Tribe safe by sabotaging Ozai, same as how I emptied the settlement. It's not much, I know it, but… had I been back in the Southern Water Tribe, I would have never helped anyone, not in any capacity that mattered. When I'm with Azula… it feels like nothing is impossible. Like it's… where I'm supposed to be"

Katara had listened to him, barely bothering to disguise her indignation despite she held her silence without interrupting him, but upon hearing the last of Sokka's words, her eyes were quickly overflown by tears. Tears of frustration, of confusion… of grief.

"Where you're supposed to be…?" she repeated, her voice high-pitched "S-so what, you're really never coming back? Are you honestly saying…?"

"No, wait, no!" Sokka said, grimacing at the sight of his sister's tears "I didn't say that!"

"But it's what will happen anyways, isn't it?" Katara said, looking at him begrudgingly "I… I don't need you to save the world. I don't need you to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. All I need… is my brother. Sokka, you have no idea how much… how much we missed you, how much it hurt to not know if you were alive, to fear you were being tormented or tortured once I knew you were working for her…! I have spent years grieving you, even if I didn't know for sure that you were dead, and to hear you say… s-say that you belong with her? S-Sokka, please…"

He sighed, reaching out to wrap his sister in a new embrace. She kept shaking her head even as she clutched at his clothes, damn near clawing at him, unwilling to let him go again.

"I can't… I can't just go back home, n-not knowing if you will even survive long enough in the Fire Nation for us to… t-to see each other again" she cried "I can't… I'm sorry, Sokka, but I can't…"

"Okay, okay… I get it" Sokka said, swallowing hard, his sister's tears nearly moving him to cry as well "I know it'd be unreasonable to think that we'd just… not see each other ever again. I would never want that anyhow. But… I do have to go back with her, alright? I know Azula can achieve great things, but I am her partner in… in every way that matters. I can't leave her to face changing the Fire Nation on her own, Katara…"

"Then what…? What the hell are we going to do if you're just going to…?" Katara sobbed, her face pressed to his shoulder. Sokka bit his lip.

"How about… we give ourselves a bit of a deadline?" he said, rubbing her back gently "A year from now… we'll meet here, in Whaletail Island again. A year until things have moved along far enough for Azula to have made plenty of progress with the Enforcers…"

"Wait, can you do that…?" Katara asked, frowning "You… you can just tell the Princess to bring you here in a year, and she'll… she'll do it?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she would" Sokka said, smiling and stroking his sister's hair gently "Other than that… heh, if I do defeat Combustion Man, as I should at some point, to fulfill the last term of Iroh's challenge…"

"Combustion Man? Isn't that the most dangerous gladiator…?" Katara said, inching away from him and scowling. Sokka bit his lip.

"Okay, fine, if I don't think I can win then I just won't fight him within the year" Sokka said "But say that I did, and I won… it'd mean I've fulfilled my side of my original bargain with Azula, and I'd let her take me home by then"

"Let her take you…?" Katara asked. Sokka breathed deeply.

"She's offered to do it, but I… I was afraid" he said, gritting his teeth "That, well… because of how attached I am to her, because of my old mistakes too… I thought no one would want me back"

"You're a bigger idiot now than when I last saw you" Katara said, shaking her head. Sokka smiled sadly "Everyone wants you back, you dork. Who wouldn't? You're… you're you! Everyone back home loves you!"

"Well… I guess you'd say that" Sokka sighed "But I still don't know. I've run into enough northerners who have treated me like I'm scum for working with Azula…"

"Well, that's them. We won't do that" Katara declared, clasping his hand in hers "You're an idiot, and even if you like the Princess, you still have a place amongst us. You can come home. Dad… he misses you more than anyone. If you thought he was all self-righteous and wanted nothing to do with you because he'd told you your mission would fail and you ignored him… well, maybe you've spent too long with Fire Nation people, because that's not what our dad is like"

"I know. I mean… I guess I do" Sokka said, with a shy smile "So… you're sure that he wants me back?"

"Of course he does" Katara said, pleadingly "You can come home, Sokka. No one will reject you if you do"

He breathed deeply and nodded, a strange sense of relief nestling inside him. And yet he raised his head and looked at her earnestly.

"Not even if I still choose to go back with her for now?" he said. Katara sighed in defeat.

"Nothing I say will change your mind, will it?" she asked. Sokka smiled sadly "I could swear, no one's more stubborn than you…"

"I ought to be flattered by that" he said.

"So, then, if you… if you defeat that Combustion Man, you'll come home? For good, or… just for a visit?" Katara asked, skeptical by now, even if tears still gleamed in the corners of her eyes.

Sokka breathed deeply, guessing his sister would lose her patience with him right then and there. But to his surprise, his silence was only met with surrender.

"Should've known" she said, simply.

"I can come back, several times even" he said, looking at her desperately "I might be able to make trips on my own, I have that hot-air balloon and… Katara, I…"

"You can't abandon your partner. Or so it seems" Katara sighed, shaking her head "I thought… I thought you'd still think family is what's most important. I guess I was wrong…"

"She's become a different kind of family by now" Sokka said, truthfully. Katara frowned warily "I don't expect you to like this, and… and if you hate me for it, if you never forgive me, I won't ever hold it against you. You don't know her half as well as I do, and I know it sounds like I'm choosing… well, the enemy over the Tribe, a decision that makes no sense. But… I can't bring myself to choose anything else, Katara. The truth is, I… I love her. I really do. And I need to be beside her, to support her, just in case… just in case she might need me"

"And do you need her?" Katara asked, raising her eyebrows "Do you honestly, truly need to stand by her side, like some lovestruck fool who won't ever get what he wants? Because, truly, Sokka… it's the Princess of the Fire Nation. She may be using you to avoid marriage for now, but maybe someday someone will come along and she'll actually like him, and then you'll be living in sheer agony because oh, surprise, she could have never been yours…"

"It's been three years of living by her side, Katara" Sokka sighed, closing his eyes "If it comes to that, I'll put up with it. But I don't love her just because I think one day I'll get lucky and she'll return my feelings. I love her because I've seen her for who she is, because I know her better than anyone. Because her happiness matters more to me than my own. So… if she finds someone else, and she's happy with them? I'll learn to live with it, and I'll support her through it"

"And what about your happiness?" Katara asked "You sound like… like you're determined to love her no matter what, which seems a very noble thing, but you've been through enough, through more pain than she has, for starters. How is it she's deserving of happiness, but you're not?"

"I don't know if I am or not" Sokka sighed "But… I have been happy, Katara. Even if it's going to sound awful of me to say so, but…"

The first time he had seen the Princess, he had been impressed by her beauty. The first time she had touched him once they met anew, when they shook hands upon reaching an agreement with their initial deal, the contact between them had felt as a jolt of electricity, rushing through his body. The first time she had spoken his name with no ill intent, trusting him even if she had no way of knowing he would succeed… and the first time she saw her laugh, smiling in genuine bliss, when he set her free from her unwanted engagement.

The first time she had stood beside him in his grief, helping him find peace with Piandao's fate… and the first time she had looked at him with affection, even if subconscious on her part, barely a few days before they first kissed, in a whirlwind of emotions that were unleashed in a frenzy. The first time he had watched her sleep, in the forest… the first time he had laid beside her, in Ember Island. The first time they had danced she had laughed until she cried. And the first time she became his, their souls had seemed to merge together completely, bringing them to understand each other better than ever before.

All of it rushed through his mind, slowly, as he held his silence. His sister watched him with unease, as he relived all which he had purposefully omitted from his story. All of which Azula would never want him to tell other people about, because their relationship was intimate, and it belonged to them alone. He had reassured her that she was no monster, ever since she voiced that fear to him… and she had said it no longer mattered if anyone else thought she was one, as long as he didn't. Everything had ever boiled down to the two of them, to their ever-strengthening bond, to the unparalleled happiness he felt every day when he woke up knowing he would see her… more so, when he woke to find her in his arms, as infrequent as that was.

Katara couldn't know any of this, of course not… but the smile on his face spoke lengths of how happy he had been, even without meaning to. Happier than he knew Katara would want to hear he was.

"I'd never known this kind of happiness, if you want the truth" Sokka finally said. Katara's heart sank "It… it must feel like a nightmare for you to hear me say something like this, I know it. I don't want to hurt you, Katara… but I guess I was bound to anyhow. And that's… that's just another reason why I was afraid of going back. I feared… I feared you'd never forgive me for becoming who I am now. You, Dad…"

"Sokka…" Katara said, gritting her teeth. It seemed she was about to say something, surely driven by her emotions, but she held back. She couldn't meet his eyes any longer "Can you… can you guarantee that she'll carry on making you happy, that she won't put you in harm's way, that… t-that you'll be able to come home if you, I don't know, come back to your senses, or…?"

"Yeah, I can" Sokka said, smiling sadly "All those things, yes. She did bring me all the way here because we thought you were the Mist, and just before you showed up, she asked me if I was sure I didn't want to go to the South Pole instead of heading back to the Fire Nation right away… you know, had I taken her up on that offer, had you been five minutes later, I could've been down there and you would've still been up here, and… yeah. Life is funny that way"

"Sounds like it" Katara sighed, shaking her head "This is… it's absolutely not what I was expecting. Not what I hoped for, either. I… I thought you'd be so desperate to come home, it was the only thing that made sense to me, but… it looks like you're just so taken with her, with your wild life and adventures, you just… you can't let go of it, can you?"

"I can help so many people, Katara" Sokka said, looking at her earnestly "I already have. I know it's hard, I know you don't want me to be in danger, I know you hate the Fire Nation, but…"

"But you don't" Katara said, bluntly "Not anymore, anyhow. You've… changed"

"Change doesn't have to be a bad thing" Sokka whispered, despite he was sure Katara wouldn't agree with him.

Yet his words gave her pause. Merely a day before, Aang had said there was beauty to change: Katara had clung onto the bad things, onto how negative changes had shaped her life in the worst of ways… was that the wrong kind of mindset to have? After all the sorrow she had endured once Sokka vanished, she had relinquished all hope… she had become consumed by her grief and rage, wanting nothing but to avenge her brother, her mother, everyone who had fallen against the Fire Nation. She had wanted Aang to fight back, to take down the Fire Nation for good, and he had refused to do so, choosing to fight to protect her Tribe instead. Had he been right to fight to defend the living, rather than for justice for the dead? Had she been too caught up in her grief to understand that? Was that same grief clouding her judgment once more, right now?

If she let Sokka go… if she did, what would come next? What was she supposed to do for the rest of her life? Was she to sit in the Tribe, waiting for his occasional visits, if he truly would visit at all? Was she to let her life pass by, idly, while her brother dealt with the intricacies of Fire Nation politics as the Crown Princess's closest companion? What was her purpose, if not to bring him home? What was her fate, if not to fight the Fire Nation too, in whatever capacity she could?

"I'm sorry, Katara" Sokka said, reaching to take her hand in his. She squeezed his fingers gently.

"I'm confused, Sokka…" she said, truthfully. He swallowed hard "I… I had thought one day, you, me, Aang… we'd fight the Fire Nation. We'd defeat…"

He eyed her with confusion, which gave her pause. It took her a moment to realize she hadn't addressed Aang by his fake name, but rather, his real one. She swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry, I… I think I'm tired. I make no sense anymore…" she excused herself, with a nervous smile. Sokka raised his eyebrows, but he nodded.

"You should get some rest, then" he said, eyeing the other pair sleeping at their table: Kuzon had collapsed against his chair's backrest, head dropped on his own shoulder, while Kino lay splayed over the table, a thread of drool slipping past his lips "I'd offer to book an inn for you guys, but… looks like they're all set where they are, huh?"

"It's already really late" Katara sighed, shaking her head "Pretty sure it'll be morning soon"

"Likely" said Sokka, biting his lip "Then…?"

"I'll just lie down here… for a little bit" she said, swallowing hard and relaxing on the table, her head turned towards him as she rested it on her flexed arm "I… I missed you, Sokka"

"I missed you too, Katara" he said, smiling gently.

"But you're a dumbass" she finished. He actually laughed, an apologetic grin on his face afterwards.

"Then at least some things haven't changed, right?" he said. To his relief, his sister smiled and nodded "Sleep a bit, Katara. I'll wake you by the time the bartender comes to kick us out, I suppose"

"Fine…" Katara sighed, closing her eyes.

Sokka watched her momentarily, his chest aching slightly. Keeping his relationship with Azula a secret was second-nature to him by now, and yet some part of him wondered if Katara might feel better about everything if she knew the truth. If she understood that Azula was taking risks beyond counting just by being with her gladiator, a slave her father would never allow her to marry… would it only make things worse to clear up the truth, though? Azula surely wouldn't want him to reveal this, especially if there was a risk of Zuko finding out through Katara, too…

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't please his sister, his tribe, his family… no, he couldn't, not if he remained true to the man he had become. Abandoning Azula just to settle back into a life of simplicity in the rough winters of the South Pole was plainly unthinkable now. Some part of him would ever feel the pull and call of his homeland… but he knew where he belonged. The comfort and easy relief he might feel upon returning to the Southern Water Tribe wouldn't linger, not after everything he had experienced by Azula's side. His life had taken turn after turn… but he was certain he'd finally found his rightful place, and the right way to inhabit it. As much as it hurt to break his sister's heart, he couldn't even consider leaving Azula anymore. He hadn't for a long time.

He glanced back at the Princess, finding she was still resting over the bar in the same position as before. Zuko sat beside her, arms folded, head hung as he rested too. With a deep sigh, hoping she'd forgive him for it, Sokka pushed himself up and walked towards Azula, placing a hand on her back upon reaching her.

"Azula…" he whispered softly, reaching up to stroke her hair "Sorry to wake you, but…"

She stirred slowly, her eyelids tightening as she came to her senses. A grimace broke across her face as she shifted on her seat, her body stiff after sleeping in such an uncomfortable position, for however long she lay there.

"Sokka…?" she said, instinctively. He smiled, hand reaching up to touch her cheek.

"You okay?"

"I… think I broke my neck sleeping like that…" she grimaced, sitting up and stretching with difficulty "Wearing my armor didn't help matters much…"

"Yeah, I can't imagine it would" Sokka said, biting his lip as he caressed her back gently, despite her armor wouldn't let her feel his touch.

"Did you sleep at all, or…?" Azula said, opening her eyes to glance around herself.

It took a moment for her eyes to focus, but before long, they did: Zuko, Katara, Kino and Kuzon seemed to be asleep by now. She groaned again, rubbing her eyes with her fingers.

"What time is it?" she asked. Sokka shrugged.

"I honestly can't tell in here, but I'm guessing it's pretty late" he said "Say, do you think we can… talk, for a second? Outside?"

"Huh?" Azula said, raising her eyebrows. The words seemed so innocent, yet her entire body fired up in panic because of them "I… I guess so"

Sokka smiled and helped her up, as she hissed and groaned at her sore legs. They had been sore countless times before… but generally for better reasons than sitting on an uncomfortable bar stool.

They left together through the front door, unaware that they had been watched, and listened to, as they did: Zuko hadn't been asleep at all, sitting silently and eavesdropping on the conversation Sokka had held with Katara. By now he couldn't help but glance at the closing door in surprise…

It was true, then. That insane gladiator, ever such a thorn in Zuko's side, loved his sister. That someone would love Azula shouldn't come as that much of a surprise, for their father had ever praised her, favored her, and his most prominent subjects had done the same… but this was different. Sokka hadn't even bothered hiding his feelings for Azula from his sister, despite knowing they would never sit well with her… just as he hadn't bothered holding back when Zuko had spoken spitefully about Azula back in Ember Island. The man was honest, perhaps too honest… and that just might be what Azula needed in a partner, regardless of what kind of partner it was. Sokka wasn't merely standing up for her to advance himself, to fulfill his own ambitions: his feelings and loyalty towards Azula were completely genuine.

Movement at the table startled Zuko: Katara pushed herself up, sighing loudly and glancing back at him. Zuko grimaced, wondering if she had known he'd listened in on everything…

"Guess Suki was right, huh?" she said, bitterly. Zuko swallowed hard, lowering his gaze.

"I… I'm sorry" he whispered. Katara shook her head, burying her face in her hands.

"Of all people… he had to go and fall for her" she said "Of all people…"

Zuko sighed, not knowing how to ease Katara's worries. For, frankly, he couldn't help but think the same words upon witnessing his sister's most vulnerable side as she shared her own stories: of all people, was it possible that Azula would have fallen for her gladiator, too?

---

The breeze outside was chilly, enough to make Azula shiver. She followed Sokka regardless of the low temperature, though, and stood beside him as he took his seat on a pile on the dock, his eyes raking the dark horizon.

"Well?" Azula said, biting her lip as she took her seat on the next pile, finding it even more uncomfortable than the stools "What do we have to talk about?"

"You can probably guess" Sokka smiled awkwardly "I, uh… can't really keep myself in check. When I start gushing about you…"

"Oh, boy. Your sister figured out you're in love with me" Azula said, eyes wide "I suppose you wanted to warn me so I can go hide somewhere before she wakes up and tries to kill me? I've been bracing myself for it all this time, and that it hasn't happened yet is only scarier…"

Sokka chuckled, shaking his head. That he would laugh brought a small smile to Azula's face, despite she remained apprehensive.

"She's not going to, or at least, she shouldn't try to kill you at all, after everything we spoke about" Sokka said, smiling reassuringly "She's not all that happy about you yet, that's true, but she knows how much you've done for the world, for me, for… for so many people who have needed your help. It'll take forever for her to actually warm up to you, I guess, way longer than it took me, but… I think it's possible, somehow"

"Then… you think we'll be able to invite her to our wedding?" Azula said, raising her eyebrows. Sokka blinked blankly "You know, as we'll likely get married when we're old and rusty, maybe by then she'll have warmed up to me enough…"

"Heh. Hopefully" Sokka said, with a crooked smile. Azula snorted and shook her head.

"Hopefully, huh? That sure fills me with confidence" she said, eyeing him skeptically.

"Look… she's not all that happy, for the reasons we could expect" Sokka said. Azula's amusement vanished quickly "She eventually asked, point-blank, if I was going back home with them… and I said no"

Azula's eyes widened, and her lips parted as she gazed at Sokka. He had ever said he wouldn't leave her… and she should have, probably, given those words more credit than she had. But she had feared, even before she heard him yell back his sister's name yesterday with such fierceness, that the joy of finding his family again would overcome all the promises he had ever made to Azula. Her fists tightened over her lap, as her chest soared with irrepressible glee… accompanied by her stomach's sinking with powerful guilt.

"She mustn't have been happy to hear that" Azula whispered, gritting her teeth. Sokka shook his head.

"Not in the least, as expected" he said "She broke down a bit, cried, said things…"

"I'm probably better off not hearing those things myself" Azula said, with a weak grin "Though I'm sure I'd deserve them anyhow…"

"Well, she didn't insult you half as much as she did me" Sokka smiled "Called me an idiot several times. And a dumbass, too. And I suppose a few others that I already forgot about"

"That's just what's expected from younger sisters" Azula smiled sadly. Sokka sighed "But, then… is that what you wanted to tell me? That… you're staying with me?"

"No, I actually had a bit of a request to make" Sokka said, now angling his body towards her. Azula followed his example, turning on the pile as well, facing him directly "She was, well, mortified to think she might never see me again…"

"Understandably so" Azula conceded.

"So, I kind of came up with a compromise" he said, eyeing her eagerly "And it's to meet her again here in one year, if it's okay with you. By then your project with the Enforcers should've progressed plenty, so maybe you'll be able to take a step back briefly without much cost… right?"

"Right" said Azula, staring at him in amazement. He swallowed hard.

"So…?"

"Y-yeah. Of course we can do it" she said, promptly. Sokka's eyes lit up when she agreed to his request "It'd be fine if it were less than a year too, if that's what they wanted, but… we can do it, yes. Of course we can"

"Oh, that's good. Really good" Sokka said, smiling and dropping his head in relief, his elbows on his knees "The other thing I told her was that, well, I might go all the way back to the South Pole if I manage to beat Combustion Man before the year's up…"

"Sokka, you don't have to beat him for me to take you" Azula sighed, shaking her head "I've told you so countless times as it is"

"I know, but it won't feel right, somehow" he said, gazing at her with heartfelt eyes "I know we're not supposed to be each other's absolute priorities, to the point where everything else falls to the wayside… but we've started changing the world, Azula. You have. My family will be okay because of all the money you've given Zuko, and… and when the time comes, I'll be ready to face my dad. Before that… I can't say it'll sit well with me to rush into it"

Azula sighed, surrendering as she ever did when it came to Sokka's decisions about his family and his tribe. Sokka smiled, leaning closer to her, stretching an arm out to take one of her hands in his.

"I know you want to help however you can, and I know you don't want to keep me away from my family for longer than necessary" Sokka said "But… I told Katara you're also part of my family now, even if in a different way, but…"

"And she didn't figure us out with that?" Azula asked, eyes wide. Sokka chuckled but shook his head.

"No, she doesn't know you love me back, and I figure you'll prefer it if we keep it that way" he said.

"I guess I really do seem like that much of a cold-blooded bitch, huh?" Azula said, raising her eyebrows. Sokka snorted "I mean… most people don't seem to consider that maybe I could have feelings for you. It's always that you have them for me, even when… when I'm not all that good at hiding mine, either"

"You're not?" Sokka asked. Azula sighed.

"I think I… may have been too obvious" she said "Zuko told me a lot about his new life, but eventually asked about what we'd been through and I… ended up talking about Jeong Jeong. I shouldn't have, I know… I was quite emotional as I talked about it. And yet I doubt he thinks I could love you"

"Well, that's just because he's Zuko and he's dumber than I am, which, according to Katara, is saying something" said Sokka, raising his eyebrows. Azula couldn't suppress a laugh, which inspired him to grin as well "In other news, well… Katara seems to think Dad wants me back and misses me a lot. Which, well…"

"Zuko said something to that effect, too" Azula whispered "He thinks quite highly of your father, actually. They were pretty hard on him when he arrived, but by now it seems he admires your father a lot"

"Really, now?" said Sokka, with a shy smile. Azula grinned too and nodded, rubbing his fingers with her thumb.

"They'll welcome you gladly when you return, you know? Even if they can't throw you a huge feast, I'm sure they'll try to celebrate, somehow. You're everyone's hero back there, and you'll be even more of a hero once our siblings and their friends tell your tribe all about the amazing things you've done, and the brilliant warrior you've become…"

"Sounds scary" Sokka said. Azula laughed "Really, though! I'm still trying to wrap my head around being the unofficial best non-bender in the League, I can't imagine being everyone's hero for real…"

Azula stood up, stepping closer to him and caressing his face kindly. Sokka bit his lip and gazed up at her, slightly nervous despite himself.

"It's a little sad that you give yourself even less credit than everyone else does" Azula said, and he whined wordlessly "Yes, it's true, even if you don't want to admit it"

"I have a hard time feeling all that special, most days" Sokka pouted. Azula smiled warmly.

"And I have a hard time hearing you think you're not special, every day" she said "Do you honestly think I, Princess of the Fire Nation, would settle for someone below my station?"

"Uh…" Sokka said, uneasily. Azula rolled her eyes and leaned down, fingers slipping under his arms so she could tickle his flanks "Hey!"

He laughed as he jumped away from her, and Azula only smiled in disbelief at him. He looked at her warily, striking up a defensive stance as though to avoid further tickle attacks.

"If you must know…" she said now "I'm the one who got luckier than she had any right to, when it comes to this relationship"

"How dare you?" Sokka said, eyes wide in disbelief "You're not the lucky one, it's me! I'm the one who's aiming too high!"

"Absolutely not true" Azula laughed, stepping towards him as he broke his stance, his focus obliterated by her declaration.

"I demand you take back such absurd claim this minute, young lady!" Sokka declared, his voice cracking, and Azula laughed as she walked into his arms, wrapping her own around his waist "… Though, uh, if you'd rather hug me, I can try to forget what you said…"

"So easily bought and paid for" Azula smirked "Just a simple hug and you're as good as melting in my arms…"

"I'm a simple man, with simple needs, and simple hugs can always do the trick" he smiled, gazing down at her warmly, embracing her as well "And all I need… is to stay by your side for however long I can. Just like this"

"I guess our needs align just fine, don't they?" Azula whispered, leaning in as she raised her head, lips seeking his.

The cover of darkness wouldn't protect them for long: the sun would rise within a short time, and the port's activities would begin at dawn. Their stolen moments were ever brief, their hearts racing as they kissed deeply, allowing themselves the freedom to indulge in their shared love, if just for a moment…

"Thank you" Sokka whispered against her lips when they parted. Her chest ached with want, her emotions running away with her as she longed for nothing but to hold him in her arms for hours, days, for however long as possible "For bringing me here, for giving me all these chances, for…"

"Sokka…" she said, smiling sadly.

"For everything" he finished, with a soft laugh. Azula's fingertips traced his face gently.

"This was the least I could do" she whispered, before adding: "Because you wouldn't let me do anything else, quite literally, so it's all on you that I couldn't do any better than this…"

He laughed again, kissing her brow and holding her close. Azula's body felt small in his arms, and yet he couldn't help but feel she was the one holding him upright, keeping him strong, both in the best and worst times of his life. Her hands held onto his clothes, her heart racing as she raised her head, softly kissing his neck and collarbone.

"I love you, Sokka" she said softly, raising her head to gaze into his eyes.

He closed them moments later, joining her in another deep, heartfelt kiss. She was swept into their passion, holding onto him to steady herself, too. Oh, she had been no better than Ty Lee, fearing and dreading the love of her life would leave her… and yet he had chosen to stay by her side, come what may, as he had ever sworn he would. She feared his family might resent him for choosing her instead… but as things stood, her heart was set on making Sokka the happiest man he could be, as they continued to change the world as they had always dreamt to, together.