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Chapter Text

In another world, Fire Lord Sozin launched a full scale invasion of the world after murdering every Air Nomad in the four temples during a powerful comet. The war continued to rage on for a hundred years until Fire Lord Ozai was eventually defeated by Aang and his team Avatar, bringing peace back to the world for the first time in over a hundred years.

This is not that world.

In this world, Sozin did use a powerful comet to murder every Air Nomad he could find, but, as quickly as Sozin’s bloodlust started, it disappeared. Almost overnight, Sozin took back his forces and hid away in his palace, effectively ending his short lived war. The Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe would not let this offense stand. They attacked the Fire Nation with everything they had and removed Sozin and his son from power. Sozin’s sister, Fire Lord Zeisan, became the new leader and led the Fire Nation into an era of peace. Her descendants still rule the Fire Nation with kindness and retain positive connections to every nation.

Some believe Zeisan, softened by the loss of her brother, refused to let harm come to her nephew and let him live out his life in a Fire Nation colony. Others believe she killed him quickly while he slept to end his, and any of his descendants, claim to the throne. As the years went on, thoughts of Fire Lord Sozin disappeared, especially once Fire Lord Zeisan passed away. Now, her grandson, Fire Lord Yuto, rules over the nation and helps the nations keep balance.

—------------------------

Azula brushed her black hair back behind her ears as she collected the plates from the table. Extra hours at the royal palace were just confirming her suspicions that nobles were chicken-pigs. No, scratch that, they were worse than chicken-pigs. Azula lived right next to chicken-pigs and they were at least cute and didn’t try to pretend to be something they weren’t. Nobles either treated her like trash or acted kind then didn’t care that she had to clean up their messes.

“Azula!” The fourteen year old turned towards her brother, “How long does it take to clean a table?”

“Don’t get mad at me. Get mad at the nobles who decided to order every dish the palace makes.” Azula said, placing the final empty plate on her arm.

“Yeah, you’re gonna drop those plates.”

“No, I won't, I'm fine.”

“Azula, just let me help you. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“We won’t if you don’t distract me. Go away, Zuzu.” Azula started her walk down to the kitchen so that the other servants would clean the plates, “I thought Amaya had you on laundry duty anyways.”

“Let me go early.” Zuko followed Azula down to the kitchen, allowing them to continue their conversation.

“Kiss up.”

“I finished my work!”

“Sure you did.” Azula smirked, kicking open the door to the kitchen.

“Azula!” One of the older women yelled, “What took so long?”

“Nobles came over.” The woman nodded. It was a pretty common understanding among the servants in the palace that nobles ate a lot and got almost every dish dirty.

“You brought everything down yourself? Impressive.”

Azula flashed a smirk at her brother before bowing, “Thank you.”

“You and Zuko can start with the beds.” She said, “The boy who’s supposed to be cleaning them called out sick. You just have to get the sheets off, leave them out for someone to come by and pick them up, and put the spare ones on. Don’t touch anything else in the rooms!”

“Understood. Got it.” The siblings turned away from the kitchen and began to walk back up the stairs.

Taking the sheets off and putting fresh ones on wasn’t difficult, especially with two people. If Azula had to guess she’d say they get all the beds done in an hour, maybe a little over. The first room they started with was the prince’s bedroom.

“Hey.” Zuko lifted his head, “You ever think what it would be like to live here?”

“Azula.” Zuko’s tone was low, “Don’t talk like that.” No one, aside from the Royal Family, knew that they were Azulon’s grandchildren but if they heard that the two were daydreaming about being royalty, the family could take it to be a sign that the siblings would try to kill them.

“I’m not stupid. It’s just us around, dum-dum. I mean if grandfather’s hadn’t been-”

“Seriously, Azula. Mom and dad told us not to talk about it.” Zuko snapped, “Come on. Let’s go to the next room.”

“But you seriously never imagine what it’d be like to be royalty?” Azula asked.

“No. I like my life. I have a nice job, a good home, a mom and dad who love me, a sister that’s only annoying 70% of the time and I live in a good nation.”

“That’s sad, Zuzu.”

“We don’t need to be royalty, Azula. Besides, if we were, it would mean great grandfather continued on with his war. Millions, billions, would be dead. I’m happy to give up any royal title if it means billions of innocents don’t die.”

Azula rolled her eyes, “Of course I don’t want great grandfather’s plan to have succeeded. I mean, if we could be royalty without the war. You seriously have never imagined that? Never imagined what it would be like to live here?”

Zuko didn’t respond, but his face did change for a second and Azula smiled, “Ha! I knew it! You do think about it sometimes.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Zuko shrugged, “We can never be royalty here.”

“Yeah, yeah, because Sozin was a monster.”

“Don’t forget about-”

“Azula! Zuko!” The siblings rushed out of the room when they heard Amaya’s calls.

“Yes?” Zuko asked.

“The Fire Lord wants to see you in the throne room. Now.”

Azula and Zuko exchanged looks of confusion and shock, “Did he say why?” Azula asked.

“No, but you both should go. I’ll finish up the bedrooms.”

Fear filled the siblings as they made their way through the hallways. Three years of working as servants in the Royal Palace meant they knew where every room was, including the throne room. When they arrived, Zuko froze at the door.

“Just open it.” Azula whispered, “Get it over with.”

Zuko followed his sister’s instructions and the door was opened wide to a throne room. The walls were covered in tapestries and painting while the throne had two dragons back to back with one another and a large throne in between them. On the throne sat a middle aged man, he had long black hair, golden eyes, and wore the best robes Zuko and Azula had ever seen. They’d only met the Fire Lord once, when they had been hired, and even then he didn’t talk that much.

“Fire Lord Yuto, you called for us. Is everything okay?” Zuko asked.

Azula hit him in the side and Zuko wanted to hit himself. He forgot to bow. Dad was gonna kill him for this.

“Everything is perfect.” Yuto said, “Great news has come to our nation today. The Avatar has been found!”

“What?” Azula asked, “They found the Avatar?”

“Yes. In the Southern Water Tribe of all places and, from my understanding, he’s an Air Nomad. It looks like your great grandfather missed one.”

“Good.” Zuko said, “Maybe it’s a sign that the Air Nation can be repopulated again.”

“Perhaps.” Yuto said, “Now that the Avatar has been found, the heads of the nations are heading to the South Pole to talk to him and each other so that we may ensure he becomes a fully realized Avatar as quickly as possible.”

The siblings were still waiting for the part that concerned them, “I’ve called you both here because I want you two to join me.”

“Join you?!” Both of them yelled.

“Yes.” Yuto smiled, “Not only will this be a great opportunity for you both to see a true leader in action and how the world functioned before your great grandfather attempted to destroy it, but I think you’d both have fun in the South Pole.”

Yuto liked to keep an eye on Zuko and Azula. It was the entire reason he hired them as servants in the first place, so that they spent the entire day away from their parents and could be around his family. It allowed for less of a chance that they would try to rise against him, Yuto hoped.

“When do we leave?” Azula knew it was stupid to try and argue with the Fire Lord. They were going to the South Pole the easy way or the hard way.

“One week. Go home and tell your parents. You should be home in a few months, depending on how long this meeting takes.”

“Thank you, Fire Lord Yuto.” Zuko said, “We will be ready in a week.”

“Oh and before I forget.” Yuto stood from his throne and walked down to them, “If I hear from any other leader that you two are causing trouble or one of them even suspects you are Azulon’s grandchildren or I hear any news about two dragons in the South Pole and I will personally see to it that your entire family is separated to the four corners of the world.” Yuto couldn’t hear it, but Azula and Zuko’s hearts were pounding.

“We understand, Fire Lord.” Zuko said.

“Good. How are you two doing with that curse?” His words were kind but his tone was boasting. Yuto and his father liked to hold the curse over Azulon and his descendants, claiming it was the spirit’s way of truly making them into the monsters they were.

“Better.” Zuko managed to get out.

“Hmmm. Make sure that you two control yourselves in the South Pole. Unlike your dragon selves, we aren’t wild animals.” Yuto returned to his throne and waved them away.

The second the throne door closed, Azula was talking.

“The South Pole! Since when do we go on delegate missions?”

“Since they included the Avatar.” Zuko told her, “It’s a great honor.”

“He’s not around, Zuzu. You don’t have to keep up the act. This is just Yuto’s attempt to keep an eye on us and make sure we don’t try to steal the throne while he’s away.” Zuko’s glare made Azula roll her eyes, “No one is around. No one is gonna hear me.”

“You don’t know that. Azula, please, take this seriously.”

“I am. That's why I’ve already created a plan.”

“A plan?” Zuko asked, “Is it another plan that’ll ultimately get me in trouble while you don’t get in any?”

“You’re too sensitive, dum-dum. But, seriously, think about it. What is the Avatar known for?”

“Ultimate power, past lives, peace-“

“He’s a spiritual bridge. He can communicate with the spirits better than anyone. The same spirits that cursed our family. If we can get him to talk to them, maybe they’ll remove the curse.” Azula smiled, “We don’t have to be half animal anymore!”

“Or maybe the spirits will get mad and completely turn us into dragons?” Zuko suggested.

“It’s worth a shot. This is the first time we’ve had even a sliver of a chance to get rid of this curse.”

“Let’s talk to mom and dad. Then we’ll decide what to do. If Yuto realizes we’re talking to the Avatar behind his back, we’ll both be in big trouble.”

“Everything will be fine. You’ll see. The Avatar can help our family be fully human again.” Azula smiled. She pushed herself ahead of Zuko and walked happily back to the house. Zuko remained behind her, his mind starting to wonder about what it would be like to not be half dragon.

Chapter Text

Katara really hadn’t meant to uncover the Avatar. It was just a happy accident. She and Sokka had been out fishing. Even though there were plenty of people to fish in the South Pole, and the two were technically supposed to be in lessons, they liked escaping out on a canoe. It was peaceful and provided a small get away from the loud and active village.

While out, they hit a rough wave and crashed into an ice sheet. Normally, Katara would have been able to counteract a rough wave but it caught her off guard and swept them up before she could do anything about it.

“Nice going, master waterbender.” Katara glared at her brother, “Now what?”

“Relax. I’ll get us home.” Katara began to bend the water behind the ice sheet with the intent to steer them home, but when she began to waterbend the water below them glowed.

“Cool trick.” Sokka said, “Did grandma teach you that?”

“That’s not me.” Katara said slowly.

Suddenly, a giant iceberg resurfaced from the water. When it did, it sent the siblings and the ice sheet flying back. Sokka grabbed hold of the ice with one hand and used his other to hold onto Katara. Waterbender or not, falling into the South Pole ocean wasn’t something to joke around about.

“Are you okay?” Sokka asked.

“I’m okay. What’s that?” She asked.

The iceberg that resurfaced wasn’t like any the siblings had seen before. It was a giant circle. It looked like the water had been shaped into a ball then frozen over by some unnatural force.

“I don’t know, but we can’t worry about that. We have to get home.”

Katara wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. She was looking at the frozen ball of ice because she could make out a figure inside. A human and his eyes opened.

“He’s alive!” She yelled, “We have to help!” Katara grabbed her brother’s machete and began running towards the ice, using waterbending to make an ice path for herself.

“Katara! We don’t know what that is! If you really want to know, just come back here later with mom and grandma.” Sokka’s words might have been more helpful if they didn’t fall on deaf ears. Katara slammed the machete into the ice ball three times and it cracked open, releasing a powerful blast of light from it.

As quickly as it came, it disappeared, and all that was left was a boy in orange and yellow clothing. Katara collected the boy in her arms.

“See? That was probably some kind of prison we just disturbed.” Sokka said, “I’ll bet some waterbenders trapped him or something.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sure you’re right. We clearly unleashed a dangerous killer.” Katara rolled her eyes, “Sokka, he’s a kid. No waterbender would freeze a kid, even as a form of punishment.”

“He must be a really bad kid.”

The kid in Katara’s arms began to groan, slowly opening his eyes, “I need to ask you something.” He mumbled.

“What?”

“Please…come closer.”

“What is it?”

“Will you go penguin sledding with me?” The boy’s voice was suddenly cheerful and excited.

“Uh, sure…I-I guess.” Katara said.

The boy stood up and began looking around him, “Where am I? How did I get here?”

“You’re in Southern Water Tribe waters.” Katara told him, “We can’t answer the how you got here question though.”

“The Southern Water Tribe?” He asked, “Spirits, it’s gonna be a long flight home.”

“Flight?” Sokka asked.

“Where’s home?” Katara asked.

“The Southern Air Temple.” He said. Katara and Sokka shot each other a look. One that seemed to agree that the two wouldn’t say a word about the Air Nation right now. If this kid was serious about being from an air temple then he could be the last airbender on the planet.

“Oh!” The boy’s eyes suddenly widened as he climbed back into the iceberg.

Katara and Sokka followed him. Inside the iceberg, was a giant furry creature. If Sokka was guessing, he’d say it was bigger than 20 tiger seals.

“Appa!” The creature groaned.

“Appa?” Katara asked.

“Yeah! This is Appa, my flying bison.”

“A flying bison?” Sokka mumbled, “Okay. Time to go home.”

“Wait. At least let Appa and me give you a ride, it’s the least we can do.”

“Thanks!” Katara smiled, “My name’s Katara, by the way, and that’s my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name.”

“I’m Aang!”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Katara said, her face then turning sad, “I think you should come to our village first before you return to the Air Temple. There’s something our elders need to tell you.”

Aang’s smile wavered a little, “What?”

“They’ll tell you.” Katara promised.

“Well, okay. Climb on Appa. He can fly us there.”

“No. There’s no way I’m getting on that giant monster thing.”

“You’re always welcome to swim home.” Katara smirked.

Sokka, realizing he had no way home if Katara left, groaned, “Fine.”

———————————

When Sokka, Katara and Aang returned to the village, Kya was the first to greet them. By grabbing them off Appa by their sleeves then grabbing their ears. Chieftess or not, their mother could be incredibly scary when she wanted to be.

“What were you two thinking?!” Kya snapped, “You can’t just run off whenever you want! Did you even consider telling someone where you were going?!”

“Sorry, mom.” They both said.

The older woman sighed, “We’ll talk about this later. Now…who is this?” Kya asked.

Aang jumped off of Appa, who was currently being looked at by the villagers, “I’m Aang and this is Appa!”

“We found him, frozen in an iceberg, he says he’s from the Southern Air Temple.” Katara told her mom.

Kya’s eyes grew, “The Southern Air Temple?”

“Yeah. Did…Did something happen?” Aang asked.

“Come with me. My husband will want to meet you.”

“Your husband?”

“The chief of the Southern Water Tribe.” Kya said.

“Wait. If your husband is the chief then that makes you two…” Aang pointed to Katara and Sokka.

“Technically a prince and princess.” Katara confirmed, “But we don’t use those titles in the South Pole. We only use them when the other nations visit because they’re titles they understand.”

“Still, wow.” Aang said.

“Have you ever been to the South Pole?” Kya asked. In her mind, Kya could understand that this was a child in front of her but she also knew that there was something about this kid that was different. There had to be for him to have survived Sozin’s attacks.

“No. Gyatso says that I need to stay in the temples for a little longer, but I’ve been to other places. I went to a couple Earth Kingdom islands, the other temples, and the Fire Nation.”

“Wow. You’ve been all over the world. Probably easy to do with a flying bison.” Aang smiled at Kya.

“Yup. Appa’s great for travel and he loves to see the world with me.”

Aang followed Kya into a large tent. It was the largest tent in the entire village with a height of about twenty or so feet and stretching for almost 50 feet. The place was intended to be used for council meetings and important discussions about the village and world. Different furs hung up around the room, both to show off and for privacy reasons. Kya pulled back a polar bear dog skin to reveal her husband, speaking with Bato.

“Kya. Kids.” Hakoda smiled.

“Hakoda, this is Aang.” Kya introduced, “He says he’s from the Southern Air Temple. I think we need to ask a couple of questions.”

Hakoda’s face went through a number of emotions before ultimately settling on his leadership face, “Katara. Sokka. Step outside.”

“But-“

“Now.” Hakoda ordered.

“It’s okay.” Aang told them, “You can watch Appa.”

“That might not be a bad idea.” Kya confirmed.

Katara and Sokka looked once at their parents then back at Aang before turning to leave. Even for just meeting the kid a few hours ago, both siblings knew what their dad had to tell him and knew they wanted to be by this kid’s side when he got the news.

—————————

Katara remained camped outside the tent until she heard footsteps stumble outside hours later. It was nighttime when Aang finally emerged from the tent, tears running down his face.

Katara didn’t say a word, neither did Aang. No words were needed. She just wrapped him in a hug and they slunk to the ground, Aang sobbing in her arms.

—————————-

Aang lived with the village for a week before Hakoda made the announcement. In that week, he was quiet and reserved, not the same boy Katara had rescued from the iceberg. It was nothing Katara and Sokka faulted him for. He just found out his people were gone, this was a normal reaction.

“What happened to Sozin?” Aang asked one day.

“What?” Katara asked.

“Your dad said Sozin attacked my people and killed them all. What happened to Sozin?”

“No one knows. He just stopped the war after that. The Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe weren’t too happy about the complete genocide of one of the nation’s though and attacked the Fire Nation. He didn’t even try to stop us. He just let the two nations dethrone him and put his sister on the throne.”

“His sister?” Aang asked.

“She’s nothing like him.” Katara quickly said, “Actually, she lived with the Air Nation before the attacks. Apparently, her girlfriend was one of the nuns. I forget which temple they were from but she survived the attacks because the soldiers recognized her as Fire Nation. Her girlfriend did not and she swore that she wasn’t going to let Sozin get away with what he did. Now, her descendants rule the Fire Nation and there’s peace.”

“I guess that’s good.”

“It is.” Katara put a hand on his shoulder, “The three nations work together to make sure what happened to the Air Nation never happens again and you can help us. You can help keep peace.”

“I just wanna see Gyatso again.”

Katara fell silent, wrapping her arms around Aang as he began to breathe heavily to avoid sobbing again.

“I miss him.” He whispered.

“I know it’s not much but at least you still have Appa.”

“I guess that’s true.” Aang said, “And I did get to meet you.” Katara smiled at the twelve year old.

A few days later, Hakoda called everyone together for a meeting. It was rare that the entire village was called together for something. Usually, Hakoda just called for the leaders of each village to speak with him and then they relayed his message to everyone else.

“Everyone!” Hakoda called, Kya, Katara, and Sokka stood behind him, “I have a great announcement for you all today! A few days ago, my children discovered an airbender, frozen under the ocean.”

People began to whisper among themselves. An airbender alone was an impressive find but Hakoda’s next words turned their whispers into shouts and large conversations.

“Not only is he an airbender, but he is the Avatar.”

The large crowd broke out into shouts and multiple conversations started up. Katara and Sokka, who hadn’t known that little fact, turned to Aang, who nodded.

“You’re the Avatar.” Katara whispered.

“Everyone!” Hakoda yelled, “Please. I know you all have questions and you’re all excited to see the Avatar return to our world. Messages have already been sent to the leaders of the other nations to inform them of the Avatar’s return, but I would also like to take this time to remind you that this Avatar is not fully realized yet and has been through a lot.”

“While you may be inclined to treat the Avatar as a wise elder or a great warrior, I want you all to remember that you are not speaking to Avatar Yangchen or Avatar Kyoshi or Avatar Kuruk, but to Avatar Aang, a twelve year old boy.” Everyone was quiet by the end of his speech, a few gave small nods, “That is all. You may all return to your homes or wherever you like. The leader’s of the other nations should be here within a month or so.”

While everyone left to return home, Katara turned towards Aang, “Why didn’t you tell us you were the Avatar?”

“Because I never wanted to be.”

“But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return-”

“Why? It seems the nations have achieved peace.”

“We have, but it’s more than that. The Avatar is a symbol of unity. Your return to the world will be huge.”

“Well, like your dad said, I’m only a kid. I don’t think I can do that much.”

“No, but you’ll learn. No one is expecting you to be a great Avatar at twelve years old. All they care about is that you’re back.” Katara promised.

When Aang only gave a small smile, Katara decided for another approach, “Hey. I promised I’d go penguin sledding with you, didn’t I?”

Aang’s eyes lit up, “You did!” He cried, “Come on!”

“Wait up!” Katara yelled, running after him.

Chapter Text

Azula and Zuko’s little home wasn’t that far from the capital. Once they left the palace, it was about an hour’s walk to get home. They lived in a small village, just outside Caldera, surrounded by farmland and other villages similar to it. The siblings found their parents both already home by the time they arrived which wasn’t unusual. Both of them worked closer to the house so, while they all ended their work day around the same time, Azula and Zuko had to walk an hour to get home while their parents only had a five minute walk.

“Zuko! Azula!” Ursa called, “Welcome home. How was your day?”

Ozai was seated at the table already and Ursa had prepared fresh komodo chicken for dinner with some mochi that she had picked up from the market. 

“Good. We got our money today.” Zuko said, setting down a small pouch of coins. Out of the three jobs, Ozai got paid the most, but Zuko and Azula were a close second.

Ozai collected the pouch and looked inside, “They pay nicely at the palace.”

“They pay nicely to make sure we don’t tell anyone who we are.” Azula mumbled.

“Azula.” Ursa groaned.

“She has a point.” Ozai said.

“Ozai.” Ursa snapped, “We should be thankful that the kids have a job that pays them so nicely, let alone one where they get to work under someone who knows their heritage.”

“Yes, Fire Lord Yuto is so kind.” Ozai grumbled.

Ursa had to agree with her husband. She didn’t like Yuto anymore than he did, but she also knew Azula and Zuko working at the palace was a perfect job for them.

“Mom, you have to relax.” Azula said, sitting down.

“Yeah.” Zuko said, “Azula only mentions the fact that we’re the great grandchildren of a genocidal maniac when she thinks we’re alone.”

“Azula!”

“Tattle-tale.” Azula hissed.

“Brat.” Zuko snapped.

“Mama’s boy.” Azula growled.

Ozai, who could see their horns and claws slowly starting to appear, decided to put an end to the small fight before they transformed any further, “Enough!” Ozai scolded, “Sit down, both of you. You will not act like five year olds at the table.” Both kids took their seats, keeping their eyes down.

“Sorry, dad.” They both whispered.

“Last thing we need is you two getting into a screaming match in the house. Last time was enough.” Ursa nodded at her husband’s words, she was still getting questions from the neighbors about why they had woken up to the sound of roaring and breaking glass. She had come up with the lie that a young tiger-dillo got into the house, but it was a weak lie.

After a second or two of silence, Azula spoke up, “There is something you should know. Fire Lord called us in today to the throne room.”

Both of their parents suddenly became alert, “What?” Ozai asked, “Why? Did something happen?”

“Did one of you transform at the palace?” Ursa asked.

“No.” Azula rolled her eyes, it was always like her mom to assume the worst, “The Avatar is alive. They found him in the South Pole.”

“What?” Ursa and Ozai were wearing faces of pure shock.

“He’s apparently an airbender. They found him in the South Pole, frozen in an iceberg.” Azula told them. 

“The Avatar is alive.” Ozai whispered.

“And…” Azula looked between them, “the Fire Lord wants Zuko and me to go with him to the South Pole. All of the world leaders are going to talk about what should be done about this.”

“Why does he want you two to go?” Ursa asked.

“He said it would be a great opportunity for us to see a true leader in action and how the world worked before great grandfather tried to destroy it.” Zuko told them.

“I think we should go.” Azula said.

“Hold on.” Ursa took a seat, “You two have never been outside the Fire Nation and, while you have something of a handle on your dragon forms, they could go off. Do you know how bad it would be if you turned into dragons in front of all the world leaders?”

“Mom, you’re missing the point. We would be in the same room as the Avatar. The bridge between the spirit world and our world. The one who can communicate with spirits. He could talk to the spirit who cursed us and get him to remove the curse.” Azula smiled.

“We’d be free.” Ozai realized. 

“Exactly!”

“Ozai, it’s a big leap to think that the Avatar would be willing to help us, especially an Air Nomad Avatar. He has every right to laugh in our faces and ask the spirits to make the curse worse.” Ursa warned.

“That’s what I said!” Zuko cried, “If we ask the Avatar or the spirit that cursed Sozin to take the curse away, they could get mad.”

“And if we don’t ask them we miss maybe our one chance to be fully human.” Ozai argued, “Chances to meet the Avatar one on one are not common. I think your sister is right. You both should go and speak with the Avatar. See what he’s willing to do.”

“Ozai-“ Ursa didn’t speak any further when Ozai glared at her, “I think we need to talk outside.”

Ozai followed her out the door and far enough away from the house so that the kids and neighbors couldn’t hear.

“Good going.” Zuko mumbled, “Now they’re gonna fight.”

“It’s not my fault.” Azula looked away from her brother though, “Zuko, this is a one in a lifetime chance. Please, we have to take it.”

“I just don’t want to risk rocking the boat.”

“Big risk, big reward.” Azula shrugged, “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” Zuko whispered.

“Then trust that I can convince the Avatar to help us.”

Zuko sighed, running a hand through his hair, “I trust you, Lala. Don’t make things worse.”

“I won’t.” Azula promised.

——————————

Their house was pretty close to other homes in the village but there was also a good amount of space in the backyard for farming purposes. A small section of it was covered by trees and served as a nice area for Ursa and Ozai to argue if need be. It was both far enough that the kids and neighbors wouldn’t hear them and far and covered enough that if the two started to transform no one would see.

“Ursa, this is a huge opportunity-“

“A huge opportunity to send our children away?! Zuko and Azula have never stepped foot outside the Fire Nation. We don’t even know if they can handle the South Pole climate!”

“They’ll be fine! I trained them both well!” Ozai yelled, “They know how to survive in cold climates and how to handle nobles. They’ll be fine.”

“Ozai, you’re talking about sending them away for months into a nation they don’t know, with people they don’t know. You’re practically begging for them to reveal the curse.”

“That’s the point! That they reveal the curse to the Avatar and he fixes it! We can finally be normal!” 

“Is that worth putting your son and daughter in harm's way?! Is that worth the risk of them being caged like common beasts or jailed because of who their great grandfather is?! Will it be worth it when-“

“ENOUGH!” Ozai let fire escape his mouth which caused Ursa to back up. Ozai had light black scales covering most of his visible skin, two giant wings on his back, with light golden spikes on them, two giant horns that were the same color as his spikes and a long tail flicking side to side. 

Ursa, also deeply angered by the argument, had red scales all over her body and her tail was thrashing back and forth as she growled, her teeth growing sharp. Both of them were seconds away from fully transforming.

“Do not speak to me like that!” She hissed. She and Ozai never fought in their dragon forms, but it was hard to have an argument and not get angry. Then anger led to transforming, so, while Ursa and Ozai would never dream of anything coming to blows, any outsider would assume that they were readying to rip each other’s throats out.

“How dare you suggest I would put my children in harm’s way! How dare you suggest that I would be anything like him!!” Ursa’s face softened as her husband spoke. Using the breathing technique the family taught her, she returned to her human form and gave Ozai a tired look.

“I didn’t mean to equate you to Azulon.” She started, “I only meant that I want to make sure you understand the risks of this. I can’t lose our children, Ozai. I just can’t.” Ozai sighed, his human form returning.

“I understand that. I don’t want to lose them either, but we have to take this chance. You and I can’t go but the kids can. Besides, you know it would be good for them to see the world a little. They can’t stay hidden away in the Fire Nation forever.”

“You’re right.” Ursa admitted.

“So…we’re letting them go?” Ozai asked.

“We’re letting them go.” Ursa agreed, “But if anything goes wrong-“

“Nothing will go wrong.” Ozai promised, kissing Ursa’s forehead, “If it does we’ll fly down there and you can go all mama dragon.”

“Mama dragon?” Ursa asked, laughing a little.

“What? I’ve seen it before. It’s terrifying.” Azula and Zuko had a tendency to wander off as kids while their parents were trying to teach them about the curse. One time it ended with an armadillo bear cornering them and the second time it ended with trappers cornering them. Both times Ursa almost killed the attackers but was held back by Ozai, claiming that they didn’t need that kind of attention.

“Let’s head back to the house and tell the kids about our choice.”

“Alright.” 

——————————

A few days later, Ursa and Ozai were preparing the kids for their journey. They had decided to take them down to the docks to see them off. The Fire Lord and his family were already aboard the largest ship while Zuko and Azula, technically coming as members of the staff, would board a smaller, more crowded boat. Both siblings had two bags each and then a smaller bag for both of them that mostly contained some personal items, food, and a Pai sho game board. 

“Ready to get going?” Azula asked.

Zuko looked at the ship then took one final look at their parents, “You’ll be fine.” Ozai promised, “Just make sure the Fire Lord doesn’t find out what you’re doing.”

“But, if things do go wrong-“

“They won’t.”

“What do we do?” Zuko finished.

“Survive. Your mother and I will figure out that something is wrong and come help if we have to.” Ozai promised, “But it won’t come to that because you are both smart and the best benders I have trained.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“Stay safe.” Ursa whispered, hugging both of them and kissing their foreheads.

The boat let out a loud honk, signaling that it was time to board.

“Bye, mom! Bye, dad!” The two yelled as they ran to the ship.

“Bye!” Ozai yelled. 

“I hope we didn’t just make a big mistake.” Ursa whispered as the ship disappeared over the horizon. 

“Stop worrying.” Ozai whispered, “Come on. We have the whole house to ourselves and the kids won’t be home for months.” He smirked.

“What are you thinking?” Ursa asked.

“I got a few ideas.” Ozai led Ursa back to their little house but not before both parents took one final glance at where the ship had once been.

Chapter Text

Sokka was having trouble sitting still in the meeting. It wasn’t his fault though. He’s had trouble with sitting still for a long period of time since he was a kid. His mom used to joke that he only sat still for longer than an hour when he was sleeping or eating.

Hakoda had been so sure that he would grow out of it, but here he was, fifteen and still starting to get antsy when a meeting carried into two hours. However, the length of time wasn’t the only reason he was getting antsy: the leaders of the other nations were set to arrive any day now. Hakoda had gotten word from Kyoshi Island yesterday that the Fire Nation ships and Earth Kingdom ships were on their way. The Northern Water Tribe wouldn’t be here for another week, maybe more, but Hakoda didn’t doubt that they were coming. Sokka was just excited.

“Sokka.” Hakoda said, “Would you like to go assist your sister and mother with the preparations for our guests?” He asked.

“No.” Sokka was going to make it through this meeting. This was part of the job description in being a chief one day, “I can stay.”

“Alright.” Hakoda allowed, “Let’s get started then with our next issue: the southern villages are reporting some weird fishing problems. They…” Sokka was starting to wish he’d taken his father’s offer and left.

The meeting finally wrapped up two hours later and Sokka had to hold himself back from being the first to leave. It wasn’t princely to run out of a meeting the second it ended, so he waited until half an hour later when everyone had left.

“Sokka.” Hakoda started, “You did good. I’m proud that you stayed.”

“Thanks, dad. I’ll work on not being so obvious.” Sokka blushed a little, embarrassed that his dad, and probably the others, had been able to tell he had been getting antsy.

“Good.” Hakoda smiled, “Hey. You’re going to be a great chief one day, but, right now, you’re only fifteen. No one is expecting you to be perfect right out the gate.”

“Okay.”

“Why don’t you head home? Tell your mom I’ll be home soon.” Sokka nodded, leaving the tent and returning to their home.

The noise of the Southern Water Tribe quickly hit him hard when he stepped outside. All around him, people moved through the streets, sold goods, talked as they got ready to head inside, wrangled animals in the stables for the night, or yelled for their children or partners to come inside for the night.

When Sokka found the third biggest igloo, the biggest being the council center and the second biggest being where food was stored, he ran up to the door and walked inside.

“Welcome, back.” Kya said, “How was your day with your dad?”

“It was good. I’m tired.” He smiled softly and sat at the table.

“You’re tired?” Katara asked, “You didn’t organize meals for hundreds of people.” As Princess, it was Katara’s job to make sure that everything was perfect for their guests. Kya was Chieftess so she was in charge but Katara was second in charge.

“How hard can that be? You’re just getting food from the reserve.” Sokka scoffed.

“Oh, yeah? What kind of dish do you serve to a member of the Beifong family?”

“Ummm…cod?” Sokka guessed.

“Wrong. The Beifongs are from the Southern Earth Kingdom so salmon is the best fish to offer them. Can you give octopus-squid to someone from the Fire Nation?”

“Yes?”

“No. They consider it bad luck but in the Earth Kingdom it’s a delicacy and they consider it a sign on disrespect to their status is it’s not presented.”

“But…wait…if it’s out then the Fire Nation representatives will think we’re trying to give them bad luck but if it’s not out then-“

“Then the people from the Earth Kingdom will think we’re disrespecting them.” Katara finished, “That was my entire afternoon. The morning was spent getting shoved into every dress we had and having my hair pulled in every direction to create the perfect look.” Katara sighed.

“And you did great.” Kya smiled, pulling Katara into a small hug.

“Is this what you guys do every day?” Aang asked.

“No, we just have more to do because the other nations are coming.” Katara told him.

“Is there anything I should be doing?” Aang asked.

“You just have to be here and be able to prove you’re the Avatar.” Sokka said.

“Oh! Well, that might be a bit of a problem.” Aang winced.

“Why?” Sokka asked, eyes narrowing as if Aang had lied about his Avatarhood.

“I’ve never bent an element that isn’t air.” Aang admitted, “Gyatso said I was the Avatar, but I’ve never done anything to prove it except pick out toys that other Avatar’s had.”

“But you can bend an element that isn’t air, right?” Sokka asked.

Aang nodded, “I just need to learn the moves.”

“Perfect! Katara can teach you.”

“What? Oh, no. Aang needs to learn from one of our elder masters.” Katara said, “I just became a master a few weeks ago. I can’t train the Avatar.”

“Please, Katara.” Aang begged, “You won’t be training me, just showing me some basic moves so that I can prove I’m the Avatar.”

Katara sighed, “That’s true, but, what if the elders here or the North Pole hear about-“

“They’ll never know.” Sokka said, “Come on. Just show the kid some waterbending moves.”

“Alright. I’ll show you some basic moves.” Katara agreed.

“Yes!” Aang cried.

“Let’s go.” Katara said, standing up.

“Now?”

“Waterbending is strongest at night. Your waterbending skills should be at their highest right now which means it’ll be easier for you to bend and, maybe, learn the moves.”

“Okay!”

—————————-

Katara brought Aang out to the South Pole’s training grounds for their youngest waterbenders. Since it was nighttime, everyone had retired to their homes except for the masters, who took a few hours with the moon in the sky to practice some of the harder moves.

“Let’s begin with a simple move. It was one of the first moves I ever learned. It’s called streaming the water. You need to ground your legs but not too much. Earth and fire deal with unbreakable balance, but water and air require benders to be more flexible, able to move with their elements. Try to move your arms like this.” Katara moved her arms through the air in a perfect execution of the move she had learned as a child. The water easily obeyed her command and moved where she ordered it to go. When she was done, she returned the water to a nearby bucket.

“Okay.” Aang nodded, “So, like this?” He asked. He did the same move as Katara and the water did move but it wasn’t as perfected as Katara’s demonstration.

“Not bad. That’s certainly better than I could do as a beginner.” Katara had always been great with the more advanced moves, but struggled with the basic stuff which had puzzled her masters for years, “Let’s try another move. Turning water into ice. It’s a little harder, but doable for a beginner. You need to be able to hold the water then you’ll need to be able to command it into another state. I don’t think any of the other elements have something like this, so don’t feel bad if it’s hard to-“

“Like this?” Aang asked. He had a stream of water in front of him and had frozen it into an icicle.

“Exactly like that.” Katara said slowly, “How do you know so much already?”

Aang shrugged, “I’ve always been pretty quick at picking stuff up. I got my arrows before anyone else my age!”

“Do your arrows mean you’re a master?” Katara asked.

Aang nodded, “Yup. It’s a big deal when an airbender gets their tattoos. Everyone in the temple gathers together to celebrate the new master. I got mine at 12.”

“Impressive.” Katara smiled, “I’ve never met a twelve year old master before. Seems very fitting on the Avatar.”

A small blush covered Aang’s face, “Gyatso always said I was destined to do great things and help people,” The twelve year old let out a small chuckle, “which is weird because he didn’t even let me feed the baby bison, but…now he’s gone and there’s-there’s no one to help me like him.” Katara wrapped her arms around Aang.

“I know I’m not Gyatso, but I’m here. I can help and soon there will be people here who all want to help you because they believe you can do amazing things. I don’t think you’ll ever have another person like Gyatso again, from what you’ve told me he was one of a kind, but there are people here who care about you and will stick with you.”

Aang wiped the tears from his eyes, “Thanks, Katara. I’m sorry I got off track.”

“No problem. Before we start again though, you need to tell me more about baby sky bison because they sound adorable.”

“They are! They pull on each other’s ears and wrestle with their siblings all the time but the babies are big and the moms are so protective so only a few of us are allowed to feed them. The baby lemurs however are the cutest thing you will ever see. They can’t fly without a breeze under them but they keep trying so we’ll all be walking around the temple and baby lemurs just occasionally fall on us, which is very shocking when you don’t have hair.”

Katara thought about stopping him so that they could continue their training, but ultimately decided against it. Aang didn’t need to be trained, he just had to be ready to prove himself the Avatar to the world leaders and he was. For now, she could sit here and listen to him talk about his home, “They also would sleep with the bison calves when the weather got too cold and…”

Chapter Text

“They’re coming!!” Sokka screamed.

“Now?” Katara asked, looking up from a scroll she was reading.

“Yup! Fire Nation ships just pulled up into the docks.”

“Aang! Come on!” Katara called.

The young airbender ran out with Katara and Sokka, who climbed up the wall surrounding their village and all the way to the top of the watchtower. Aang’s eyes grew when he saw the fleet of ships on their way. There was one ship that was larger than the rest in the middle and about 10 smaller ships surrounding it.

“Leave it to the Fire Nation to go big.” Sokka chuckled, “They can never just bring one ship to the South Pole.”

“So the middle ship is the Fire Lord’s?” Aang asked.

“Yup. Fire Lord Yuto. He’s pretty much the same age as our dad but he doesn’t talk too much. His son will be doing most of the interacting with you.”

“They have a lot of ships for a meeting with the Avatar.”

“That’s just who the Fire Nation is.” Katara shrugged, “Like Sokka said, they never come here with just one ship. Even when they’re trading with us or coming to talk to dad, they bring, at least, three or so ships. The Earth King will do the same when his delegate comes.”

“Wait. The Earth King isn’t coming?” Aang asked.

“Nah. He never really leaves Ba Sing Se.” Sokka said.

“Then why is the Fire Lord coming?”

“You’re an Air Nomad Avatar. The Fire Nation wants to show their full support for you and they’re trying to show how far they’ve come since Sozin, so the Fire Lord has to come.” Sokka explained.

Aang nodded, that made sense, “When is the Earth Kingdom coming?” Aang asked.

“Tomorrow? Maybe the day after that?” Sokka guessed.

“SOKKA! KATARA!” Kya yelled, “Get down here!”

“Coming!”

The prince and princess climbed down, running to stand with their parents as the ships pulled in. Aang wanted to stand with Katara and Sokka but Hakoda put him a little to the side so that he didn’t seem too close to the family.

The middle ship docked first then all the other ships followed suit. Ten guards emerged from the middle ship first before a thin man with long black hair and piercing golden eyes emerged from the ship. Behind him was a younger man, who looked incredibly similar to him, and a woman, who looked similar in age to the young and older man. If Aang was guessing, he’d say that the thin man was the Fire Lord and the young man and women were his children.

“Fire Lord Yuto. Prince Anji. Princess Emi.” Hakoda smiled, “It’s an honor to welcome you to the South Pole. Thank you for making the long journey.”

“Thank you for finding the Avatar.” Anji smiled, “It will be great for the world to have a symbol of peace again.” Aang smiled at the prince.

“You must be the Avatar. Your name is Aang, correct?” Emi asked.

“That’s me!”

“It’s an honor to meet you.” Emi bowed with her father and brother.

While the royal family interacted with the South Pole chief and chieftess and Avatar, the servants were unloading items from the ship. Since Zuko and Azula would be in charge of dealing with meals and maintaining rooms, they only had to move small stuff. As they were moving the last of the boxes, Azula caught sight of Aang’s tattoos.

“Zuzu, look.” Azula whispered, gesturing to Aang, “That’s the Avatar. I think we should try talking to him before the Earth Kingdom delegates get here. The more people, the harder it’ll be to-Zuzu? Zuko.” She snapped.

Zuko shook his head, “Oh! Sorry. Yeah, talk to him soon.”

“What were you…?” Azula’s eyes followed her brother’s until she landed on Sokka, “Are you serious? We’re here five seconds and you’re drooling over the prince?”

“What? No! I’m not drooling over him."

“You’re a horrible liar and have incredibly unrealistic standards.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just being honest.” Azula shrugged, “In what world do you think a prince would want to date you? You spend your weekends cleaning up after hippo cows.” She snickered.

“At least I’ve had boyfriends and girlfriends.” Zuko snapped, “What’s your dating history look like?”

“Low blow.” She grumbled.

“You started it.”

Azula rolled her eyes at her brother, “Just don’t drool over the prince. We can’t blow this because you wanted to date someone way out of your league.”

“You’re mean today.”

Azula just smirked. The siblings finished carrying the items into the designated tent then tried to slip away to see where the Avatar was headed, but they were stopped by one of the head servants.

“Where do you two think you’re going?” She asked.

“We just wanted to stretch our legs a little.” Azula lied.

“You can stretch your legs by working. Zuko, I need you to help prepare the royal family’s tent and Azula, bring some wine out for dinner tonight.”

“Of course.” After three years in the palace, both siblings knew better than to try and debate when someone gave them orders.

Zuko disappeared into another tent with some others who had been given a similar job while Azula found herself in a kitchen-like area. She wasn’t quite used to the idea of tents and igloos being used as buildings, but she imagined she was in the right placed, considering everyone inside was preparing food or plates. There, she found the wine and grabbed it to take it to the meeting tent.

Azula exited the tent with a plan in place: she would keep up appearances tonight and, later, when everyone was asleep, she would sneak into the Avatar’s room and speak with him. It was perfect.

She turned towards the meeting tent, ready to keep up appearances, only to instantly crash into a body, destroying the wine bottle. The firebender was about to start yelling at whatever blind servant had cost her to smash the bottle of wine when she caught the sight of beautiful blue eyes staring back at her. It took Azula all of five seconds to realize who she was looking at.

“Princess Katara!” Azula cried.

Of course. Of course. The one person she just had to spill wine on had to be the Princess of the South Pole. Did the spirits hate her this much?

“I’m so sorry!” Azula quickly stood up, “Please. Forgive me for not watching where I was going. I take full responsibility.” She fell into a bow, hoping it would appease the princess. That was what she was expected to do if she upset a noble back at the palace.

“What?” Azula’s heart clenched. Was her apology not enough? She didn’t have the money to replace Katara’s clothes and she definitely didn’t need this attention, “No. This was all my fault. I’m the idiot who wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“What?” Was Katara taking responsibility for the crash? Huh? In all her three years of working with royalty and nobility none of them ever took responsibility. Everything was always her and Zuko’s fault.

“It’s okay.” Katara showed her as she waterbent the liquid out of her and Azula’s coats, “See? Like it never happened.”

“Well that’s good.” Azula smiled, “Fire Lord would have had my head if I ruined your coat.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure not to say a word.” Katara smiled, “My name’s Katara by the way…which you already knew because you called me Princess Katara. Oh! You don’t have to do that by the way. Just Katara is fine.”

“Really?”

“We don’t really use titles in the South Pole. The only time someone has ever called me Princess or master is when delegates are over or during my final trials for waterbending.”

“Oh, okay. I’m Azula.”

“Azula.” Katara tried to name out on her tongue, “That’s a really pretty name.”

Azula’s eyes grew a little and a blush covered her cheeks, “Thank you. It’s the girl version of my grandfather’s name. My dad wanted to name me after him as a way to show respect.” The second the words escaped her mouth Azula wanted to hit herself. Why did she say that? Katara could easily connect the dots about who her grandfather was now.

“That’s so sweet. I wasn’t named after anyone important, but my brother was named after our great uncle.” Katara said, “So, you’re here with the Fire Nation, right?”

“Yes, I was supposed to bring that wine to the two families.” Azula looked down at the shattered bottle in the snow.

Katara winced, “Do you have another bottle?” She asked.

“I don’t know. I hope so or the head servant is going to scream at me all night.” Azula lightly chuckled, but Katara looked sad and guilty.

“The wine breaking was my fault. You shouldn’t have to get in trouble for it.” Katara said, “Let me talk to the head servant, what’s their name?”

“Isamu. He’s the one with only one eye.” Azula said.

“Oh. Do you by any chance-“

“No.” Azula chuckled, “I don’t know how he lost it, but I’ve been wondering about it for three years now. My brother and I have had some fun coming up with ideas though. Personally, I think he lost it in some really embarrassing way which is why he won’t say.” Katara laughed at Azula’s words. It wasn’t even all that funny but Katara couldn’t help it. Azula was pretty cute.

Eventually, the two tracked down Isamu and Katara told him about the accident. Much to Azula’s surprise, she did take full responsibility for the accident. Azula had half expected Katara to just throw her under the carriage and say Azula had dropped it or something. Wouldn’t be the first time a noble person lied to get her into trouble.

This was a pleasant change of pace.

“Azula, there’s more wine in the back. Get some and bring it to the meeting.” Isamu ordered.

“I got to go.” Azula said, “It was nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you too.” Katara whispered.

The waterbender returned to the meeting hall, having left to check on the Fire Nation servants. When she returned, discussions were in full swing, but Aang wasn’t really included in them. He was more off to the side, talking to Sokka than speaking with the Fire Lord or Prince or Princess.

“How’s it going?” Katara whispered, taking her seat.

“Dad and Prince Anji are talking about trading for the summer season.” Sokka whispered back, “They haven’t really started talking about Aang yet.”

Katara nodded and was about to speak up when one of the Fire Nation servants came running through the door, “Dinner is served!” He yelled.

Everyone turned their attention to the dishes being brought to their placemats. For Hakoda, Kya, Katara, Sokka and Aang, who weren’t used to servants directly handing them food, it was a little odd but they smiled and nodded, not wanting to offend their Fire Nation guests.

“Princess Katara,” Princess Emi spoke up, “I hear you recently got your mastery in waterbending.”

“I did. I had my final test a few weeks ago. It was a two part test: the first part was a fight against my master where she didn’t hold back against attacking me.”

“Wow. That sounds similar to firebending training at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.”

“She wasn’t trying to kill me, but she was attacking me like an enemy would to see if I was ready. When I passed that part of my test, I moved onto the final part which was helping out with fishing. Not only am I expected to know how to fight, but, according to our elders, a waterbender must know how to serve their community. I could have selected either healing, fishing or training the younger kids and I selected fishing because I’ve done a good deal of it with Sokka.”

Emi nodded, “It’s a noble calling to use your bending to help your people. I’ve personally trained a few students in firebending. It’s important to help in any way you can.”

“I agree. During my final test, I was supposed to…” Katara had gotten distracted when she saw her glass being filled up and noticed Azula standing next to her. The girl’s long black hair fell in front of her face in a way that made Katara want to pull it back for her.

“Hi.” Azula whispered.

“Hi. Isamu didn’t give you any trouble, right?” Katara confirmed.

“None. Thank you, by the way.”

“Anytime.”

“Azula?” Azula’s face turned fearful when Yuto said her name, “Is something wrong?”

“No, my Lord. I apologize.” She quickly bowed then ran out of the room.

“Anyways, you were saying?” Emi asked.

“Katara.” Sokka hissed, hitting her leg because she hadn’t responded to Emi. She was too focused on looking at the door Azula had disappeared behind, “You were saying.” He said through gritted teeth.

Katara, seeing Emi’s face and realizing what she had done, blushed bright red, “Sorry! My bad.”

Emi laughed, “It’s no trouble, but, a word of advice, stay away from Azula.”

“What? Why?” Katara asked.

“Trust me. She’s trouble. She and her brother. They…they aren’t from a good family.” Emi told her.

Katara, thinking Emi was referring to Azula and Zuko being from a peasant family, glared a little, “Azula seems nice.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Emi chuckled, taking a gulp of her wine, “You’ll see what I’m talking about soon enough.”

----------------------

Sokka left the table shortly after his dad, the Fire Lord and the Prince left. His plan was to return to his room and collapse, but he could tell by the end of the night that Aang wanted him and Katara to talk to him. Still, Sokka decided he would stop by his room then head over to Aang’s.

When he arrived, he found a teenage boy, about his age, making up his bed.

“Hello?”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, Prince Sokka. I was just cleaning the room.” The boy lowered his head into a bow.

“It’s okay.” Sokka said, “You don’t have to call me Prince or make my bed for that matter. I’m not exactly a neat freak.”

“But…don’t you like having servants clean your room?” Zuko asked. As Zuko had learned, it was really the younger boys and older women who ordered them all around the most. Crush or not, he expected no less from the Prince of the South Pole.

“I mean, not really but thank you. Do you want some seal jerky? It’ll be my way of thanking you.” Sokka opened one of his drawers and pulled out a box of seal jerky.

“You keep food in your drawers?”

“Shhh. Don’t let my parents know.” Sokka winked, “They still think a falcon-fox made off with our last supply of jerky.”

Zuko, hesitantly, took a piece of the jerky and bit into it. It was chewy. Chewier than any other meat he had ever had, but not bad. It would probably be a lot easier to eat with dragon teeth as opposed to human ones, but Zuko worked with what he had.

“What’s your name?” Sokka asked, “I’m guessing you’re here with the Fire Nation.”

“Zuko and, yes, I am.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Zuko! Welcome to the South Pole!” Zuko felt his stomach do a little flip when Sokka smiled at him, “What’s the first impression?”

“Cold.” Zuko admitted.

“Ha! That’s fair. Trust me, you’ll get used to it. In a few weeks, you won’t even be able to tell the difference between the South Pole and Fire Nation weather.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Go right ahead.”

“Sokka!” Katara called, “You coming!”

“That’s me. I got to go but I’ll see you around?” The younger boy asked.

“Sure.” Zuko really had no idea how true that was but he did hope that he could see Sokka again.

Sokka flashed a smile at him one more time before disappearing into the hallway, leaving Zuko in his room silently wondering what had just happened.

——————————-

“Zuko! Zuko!” Azula whispered as she looked through the different tents, trying to find her brother, “Where are you?”

Finally, she came across one of the tents with a giant Fire Nation symbol on the side. Inside were multiple sleeping rolls, 20 to be exact, laid next to one another. If Azula was a guessing girl, she’d say this was where she and Zuko would be sleeping. Most likely they’d have her and Zuko separated because firebenders would have to sleep next to non benders to provide warmth.

“Azula?” Zuko asked.

He was sitting on a sleeping roll with a hairbrush in front of him and looked at her with tired eyes. It wouldn’t be long until everyone filed in for bed and, by then, it would be noticeable that she and Zuko were missing. Now was their moment to talk to the Avatar.

“Time to go.” She said, “I saw where the Avatar went to bed. We can sneak in now and ask him.”

“You’re sure? If we accidentally walk into a room with Yuto in it-“

“We’ll be fine. Come on.” She grabbed his arm and began dragging him outside.

The siblings snuck towards Aang’s room with relative ease. For being the Avatar, he didn’t have much security to prevent people from sneaking into his room. The only thing of concern was the giant sky bison outside, but he was already asleep and the two managed to slip past him. Azula crept towards the Avatar’s room and peered in through a small crack in the igloo.

“He’s there and I don’t hear Yuto.” Azula whispered.

Zuko took a big breath, “Do it.” He whispered.

Azula grabbed the door, pushing it open. She was greeted by the sight of the Avatar but also Katara and Sokka sitting in the room.

“Azula? Zuko?”

“Katara? Sokka?”

Azula and Zuko exchanged a look of pure shock and a little fear. Zuko had a bit of anger in his expression as well.

“Apologies, we didn’t realize you had company, Avatar. We’ll leave.” Azula said.

“There’s no need to go.” Katara said.

“Yeah. Whatever you want to talk with Aang about you can say with us.” Sokka smiled.

Despite finding him kind of hot, Zuko had to scoff. If the Prince and Princess of the South Pole found out about their curse…there was a good chance they’d end up like one of the many animals they had on their walls.

“It’s nothing.” Zuko said, “We’ll come back another time.”

“You should stay.” Sokka said, “I think Katara would really like it.” He smirked.

Katara hit him in the head with snow, “Ignore my brother. He’s an idiot.”

“You got one too?” Azula asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“I happen to think I’m very smart.” Sokka mumbled.

“Sometimes.” Katara allowed, “90% of the time you’re an idiot.”

“If I’m such an idiot, maybe I should tell-“ Katara froze his lips, not enough to actually hurt him but enough so that he got the point that she wanted him to be quiet.

“Anyways,” Katara said, shooting Azula and Zuko a smile, “Honestly, whatever you need to talk to Aang about you can with us here. We’re not going to the Fire Lord or Isamu.”

“She knows Isamu?” Zuko asked.

“We bumped into each other and broke a wine bottle. Princ-Katara told Isamu that it was her fault.”

“Really?” Zuko asked, directing the question to Azula.

Azula shrugged a little, “She really did.” Zuko gave a little huh as his response.

“Not used to people taking the blame?” Sokka asked.

“From our experience, nobles tend to not care too much about common servants.” Zuko said, “A nobleman once knocked over a plate with his elbow and blamed me because I hadn’t been fast enough to clear the plates.”

“That’s not right.” Aang said.

“Yeah. I made the mistake. It shouldn’t automatically be Azula’s fault just because she’s a servant.” Katara said.

Zuko shrugged, “That’s just how the Fire Nation is.”

Not wanting to comment further, Katara and Aang grew quiet, “We’re sorry for intruding. We’ll go.” Azula said.

“Hey, wait.” Katara said, “What-What jobs do you have tomorrow?”

“Uh-um-It depends on what Isamu says.” Azula told her, “Why?”

Zuko, picking up on Katara’s little crush, piped up, “Isamu always lets us go two hours before sunset. Azula will be free then.”

“If you wanted, we could hang out. You could see that not all nobility are snobs.” Katara offered.

Azula was about to speak up when Zuko interrupted her, “She’d love to!”

Azula wanted to laugh. Two could play at this game, “And so would my dear brother. Right, Zuzu?” Azula smiled.

Zuko looked at Azula with a look that screamed ‘I’m gonna kill you later’ while Azula shot him a ‘You started this. I’m finishing it.’

“I’m sorry. Zuzu?” Sokka asked, a snicker in his voice.

“She’s been calling me that since she learned to talk.” Zuko explained, “It was cute until she was six and now it’s just plain annoying.”

“But I’m still gonna do it. It’s my right as the younger siblings.” Azula said, “So? How bout it, Zuzu? You’d love to hang out with us, right?”

“Of course I would.” Zuko replied, his face split between being genuine and angry at Azula.

“Great!” Aang cheered, “After you’re done tomorrow, meet us here and we can head out. Appa will be so happy to meet you guys!”

“Appa is…?”

“My sky bison!”

Zuko shot Azula a nervous smile, “Flying on a sky bison. Sounds fun.”

Suddenly, a woman’s voice could be heard calling for Aang. Azula and Zuko took that as their sign to run before someone saw them. They bolted back to their tent and returned to their sleeping rolls when everyone else was retiring for the night.

Since they couldn’t talk to each other, the siblings decided to just get some rest for tomorrow. It was going to be long day.

Chapter Text

The day was filled with chores and meetings everyone had to attend. Azula and Zuko spent their morning helping to finish unloading the ship then served lunch to everyone and spent their entire afternoon helping to take care of the animals in the stable. They’d been assigned there because Isamu knew they lived near a farm. As Zuko predicted, two hours before sunset, Isamu found them.

“Zuko. Azula.” The siblings looked up at the man, You’re done for the day. Good job, but make sure you get good sleep tonight. No one wants to see servants yawning.”

“Understood, Isamu.” Zuko said.

“Good.” Isamu gave them a small smile, which, for Isamu, was like a full on hug, then walked away to alert other servants that they now had free time.

“Come on. We have a sky bison waiting for us.” Azula said.

“You’re seriously okay with flying on a sky bison?”

“Why not? I love flying.”

“Yeah. You love being the one who flies, but flying on a sky bison will be different from that or flying on mom and dad’s backs.”

“Well, we can’t refuse an offering from the Prince, Princess and Avatar. Plus, this is good for us. If the Avatar starts to see us as friends then he’ll be more inclined to help us.” Azula told Zuko, “Besides, it also means you get to be around Sokka more which means I might see some of your ‘expert flirting skills’” She laughed.

Zuko blushed, “At least my flirting skills have actually gotten me dates. Your flirting skills make people run away.”

Azula rolled her eyes, “It’s not a competition.”

“If it was, you’d lose.”

“I will set you on fire.”

Zuko smirked, “You’re a very sore loser.”

The two made their way back to Sokka and Katara’s home, being careful to not be seen by the Fire Lord or his children, and found the three waiting for them on Appa.

“Are you ready for the fun?!” Aang asked, Katara and Sokka, who were already in the saddle, offered their hands to help the fire siblings climb up.

“As we’ll ever be.” Zuko mumbled.

“I promise this will be amazing.” Katara said, “Flying does take a bit to get used to, so it might be a bit freaky at first, but don’t worry. Appa’s a great flier.” She warned.

“I’m sure the ten ton bison is.” Azula mumbled, “Can he even get off the ground?” He had no wings. How was he supposed to fly?

Wanting to show her instead of telling, Aang grabbed Appa’s reins, “Appa, yip-yip!” Aang yelled.

Appa slammed his tail down, used his legs to push himself up and just like that he was flying in the air. Once they got high enough, Aang turned back to Azula.

“That answer your question?”

“Maybe a warning next time, Aang.” Sokka used his head to gesture to Azula and Zuko’s nails now clinging to Appa’s saddle. Turns out, Zuko had been right. Take off, when they weren’t the ones flying, was a whole different experience than being the ones who controlled the flight.

“Oh! Sorry. Where do you guys wanna go first?”

“Head to the tundra.” Katara said.

“The tundra? You want to show us snow?”

“Trust us.”

Aang turned Appa towards the tundra. While the Southern Water Tribe was big, taking up roughly 70% of the land, they left 30% to the animals so that they had space to repopulate and survive. Hakoda had been very clear that if the tribe tried to take more land than they needed or took too much land then the animals wouldn’t survive and no animals meant the people would more than likely go hungry. There was a snow wall that separated the villages from the tundra, going along for miles across the snow.

“There!” Katara pointed.

Aang pushed down on Appa’s reins, making him land on the snow below with a soft grunt. Once he fit the ground, everyone jumped off.

“So, what’s here that you want to show us?” Zuko asked.

“This.” Sokka grabbed Zuko’s hand and brought him to a hole in the side of a snow hill.

There was nothing down that either sibling could see. Zuko knelt down, lighting a flame in his hand and bringing the flame to the entrance of the hole but even that didn’t show them anything.

“The dark tunnel that no one will come out of alive?” Zuko asked.

“No. It’s a slide. Years ago, waterbenders made an ice slide for kids to go down and have some fun while their parents worked on hunting animals.” Sokka explained, “It’s so much fun! Our mom brought us here all the time when we were younger.”

“Yeah, there is no way we’re going down that.” Zuko said.

“What? Why?” Sokka asked.

“Because we like living.”

“Babies.” Katara knelt down and scooted towards the entrance until she disappeared into the darkness. Her laughter and screams of joy soon disappeared as she got deeper into the tunnel.

“Well, there goes Katara.”

“Seriously, it’s a lot of fun.” Aang promised, “I’ll make you an Avatar promise. Nothing bad will happen if you use the slide.”

Zuko and Azula looked at each other, trying to guess what the other was thinking, “Fine.” Zuko agreed.

Azula hadn’t said much but hearing Zuko agree to going down the darkness tunnel filled her both with a sense of calm and fear. They watched Sokka disappear down the tunnel then it was Zuko’s turn.

He turned around one final time to look at Aang and Azula before pushing himself into the tunnel. While Sokka and Katara had laughed on their way down, Zuko just screamed in terror.

“Your turn!” Aang chirped.

Azula forced her heartbeat to calm down and her rational brain to take command. It made no sense for the Avatar or the South Pole royals to try and kill her and Zuko. They had just met them. This couldn’t be some kind of ambush or attempt to kill them. Azula got into position.

“Zuko!” She screamed, silently hoping he would answer and tell her everything was okay.

“The slide ends a little ways away from here. None of them can hear you.” Aang told her.

The firebender knew he was trying to be comforting but it was just terrifying. Still, she pushed herself down into the tunnel and started screaming. Her heart was ready to burst out of her chest. Azula was certain that if she could see anything, she’d see that she was half transformed out of sheer fear. However, nothing happened. She just kept going down the ice slide. Eventually, her screams turned into laughter. This was actually pretty fun. Then she saw a light ahead of her.

She was thrown out of a glacier onto snow. In front of her was a large flock of otter penguins, all minding their own business and not even noticing her. Katara, Sokka and Zuko, who were sitting nearby, noticed her though. Katara reached her first and helped her stand up.

“Wasn’t that fun?!” Katara smiled and her smile was enough to put Azula at some level of ease.

“Yeah. Yeah, it was fun.” She admitted.

Aang came flying out of the hole seconds later and shot like he’d been flung from a slingshot towards the otter penguins, who, being used to humans, only moved out of the way to avoid him crashing into them.

“Alright. Now onto the next part of our fun plan.” Sokka said.

“Wait. There are parts? How many parts are there?” Zuko asked.

“Three. This is our second part.” Sokka told him, “It’s a little less dark tunnely.”

“Good. What is it?”

“Penguin sledding!” Aang chirped, flying down next to Sokka.

“You sled on penguins?” Azula asked, “They let you.”

“Well, we feed them first but then they let us.” Katara explained.

“Sounds like the hippo cows back home.”

“What’s a hippo cow?” Sokka asked.

“These really big animals that we keep for meat.” Zuko explained, “They don’t exactly let you ride them but that never stopped me and Azula from trying.”

Azula chuckled, “It always drove our mom crazy because we’d come home dirty after they tossed us in the mud five times.” Ursa never did tell them to stop trying to rid the hippo cows, she knew they loved it, but she always did complain when they came home with mud drying in their hair.

“Well, there’s no mud tossing this time, but they might throw you in the snow if you don’t get off when they say so.” Katara warned.

“We’ll keep that in mind.”

Katara had brought along a few fish which she gave to the biggest otter-penguins so they could ride them. Easily, the five boarded the otter penguins who took off on their stomachs.

“Ha-Ha! How’s this for fun?!” Aang yelled.

“Bet I can beat you.” Forgetting he was the Avatar, Azula let her competitive side show.

“You’re on.” Aang said.

The two darted in front of the others, neck and neck until Azula sent a fireball in front of Aang, making him fall back.

“Cheater!” Aang yelled.

“Sorry! Firebending is so hard to control sometimes!” Azula called back.

“It’s on.” Aang created a wind with his hands and sent it straight at a nearby rock that had snow on it. The wind caused the snow to fly off and hit Azula in the face, “Crazy weather we’re having, isn’t it?”

The otter-penguins, not liking that snow, air and fire getting thrown at them, stopped dead, sending Azula and Aang flying towards. The others stopped when they noticed their friends get bucked off.

“And that is why we don’t anger the otter-penguins.” Katara said.

“I believe Aang started it.” Azula said.

“I-I-What did I do!?!” Aang yelled.

Sokka, who had been laughing, stopped when he realized the sun was setting, “It’s starting to get dark.” Sokka noticed, “Maybe we should head back to Appa.”

“That might not be a bad idea.” Katara agreed, “We shouldn’t be on the tundra when it gets dark.”

“Wait. What was part three of the fun plan?” Zuko asked, looking at Sokka.

“Oh! It’s okay. We’ll do it another time. We really have to get back.”

“You’re out here with a master waterbender, two firebenders and the Avatar. What’s gonna attack us?” Azula asked.

“Polar bear dogs, wolves, tiger seals-”

“We don’t want anyone to get hurt.” Katara interrupted, “A few snowmen aren’t worth returning to the village with limbs missing.”

“What are snowmen?” Zuko asked.

Aang gaped, “They don’t know what snowmen are?! We have to stay!”

Katara looked back to where Appa was then back towards the setting sun, “...Fine, but we have to be quick.”

“Yes!” Aang turned to fire siblings, “Okay! So snowmen are when you take snow, make it into a ball then stack it on top of each other. The biggest ball goes on the bottom then it gets smaller the more you go up and on the third ball, the smallest one, you make a face.”

“Like this.” Katara began to move the snow around with her bending, expertly crafting it into perfectly shaped balls then placing them on top of one another. With her bending she was also able to expertly craft a face onto the snowman, “See?”

“Or, if you’re not a master waterbender, you can just roll the snow on the ground and put it on top of each other like this.” Sokka, not wanting to waste time, made a smaller snowman, one that could fit in his hands, but it was still impressive.

“Oh! Let’s have a snowman making competition!” Aang said, “Azula and Katara vs Zuko and Sokka. I’ll be the judge.”

“Sounds fun.” Azula smirked, watching Zuko blush a little.

“No bending!” Sokka quickly said.

“You’re no fun.” Katara mumbled.

The two teams quickly got to work on their two snowmen. While they worked, the sun was starting to disappear, so firebending was allowed for light purposes. When Azula created her blue flame, Katara froze, staring straight at it.

“What?” Azula asked.

“That’s beautiful.” Katara whispered, “I’ve never seen blue fire before.”

Azula smiled proudly, “I’m the first person in generations to make fire like this.” She remarked, “My dad said that it’s because I work so hard and have a connection with fire that I was able to unlock this color. He says with more training Zuko and I could eventually start bending rainbow fire.”

“Rainbow fire?”

“It’s the fire of the dragons. It’s incredibly rare, very few people have ever seen it.” And no one in their family could create it. All of them could only firebreath the color of that they could firebend which is why Azula was the second blue dragon in existence to be seen breathing blue fire. The first being her grandfather.

“Wow. That’s amazing.” Azula seemed fixated on how Katara’s eyes lit up with her fire. Her own blue flames perfectly matched Katara’s shade of eyes. It was beautiful.

“You’re falling behind!” Sokka joked.

Katara snapped out of her trance and turned towards her brother. He was right. They were falling behind.

“Let’s get back to work.”

“Yeah…get back to work.” Azula whispered.

In the end, Katara and Azula won the competition and secured bragging rights over their brothers. Since it was nightfall by the time they were done, Katara and Sokka were very insistent about getting everyone back to the village.

“If it was just me and Katara out here we’d stay longer, but you guys don’t know the tundra.” Sokka explained. Zuko wanted to object that they were probably the top predators out here but he declined to, “Plus, if something happened to the Avatar, our dad would kill us.”

Appa wasn’t too far from the others, but by the time they reached him the sun had gone down. Once they climbed on, Appa seemed more than ready to leave and get somewhere with light.

“Can you land away from the Fire Nation side?” Azula asked.

“Sure. Why?” Aang asked.

“Embarrassed to be seen with us?” Katara asked, a smirk on her face.

“No. It’s just-...the Fire Lord doesn’t like servants hanging out with nobility. He’ll think we’re trying to manipulate you or something.” That wasn’t a complete lie. Yuto would probably think that the two were trying to find a way to get the throne back if he found out they were friends with the prince, princess and Avatar.

“Okay.”

“This was fun, right?” Katara asked.

“It really was. It’s rare we get to hangout with people our own age, so…thanks.”

“You’re welcome! Hopefully you can sneak away to do this again sometime?”

“Of course.” Azula quickly responded, earning a look from her brother that just screamed ‘at least hide your obvious crush better.’

Once Appa landed, the two jumped down and began to walk back to their tent, disappearing into the Fire Nation area of the village.

“Two people have crushes.” Aang said in a sing songy fashion.

“We do not have crushes.” Katara quickly said, blushing.

“Well, I don’t. Katara on the other hand…”

“I wasn’t the one who spent last night talking about how hot Zuko would look if he let his hair down.” Katara pointed out.

A blush overtook Sokka’s face, “Zuko’s hot, but that doesn’t mean I have a crush on him.”

Aang and Katara just raised their eyebrows, “Okay. I have a tiny, itty-bitty crush on Zuko.”

“I can’t wait to tell Yue.” Katara laughed.

“You tell her and I tell Toph and Suki about your crush on Azula.” Sokka threatened.

“You guys should plan something with them. They won’t be here that long. Why not ask them out?” Aang suggested.

“Ask them out?” Katara said, “No, Aang, it’s fine. They’re little crushes. They’ll go away and, like you said, Azula and Zuko won’t be here in a few months. It’s stupid to try and pursue something when they’ll be in another nation soon.”

“Katara’s right.” Sokka agreed, “Come on. Let’s get some sleep. We’ve all got meetings tomorrow from dawn to dusk.”

Aang narrowed his eyes at the two then turned back to Appa, who offered him a soft growl, “They’d be perfect together. Trust me, they’re gonna thank me for meddling.” Appa grunted, “Don’t be such a downer, buddy.” Another grunt, “Fine. I’ll leave things alone. You are not fun.” Appa lightly hit his tail to the ground which caused snow to fly onto Aang. Aang swore he could hear Appa laughing when he turned to glare at the bison.

Chapter Text

Aang had made a promise to Appa and he never broke his promises. One of his earliest memories with Gyatso was the older man telling him that the bond with a sky bison relied on trust. Even if Appa didn’t completely understand human speech, Aang treated him like he did and kept his promises made to the sky bison.

That didn’t make it any easier to watch the four older kids tip toe around each other but not make a single move towards actually dating or even confessing. Was it just a time difference? A cultural thing? It seemed like people were a lot more willing to confess their feelings at the Air Temples. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He had to meddle.

“I’m sorry, Appa, but I swear this is for the greater good.” Appa grunted a little but otherwise didn’t look up from his hay.

One day, he found Azula, stopping during her chores, and watching Katara train. She seemed mesmerized by Katara’s moves and how easily she made the water flow around her body. She even closed her eyes but still commanded the water perfectly. There was a small group of kids in front of her, watching her perform. Aang assumed they were Katara’s students that she was supposed to be training.

“She’s good.” Aang said, startling Azula.

“Yes. She should be. She is a master waterbender after all.” Azula quickly regained control of herself.

“I’ve never seen a master be as in touch with their element as her. She’s like a fish to water…get it?”

Azula allowed herself a mini smile, “Amusing, Avatar.”

“You can call me Aang by the way. I don’t really like the whole Avatar title thing.”

“Really? You’re the most powerful person on the planet, you could command armies if you wished. I’d kill for a taste of that power.” Azula admitted.

Aang’s eyes fell to the ground, “Yeah, but…it’s really lonely. When I found out I was the Avatar, none of the other kids at the Southern Air Temple wanted to be my friends. They just saw me as this big figure that was supposed to keep balance in the world and, because of that, I couldn’t even play with anyone.”

Azula wanted to respond. She knew what that was like. As a kid, her parents had always been pretty firm about her and Zuko staying away from other kids outside of school hours. Running around, playing tag, having fun, it was just asking for them to turn into dragons and scare the other kids. At least she had Zuko, Aang didn’t have anyone.

“I get that. I’m sorry you didn’t get to play with the other kids.” She turned towards the large council center where she was sure Hakoda and Yuto were talking, “I don’t think it’s going to get any better anytime soon.”

“I know, but, at least I got to meet Katara and Sokka…and you and Zuko.”

“Me and Zuko?”

“Yeah. We’re friends, right?” Azula stared at him with wide eyes. The Avatar wanted to be friends with the great-grandchildren of Sozin. Some spirit was getting a laugh out of this, Azula was sure of it.

“We can be.” She confirmed, “Sure.”

“Great! Then, as your friend, I think you should ask Katara out instead of staring at her.” Aang told her.

“WHAT!?” Azula instantly covered her mouth, she did not mean to scream that.

Katara turned towards the scream and her eyes lit up when she saw Azula, “Azula! Aang!” Quickly, she turned back to the kids, “Keep practicing.” She told them then ran over.

“Hey, Katara.”

“Hey. What are you two doing here?” Katara asked.

“Taking a walk.” Aang said.

“I was taking a small break from some of my chores, but I should be getting back to them.” Azula turned to leave.

“Not yet.” Aang said, grabbing Azula’s coat, “I think we should all talk some more.”

“About what?” Katara asked.

“Ummm…” Aang’s eyes landed on the kid’s practicing their bending, “Bending! You’re both benders, maybe you could train together.”

“Aang,” Katara started, seeing what he was trying to do, “Azula doesn’t want to train with me.”

Azula was more conflicted than anything else. Years of training taught her both not to question royalty when they said something and to always downplay her ability, but she also had a lot of pride in her bending and liked to show it off. She was the first person in generations to have blue fire, sue her if she thought that was pretty cool.

“Besides, my bending isn’t as strong in the South Pole.” Azula added, following Katara’s lead.

“All the more reason why you two should spend some time together and train. Bendeds from different elements can learn from each other. You could teach each other moves.” Aang said.

“I’m sure Azula has better things to do with her time than stand around for hours with me.” Katara tried to make her tone appear as carefree as possible, but Aang could hear a tiny bit of sadness.

“I mean…If we could learn from each other, what’s the harm in trying?” Azula asked.

Katara’s eyes grew, “You’d want to practice with me?” Her tone growing hopeful.

“If you don’t mind me sticking around. I happen to think I’m a pretty good firebender. Maybe I could teach you a thing or two.” Aang faded into the background, letting the girls talk.

“I’m sure you could. How about you come meet some of the kids?” Katara suggested.

“I have chores to finish.” Azula mumbled.

“Well, what if I found someone to do them for you? Being a princess and all, I think people would listen to me.” Katara smirked.

“You’d abuse your princess title for your own gain?” Azula put a hand to her chest and faked a shocked expression.

“If it means spending time with you-Oh! Sorry I got lost in the moment.” A blush overtook Katara’s face.

“It’s okay.” Azula smiled, grabbing at one of her bangs.

“Come on over.” Katara said, “I think the kids would love to see some firebending moves.” Azula offered her a soft smile and gladly followed behind Katara as she told her the kid’s names.

—---------------------------

Sokka and Zuko were trickier if Aang was being honest. They didn’t cross paths as much so there was less of a chance that they would interact unless they were looking for each other.

“Which could happen.” Aang whispered, a plan forming in his head. Aang really hoped this plan worked because if it didn’t, it could probably be considered entrapment and kidnapping.

“Sokka! Sokka!” Aang yelled, rushing into his room.

“Aang? What’s going on?”

“It’s Zuko! He fell into the ice! He was feeding the animals and the ice just broke under him!”

“WHAT!?” Sokka instantly was on his feet, “Why’d you get me first?! Get Katara! I’ll get the other masters and meet you at the stables!”

“Katara’s already on her way and Azula went to go get the waterbending masters! Come on! I can fly us over there!” Sokka nodded, grabbing Aang’s back as the two flew to the stables.

The stables were located a little further away from everything else. They were still visible if a person was in the right place, but they were far enough away that Aang’s plan could work without anyone seeing what was going on and getting worried. Aang really needed this plan to finish and work or he might have to flee the South Pole…at least until Sokka calmed down about being trapped in the ice.

“ZUKO! Zuko!” Sokka screamed, “I can’t see any ice break! Where is he?!”

“He’s not here yet.” Aang said.

In a flash, Aang bent the ice under Sokka and the fifteen year old fell a couple of feet into an ice pit. Aang, not being an idiot, did provide some airbending so that Sokka wouldn’t get hurt when he landed at the bottom of the pit.

“Aang!” Sokka yelled, “What are you doing!?”

“Helping you! You like Zuko but you two are never around each other!”

“Aang, when I get out of here, I am going to kill you!”

“If this doesn’t work I promise I’ll let you and Zuko out before night.”

“You know what? Let me add to that! I’m going to kill your reincarnation too!”

Aang flew off to the large tent where he knew Zuko and Azula were staying at. Thankfully, Azula wasn’t around, but Zuko was. He was on his bedroll, reading a scroll very closely. Aang actually had to go up to him and shake his shoulder for Zuko to realize that he wasn’t alone.

“ZUKO! Zuko!” Aang screamed.

“Aang? What’s wrong?” Zuko asked, putting his stuff down.

“It’s Sokka! He was coming to talk to you and he fell into the ice!”

“WHAT?!”

“He’s by the stables!”

“Why would he be by the stables if he was coming to talk to me?!” Zuko cried.

“I don’t know! I just saw him fall into the ice! Katara is already there and she’s helping and Azula went to get the other master waterbenders! Come on!” Zuko didn’t fit as nicely onto Aang’s back but it worked to get them to the stables.

“SOKKA!” Zuko screamed.

“Zuko!”

“Sokka! Don’t worry! We’ll get you out!” Zuko promised, leaning over the side.

“No! It’s Aang! Aang-” Zuko didn’t have time to register Sokka’s words before Aang airbent him into the bit as well.

“What is he doing?!” Zuko snapped.

“Trapping us.” Sokka mumbled.

“I promise I’ll let you both out, but you need to take some time and talk.” Aang said, “Bye!”

“Aang, don’t you dare leave! AANG!” Sokka yelled, “Perfect. Crazy airbender.”

Zuko leaned against the wall then backed down until he was sitting on the ground, “Why would he do this?” Zuko asked.

“I don’t know.” Sokka lied, “He’s crazy.”

“How long do you think we’ll be stuck down here?”

Sokka shrugged, “I’m really sorry about this.”

“Why? It’s not your fault.”

“Still, I feel like I should be taking some responsibility for Aang. He doesn’t mean any harm, he’s just twelve and acts before he thinks.”

“I get it. It’s okay. I’m mostly mad because he took me away from my story. I won’t get another free minute to read it for two days.”

“What story are you reading?” Sokka asked.

“Love Amongst the Dragons. It’s one of my favorite stories of all time.” Zuko told him. Not to mention it was one of the view stories that actually showed dragons in a positive light. Zuko and Azula had hung onto every word their mother said when she told them that the Dragon Emperor and Empress were the good guys.

“My mom actually saved up her money for two years to take our family to Ember Island to see the play itself. She loved it but the rest of us thought it was so bad. My dad fell asleep halfway through.”

“Wait. You know Love Amongst the Dragons?” Sokka asked, getting excited and sitting next to him.

“Do you?”

“Yeah! I love that story! My mom bought the book when Katara and I were kids and read it to us as a bedtime story. Who’s your favorite character?”

“Oh, easily the Dragon Emperor but I’ve grown a soft spot for the Dark Water Spirit.” Noticing Sokka’s confused face, he elaborated, “My sister and I would usually re-enact the final battle and she always got to be the Dragon Emperor while I was the Dark Water Spirit. I guess, overtime, I just felt sorry for the guy who was constantly losing.”

“Fair. My sister and I never re-enacted the play, but whenever we re-enacted other stories, she was always the good guy. Little sisters, am I right?”

“Tell me about it. I once suggested to Azula that she could be the Dragon Empress and she threw a smoked sea slug at me.” Sokka laughed.

“I’ve only known Azula a few days and that sounds like something she’d do.”

“You never told me your favorite character.”

“Oh! Right…would I seem unoriginally if I said the Dark Water Spirit?”

“Really? Why? He’s the bad guy.” Zuko said.

“I know, but I can’t help it, I’m Water Tribe and he’s the Dark Water Spirit, I think he’s cool. He’s an awesome villain and they’re always the best part of any story.”

Sokka and Zuko’s conversation continued on. Talks about the plays led into talks about food then recipes then family and, by the time, Sokka was finished telling Zuko about his two grandmother’s, Aang appeared.

“Hey, guys.”

“Aang, let us out now!” Sokka yelled.

“Yup. I got you a rope.” Aang tossed it down to them, allowing them to climb out and back onto the snow.

Sokka was about to scream at the Avatar, but, before he could, Zuko spoke up, “Hey, this was fun. I know you’re the prince and have a lot of responsibilities that will keep you busy, but I’d really like it if we could hang out again.”

Sokka allowed a warm feeling to rush into his chest, “Preferably not in a hole-” Zuko laughed, “but, yeah. I’d really like to hang out with you more too.”

“Great. I should get back. Isamu is going to kill me for being gone this long. Bye!”

“Bye!”

Aang was watching the two say goodbye to one another and noticed Sokka’s calm and happy face, “So, I-”

“No egg custard tart for a week for trapping me and Zuko in a hole!” Sokka quickly yelled, turning to leave, “But thank you for breaking the ice.”

A large smile covered the twelve year old’s face. He could lament the loss of his favorite dish later. For now, he was just excited to have helped his friends actually interact with their crushes.

Chapter Text

“Alright.” Hakoda let out a short breath, “I think that’s everything. We’ll have our next meeting when the Earth Kingdom and North Pole arrive.”

“Sounds perfect. Do you know when they’re scheduled to arrive?” Anji asked.

“Four to five days. We just got word that they passed Kyoshi Island, so now it’s all up to the weather.” Hakoda received nods as confirmation, “Dinner will be ready in about an hour. I’ll see you three there.”

“Thank you, Chief Hakoda. We will see you at dinner.” Anji and Emi replied. Yuto remained as silent as ever.

Once Hakoda left, Anji and Emi stood up to do the same. They had planned to head to their rooms and rest for a bit before going to dinner but their father held up his hand.

“Father?” Emi asked.

“I’ve heard from some of the servants that Azula and Zuko are spending time with the Hakoda’s children.”

“Oh, yeah.” Emi smiled, “You should have seen Princess Katara at dinner a few nights ago. I think she’s got a crush. It was adorable how obvious she was.”

Anji, noticing their dad’s face, became concerned, “Father. Is something wrong?”

“Not yet, but it could be. Zuko and Azula are Azulon’s grandchildren, Sozin’s great-grandchildren. They have some other motive for hanging around the Prince and Princess.”

“You think they might be trying something?”

“I think it’s almost certain. It’s in their blood.”

“Father, Azula and Zuko haven’t done anything.” Emi reminded him, “They’re good servants too. Why would they suddenly turn against us now?”

“I don’t know, but don’t underestimate them, Emi. Their grandfather and father taught them how to be masters of manipulation. The problem is that we can’t outright accuse them of anything because they haven’t done anything wrong and that would draw attention to them and their parents. I made a promise to my grandmother that Azulon and his descendants would be safe. I can’t break that, but we all must do what is best to ensure the safety of the Fire Nation.”

Anji and Emi nodded in confirmation, agreeing with their father, “So, what do we do if we can’t confront them?” Anji asked.

“We have to wait. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t try anything.” He said, “They’ll slip up at some point and reveal their true intentions. That’s when we can come in.”

“And do what?” Emi asked, her tone growing suspicious.

“Handle them like the animals they are.” Emi and Anji didn’t miss the tiniest of smiles on their father’s face.

——————————-

“Where have you been?” Zuko asked, looking towards the tent.

“Out.”

“Out?” Zuko asked.

Azula rolled her eyes. Zuko wasn’t going to leave her alone until she answered, “If you must know I was with Katara. We got into a little debate about if mochi or moon cake is better and she brought me into town to taste some.”

“Hmmm.” Zuko turned his attention back to the clothing in his hand that he was stitching up.

“What’s hmmm?” Azula asked, “Why are you giving me your disapproving hmmm?”

“I don’t have a disapproving hmm.” Zuko argued.

“Yes, you do. You got it from mom and it sounds exactly the same. You’re upset about something. What is it?”

“I just want to make sure you’re being careful.” Zuko admitted, “You and Katara-“

“Me and Katara are the problem? Not you and Sokka walking into dinner last night, talking and laughing like you’d been friends for years? At least Katara and I are quiet about how often we hang out.”

“That was an accident and I’m not trying to argue, Zula. I just want to make sure you’re not getting wrapped up in the moment. Yuto might start to get suspicious.”

“You don’t say?” Sarcasm dripped from Azula’s voice.

“Azula-“

“Look, Zuko, for the first time in years I have a friend my own age. A friend actually likes me as a person and doesn’t care that I’m a servant or a peasant. I know what our plan is, trust me I haven’t lost sight of that, but it’s…nice to have someone to talk to that isn’t you.”

“I’m not enough anymore?” Zuko asked, clearly joking.

“You know what I mean.” Azula said, “It’s just nice to enjoy this before we have to go back to the Fire Nation and are either glared at and whispered about by our neighbors or ignored and harassed by nobles.” Azula walked over towards Zuko, sitting down next to him.

“I get that.” Zuko’s voice was low but Azula still heard it, “Wait…Azula, you’re not going to tell Katara about the whole dragon thing, right?”

“What?! Do you think I’m an idiot?!?” Truth be told, Azula knew why he was worried because she had told someone before. An action that ended in disaster and got her grounded by her parents for a year.

“I just had to check!” Zuko cried, putting up his hands, “Last time you talked about having a friend you did and it didn’t end well.”

“I learned my lesson.” Azula’s voice grew quiet again, “I miss Ty Lee.”

“I know.” Zuko reached out to hug Azula, wrapping his arms around her and, while Azula didn’t hug him back, Zuko could feel her bury her face in his neck, “A few more days and then the curse might be lifted for good.”

“A few more days.” She repeated, hope in her voice.

—————————

“Katara! Katara!” Sokka yelled.

When Katara got in the right headspace, she tuned everything out. Usually, this occurred when she was training. Now that she was officially a master, she was expected to keep her skills up to date and be ready for an evaluation at any time.

Right now, she was practicing removing the water from a plant with their grandmother.

“Katara!” Sokka snapped again.

“Sokka, I’m in the middle of training.”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Maybe you should take a break, sweetie.” Hama said, “You’ve been pushing yourself really hard lately.”

“But I’ve almost got this move down.” Katara argued.

“Take a break.” Hama repeated, “We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Katara groaned as their grandmother left the room, leaving her with her brother, “What?”

“Do you notice anything odd about Azula and Zuko?” Sokka asked.

“What do you mean odd?”

“Like they don’t want to be seen with us. Zuko and I were having the time of our lives a few nights ago but the second we entered the dining room, he froze.”

“They probably just don’t want to appear like they’re slacking. Remember, they’re here as servants. I’m sure Isamu and Yuto would get angry at them if they realized that the two were goofing off with us.”

“No, it’s more than that. They seem…afraid.” Sokka said.

“Sokka, I’m sure everything is fine. If you’re really so worried, you should ask Zuko.”

“He’s not going to tell me.” Sokka argued, “And if I ask, he’ll think I’m being nosey and stop hanging out with me.”

“How do you know? You haven’t even tried to ask.”

“Katara.” Sokka groaned.

“I haven’t noticed Azula acting odd. I really think that, if you’re worried, you should ask Zuko if something is wrong.”

Sokka looked to the side of the room, trying to avoid Katara’s gaze as much as possible, “You’re right. The Earth Kingdom and Northern Water Tribe officials are coming in a few days. Tomorrow night, I’ll ask him what’s going on.” Katara nodded, agreeing with her brother.

—————————

That night, everyone was seated in the dining hall, feasting on a meal of tiger seal and fox chickens. Hakoda and Kya were laughing with Yuto while Anji and Emi talked with themselves, leaving Katara and Sokka to talk to each other.

Suddenly, Yuto raised his hand, “Azula. Zuko. Don't leave the room. I might need you for something.” The siblings exchanged looks of fear, which Katara and Sokka noticed, but didn’t dare move from their spot, “How would everyone like to hear the story of the big bad dragon?”

“Big bad dragon?” Katara asked.

“Father, why are you bringing it up?”

“It's a good story.” Yuto smiled, “Anyways, centuries ago there lived a family of four dragons, a father, a mother and two children. Dragons were valued by Agni and seen as mighty protectors and aids to the Fire Nation so, the Fire Lord of the time, allowed for the dragon family to live in their nation with no second thoughts.

“Until he noticed livestock was going missing, he turned to the dragon family who said that they had nothing to hide so the Fire Lord assumed he was mistaken. Then, the next day, precious jewels went missing. Again, the Fire Lord went to the dragon’s nest and the dragons tricked him. On the third day, people went missing. The Fire Lord decided he had enough of his and sent soldiers to the dragon’s home to kill them.”

“When they arrived, the dragons went feral. They attacked every soldier then flew to the palace. When they arrived, the Fire Lord was waiting for them. They attacked the palace with full force and managed to destroy a good chunk of it. However, as I said, the Fire Lord was waiting and had spears at the ready for whenever they would come to destroy him. He sent the spears straight through the hearts of the four dragons, killing them all instantly.” No one noticed Zuko and Azula go stiff.

“Once they were slain, he went to their home and found the missing jewels and the bones of the livestock and people. The Fire Lord, despite winning, was only saddened that he couldn’t save his people from the monsters. He walked back to the palace knowing this: sometimes people, or dragons, aren’t as they seem and you have to watch them carefully or they will destroy you.”

Katara and Sokka had been fully and absorbed by this story and didn’t notice Azula and Zuko looking at Yuto in fear. This wasn’t the first time he’d told that story. The first time they heard it was when they were eleven and thirteen. They had both run home that night saying the Fire Lord was going to kill them. It took Ozai and Ursa hours to calm them down but they still had nightmares a week.

“Azula. Zuko.” Yuto said, “You two have seen dragons before, do you believe the story is warranted?”

Everyone turned their eyes to the two young servants in the back, “Yes, Fire Lord.” Zuko answered, “Dragons are dangerous, wild, and evil creatures.”

“You have to watch your back around them. They have no control.” Azula added.

“I’m so glad we can agree! Could you two get me more wine?”

“Of course, Fire Lord.” They fell into a bow then almost ran away.

Everyone else returned to a normal conversation but Katara and Sokka watched where Azula and Zuko had disappeared, looking at one another in confusion.

“Okay. Now I’m seeing it.” Katara admitted.

Chapter Text

“You didn’t see it, Aang.” Sokka said, “They were actually scared.”

Aang hadn’t been at the dinner that night because he had been in meetings all day. By the time he got out, Appa was roaring at him because he wanted to go flying so Aang missed the dinner to take Appa for a fly then feed him. When he landed and returned to his room, Katara and Sokka were waiting for him to tell him about what had happened.

“You’re sure?” Aang asked, “It sounds like the Fire Lord was just telling a story.”

“He was. It was definitely a story, but it was the way he told it.” Katara sat down on Aang’s bed, “It was almost like it was a threat.”

“To Azula and Zuko?” Aang asked, earning him twin shrugs, “But why would he threaten them?” Two more shrugs.

“He then asked them what they thought about dragons and their answers seemed so…rehearsed. He only seemed satisfied when they both said how much they hated dragons.” Sokka added.

“Okay. That’s pretty weird.” Aang admitted, “We should check on them tomorrow. Make sure they’re alright and ask if anything is going on.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Aang and Sokka continued to talk while Katara got up to answer, assuming it was a servant or one of her parents.

“Or we could just ask them now.” Katara said.

“What are you-” Azula and Zuko walked into the room, going straight past Katara and to Aang.

“Hey!” Aang chirped, waving his hand.

“Aang, we really need to talk to you. Alone and now.” Azula’s voice was determined and she seemed to have a narrow vision that made her focus in on Aang.

“What? Why?” Aang asked.

“Please, Aang, it’s serious.” Azula said.

“Is this about Yuto’s story tonight?” Katara asked, gently putting a hand on Azula’s shoulder, “Is he bothering you two?”

Azula refused to look at Katara, “Aang. Now.” She repeated.

“Hold on.” Sokka said, getting a little concerned about Azula’s tone, “Zuko? What’s going on?”

“We just need to talk to Aang. It’s urgent.” He said.

“What’s it about?” Aang asked.

“We’ll tell you once we’re alone. Please, Aang, it’ll take five minutes. Just trust us.”

“Azula, you’re freaking us out. What’s going on?” Aang asked.

“We can’t say it until we’re alone.” Azula had a hand in her hair now, clearly growing more and more anxious the longer Aang put off her request. Her topknot, usually kept perfect all day, was starting to come loose, “Tru-“

“Azula, trust us.” Katara grabbed the firebender’s hands, “You can talk with me and Sokka here. I promise we won't say anything.”

Azula looked at Katara then Zuko then Aang and Sokka. She held Zuko’s gaze for longer than anyone else and ultimately sighed when she seemed to figure out his vote on the matter, “We can’t say it in front of you two.”

Neither Katara nor Sokka responded to Azula’s choice, they just grabbed their coats and marched out the door. The two firebenders looked at Aang, who was giving them a raised eyebrow.

“We-“

“Should really follow them.” Aang finished.

Zuko was on the move before Azula was. He ran out of the house and began looking through the village for Sokka but he was nowhere to be found. Eventually, he started looking inside restaurants and the council building until he found him by the stables.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“…”

“…”

“I’m sorry-“

“I’m sorry-“

Sokka and Zuko froze, looking at each other, “No, Zuko. It was my fault. I get it. We’ve only known each other for almost two weeks. If there’s something you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. It just felt…unfair that Aang got to know and we didn’t.”

“I wish we could tell you, Sokka, I really do, but…but we can’t.” Zuko sighed.

“But why not? Katara and I can keep a secret and I’m sure it’s nothing too-“

“We just can’t!” Zuko snapped.

Sokka, taken back by Zuko’s change in tone, turned away and sat down on the snow. A few minutes later, Zuko joined him, his knees pulled up to his chest.

“Do you really think dragons are that bad?” Sokka asked, after a minute or two of silence.

“What?”

“At dinner, you said dragons were dangerous, wild and evil. Do you really think that?”

Zuko shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“I think dragons are cool.” Sokka smiled, looking at the stars.

“You do?” Zuko asked, his face turning towards Sokka.

“Yeah! They’re giant fire breathing reptiles that can fly! That’s awesome!”

“But they’re mindless beasts who kill people and steal.” Zuko argued, silently hoping Sokka would keep his belief.

“Everything has a bad side. Besides, I can’t really believe that a dragon would do that without some kind of reason behind it. Either someone angered the dragon or they find shiny objects fascinating or something else, but it’s not because they’re mindless.” Sokka said.

“Huh.”

“Have you actually seen a dragon?”

Zuko nodded, “Yes. Multiple times.” He’d seen both wild dragons and his own family’s dragon forms. When they were younger, his parents used to take him and Azula to the mountains where most dragons lived. Although Zuko couldn’t prove this, he left like the dragons knew they weren’t pure dragons and would be mean to them because of that.

“Have they all been mindless killers?” Sokka asked.

Zuko thought Sokka’s question over. No one in his family was a mindless killer, even when they were in their dragon forms. Neither were all the wild dragons. True, there had been some that tried to attack their parents, his dad has a pretty nasty cut on his arm from their last trip to the mountains because of that, but it didn’t always happen.

“No.” Zuko admitted.

“Then how can all of them be mindless beasts?”

“You really don’t think dragons are that bad?” Zuko asked.

“I really don’t.” Zuko was currently using everything in his to keep his heart beat from going crazy. Even if Sokka did like dragons, that didn’t mean he wanted to see one right this very second.

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“Just thanks.” Zuko smiled.

“You should go talk to Aang before he falls asleep.” Zuko nodded and stood up.

“Sokka?” Sokka turned around, expectation in his eyes, “Depending on how things go with Aang, I think I’ll be able to tell you what we talked about.”

“Great!”

—-----------------------

When Azula saw that Zuko had left, she decided to follow. Truthfully, she knew it was smarter to let Zuko go while she stayed behind and talking to Aang about removing the curse, but she knew Zuko wasn’t going after Katara, only Sokka. So, she went out to search for the waterbender. Similar to Zuko, she didn’t have much success until she ultimately found servants who said they’d seen her go into the council building. When she got inside, she found Katara sitting alone at the big table and playing with some water in her hand.

“Katara.” Katara didn’t answer, she just looked up at Azula then turned away, “Come on. Zuko and I just can’t tell you. It’s not because we don’t trust you or anything. We just need to talk to the Avatar first.”

No response.

“Katara, please. If I thought this was something you could help with then I’d ask you for help but you can’t help with this.”

“How do you know?” Katara suddenly asked, turning around, “I could help! Sokka could help! Believe it or not, we do have some resources at our use! What is the issue? Trouble with the Fire Lord?-”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Trouble with the prince or princess-”

“Katara-”

“Is it a money thing? A station thing?!”

“I can’t tell you!” Azula screamed, getting Katara to lean back a little, “You’d hate me. You’d call me a monster!”

Katara’s face softened as she stood up, walking towards the firebender, “Azula, I would never-“

“You’re saying that because you don’t know what it is. If you knew then you would want nothing to do with me and I-…I like being around you. I like hanging out with you. I don’t want that to stop.”

“It won’t! I-”

“You can’t promise that, Katara. You can’t promise that you won’t look at me like a monster or stop hanging out with me.” Azula argued.

“But I-...” Katara trailed off, “I see your point, but I don’t think I could ever see you as a monster.”

Azula let a small blush take over her face, “Thank you.”

“Can you at least give me a hint about what you wanted to talk to Aang about?” Katara asked.

“Hmmm…it involves history.” Azula said. That seemed like a better clue than telling her it was about the Spirit World, more specifically spirits that sent curses onto bloodlines.

“History? Oh! Is it about some old bending styles?”

Azula laughed, “How is that the first thing that came to your mind?”

“I don’t know. It’s you! I figured if you were going to ask the Avatar about anything it’d be bending!”

“That’s fair, but no. It’s not about bending.” Azula lit a flame in her palm, “My bending is as strong and powerful as ever.”

“I mean, I beat you like three days ago.” Katara reminded her.

“I am not used to fighting in the snow! Come to the Fire Nation someday and I’ll kick your butt.”

“I’m sure you could.” Katara said in a fake condensing manner before laughing, “You should go talk to Aang.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I trust you and I know you trust me and Sokka. But I would talk to Aang son because he’s going to fall asleep.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’ll see you tomorrow, Tara!” It was only when she had left and was heading to Aang that she realized her slip up.

“Tara. Tara?! You gave her a nickname. You gave one of the most powerful people within 2,000 miles a nickname! What is wrong with you?!” Azula started mumbling.

“Talking to yourself already?” Zuko asked, “I thought we had a few more years before you snapped.”

“Ha-Ha. You should be a comedian, Zuzu.”

“I do what I can. Going to talk to Aang?”

“Yes. We have to. The Earth Kingdom and Northern Water Tribe will be here tomorrow. If we don’t talk to Aang now, we might never get to again.” The siblings made their way to Aang’s room, moving with enough purpose so that passing by servants assumed they just had chores to do.

When they eventually reached Aang’s room, Azula knocked on the door and expected the young airbender to greet them. Instead, a large man with Water Tribe clothing opened the door. Azula and Zuko quickly recognized him as Chief Hakoda.

“Chief Hakoda!” Both siblings fell into a bow.

“There’s no need for that. If you needed to speak to Aang, I apologize, but Fire Lord Yuto just grabbed him to discuss the Dai Li in Ba Sing Se. If you’d like I can tell the Fire Lord-”

“NO!” Both of them yelled.

Hakoda raised an eyebrow, “Forgive us for yelling, Chief, but you don’t need to tell the Fire Lord. We only came to clean the Avatar’s room.” Azula lied.

“Oh. Well, then don’t let me stand in your way.” Azula and Zuko walked past him and began to straighten out the room, waiting for him to leave, “By the way, I know who you two are.” The siblings looked at one another in pure fear, holding onto their human forms by a thread, “I’ve seen you hanging around my children. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’ve never seen Katara and Sokka this happy, so thank you.”

“Oh! No need to thank us. Your kids are a lot of fun to be around.” Zuko told him.

“But I’ve also heard from Yuto. He says you two have some secrets he’s can’t share. I don’t know what those could be, but I want to make myself clear.” By how he was fully standing above them, a good foot or more taller than both sibling, “If you do something to hurt my children, I will see to it that you both are sent back to the Fire Nation and will speak with Fire Lord Yuto to ensure a…proper punishment, am I understood?”

“Perfectly, sir.”

“Good.” Hakoda turned and left the room.

“What now?” Zuko asked, looking down at his claws which had revealed themselves when Hakoda left the room.

Azula cast a gaze down to her down visible skin, all of it covered in blue scales, “Keep an eye out for times when Aang might be alone. We’ll have to play it more by ear now, but there’s still a chance.” She began to gently breathe in and out until her skin turned back to normal, “There has to be.”

Zuko nodded, “Alright. Let’s just hope nothing else goes wrong.”

Chapter Text

The morning was filled with everyone running from place to place, trying to get prepared for the incoming ships. Multiple gigantic Earth Kingdom and Northern Water Tribe ships were approaching the dock.

Katara, Sokka, Hakoda, Kya, Yuto, Anji and Emi all stood at the dock, ready to greet the new arrivals. While that was going on, Isamu was screaming at the servants to work faster at preparing the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe rooms. The Earth Kingdom has sent a letter, claiming they weren’t bringing many people beyond some guards, a couple of servants and members of the richer families. The Northern Water Tribe didn’t bring any servants at all, so Isamu expected the Fire Nation servants to work double time to take care of them.

“Zuko!” Isamu screamed, “You’re putting fire lilies in the Northern Water Tribe princess’s room? What is wrong with you?!”

“I-I didn’t-“

“You don’t get paid not to know stuff! Get those flowers out of here! Princess Yue will have nothing in her room except Water Tribe relics.” Zuko grabbed the vase and raced off into another room, “Azula! Where are we on the dishes for the Earth Kingdom delegates!?”

“The kitchen has them done and they should be on plates and ready to be served in thirty minutes.” Azula reported.

“Thirty minutes?! The delegates are here now and they’ll want to eat! Take two staff and you three work as fast as humanly possible to make the dishes ready the second they sit down.”

“Yes, Isamu.” Azula quickly bowed then rushed off.

“Is anyone competent today?” He asked.

Most of the servants knew that keeping their heads down was the best course of action at the moment. It would keep Isamu from yelling at them and they’d get their work done. Azula didn’t leave the kitchen after Isamu screamed at her and just started taking whatever jobs the cook or kitchen staff gave her.

Zuko spent the next thirty minutes rearranging Yue’s bed fifteen times. Finally, the sound of boats could and incoming voices could be heard. Zuko snuck out of Yue’s room, not wanting to be there when the princess arrived, and slipped into the kitchen.

“Did you see any of them?” Azula asked, finishing up the plates of food.

“No, but I’ve heard how they act up North. Arrogant and pompous.” He said.

Azula rolled her eyes, “It was nice meeting nobles that didn’t treat us like trash. Back to the real world, I suppose.”

“Yup. One fishermen said some noble had a waterbender throw him into the ocean and freeze him for bringing him the wrong kind of fish.”

“Wonder what he does to servants who bring him a dish of dinner he doesn’t like.” Azula winced, looking at the plates of food.

“Do you want me to do it?” Zuko asked, fully ready to take the arrow for Azula.

“No. I can handle this. Just keep making yourselves useful. Isamu is on the warpath today.”

Seconds later, voices began to approach the kitchen. They sounded too happy and cheerful to be servants voices which made Azula and Zuko turn to the door in confusion as Katara, Sokka and Aang entered, followed by three girls.

“Zuko! Azula! There you are!” Sokka called.

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked.

“We wanted to introduce you to our friends.” Sokka explained, “This is Toph, she’s Lao Beifong’s daughter, Suki, she’s from Kyoshi Island, and Yue, Princess of the Northern Water Tribe.” Zuko and Azula instantly fell into a bow when he heard her title, as did the other servants, not holding something, in the room.

“Oh! You don’t have to bow.” Yue quickly said, helping him up, “I really don’t like people bowing to me. It’s so awkward and weird.”

Zuko turned back to Azula, “Is the Fire Nation just weird?” He asked.

“Nah.” Toph said, “My dad makes our guards and servants bow to him.”

“So should we…-”

“No! Do not bow!” Toph waved her hands and shook her head.

“Got it.”

Something about Toph caught Azula’s attention. She was definitely Earth Kingdom, her paler skin and black hair stood out against the Water Tribe people’s dark skin and brown hair but there was something else too.

“I’m blind, Flamey.” Toph said.

“Oh! I'm so sorry, Miss. Beifong. I didn’t mean-”

“Relax. I don’t care. As long as you and your brother don’t treat me like I’m going to break, we won’t have a problem.”

“What about when Suki treats you like that?” Yue asked.

“Suki’s different. She still spars with me whenever I want.” Toph argued.

“Can you guys get away long enough to hang out with us after dinner?” Katara asked.

“We should be able to. Once dinner is over, we'll slip out and find you guys."

“Great!” Katara quickly hugged Azula, gaining a small blush from the girl, then turned to leave.

“Yeah. Great.” Toph smirked.

“Come on.” Sokka grabbed her arm and the group made their way to the dining area where everyone was already waiting on them.

“Where did you two go?” Kya asked.

“Just to check on the food.” Katara lied.

“Toph, please don’t run off like that again.” Poppy said.

“I was with Suki and Katara, mom. They’re as good as any of the guards back home.”

“What about me?” Sokka asked.

“Meh.” Toph moved her hand from side to side, “Katara definitely beats you and so does Suki. So does Yue now that I think about it. Hmmm…How about this? If I’m ever attacked by a sea slug, I’ll let you know.”

“You are mean.”

“Children, please.” Lao lightly scolded, “Behavior yourselves.”

“Lao, leave them be.” Kya said, “They’re children. They need the time to be children.”

“They are future leaders. Your children especially need to be prepared for that above all else.” Kya simply rolled her eyes in response.

Suddenly, Isamu walked into the room with at least ten servants behind him, who all set down dishes in front of those at the table. Katara and Sokka scanned the small group of servants for Azula and Zuko but couldn’t find them. The entire dinner went on and the two didn’t see any hint of them. Eventually, hours later, the dinner was completed. While the adults, Anji and Emi stayed behind to continue talking, the kids all fled to Katara’s room.

Katara had one of the bigger rooms out of all of them, coming second only to Yue, so there was plenty of space to fit everyone. Although they didn’t seen them, Azula and Zuko had slipped out of the kitchen when dinner was wrapping up and saw everyone heading to Katara’s room. Without much thinking, they followed them.

“Okay, are we going to talk about the elephant koi in the room or not?” Toph asked.

“What elephant koi?” Yue asked, taking a seat on Katara’s bed.

“The giant crushes Katara and Sokka have on those two servants?”

“They have names!” Sokka snapped.

“Sorry, you’re right.” Toph put up her hands, “But you do have crushes on them.”

“Toph, that’s ridiculous.” Katara told her, “I don’t know where you got that idea, but it’s not true.”

“I got it because, even blind, you two are not subtle when you like someone.”

“Toph-that’s not-you’re wrong.”

“Come on, admit it!” Toph yelled, “You like Zuko and Azula!” Zuko and Azula, who had been about to enter the room, hung back, careful not to be seen but listened in as the group continued to talk,

“What?! No. No, we don’t.” Sokka quickly argued.

“Sokka, I haven’t seen you get a crush this bad since me and Yue. You like Zuko.”

“And you all should have heard Sugar Queen and Azula’s heartbeats when they hugged goodbye in the kitchen.” Toph snickered.

“We-We don’t like them.” Katara argued, although her tone was weak, “Aang. Tell them!”

“I thought Avatar’s weren’t supposed to lie?”

“Aang!”

“You two do like them!” Yue chirped, “Why are you embarrassed? That’s so cute!”

“It’s not that-it’s…”

“Don’t tell me it’s the station thing. I thought you two were better than that!” Yue suddenly snapped. Azula and Zuko exchanged a quick look, unsure about if they wanted the answer.

“NO! Spirit’s no! It’s not about that at all.”

“Good. Then what’s the problem? You should ask them out or did you already ask them out?” Yue asked.

“Look, it doesn’t make any sense to ask them out, okay? They're not going to be here that long and, besides, what we have are just crushes. They’ll go away.”

“But you admit you like them?” Toph asked.

Sokka groaned, “Yes, Toph. If you really want to hear it, we admit it. Katara likes Azula and I like Zuko. Happy?”

“Very. Especially because they’re right outside that door.”

Everything seemed to freeze for a second as people took time to process what Toph had said. When Katara and Sokka understood her, their eyes went to the door then back to the blind girl. Azula and Zuko bolted off but not before Sokka could catch a glimpse of their retreating figures.

“She wasn’t lying.” Sokka had clear worry and concern in his voice.

“They heard us? They heard everything we said?” Katara asked.

“Yup.”

“Great. That’s great. Umm…Aang?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think with enough coaxing Appa would crush me to death?” She asked.

“Katara!”

“That has to be better than facing Azula tomorrow!” Katara argued.

“Or Zuko!” Sokka added.

“Just talk to them.” Suki said, “I’m sure there’s a reason why they left. They probably just got overwhelmed. Plus, they didn’t know Toph could see them so they were also probably shocked by her knowing they were here.”

“I guess.” Katara admitted.

“Let’s just go to bed. We’ve had enough excitement for one night.” Sokka said.

Toph, Suki, Yue and Aang filed out of the room a few minutes later but Sokka stayed behind.

“How do you think it’ll go?” He asked.

“Best case scenario, they don’t hate us and want to go out sometime. Worst case scenario, they call us creepy and weird and immediately request to return to the Fire Nation.” Katara said.

“What option are you hoping for?” Sokka asked.

“What?! I-I don’t know now. I mean, I obviously don’t want to get called creepy and weird and I like having Azula here so I don’t want her to go back to the Fire Nation and-”

“Katara.” Katara looked up at her brother, spiral forgotten. His eyebrows were raised, expecting Katara to answer a little more concretely.

“The first one.” She whispered, “You?”

“The first one.”

“I wish you luck.” She said.

“You too.” With that, Sokka walked out of her room, heading to his own for some sleep and to hopefully not think all night about whatever response Zuko would give.

Chapter Text

When Katara woke up that morning, her mind was blank. The sun was shining through the windows and into her eyes, her signal to get up. As she began to wake up, a schedule appeared in her mind. She knew she had classes to teach and would be expected to keep Yue, Suki, and Toph-

Toph! Azula and Zuko heard them say last night that they liked them! Katara wanted to just cover herself with her furs and hide away forever. She’d only had a handful of crushes in her life and, with all of them, they’d been trying to date her because of her title and power. Even the nicest person she liked ended up just wanting to date her so he could get a shot at being the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Azula was the first person she liked who didn’t care about her title at all and, somehow, she blew it before even confessing. That had to be some kind of record.

“No use withering away in bed.” Katara told herself, “I have to face her at some point.” So, she formed a plan.

That night, she would find Azula after she was done with her chores and speak to her alone. It was probably better to make sure none of the other servants, Zuko or Isamu were around when they talked about this. She would tell Azula the truth, see what she thought and then respect her choice, whatever it would be.

“That sounds like a good plan.” The waterbender said, getting dressed for the day, “Just breath, Kat. Breath. Everything is going to be okay.”

—------------------------------

Azula hadn’t slept that night. She knew Zuko did, she could hear him snoring, but she hadn’t. How was she supposed to? The Princess of the South Pole, one of the most powerful waterbenders on the planet, liked her. How was she supposed to simply process that information like it was nothing? And the curse. Spirits, the curse. With all this extra emotional craziness, her dragon form would be appearing now more than ever. What if it appeared in front of Katara? Or her parents? Or the world leaders?

Azula had spent the entire night basically being a nervous wreck. When morning came, she thought she could at least get some meaningless chores to busy her mind. A day to focus on something that wasn’t Katara related would be perfect. Then Isamu came in with the day’s schedule.

“Riku, you’ll be Fire Lord Yuto’s personal servant for the day.” Riku, a nonbender girl, nodded, “Azula, you’re assigned to Princess Katara’s room. It needs to be cleaned from top to bottom.”

Azula’s eyes snapped open, “What? No! Please, Isamu, isn't there something else I can do?”

“No.” Isamu snapped, “Everything is set for the day.”

“Could someone join me?” Azula asked.

“Everyone is busy. I don’t understand why you’re complaining.” The older man said, “It’s one of the easiest jobs.”

“I just-”

“You’re doing it.” He said, “Maybe tomorrow you help wash the ship or something, but today you’re cleaning the Princess’s room.”

“Yes, Isamu.” Azula grumbled.

After breakfast, Azula gathered her things and made her way to Katara’s room.

“Good luck.” Zuko whispered. His job of the day was taking care of the animals in the stable. Azula rolled her eyes. Somehow, Zuko lucked his way into a quiet, albeit difficult, job while she got to spend the day in the room of the person who confessed to having a crush on her the previous night. The spirits just loved her.

Thankfully, Katara wasn’t in the room so Azula got to work. Hopefully, if she finished up fast, she could leave before Katara got back to her room. She got to work doing the bed, cleaning the desk, straightening up the room and, by the time she was basically done, Katara still hadn’t come back.

“Perfect.” With a final touch, she finished up Katara’s room then moved to collect her stuff. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Now she could just spend the day thinking over how she’d talk to Katara about last night.

“Azula?” The firebender turned around in shock, staring at Katara, who was in the doorway.

“Katara.”

Katara let out a small sigh after a few seconds of silence, “I think we should talk about-”

“We don’t have to talk.” Azula said, gathering her things.

“But we do. I want to talk about what you heard last night. That was not how I wanted that to go. Sokka and I had no idea you two were outside the door.”

“Katara, please. I don’t want to talk about this now.”

“Why? The longer we put this off the worse it’s going to be. Why not sit down now and talk about it?”

“For…reasons.”

“Fine. You don’t have to talk, but I’m going to.”

“Katara-”

Katara took a breath and just started speaking, throwing caution to the wind, “I think you’re amazing. You’re the first bender I’ve met that's given me a real run for my money and you’re my age. You make me laugh and you’re strong. You clearly hate your job working for Yuto but you’re staying with your brother.”

“Bold of you to assume that I have the luxury of quitting a paying job.”

“Fair, but I think my point still stands.”

Azula, now with all her things collected, turned towards Katara, “Do you really like me or were you just trying to get Toph to leave you alone?”

“I really like you.” Katara confirmed.

“But why? You’re a princess. Aren’t you supposed to marry some stuffy noble and have a lot of kids? Not that you don’t have impeccable taste,” Katara giggled, “but why me?”

Katara shrugged, “Everything I just said. Plus I think you’re cute.”

Azula badly wanted to respond but she found herself tongue tied. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was positive that her head was going in every direction. She opened her mouth to respond. She wanted to tell her thanks and that she found her cute too but nothing came out.

“Are you okay?” Katara asked.

“Fine. I’m just a little parched.” It was a simple lie. One that would hopefully give her a moment to collect her thoughts.

“No, I mean, it looks like you hit your head. There are bumps on the upper part of your forehead.” Katara brought her hand to Azula’s head.

“Bumps? I don’t-” The realization hit her like a rock, “Can I use your bathroom?” Azula left before Katara could answer. She slammed the door shut, hoping her urgency didn’t concern Katara.

“Of course. Just when she called you cute.” Blue scales were covering Azula’s arms, her horns poked out of her forehead, now officially big enough that they could be called horns, and her tail was swaying back and forth behind her, “Stupid…tail.” Thanks to the swaying, Azula managed to hit multiple items in the bathroom, “I should just cut this thing off.” Azula mumbled, trying to prevent her tail from hitting anything else.

“Azula? Are you okay in there?” Katara asked, concerned both by the items falling and Azula’s dash into the bathroom.

Azula’s heart rate rose a little when Katara started opening the door. She launched herself at the door, slamming it shut.

“Don’t come in here!” Her wings exploded from her back. Thankfully, she had more control over them than her tail and neatly folded the two against her back.

“Are you okay? Was my cute comment out of line? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. I just think you’re really pretty and you're amazing.”

“I think you’re amazing too.” Azula said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. The way you handle yourself against other bending masters and in meetings…you’re amazing. Not to mention beautiful.” Azula had to stop herself from talking anymore, “I just-...Katara, there are better people out there for you. Better girls, better guys, people who aren’t me. You deserve that.” There were people out there that didn’t grow wings and hide in the bathroom when Katara confessed to them.

“There are other people.” Katara admitted, “But none of them are you. None of them have your skills or are as smart as you or as pretty or-…Can you come out so we can talk?” Katara asked.

Azula winced, she brought her hand up to her eyes. A hand that was more paw than hand at the moment. If she opened the door, Katara would scream and call the guards to throw her in some kind of cell, “No.”

“No?” Katara asked.

“I-Can you get Zuko?”

“Azula, please let me in. If you’re sick, I can help. I’m a healer. I’ve seen everything.”

Azula wanted to laugh. She was sure the princess had never seen someone with a tail before, “Just get Zuko.” She said, her tail now curled around her body to provide her with some comfort.

She could hear Katara sigh, “Alright. I’ll get him. Will you be okay until I can come back?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Ten minutes later, Azula heard Zuko’s footsteps coming to the door and opening it up. She was hiding in the corner, in case Zuko was dumb enough to let Katara into the room, but sighed in relief when she realized Katara was staying outside.

Zuko shut the door closed behind him, “So…want to tell me what happened or…?”

Azula covered herself with her wings, a similar move she had done a lot when they were younger, “Azula?” Zuko knelt down, “What happened?”

“What does it look like happened?!” Azula hissed, her wings expanding, “Katara and I were talking and she said I was smart and cute and now I’m turning into a dragon.”

“Wait. Katara confessed too?” Zuko asked.

“Too? Did Sokka…?”

“Yup.” Zuko admitted.

“What did you say?”

“I told him I didn’t know how I felt?” Azula gave him a look like he had just said the sky was pink, “What?”

“We’ll talk about how much of an idiot you are later. Did he follow you here?” Azula asked.

“I don’t know.” Zuko leaned back, trying to see if he could hear Sokka in the other room.

“Zuko?” Katara called, “Is Azula okay? Do I need to get healing water?” She sounded so concerned, which did provide Azula with a little comfort, but she was also walking closer to the door which just spiked Azula’s fear of being discovered.

“No! Azula’s fine!” Zuko yelled, rushing to the door, “Right Zula? You’re fine.” The door was mostly closed now, only a tiny sliver was left open so all Katara could see was Zuko.

Azula opened her mouth to confirm but all that came out were roars and growls, “What was that?” Katara asked, “Azula?” She called.

Zuko looked between Katara and Azula, “Azula’s fine, Kat. Just trust me. She’s embarrassed. I think I’m going to take her back to the tent.”

“I just want to make sure she’s okay.” Katara argued, “Azula? Can you hear me?” Katara tried again to get a response from the girl.

Azula looked at Zuko with a face filled with worry. She tried to respond but all she could make were dragon sounds and her scales were taking over more of her body. Both siblings knew that if Azula stayed in here much longer, they’d have to explain to Katara why there was a dragon in her bathroom and where Azula had gone.

“Katara. She’s fine.” Zuko said, his voice turning commanding, “I promise that she’s okay. She just doesn’t want to talk. Give me a few minutes and then we’ll leave.”

“Fine. Azula? I don’t know if you can hear me, but if my cute comment was out of line I really am sorry. You don’t seem to be in the talking mood so can you nod or shake your head to this question?”

“She nodded.” Zuko told her.

“Do you hate me?”

Quickly, Azula shook her head, “She doesn’t hate you.” Zuko told her.

“Okay. I hope you feel better.” Katara called before the door closed. Zuko let out a large breath and rested his head against the door.

“That could have been bad.”

Azula responded with a small roar, “Right! You’re still transforming.” Zuko quickly turned to Azula, “Remember the breathing exercise mom and dad taught us?”

Azula nodded, “Good. In for five, out for five. Keep your human self in mind while you breathe and only focus on that. Just breathe and focus.” It was slow, but Azula’s dragon features eventually faded away.

“Thanks, Zuko.” Azula whispered.

“No problem. What now?”

“I just want to go back to the tent.” Azula mumbled, cutting him off.

“Okay.” Zuko nodded, understanding, “You’re completely human?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Let’s head back to the tent.” Zuko led Azula out past Katara, who tried not to look at the firebender, but that didn’t help Azula not feel embarrassed and guilty. Zuko stayed with her until they got back to the tent. He told Isamu that she had gotten sick and would need to stay down for the rest of the day.

“Fine.” Isamu grumbled, “When you come here for dinner, make sure she gets some soup.”

“I will.” Zuko told him.

“Good. I expect you to return to your duties, Zuko.”

“Yes, Isamu. Can I just check on Azula one more time?”

Isamu nodded, “Go ahead.”

Zuko waited until he was gone to kneel down next to Azula, “Feeling any better.”

“I hate this curse.” Azula growled, “It ruins everything.”

“I know.” Zuko whispered, “But we’re working on getting rid of it. Soon, we’ll be able to be normal. No more worrying about our emotions or being under Yuto’s thumb. We’ll be free.”

“It can’t come soon enough.”

“We’ll talk to Aang as soon as we can.” Zuko reminded her, “Remember? Your big master plan?”

Azula didn’t answer.

“You’ll see. Things will work out.” Zuko promised, “I have to go, but I’ll be back by sunset.” Azula's nod was Zuko’s signal to leave.

Once Zuko left, Azula rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling of the tent. She did like Katara, she really did, but thanks to this curse there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t even get through a conversation about their crushes without turning into a beast. A date would be a disaster.

This had to end. It just had to.

Chapter Text

Zuko liked stable duty. While there were some people around, it was definitely one of the more quiet places in the South Pole and most people that did show up only came to put an animal back or take one out so they didn’t stay long. Alone, Zuko could actually think and didn’t have to worry about messing up in front of anyone. If he tripped and spilled water, who was gonna tell on him? The arctic hens? Plus, animals listened without talking back.

Today, he really needed this time for some peace and quiet. When he arrived at the stables, it was quiet, only the occasional sound from one of the animals could be heard, and Zuko got right to work. While he was feeding the arctic camels, Zuko took a quick look around the stables to see if anyone was coming or there. Finding no one, he turned to the animals.

“So, apparently Sokka likes me.” The camel didn’t even look up, “I know. That’s crazy, right? I mean…he’s the prince. He’s set to inherit the South Pole, he’ll become a world leader. Why would he want to date me? I’m not even a firebending prodigy like Azula. Maybe the kitchen’s been feeding him something weird? I should probably talk to the cooks to see if they’ve been putting something in the food.” Again, no response from the camel, “I know he’ll want to talk about last night, but I don’t even know what to say. I like him but…”

“But?” Zuko instantly turned around, fire in his hands to attack whoever snuck up on him.

“Woah! Please don’t kill me!” Sokka yelled, putting up his hands.

“Sokka!” Zuko instantly made the fire in his hands disappear, “Sorry about that.”

“No worries.”

“How’d you find me?”

“Isamu said you were here.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Sokka was digging at the ground with one of his feet, creating a small hole in the snow, “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about last night.”

“Okay. I think we should talk.”

“Do you want to go first or…”

“You brought it up.” Zuko reminded him.

“Right. Okay. I’m just going to come right out and say it: I like you. You make me laugh, you’re kind, you’re really good with animals, and, even if you aren’t a firebending prodigy, I still think you could hold your own in any fight. I haven’t felt like this since Yue and Suki. But I’m over them now! Not like, over in the sense that things ended badly. We just wanted different things and decided to mutually break up. I like only you now because you’re really talented and smart and hooooo…”

“And hoooo?” Zuko asked, chuckling.

“You could have stopped me from that long embarrassing spiral.”

“I know, but I wanted to see how deep a hole you could dig.”

Sokka laughed, “Well, now I’ve talked. It's your turn.”

Zuko froze for a moment, trying to think of the right words to use, “I really don’t know how I feel.” He replied honestly, “I do think you’re pretty great and smart and funny-“

“Why do I sense a but?”

“But I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to start anything.” Zuko admitted, “Azula and I are here as servants to the Fire Lord, we’ll be leaving in a few months, and…and I don’t think you’d really want to be with me anyways.”

“Why would I?” Sokka asked, “Because you’re a servant?”

“Well that, but my family is also…there’s something that runs in our family and if you knew about it you’d run away screaming or think I was a monster.”

“Zuko? Are your parents sick? Are you sick?” Sokka asked.

“In a way.”

“What do you mean ‘in a way’? You and Azula have been really vague about your family. If your parents are sick, you can say something. Katara is a healer. I’m sure she could help your family.”

“Sokka, it’s…it’s not a sickness like that.”

“You’re being vague again.”

“Look, I just can’t tell you, okay?”

“Fine. So, whatever this sickness is, it’s the reason you don’t think we can date?”

“Yes.” Zuko confirmed, “That and the distance part.”

Sokka could understand the distance part, but the sickness Zuko talked about was confusing him. What sickness was there that Katara couldn’t heal? Even mental stuff, she couldn’t fix the person but she could make things better. Why did these two still not seem to trust them enough to give them real information?

“But it is a nice ego boost to know you find me hot.” Zuko said, throwing some food to the arctic hens.

“I didn’t say hot. I said hoooo.” Sokka corrected, laughing a little.

“My mistake.” Zuko chuckled.

“Do you mind if I stick around?” Sokka asked, “Even if we can’t date, we can still be friends right?”

“Sure. I’d like that.”

After a few minutes, Sokka turned to walk along the stalls and looked at the animals, “So, which animal is your favorite?”

“Here? Probably the otter penguins. They’re really cute.”

“You like them because they’re cute?” Sokka asked.

“Yeah, why? Can I not?”

“No, I just figured you’d pick the polar dogs or something because of their sharp claws and teeth.”

“The otter penguins really just remind me of the turtleducks back home.”

“Turtleducks?” Sokka asked.

Zuko, having no animals left to feed, sat down for a second to think back to the farm and his family, “They’re these little animals that fly around the capital city but a few sometimes find their way to our little village. One year, my mom got so excited because a mom turtleduck had eggs right next to our house. She showed me and Azula how to care for the eggs and give food to the mom and we were there when they hatched too. Baby turtleducks are the cutest animals I’ve ever seen.”

Sokka, who was sitting down next to him, smiled, “That sounds fun. When was the last time you saw a turtleduck?”

“Two or so years ago. One of our neighbors killed one and now hardly any stop near our village. My mom was a mess when she found out. She almost marched right over to our neighbors house and burned it down but my dad held her back.”

“I’d say that sounds excessive but a year ago some drunk idiot smashed an otter penguin egg and my mom almost broke his arm. My dad was so close to letting her do it too, but at the last minute I think he remembered that they’re supposed to be leading the tribe.”

“I would have smashed that idiot’s arm too.” Zuko said, “Smashing an egg…what kind of moron.”

“He was drunk. He said in the morning that he was sorry.”

“Still smashed an egg.” Zuko growled, “That’s just cruel.”

“Hey, I agree and so did my mom and dad. The guy got sentenced to our tribe prison for two months and extra chores for two years.”

“Should have been four years in prison.” Zuko mumbled.

“I think my mom was rooting for life but two months and extra chores was the best my dad could do.” Sokka chuckled.

“I really like your mom. She sounds cool.”

“She is.” Sokka confirmed, “Your mom sounds pretty great too.”

“She is.” Zuko said, “Though your dad does scare me.”

Sokka threw his head back laughing, “My dad?! He’s the nice one between my mom and dad. It goes my mom, my sister, my grandmas, me, my uncle and then my dad for who you should be scared of in my family.”

“Why are you below your grandma?” Zuko asked.

“I know my place is the family structure and I am proud of it.”

“Still, I think your dad is pretty scary when he wants to be.”

Sokka just shrugged, “I guess he can seem pretty scary when you didn’t grow up with stories about him, my uncle and mom pulling pranks on my grandma.” While he laughed, Zuko just looked at him with a funny look, “What?”

“Your family is the weirdest royal family I’ve ever met. In a good way!” He quickly added.

Sokka shrugged, “My family actually wasn’t born to rule like the royal family is in the Fire Nation. When my grandma got here, she had nothing. She was fleeing a man in the North Pole while pregnant with my dad. A week after she got here she gave birth to him and worked to prove herself with him on her back. My dad grew up as a normal kid with my two grandma’s and it wasn’t until the chief said he needed a successor that he started considering becoming chief. After a long series of trials and tests, my dad was allowed to become chief. I’m fifteen and he’s only been chief for twenty years.”

“Wow.” Zuko whispered, “I guess I assumed your family was born into riches and titles.”

Sokka barked out a laugh, “Not at all. You ask me, I think all nations should have their leaders prove themselves before they become…well leaders. Just to make sure they can protect and provide for their people.”

“That’s not a bad idea. I’ve definitely met a few nobles who probably would run away before actually taking any responsibility. One time, this spoiled noble boy…Chan, I think his name was, asked if Azula and I could serve food at this big party he was having. When we said no, because we only work for the palace and Chan was one of the most stuck up idiots we ever had to serve. During a dinner, while Azula was refilling his drink, he tried to grab her….you know and said she should be thankful he noticed her. Anyways, we told him no and he screamed at her that we had to come with him because he was superior to us, and she slapped him and I hit him with a fireball. Guess who got in trouble?” Sokka winced.

Sokka just kept staring in disbelief, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You and Azula clearly hate being servants in the palace. Why do you stay? I mean, your parents work, right?” Zuko nodded, “Why don’t you get a job where they work or find somewhere else to hire you?”

“It’s not that simple.” Zuko mumbled, “Yuto he…he-“

“Let’s you and your sister get harassed and abused by nobles all the time it seems. Why don’t you quit? I’m sure servants quit the palace all the time.”

“Sokka, it’s not that simple. Yuto knows about our family’s…sickness and…it’s just better for us to stay there.”

“Wait. Yuto knows about your family’s sickness?”

“Yeah. He helps us keep it hidden.” The way Zuko said helps made Sokka’s stomach churn. His instincts were practically screaming at him that something was going on between Azula and Zuko and the Fire Nation Royal Family, especially with Yuto.

Sokka wanted to say more but that was when Katara came running over to the stables, screaming for Zuko.

“What’s wrong?” Zuko asked.

“It’s Azula. She-“

“Show me.” Any confusion or even annoyance disappeared from his face.

Katara led Zuko away while Sokka stayed behind. Feeling like he shouldn’t follow, he went to the council building and found his dad’s office. Hakoda was sitting there with Kya and Bato, softly laughing.

“Sokka.” Hakoda smiled, “Is everything okay?”

“Dad? Would…would you care if I had a crush on someone who was a servant?” Sokka asked.

Hakoda blinked, turning to Kya and Bato, “Of course not. All I care about is that you’re safe and happy. Why? Do you?” Hakoda asked.

Gently, Sokka nodded, “That Fire Nation servant named Zuko.”

“Zuko? Oh! Is he the one always with that girl who has the twin bang strands?” Kya asked.

“That’s his sister, Azula.” Kya nodded in understanding, then gestured for Sokka to come sit down.

“Why do you think we’d care, Sokka?” Hakoda asked.

“I don’t know. I just…I wanted to ask. I really like him, but he…he’s hiding something and I think it has to do with Yuto.”

“Yeah, Yuto didn’t seem too fond of them the night of the dragon story.” Kya remembered, “But why would Yuto not like two kids? Let alone put them as part of his staff?”

“Keep a close eye on them.” Bato guessed.

“I guess.” Kya reasoned, “But why? Do they seem dangerous?”

“No.” Sokka said, “I mean, they both have bending but I wouldn’t call them dangerous.”

“I don’t like that this boy is hiding something from you, Sokka, and if Yuto thinks they need to be near him so he can keep an eye on them then it must be really bad.” Hakoda said.

“We don’t know that.” Sokka argued, “How do we know Yuto isn’t a massive as-”

“Sokka!” Hakoda snapped, “I think you’re letting your emotions get the best of you. Maybe you need to take some time and think. You’re a smart kid, but I think you’re letting your feelings get to you.”

Sokka let out a large breath through his nose, “Fine.” He stood up and turned to leave his parents and uncle, “But I do think Yuto isn’t as great as you think he is.” He muttered then left before his parents could get in another word.

Chapter Text

That night, everyone was fast asleep in their rooms. The night guards were patrolling the tents where the important families slept. Some of the Water Tribe guards even had polar dogs sniffing the area to bark if they found an intruder trying to sneak into someone’s room. It wasn’t too uncommon for waterbenders to walk around at night either. Hama, for instance, was awake while her wife lay sleeping next to her and decided to walk to the water's edge for some practice.

Even she didn’t notice the two small figures dashing past the tents to get to the Avatar’s room. The figures were quiet and their clothes made it easy for them to be invisible in the dark. Even if caught and tortured, Azula would never tell anyone, not even Katara, that she learned those moves from her brother or was wearing his clothes which is why they were a size too big for her. The two jumped onto the roof of the igloo then slipped into Aang’s room through a window. Aang was fast asleep in his bed, not a care in the world, when Azula gently started shaking him.

“Wh-” She threw a hand over his mouth.

“Aang, it’s me.” Azula hissed, taking her hood off.

“Azula? Zuko? What are you doing?” Aang sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“This is the only time I’m ever going to be able to talk to you without people around or without Katara and Sokka wanting to know about what I’m talking about.”

“Oh! Yeah, Katara told us that she tried to talk to you. I hope you’re feeling better. She said you got pretty sick all of a sudden and couldn’t talk.”

“Aang-”

“If you need healing, Katara can help you. She’s not specifically trained in healing but she’s still one of the best healers here.”

“Aang-”

“Or you could ask someone in the healing center. I’m sure they-”

“Aang. Listen to me.” Zuko whispered yelled, “Azula and I are cursed!” She snapped.

Aang froze. He slowly stood up and turned to face the siblings, his eyes wide, “What?” He whispered.

“Zuko and I are cursed.” Azula said, “You know the story of Sozin?”

Aang nodded, “He killed the Air Nomads then, for some reason, stopped his invasion of the world plan, but no one knows why.”

“Zuko and I are Sozin’s great-grandchildren. When Sozin killed the Air Nation, he returned to the Fire Nation and killed his dragon and a spirit cursed him for it. Whenever Sozin got too angry, or sad, or happy, or any kind of emotion he turned into a dragon and the curse was passed onto his bloodline and anyone who marries into it. My grandfather had it, my grandmother had it, my uncle has it, my aunt had it, my cousin had it, my father has it, my mother has it, Zuko and I have it. We need your help to get rid of it.”

“Wait…Whenever you and Zuko get too emotional you turn into dragons?” Aang asked, clearly a small bit of disbelief was in his voice.

“Don’t believe me? Fine. Come with me.” Azula grabbed Aang’s arm and brought him outside to where Appa was sleeping. The sky bison looked up but put his head down when he recognized Azula, Zuko and Aang’s figures.

“What are we doing?” Aang asked.

“I’ll prove the curse to you. We can never shift when we want to but with enough pain….” Azula grabbed Aang’s staff and smashed herself in the stomach then the leg hard. Zuko then took the staff and did the same.

“Azula! Zuko!” Aang yelled as Azula cried in pain, “Why did you do that?! This could really hurt you! It’s not a-” Aang cut himself off when he realized their forms were changing. At the moment, the two were curled up, clearly in pain, but they slowly began to grow bigger. In seconds, their curled up forms transformed into medium sized blue and red dragons, probably a bit bigger than a polar bear dog.

Appa was up now, having noticed the dragons. Thankfully, he didn’t growl or try to fight Azula or Zuko. He mostly seemed confused about where the other humans had gone. It helped that they were a little smaller than him but just as long. Aang could tell by the fur that went from their necks to the start of their tails that they were young dragons. Young dragons still had fur but older ones would get spikes on their back. The only fur a dragon would keep throughout their lives was the fur at the end of their tails.

“Azula? Zuko?” Aang whispered.

The dragons nodded. They sat down, so as not to appear too big and dangerous. Their parents always told them that they should only fight when needed. If they could, it was best to appear not dangerous and wild and people might just leave them alone or give them enough space to fly away.

“You…you’re not lying.” Azula huffed, “Okay. So you and Zuko are cursed and you need me to fix it. How can I fix it?” Azula used one of her claws to touch his arrows, “Because I’m…the Avatar?” Aang guessed. Another nod.

“I don’t know if I can fix this. I can’t even access the Spirit World yet so there’s no way for me to even talk to the spirit that cursed you.”

Azula gave him a confused and almost fearful look with a little anger mixed in. Aang was quickly reminded that dragons were very expressive creatures. Even though she couldn’t talk, he had a feeling that she had been relying on him. Zuko offered a small roar, thankfully one quiet enough to keep people from hearing him, and cocked his head to the side.

“I’m sorry. I would help if I could, I promise, but I don’t know if I can fix this.” Azula sat on her back legs, her wings tucked behind her back and tail wrapped around her as she began to gently breathe in and out. Zuko, still on all fours in the snow, also turned back after a few calming breaths. A few minutes later, both were back to their human selves.

“There’s nothing you can do?” She asked.

“No. I’m sorry.” Aang told her.

Zuko was not proud of the fireball that escaped from his fist but he couldn’t help it. Even the Avatar couldn’t help them! What chance did they have of ever being human again if the Avatar, the bridge between the two worlds, couldn’t help them?!

“How long have you…?” Aang didn’t need to finish his question for Azula to understand.

“Since we can remember. I’ve never not known a time when my parents weren’t telling me to be careful because I could get too excited and transform. I think the first time it happened though was when I was a toddler. I got scared at night and transformed.” A small snicker escaped her, “I hid under my bed for hours because I was terrified and confused about what happened. It took my mom hours to get me to come out.”

Zuko, hearing their conversation, came over, “My first transformation was when I got sick at five. Apparently it was one of the scariest times for our family because my mom wanted a healer to come look at me but they couldn’t exactly have someone see me go from human to dragon form so they just waited and prayed to every spirit that I would be okay.”

Aang was silent for a few seconds, “Who all knows?”

“Only Yuto and his family. Yuto is a descendant of Zeisan and she, along with her children, helped to move our grandfather out of the palace and sent our family into a small village. Close enough to keep an eye on us and far enough away that if we ever transformed, we could fly away from humans easily. Only our uncle has managed to convince Yuto to let him leave.”

“You haven’t told Katara and Sokka?” Aang asked.

“What?!” Azula snapped, “No! Of course not! Why would we tell them?”

“Don’t you trust them? You told me.”

“We told you because we thought you could help us.” Azula corrected, “Katara and Sokka would be freaked out if they found out what we were. They’d run for the hills.”

Aang lifted an eyebrow, “Have you been hanging out with a different Katara and Sokka these past few weeks?” He asked, “They won’t do anything like that.”

“You don’t know that.” Zuko argued.

“You don’t know they’ll freak out.” Aang argued.

“Aang, we…if they get freaked out and run off then not only will we destroy one of the only decent relationships we have with nobles but we’ll also be attacked by the other nations because they’ll tell everyone our secret.”

“True.” Aang admitted, “Or you get two more friends who know your secret and can support you. It wouldn’t just be you and Zuko anymore.” The siblings wanted to object to his point but they didn’t know what to say.

“I’m gonna head back to bed. Can you make it back to your tent?” Aang asked.

“See you tomorrow, Aang.”

“See you tomorrow! Goodnight, Azula! Goodnight, Zuko!” Appa gave a soft grumble, “And goodnight to you too, Appa.”

They returned to their tent mostly thinking. They thought about what their parents had always told them, what Aang told them, Azula thought back to her own experience with someone outside the family learning their secret and how Katara acted when she hinted at her curse. Zuko had his mind wrapped around Sokka’s reaction. He was the prince of the Water Tribe. Would he even be allowed to keep this a secret? His heart pounded in his chest at the idea of Sokka admitting that he couldn’t keep this from his father.

Throughout their thinking, Azula couldn’t seem to forget Katara’s words.

“I don’t think I could ever see you as a monster.”

By the time they were back at their tent and safely inside their sleeping bags, Azula had made up her mind. She was going to convince Zuko that they should tell Katara and Sokka about their curse.

Chapter Text

“I think we should tell them.”

Zuko looked up at Azula from where he was skinning a fish. Azula kept her gaze focused on the fish but Zuko knew she was nervous about his response.

“Tell who what?”

“Tell Katara and Sokka about the curse.”

“What?!” Zuko yelled, instantly shushing his voice, “Why?”

“I talked to Aang last night and he can’t fix our curse. He can’t even access the Spirit World.”

“So we’ll wait. We can wait for him to find a way to access the Spirit World. Isn’t that what all these elders and masters are for?”

“It could take years for that. The masters are more focused on him learning bending first. He has to master all the elements and the Avatar State then they’ll teach him how to get into the Spirit World.” Azula whispered, “It’s better to forget about Aang being our answer.”

Zuko let out a sigh, “So you want to tell Katara and Sokka?”

“I think we can trust them. I don’t think they'll turn on us or hate us or anything like that.” Azula said, “Do you think Sokka would?”

Zuko thought back to his times with Sokka. Would Sokka call him a monster, scream, hate him, want to cut off his head as a reward? No. No, Sokka wouldn’t do anything like that. Sokka would be shocked, yes, but he wouldn’t do anything that he thought would put him in danger.

“No, he wouldn’t turn on us. I trust him.”

Azula nodded, “Then let’s tell them. Tonight.”

“Okay. After our chores, we’ll head over to their house and tell them. Are we telling them everything or…?”

“Everything.” Azula said, “About Sozin, about Yuto, about the curse, everything.” When Azula heard her brother’s chuckle, she gave him a confused look.

“What?”

“I’m just surprised you’re the one suggesting this. You’re the one about to break mom and dad’s biggest rule. I thought that if anyone was going to break that rule it would have been me.”

“If you want you can be the first to say it. Then you are the one breaking the rule first.”

“No, I’ll let you take this one. In case things go sideways, I can always say that I was just following your lead.” Zuko grinned.

“So I’m the fall guy?” Azula asked, amusement in her eyes.

“Basically.”

“Oh, really?” Azula grabbed one of the skinned fish and flicked the blood onto Zuko.

“Azula! That’s disgusting!”

“It’s what you get for making me the fall guy!” Azula laughed.

“You’re going to get me sick.”

“Ha! A descendant of Sozin taken out by some fish blood. You’re embarrassing our ancestors, Zuzu.”

“How do you like it?” Zuko asked, using his own fish to get blood on Azula.

“Oh! That smells horrible!” Azula was half laughing, half trying to avoid Zuko flicking blood on her, “Wait! Zuko, stop! It’s in my eye.”

“I am so sorry!” Zuko put down his fish and put a hand on Azula’s back, “Azula? Can you open it? Let me see?”

Zuko didn’t have a second to think before Azula slammed the dead fish in her hand against Zuko’s head. While Zuko was in a state of shock, Azula fell on her back laughing her head off.

“You little brat.”

“I can’t believe you fell for that.” Azula laughed.

“What’s going on here?” Both of the siblings frozen when they heard Isamu in front of them, “Playing around?”

“Sorry, Isamu.” Azula and Zuko said together.

“Get your work done then you can get cleaned up. If I find you playing around again, that’ll be the end of you two getting to work together until we return to the Fire Nation.”

“Understood, Isamu.”

“Good. Now finish this. You shouldn’t be taking this long and the kitchen needs those fish.” The two waited until he was done to return to work.

“Tonight?” Azula asked.

“Tonight.” Zuko confirmed.

———————————————

Sokka was laying in his head, staring at the ceiling when he heard a knock on his door. Looking up, he called out to the person to come in. Instantly, he recognized Yue’s long white hair and sat up.

“Yue. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened with Toph.” Yue explained, “First of all, she was out of line. I’ve already told her that she needs to apologize to you both.”

“It’s okay. Toph was just being Toph.”

“Still, she shouldn’t have forced you two into admitting your feelings when she knew Azula and Zuko could hear you. That wasn’t right. I also wanted to talk to you about Zuko.”

“What about Zuko?” Sokka asked.

“You clearly like him. I just want to know more about him. I didn’t even know you liked guys.”

“Really?” Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, I knew.” Yue laughed, “We all knew. You weren’t exactly subtle while you were drooling over the guards when you visited the North Pole.” Of course, this had all been after she and Sokka broke up. Yue had seen how he watched the soldiers but felt like she shouldn’t comment. Partly because she was his ex but also because it wasn’t her business.

Sokka blushed badly, using a pillow to hide his face, “Well that’s embarrassing.”

“Don’t be.” Yue giggled, “I’m just happy you found someone you like. What’s he like?”

“He’s amazing. He’s funny, kind-Oh! And he loves animals. Yesterday, he told me about this Fire Nation animal called a turtleduck. I think it would be similar to the turtleseals that are in the North Pole. Apparently, his mom really likes them and would give them food and stuff if they ever came to their village. He also knows about Love Amongst the Dragons! Which…I guess kind of makes sense considering it’s a Fire Nation story, but still. He’s…I just really like him. I like spending time with him. He makes me feel good.”

“Will you ask him out?” Yue asked.

“I tried but he’s-I don’t think he wants to go out with me.” Sokka admitted.

“Oh, Sokka.” Yue hugged him close, “I’m sorry. Did he say why?”

“He talked about how he and his family are sick and that he didn’t want me dating him, I guess, because of that.”

“Because they’re sick? Do they need to see a healer?” Yue asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. It was weird. The way Zuko described it makes me think it might be something different from being physically or mentally sick.”

“Then what do you think it is?” Yue asked.

“I really don’t know.” Sokka admitted, “But Zuko gave me his answer. I’m not going to skunk-badger him or anything. I’m respecting his choice.” He really just needed to say that out loud to someone.

“That’s good. I know it hurts now but you’ll find someone else.” Yue promised.

“You’re right.” He was thankful that it was Yue who decided to talk to him about this. Out of everyone in their friend group, she was definitely the most understanding and kind.

“Do you need anything?” Yue asked, “Some tea? Meat? For me to introduce you to a guard from the North Pole?” She giggled.

“You’re hilarious, Yue.” Sokka mumbled, “But, seriously, no thanks. I think I just need to think this over.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Yue said.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Sokka’s head, “Hey, could you cover for Katara and me?”

“Sure, but where are you going?”

“Just out to the tundra for a bit to get some fresh air. We won’t be gone long.”

“Sokka, it’s already getting dark. You shouldn’t leave the village boundaries.”

“I’ll have Katara and a weapon. We’ll be fine. If we don’t come back by the time the moon is high in the sky, then you can tell our parents and go out looking for us.”

“But-”

“Please, Yue.” Sokka hit her with his classic polar puppy eyes and Yue put a hand through her hair.

“Fine. I’ll cover for you and Katara.”

“Yes! Yes, you are best!”

“You better not die.” Yue grumbled.

“We won’t die!” Sokka flashed her a smile before heading out to go find Katara and leave the village.

—-----------------------------------

An hour later, after their chores were complete, Azula and Zuko headed to Katara and Sokka’s house to look for them and reveal the truth, but they found no one. Not even their parents were home.

“Yue!” Zuko called.

“Zuko? Azula? What are you two doing here?” Yue asked.

“We need to talk to Katara and Sokka. Are they around?” Zuko asked.

“They just left to go for a walk in the tundra.”

“But aren’t you not supposed to leave the tundra at night?” Azula questioned.

“Yes. They’re supposed to be back soon though. I wouldn’t worry. They’ve gone out into the tundra at night before and come back alive. They’ll be fine.”

Azula and Zuko turned to look at each other before looking out into the darkness of the tundra.

“Come on.” Zuko followed Azula as the two slipped away from the village. If nothing else, they knew that they’d survive the tundra with no problem. Very few of these animals were probably expecting to fight giant flying reptiles that could breathe fire.

—-------------------------

“I take it by the walk things didn’t go great with you and Zuko?” Katara asked.

“No.” Sokka confirmed, “He said he wasn’t interested. It hurts but, like Yue told me, there are other people.”

“She’s right. It’ll hurt for a bit but we’ll get over it.”

“We?” Sokka asked, “Oh…Did Azula-”

“I don’t know what she did.” Katara grumbled, clearly upset, “We were talking and she seemed to like me a lot, but then she told me to get Zuko and wouldn’t leave the bathroom and, when I asked her if she was okay, she didn’t even talk to me.”

“Didn’t talk to you?” Sokka asked.

“Yeah. It was weird. She didn’t even sound human. She sounded like some kind of animal that was growling and stuff.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow, “That’s really weird.” He whispered, looking away, “Huh? Zuko told me his family had a sickness and they’ve been trying to talk to Aang for weeks.”

“And Azula somehow has the ability to growl and roar and sound like an animal.” Katara added, “Plus I noticed something on her before she ran into the bathroom. It looked like she had some kind of bumps on her forehead. I didn’t see them after she came out of the bathroom either.” When Katara looked at Sokka, she realized he wasn’t looking at her but at something in the distance, “Sokka?”

“Shhh.” He whispered, holding out the lantern they were using.

Suddenly eyes appeared in the woods. The siblings could hear the sound of growling and instantly new what was coming their way.

“Wolves.” Sokka whispered, “Run. Run!” He yelled.

The two took off in a spirit with a pack of wolves right behind them. Katara could have turned around and bended at them but that would have caused her to stop and she’d have only been able to take out a small portion of the pack. Running was their best option until they could get far enough away that Katara could waterbend a wall in between them and the wolves, but that didn’t seem to be working as the pack was practically right behind them.

While they ran, they didn’t notice that they had finally come face to face with an ice wall.

“Bend it!” Sokka ordered.

“I’d need time!” Katara yelled back.

The siblings turned towards the wolf pack, which was right behind them, and opened their jaws, ready to jump at their next meal.

“Katara…”

“We have to fight.” Katara said, creating ice daggers all around her and sending them flying at the wolves.

While she was doing that, Sokka fought back a few of the wolves with his sword that he brought with him. He killed two of the wolves but that only seemed to anger the others which were starting to outnumber both him and Katara.

Elsewhere in the tundra, but not far, Azula and Zuko’s heads up when they heard Katara and Sokka screaming. Thoughts and anxiety about revealing the truth to them disappeared when the screams reached them and the two fell into a sort of mission mode: all that mattered was getting to Katara and Sokka.

Charging through the snow as quickly as they could, Azula and Zuko’s human appearances quickly disappeared, leaving two dragons now running through the snow with murder in their eyes. If either cared that they were revealing their dragon selves to Katara and Sokka, they didn’t show it.

Zuko reached them first. He jumped in front of the two, his body far enough in front of them that Katara and Sokka could back away from the red dragon. Azula joined seconds later, growling at the wolf pack, which didn’t look like they were going anywhere.

“Dragons.”

“Real dragons.”

The blue and red dragons roared as loud as they could at the wolves, but the wolves clearly weren’t backing down. One jumped on the red dragon’s back and bit down as hard as he could. The red dragon roared in pain and slammed his back to the ground, crushing the wolf. A few other wolves went after the blue dragon, who hit them with her tail but not before one managed to avoid it and jump on her, biting on her neck. The red dragon helped her with that, grabbing the wolf in its jaw and crushing it.

Zuko and Azula were going to win this fight but there were enough wolves that they put up a decent fight. They clawed and bit the two dragons, making them roar loudly and cry out in pain. The blue dragon, getting angry when one of the wolves bit her stomach, let out blue fire on the pack. That seemed to be enough to get the pack to flee, making Zuko and Azula the victors.

“Katara, let’s go.” Sokka whispered, pulling her arm.

Katara, who’s eyes hadn’t left the two dragons, didn’t move. The blue dragon gently growled at the red dragon, who had fallen in the snow. She wasn’t doing much better and collapsed next to the red dragon, giving off a low rumbling noise and covering the red dragon with one of her wings. All around them Katara could see the snow turning red with blood.

“Sokka.” Katara whispered.

Sokka looked back at the two dragons. They were badly bleeding out and hardly moving. He’d been on enough hunts to know that, if left alone, they probably would not make it.

“We have to help them.”

“Katara, they’re giant fire breathing reptiles.”

“Who just saved our lives.” Katara argued, “How can we turn our backs on them?”

“They were probably saving us to eat us later!” Sokka cried, “Come on! We have to get out of here.” He grabbed Katara’s arm again.

“No!” Katara yanked her arm out of his hold and turned her attention back to the two dragons. When she got closer, the blue dragon tried to growl a little and move but it was clear she was in no shape to put up a fight.

“It’s okay.” Katara whispered, “We’re not gonna hurt you. You saved our lives.” The waterbender laid a hand gently on the dragon’s neck, petting her fur, “We’re gonna help you and your friend. I promise, we’re going to help.” The dragon began to make a low rumbling noise in its chest. It took Katara a second to realize the dragon was purring.

Despite the purring, both dragons still looked fearful and tried to growl more, even moving their wings a little as if they could fly away in their condition. The red dragon managed to get up again but instantly fell to the ground, growling softly.

“Sokka, help me.” Katara ordered.

“Help you do what? Do you even know how to heal something with scales?” Sokka asked.

“Just help me!” Katara snapped.

Sokka, slowly, walked towards the red dragon, “Hey. Let’s make a deal. We help you and your friend get better and you don’t burn us alive? That sound good?” Sokka asked, keeping his eyes dead set on the dragon’s mouth. The red dragon softly whined as Sokka began to pet his fur.

“They’re not in any position to kill us. Just try to find as many injuries as you can and wrap them up until I can start healing the red dragon.” Katara told him.

Sokka was about to open his mouth when a light covered the two dragons. In a second, the dragons were gone and replaced with Azula and Zuko’s bleeding out forms. Azula’s head was resting in Katara’s lap and Zuko was passed out right in front of Sokka

“Did…did you see…?” The siblings were frozen in shock and disbelief. Their friends, and crushes, had been dragons. They’d seen it right in front of them. How was this possible? Were they even completely human? Were they spirits?

“K-Ara…help…” Azula’s weak words snapped Katara out of her shock.

“Sokka, help me.” Katara told her brother.

That seemed to snap Sokka out of it because he quickly moved and picked up Zuko. The two dragged their friends back to the village and straight to the healer’s hut.

“Spirits! What happened to them?!”

“Wolves.” Sokka said, “You have to help them.”

“We’ll do what we can.”

Sokka and Katara decided not to leave. They stayed put right next to the two, watching the waterbenders do what they could to heal their injuries and prevent any further bleeding issues.

“Please be okay.” Was a silent prayer both siblings gave as the furs continued to stain red with Zuko and Azula’s blood.

Chapter Text

The sun was shining brightly on the small village. Its appearance in the sky was a signal to the animals that it was time to rise and start the day. They began to make all kinds of noises to alert the nearby humans that they needed food.

If they were enough of a wake up call, Ozai and Ursa soon found themselves with two kids on their bed or, more accurately, two baby dragons on their bed. At eight and ten, Azula and Zuko weren’t big, but the sudden weight on them when Ozai and Ursa had been sleeping was enough to wake them suddenly.

“Remind me why we thought children were a good idea.” Ozai yawned, sitting up in his bed.

Zuko forced himself to turn back, “Uncle and Lu Ten are coming!” Zuko exclaimed, his excitement enough to get his horns and claws back.

“Yes, we know.” Ursa pulled Azula into her arms, making the small blue dragon purr, “Why don’t you two get changed?”

“Breakfast?” Zuko asked.

“After you change into your clothes and not until your sister is human again. You will not eat at the table in your dragon forms.” Not again. There was no way Ursa was cleaning that mess up again.

The two ran out of the room, Ursa assumed to get cleaned up, leaving her and Ozai alone. Ursa let out a sigh and a small laugh.

“Every day’s an adventure, right?” When Ozai didn’t respond, Ursa frowned, “Hey. Are you okay?”

“I just-…burying him is a lot.” Ozai admitted.

Ursa nodded. Zuko and Azula didn’t really understand why Azulon dying hit Ozai in a weird way. Ozai never told them about the abuse he suffered at Azulon’s hands or why burying his father was both a great joy and sadness to him. He just acted sad in front of the kids because he knew that would make the most sense to them.

“I get that. Do you need anything?” Ursa asked.

“No. I-I’m okay.”

“Ozai, you don’t have to go through this alone. I’m here.” Ozai kissed Ursa’s forehead, offering her a warm smile.

“Thank you, but I don’t want to put you through anymore than you’ve had to deal with. Just make sure you keep an eye on the kids while Iroh and Lu Ten are here. We don’t need the neighbors asking why the kids were running around on all fours again.”

“You got it.” Ursa promised, kissing her husband’s cheek, “I’m going to get breakfast ready. Come out when you’re ready.”

“Thank you.” Ozai smiled and watched his wife get up and get changed.

Ursa walked into the main room of their home which was basically just a small sitting room but she and Ozai had taken it and turned it into their kitchen, placing a table in the center and cabinets in the room. Zuko and Azula were sitting at the table, happily talking to each other when Ursa came in and started breakfast.

“Mom?” Zuko asked, “Can we go flying with Lu Ten?” Zuko asked.

“Only if he’s okay with it.” Ursa told them, “And if there’s enough space for you two and him to hide. Remember the rules.”

“We know, mom.” Zuko groaned, “We know.”

“Good. What are you two talking about?”

“Zuzu says that a dragon can’t beat an army. I’m drawing a picture to prove him wrong.” Azula said, her tongue sticking out as she drew the picture.

“Can I see?” Ursa asked.

The eight year old turned the paper around so Ursa could see. Azula had drawn a blue dragon breathing fire over a couple stick figure men.

“Well, there’s your proof, Zuko. A dragon can defeat an army.” Ursa said.

“Ha! Told you, Zuzu!”

“No, it can’t! A dragon would get shot down! Grandfather told us!”

“Hey.” Ursa walked over to where her children were sitting and wrapped an arm around Zuko's head so that her hand was resting on top of his hair, “Let’s not talk about grandpa today. I think it would really hurt your dad’s feelings if we did.”

“Oh, okay mom.”

“That’s my boy.” Ursa planted a kiss on Zuko’s head, “Azula?”

“I won’t talk about him.” Azula promised.

“Good girl.” Ursa kissed her forehead, “Now, who’s ready for breakfast?”

“Me! Me!”

——————————————

A few hours later, Ozai found Zuko and Azula looking through the window. He set down the basket of fruit he had just bought from the store and walked over to his children.

“What are you two doing?” He asked.

“Waiting for uncle and Lu Ten.” Zuko replied.

“Ah. See them?”

“No, but they said they’d be here by noon.” Zuko said.

“They might be a little late. Why don’t you two finish your chores while you wait?” Ozai suggested.

“But dad-“

“Or…I could always see if the black dragon wants to visit.” Ozai smirked and grabbed both his children in his arms, who were laughing but also trying to get away from him as he held them close and tickled them.

“No! Dad, stop! Dad! Hahahah! Mom! Mom, help!” The two kids screamed.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do anything for you.” Ursa shrugged, “The black dragon has you now.”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Ozai. Iroh and Lu Ten are here.” Ursa said, motioning out the window where two men had just gotten off a carriage with their belongings.

“Lu Ten! Uncle!” Zuko and Azula went running out of the house to greet their family. Unfortunately, them being very excited forced them into their dragon forms outside. Thankfully, Iroh and Lu Ten noticed this and grabbed the two, leaving their luggage outside and racing indoors.

“Zuko! Azula!” Ursa scolded. The two young dragons instantly stopped, backing away from their mother and giving her sad and scared eyes, “Don’t give me that look! What have we told you?!” The dragon stayed curled up.

“Change back and answer your mother.” Ozai ordered.

Zuko shifted back first, “Keep our emotions in check.” Zuko whispered.

“Exactly. Someone could have seen you! Do you know what will happen if people see you turn into dragons? You will be caged and killed like regular beasts.” Ursa knew she was scaring them, but she’d rather them be a little scared now then dead later.

“Sorry, mom.” Azula whispered, back in her human form.

“Aunt Ursa, it really wasn’t that bad. No one saw them.” Lu Ten said.

“But someone could have.” Ursa argued.

“But they didn’t. There’s no need to scare them.”

Ursa ran a hand through her hair, “Come talk to me after you have two little kids to look after.”

Lu Ten only smirked, “Hey. Do you two wanna go for a ride?” He asked.

“Yes!! Can we?!” Azula and Zuko looked at Lu Ten with pure joy in their eyes.

“Only if your parents say it’s okay.” Lu Ten said.

“Please, mom! Please, dad! Please!!”

Ozai looked at Ursa, who nodded, “Fine, but you three need to be careful and remember the rules.” Ozai said.

“We know.” Lu Ten said, “Don’t worry. I’ll watch out for them.”

“Good.” Ursa said, “Because if you don’t, you’re gonna need a healer.”

“Ha. Good joke, Aunt Ursa.” Ursa didn’t smiled, “She’s not serious, right dad?” Lu Ten asked.

“What? Oh, she’s incredibly serious. I have a scar on my leg to prove it.” Iroh chuckled.

Lu Ten let out a nervous laugh and gently pushed the two kids outside. They walked through the field behind the house and into the wooded area. They couldn’t transform when they wanted but Zuko and Azula were already excited enough that they naturally shifted into their dragon forms.

Lu Ten heard the sound of chirps and purrs from behind him and chuckled, “Give me a minute. I can’t understand you two when you’re dragons.” Finally, Lu Ten found what he was looking for: a tall cliff.

Since he didn’t feel like hurting himself, the fear of death would be the next best thing to force him transformation. He told the two kids to stay put and ran to the top. Once he reached the top, he jumped off. Halfway through his human self disappeared and a golden dragon form replaced it. Like a pro, he lightly glided to the ground.

“I wanna learn how to fly like that!” Zuko chirped.

“Me too!” Azula added.

“I’m older! I should learn first!” Zuko argued.

“No! I should! I’m the better bender!”

“What does that have to do with anything?!” Zuko growled.

“Hold on.” Lu Ten chuckled, using his muzzle to separate them, “You’re both way too young to learn that. It’s your parents job to teach you how to glide and they’d both have my head if I let you jump off a cliff. I have something else in mind.”

“What is it?” Zuko asked.

“It’s a surprise. I’ll show you.” Lu Ten laid down so that Zuko and Azula could climb on his back. Once they were secure, he took off into the sky. He could hear the two cheering on his back as he flew through the air. Not that he could blame them, flying was one of his favorite things to do. He knew the curse had its drawbacks and his father had been clear that it wasn’t something to be celebrated but Lu Ten couldn’t help it. He loved the feeling of being this free.

Maybe one day his cousins would love it as much as he did.

—————————————

“How was the journey from the Earth Kingdom?” Ursa asked.

“Getting harder and harder with old age, but still doable.” Iroh chuckled.

“You wouldn’t have to keep making the journey if you never left.” Ozai mumbled.

“Oh, we’re doing this now? So early? I’d have to say that’s a record time for us.” Iroh said.

“Well, the kids aren’t here, this probably is the only time we’ll get to have this argument.” Ozai snapped.

“Ozai, I left home to see the world. Just because we have this curse doesn’t mean we should let it keep us confined to one village. I mean, do you really expect Azula and Zuko to live here after you and Ursa have passed away?”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. You left the first chance you could to get away from father and you didn’t even care that you left me with him!”

“What was I supposed to do? Stay here forever!?! I’m glad I left! I met my wife, had an amazing son, and I’ve got a great little life in Ba Sing Se! If you want me to apologize, it’s not happening!”

“So you didn’t even care that you left me here with him!? You knew what he was like!”

“I tried to take you with me but he wouldn’t let me!” Iroh yelled, his gray wings spreading out.

“And you still chose to leave!” Ozai screamed, his horns fully out by the point.

“Ozai! Iroh!” Ursa yelled, “Enough!”

The men sat back down, slipping back into their human forms. Ursa remained standing and looked between the two. She knew there was a lot of family trouble that had been going on long before she met Ozai. She only knew small bits and pieces: that Iroh left when Ozai was only a child, that Azulon was both physically and emotionally abusive-that’s why their daughter was named after him-and that Ozai never forgave Iroh for leaving and only returning decades later. Still, she didn’t want to see the two fight and she knew Ozai shouldn’t be fighting with his brother right before they buried his father.

“Listen, today is going to be a hard day for both of you, but Azulon is dead. Maybe it’s time to start over and try to be better brothers. If nothing else, at least do it for the kids, they love spending time together and they hardly get to because you two start screaming at each other every time our families get together.” Ursa took a seat, looking between the two men.

“Ursa’s right.” Ozai sighed, “I don’t forgive you for leaving, but I agree that we need to come to some kind of agreement for the kid’s sake.”

“Agreed. Ozai, I’m not sorry I left, but I am sorry that I couldn’t take you with me. I wanted to. I wanted to take you with me to Ba Sing Se so we could be safe from father together and I’d be able to help you with the curse, but father refused. He said that the Fire Lord would let me go but not you and when I said I would talk to the Fire Lord about letting you come with me, he said you were his child and I couldn’t do anything.” Ozai wanted to roll his eyes, this wasn’t anything new. He’d heard this from Iroh a thousand times before, “I always deluded myself in the past by saying it wasn’t my fault or that you could have left but chose not to…only now do I see how much of an idiot I was and I’m sorry for not realizing sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t help you sooner.”

“Thank you, Iroh.” Ozai whispered.

“I want things to get better. Not just for the kids, but for us. Losing Jia made me see that I would hate myself if we never even tried to resolve things between us,” Ozai grabbed Ursa’s hand, hearing Iroh talk about his dead wife always sent a shiver down Ozai’s spine. He didn’t know what he’d do if he lost Ursa, “Now that father is dead, I really think we have a chance. I want us to have a chance.”

“So do I.” Ozai agreed.

Ursa smiled at the two men, “I’ll start some tea.”

“Oh, no! Ursa, let me. You’re my host.” Iroh quickly said.

“No, but Iroh you’re a guest. Please, allow me-”

“Dear, maybe let Iroh make the tea.” Ozai said, grabbing Ursa’s hand.

“Do you not like how I make tea?” Ursa asked.

“I-It’s fine.” Ozai winced.

“Fine?!”

“What’s wrong with fine? Fine is great!”

Ursa did take a seat at the table as Iroh began to get to work, “I thought you liked my tea.” She mumbled.

“No, I liked the excuse of always going to your mother’s restaurant and ordering something so you would see me.” Ozai corrected.

“You know you could have just ordered water and not paid a single coin, right?” Ursa smirked, an eyebrow raised.

“....”

“Ozai?” Ursa asked.

“I did not realize that.” Both Ursa and Iroh broke out into laughter.

—----------------------------------

Lu Ten landed on a small mountain a few miles from the house. He was really just looking for a place where they could hide if they had to. The mountain provided enough caves to hide in that Lu Ten thought it was perfect.

“Are we here to see real dragons?” Zuko asked, hiding under Lu Ten. The real dragons were always so mean and they roared at them whenever their parents brought them to the mountains.

“No. We’re not.” Lu Ten said, “I brought you here because I want to show you some new flying moves.”

“I wanna see! Can you go in loops!? Yeah! Do a loop! Loop!” The two started yelling.

“Hold on.” Lu Ten chuckled, “I’ve got a plan. If there’s time at the end of the day, I’ll show you some loops.” The two nodded.

“Alright. We’re going to go slow so just tell me if you have trouble climbing up.” He said.

Lu Ten opened his wings and took off to the sky. Zuko and Azula, while a lot smaller and not having as much wing strength, took off as well, trying their best to follow Lu Ten up to the clouds. They managed to reach them but couldn’t make it much further than that.

“Drop!” Lu Ten yelled.

“Drop?” Azula asked. Mom and dad told them to never stop flying while they were this high up. It was dangerous.

“Like this.” Their cousin fell onto his back, letting his wings naturally fall up and he dropped down through the clouds with a loud roar. Long before he hit the ground, he wrapped his wings around his body and twirled back up into the clouds, “Got it.”

“Ummm…”

“Hey. I’m right here.” Lu Ten promised, “You’re not going to hit the ground or lose control and if anything goes wrong, I’ll snatch you up.”

“I’ll go.” Azula, though nervous, let herself fall on her back, copying Lu Ten’s actions. She was a little sloppy with flying back up to her brother and cousin but she made it.

“See? Wasn’t so bad was it?” Lu Ten asked.

“That was fun!” Azula chirped, “Zuko, try it!”

“...Okay.” Zuko copied their actions as well but he was more terrified when he returned to Lu Ten and Azula. Lu ten couldn’t help feeling bad when he saw Zuko practically shaking in fear.

“It’s okay. You did great for your first time.” Lu Ten told him, “How about we try something a little milder? Just follow my lead.”

The golden dragon took off, not in a rush, but with force and power that the red and blue dragons didn’t have. Still, they kept up with him, moving along the clouds like he did and flying in and out of them. Azula, for a few seconds, completely disappeared into the clouds then came flying back up, twirling around her brother.

“Come on, Zuzu. Have a little fun. This is awesome!”

“Lu!” Zuko called, “My wings are getting tired.”

“You’re such a baby.” Azula complained.

“Azula, be nice to your brother. He’s-” Lu Ten didn’t have time to finish before a spear nearly stabbed him in the neck.

“Lu!” Zuko and Azula screamed.

“Zuko, Azula, fly! Fly as far as you can now!” Lu Ten ordered.

Lu Ten looked down to the ground where, sure enough, a group of hunters was staring right at him. He dove down towards them, unleashing as much fire as he possibly could onto the men and women.

“Go after the baby dragons!” He heard someone yell, “They flew north!”

Lu Ten quickly turned back to the group and attacked them again, this time doing a considerable amount of damage. In a final attack, he aimed his fire straight at the spears and cages, burning them as much as possible. The hunters, grabbing arrows, continued to fire at him. One hit him straight in the arm and another almost in the wings. Lu Ten flew straight up, out of their range, then starting screaming for Zuko and Azula.

“Zuko! Azula! Where are you guys!?!”

He continued to fly and fly, all over the clouds and even returned down to the land again, screaming for the siblings, but they never answered. Finally, he returned to their starting point: the small mountain.

“ZUKO!! AZULA!!”

“Lu…” His ears instantly perked up and Lu Ten turned towards the two smaller dragons. They had come out of hiding when they heard their cousin call.

“Thank the spirits.” He brought them close with his tail, “Are you two okay?”

They nodded, “There-There was a hunter here. He followed us and he was looking for us.” Zuko started to say, “We stayed hidden, but he was right on top of us and he had a spear…he couldn’t see us but he was talking. He said if we came out he’d only take our wings then he started to get angry and said he’d…he’d rip all our scales off. He-he was-”

“No. Nothing happened and he did nothing. You’re both safe and sound.” Lu Ten said.

“Can we go home?” Azula whispered.

“Of course. Let’s get out of here.” The flight back to the house was quiet. When Lu Ten landed and the three walked back to the house, in human form, Iroh practically screamed at the sight of an arrow in his son’s shoulder. Lu Ten had to explain that and the hunter scare which made Ursa drag both her children inside. This wasn’t the first scare the family ever had, but it was the first time a hunter was so close to Zuko and Azula.

“They’re safe and sound in bed.” Ursa sighed, “I hate that they had to be so close to a hunter, but they’re safe now. That’s all that matters.”

“Thanks, aunt Ursa.” Lu Ten said, “I just hope this hasn’t made them too scared of being dragons.”

“We’ll see how they are in the morning.” Ozai said, “Sadly, it doesn’t really matter. They don’t exactly get to choose when they become dragons.”

“I know, but I-…I was hoping that they could see this as less of a curse if I made it fun. If I showed them the good parts of being a dragon.”

“That was thoughtful, but I think it’s almost impossible.” Ursa said, “There are no good parts, we live with this and then die.”

“She’s right. It’s how the family is.”

“But it doesn’t have to be! I know it sucks that we can’t control when we transform but we can still make the best of it when we do. I mean…our family can fly! Who else can say that?” Lu Ten argued, standing up when none of the adults looked at him with understanding. They just looked on with pity as if Lu Ten was a little kid yelling nonsense and they were humoring him by listening, “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

————————————-

The next day, they buried Azulon. The funeral was small and quick. They didn’t utter a word about Sozin or Azulon’s life as the prince, as he wanted. Instead, they spoke about everything that happened after he was banished from the palace. Ozai still did his best to be civil. He didn’t want the children’s last memory of their grandfather to be their father screaming at his ashes.

Eventually, the funeral came to an end and everyone went inside for some lunch. Lu Ten and Iroh stayed another night, leaving the next morning.

“Hey. Can you two promise me something?” Lu Ten asked, kneeling down, “Never be afraid of your dragon selves.”

“But the hunters-“

“Forget the hunters. Did you two have fun when we were flying?” They nodded, “Then remember that. Remember that this curse doesn’t have to be all bad. Promise me you’ll remember that.”

The siblings looked at one another then nodded at their cousin, “Good.”

“Lu Ten!” Iroh called from outside, “We have to go!”

“Coming, dad!”

“Bye, Lu!” Zuko and Azula waved.

“I get no goodbye?” Iroh asked.

“Bye, uncle!” The two quickly added.

“They like me more, dad.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Iroh chuckled, “I’ll bet they'll like me when they get older and I can give them wisdom.”

“What wisdom?” Lu Ten asked.

“The wisdom that comes with age.”

“Okay.” The teenager chuckled, “I’m very much looking forward to hearing this wisdom.”

Slowly, the days went back to normal. Zuko and Azula went to school, Ozai and Ursa continued on with their jobs and life resumed as it had before Azulon’s death. Then, one day, while Ursa was preparing dinner, she heard Ozai fall into a chair at the table. When she turned around, he had his head in his hands and was shaking. She hadn’t seen him this distraught since Azulon passed away.

“Ozai?” Ursa ran to his side, “What’s wrong?” She knelt down so that she could see his face.

“Lu Ten.” Ozai forced back a sob, “He went for a fly when he and Iroh returned to the Earth Kingdom. Some hunters saw him and shot him down. He didn’t make it.”

“Iroh-“

“Didn’t even get to take anything back. When he confronted the hunters, they said the golden dragon was their trophy.” Ozai wanted to get angry but his tears were making that hard. That was his nephew. His nephew who had a whole life ahead of him was killed because of something he didn’t even do, “They gave him a single scale. Iroh has a single scale to remember his son by.”

“Lu Ten is dead.” Ozai and Ursa quickly turned around when they heard their youngest. Tears were in Azula’s eyes and Zuko was already crying.

Ursa scooped up her children. She couldn’t help the images flooding her mind of that being her babies. Of her children being killed by hunters because of their curse. Her arms wrapped around her children as she sobbed, all half succumbing to their dragon forms again because of their cries. Ozai looked at his wife and kids, all crying. He knew he should be strong, he should be able to lead them through this but he couldn’t. He had no strength left.

“It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.” He kept whispering, hugging the three.

————————————-

“Lu…”

Azula and Zuko’s eyes slowly blinked open. Instantly, they were hit by the color blue and could feel the furs underneath them. It took a few minutes but their eyes did eventually open up fully which is when they noticed Sokka and Katara standing at the entrance of the tent.

“Everyone out.” Sokka ordered.

“Prince-“

“Out.” Sokka ordered again.

One by one, they all complied with Sokka’s order. When everyone was out, Katara closed the entrance of the hut. Azula and Zuko had both sat up by now as they looked at the water siblings with confused, almost fearful eyes.

“We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

“About?” Azula asked.

“About?!” Katara snapped, “You were dragons! We saw it! You were literal dragons! Like with scales, claws, tails, horns, everything!”

“You must have hit your head.” Zuko said.

“Don’t.” Sokka’s voice was low and it gave Zuko pause, “Do not lie to us. Tell us the truth now or we go to Yuto and ask him about this.”

“NO!” Azula and Zuko screamed.

“You can’t tell him. If he knows we let the secret of the curse get out, he’ll take it out on our family. We could get separated from our parents forever.” Zuko told him, “Please, please don’t tell Yuto.”

“Then tell us the truth.” Katara said, trying to keep her face as angry as possible.

“Our family is cursed.” Zuko revealed, “After Sozin killed all the Air Nomads, he killed his dragon. A spirit didn’t like that and so they cursed him, his bloodline and anyone who marries into it. Whenever anyone gets too emotional, they turn into a dragon. We’re Sozin’s great-grandchildren so we also have the curse. We were out in the tundra, looking for you two to tell you about the curse, and we heard you screaming so we ran over to help.”

“You’re Sozin’s great grandchildren?” Sokka asked.

“That’s the part you’re focusing on?” Katara asked, “I’m more interested in the curse part! Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because we aren’t supposed to.” Azula said, “Like Zuko said, Yuto will split our family up or he’ll accuse us of treason because we’re talking to you two and Aang about it. He’s paranoid that we’ll try to steal the throne somehow.”

“That dragon story at dinner.” Sokka remembered, “That’s why he had you guys talk about how bad dragons are.”

“And your freak out.” Katara’s eyes widened, “Was that…”

Azula nodded, “Both of you are correct. I freaked out when you called me cute and that caused my dragon form to start appearing. And Yuto loves telling that story because it scares us. It’s a constant reminder that while we’re dragons, we’re nothing but animals to him and every hunter, and he can put spears through our hearts without a second thought.” Katara’s face softened as she sat down next to Azula.

“You’re not animals.”

“Katara, you-”

“You’re not.” Katara repeated, “You both saved our lives. If you really were some mindless animals while you were like that you wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help us.”

“Katara’s right.” Sokka agreed, “We owe you both our lives.”

“Just don’t tell Yuto you know about our curse and we’ll be even.” Zuko chuckled.

“No, no, there has to be something else we can do to help.” Sokka said, “We aren’t going to tell Yuto anyways. He doesn’t need to know anything. Is there anything else we can do to thank you?”

“You really don’t have to do anything.” Zuko said.

“If you think of something, tell us.” Sokka told them.

Suddenly, Aang came bursting through the tent, “Are they okay?” Behind him was Toph, Yue and Suki.

“Did you tell everyone we were hurt?” Azula asked.

“News travels fast.” Katara shrugged.

“Are you two okay?” Yue asked, “Katara and Sokka told us you four were attacked by a pack of wolves.” Yue was clearly the most concerned out of the group which made sense to the firebenders. In her mind, she let Katara and Sokka go into the tundra where they were attacked. She was probably blaming herself a lot while they had been unconscious.

“That’s it?” Zuko asked, turning to look at Sokka. Had he not said anything about them being dragons? About them fighting off the wolves?

“That’s it.” Sokka confirmed, “Did we miss anything?”

“Yes.” Azula whispered, looking up at the three, “They missed the part where we were able to fight off the wolves because Zuko and I…are dragons.” It might be a huge mistake to reveal this to Yue, Toph and Suki but it seemed like news was going to get to them sooner or later now that Aang, Katara and Sokka knew. At least this way they got to be the ones to reveal the news.

Toph was the only one who’s facial expression didn’t change. Yue and Suki looked at one another then back at Zuko and Azula in pure confusion. Almost as if they were trying to make sure they heard her correctly.

“Did you say-“

“Dragons.” Azula repeated, “Zuko and I are cursed that, whenever we feel any kind of extreme emotion, we turn into dragons. That night, we heard Katara and Sokka screaming and transformed to save them.”

Katara looked confused but her confusion was directed at Aang, “Aang, you don’t look shocked by this.”

“Oh! I…I kind of already knew.”

“You knew! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Not my secret to tell.” Aang argued, “It’s their choice to reveal their curse or not!” Katara nodded. That was a fair argument.

“You’re not lying.” Suki whispered.

“They’re not.” Sokka confirmed, “We saw it with our own eyes.”

“That’s so cool!” Toph yelled, “You’ve gotta show us your dragon selves!”

Azula loved Toph’s words. A lifetime of lessons on their family curse never prepared her for what to do when someone called her dragon self cool or wanted to see more of her like that. Yet, here they were.

“Sometime.” Azula promised.

“How did you get cursed?” Suki asked.

“Actually, Aang, do you know this?” Katara asked. Aang nodded, “Can you fill them in? I want to speak to Azula alone.”

“And I want to speak to Zuko.” Sokka added.

Aang nodded while Sokka and Katara helped to lead Zuko and Azula off to different parts of the tent where they’d be able to talk with some privacy.

———————————

“So?” Azula sat down, “You want to take back all that stuff about liking me and finding me cute now that you know I’m a giant lizard?”

“No.” Katara honestly stated, “I…I get why you didn’t tell me and I get why you were scared for people to find out. I just want to know if that’s the big reason you don’t think we could work.”

“I never said we couldn’t work.” Azula responded, “But, Kat…I’ve been down this road before. It hasn’t ended well. In the end, she picked her family and community over me. In the end, my curse was too much for her.”

“What are you talking about?” Katara asked.

“I told someone once before.” Azula admitted, getting Katara’s attention, “My friend, Ty Lee. She was sweet and kind and I was sure that she wouldn’t do anything to me. So, one day, I took her into the forest and told her the truth and then I showed her my dragon form. I was right, she didn’t do anything except laugh and call me amazing.”

“Things were good. We hung out everyday, I could be myself around her and I eventually started to get a little crush on her. Everything was perfect until I ended up crash landing in the village one day in my dragon form. Everyone assumed I had been trying to kill Ty Lee and so they attacked me. I tried to get away but I was ten and my dragon form was too small. I started roaring for Ty Lee to help me, but her parents just grabbed her and told her to ‘get away from the monster’. I didn't expect her to come running in and save me but…she didn’t even try to tell anyone I was human.” Katara placed a hand on Azula’s clenched fist, her eyes soft and filled with understanding.

“When I started firebreathing, they backed away but then someone grabbed me from behind and put me in a cage. They asked Ty Lee if I hurt her and why she was with me in the first place and she said that I attacked her. They were going to kill me or sell me and I just kept crying for my mom and dad to come save me. Zuko eventually heard me and told mom and dad, who did come in and save me. But I never saw Ty Lee again. Whenever I noticed her in passing, she would just run away and avoid eye contact.”

“Azula, I’m so sorry that happened.” Katara whispered.

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault. I just thought that you would think the same thing if you saw me like that which is why I tried so hard to keep my dragon form a secret.”

“I understand that, but you know I still like you, right? The curse doesn’t bother me.”

Azula let out a small chuckle, “You saw me turn into a lizard and you still want to date me?”

“What?” Katara was smiling by now as she threw her hands up, “I think it’s awesome. You are literally a dragon. Do you know how cool that is? You can fly.”

“I…I guess flying is a little cool.”

“It’s very cool.” Katara amended, “Azula, you don’t have to worry about any of us freaking out or treating you and Zuko differently-actually, no, I shouldn’t say that.” Azula’s face went pale for a moment, “We are going to want to see your dragon forms more and I just know that Sokka is asking Zuko a million questions right now about everything.”

Azula didn’t respond, she just turned to the snow and stared at it for a few moments, “The curse was the main thing keeping me from dating you.” The second thing being Yuto but there was nothing Katara could do about that, “Now that you know and are okay with it…How about a date next week?”

“I’d love to.” Katara wrapped her arms around Azula, hugging the girl and feeling Azula bury her face in her hair.

—---------------------------------

“I assume you have questions?” Zuko asked.

“A lot.” Sokka admitted, “Is this the sickness you were talking about? Are you still yourself as a dragon? Could you ever get stuck as a dragon? Can you do everything a dragon can do? You said the curse is passed through your bloodline and anyone who marries into it, so your entire family has the curse?”

“Woah. Woah.” Sokka instantly stopped. He knew he had a tendency to go on and on until someone stopped him. Usually, this annoyed people but Zuko didn’t seem annoyed. He was smiling after all, “I can’t remember all of that. Let me see if I can go through all those questions first.”

“Yes. This is the sickness I was talking about earlier.” Zuko confirmed, “My parents were very clear about keeping this a secret so it a sickness because no one really ever asks any follow ups.”

“Yes, we are still ourselves as dragons. It’s part of the curse that we’ll always have our human minds when we transform. My grandfather used to say the spirit did that so that we could always see the beasts we become and so that we would mourn the humanity we lost. It’s also why we can’t get stuck as dragons because the curse is designed to keep our bloodline in check, not keep us stuck in one form or another.”

“Do you ever wish you were a dragon? Like fully?” Sokka asked, “I know it’s another question, but I’m curious.”

“...When I was younger I did.” Zuko admitted, “The curse is tied to emotions so Azula and I were almost always in our dragon forms as kids. I loved being a dragon and the feeling of pure freedom that came with it, but when I was eight my cousin was killed by hunters. After that, Azula and I stopped wanting to be dragons.”

“I’m so sorry about your cousin.”

“Thanks. I really miss him. He was the only one in our family that actually told Azula and me that it was okay to like the curse. It’s just hard to like it when it’s the thing that got him killed.”

“I mean…if you think about it, hunters killed him, not the curse.”

“But they only killed him because he was a dragon.” Zuko argued, “They wanted to take down a dragon so they shot him with a spear!” Sokka backed up a little, “Sorry, I know you’re trying to help. It just-it hurts to talk about Lu.”

“Okay. We don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to.” Sokka said.

“Yeah. I still have a couple of your questions to answer.” Zuko tried to smile, but it was weak, “I can do everything a dragon can do, minus rainbow fire, and yes. My entire family has the curse. Once someone marries it, the day or so after the wedding, they grow sick and wake up as a dragon.”

“Wow.” Sokka whispered.

“So, what now?” Zuko asked.

“I still like you.” Sokka admitted, “Curse or no curse. You don’t have to like me or anything, but I want you to know that. You being a dragon and being Sozin’s great grandchild doesn’t bother me.” Zuko let out a small chuckle, not even opening his mouth, only letting air out of his nose.

“I like you too.” Zuko revealed, “Would you want to go on a date sometime?”

“YES! I mean…yes, that sounds great.” Blush covered Sokka’s face as he tried to shield himself with his hair, “If Yue or Suki or anyone asks you about my reaction can you just tell them about the second one?”

“Sorry, I think I’m gonna tell them about how excited you were. It’s a lot more fun that way.” Zuko grinned, walking back to the others.

“Come on! Zuko, that’s not fair.”

Chapter Text

If either of the teenage firebenders took a second to back up and look at this situation, they would probably laugh. They came here to get the Avatar to remove their family curse and now were about to go on dates with the Prince and Princess of the Southern Water Tribe.

How times changed.

Neither had really fancy clothes or great makeup to wear but they did their best. Some of the older servants carried makeup so they borrowed stuff from them. Once everything was done, they didn’t look horrible but they were both positive that Katara and Sokka would look better.

It was a bit of a challenge making their way to their house. They couldn’t let Yuto or anyone see them because then they’d ask why they were so dressed up and the two very much wanted to keep the whole ‘dating the prince and princess’ thing a secret.

When Zuko knocked on the door, hoping Katara and Sokka would be able to just slip out, they were greeted by the sight of a big man.

“Chief Hakoda.” Azula whispered, falling into a bow. Zuko quickly copied her.

“Come inside.” His voice might have been trying to sound nice but it felt like an order.

“Of course, Chief Hakoda.” The two said in perfect sync.

When they entered the home, they saw three women sitting at a table. One was Hakoda’s wife: Chieftess Kya. The other two the siblings hadn’t seen before. They were older woman with white hair and wrinkles, so the two assumed they were elders or something.

“I think you know why I want to talk to you two.” Hakoda said, laying a hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

Zuko could feel his heart pounding. It took every ounce of willpower not to transform right there and fly away, “I-We don’t, Chief Hakoda.”

“You’re taking our children out on a date.” Kya said, “They told us all about it.”

“All about it?” Azula asked, her hand clenching.

“Yes. How you two saved them from the wolves and then you talked after waking up and decided to go on a date. I think it’s very sweet.” Kya said.

“It really is. We owe you kids a bigger debt than we can ever repay, but don’t think that means you get to act however you want on the date.” Hakoda warned, scaring the two once again, “Yuto will definitely be informed if Katara and Sokka come home and tell us some things.” That really didn’t help.

“Hakoda, calm down.” One of the women chuckled, “You’re scaring them.”

“No. No, we’re fine. It’s-“

“Relax.” The woman said again, “Hakoda’s just trying to scare you but he’s all bark and no bite.” The other older woman, who hadn’t spoken, laughed.

“Thank you for the confidence, mom.” Hakoda lightly mumbled, mostly laughing, moving away from Zuko and Azula and towards his mom and mother.

“You know she’s right, Koda.” Kya agreed, “Kids, we really are thankful for what you did to help our children. We can’t repay that debt. We hope you four have fun tonight.”

“Thanks.”

“That means you can breathe again.” The older woman said.

“Kanna-“ The second older woman whispered.

“Come on. They’re terrified. I haven’t seen someone that scared since Hakoda tried to ask out Kya when they were teenagers.”

“I was not that scared.” Hakoda objected.

“I remember that.” Kya said, “Yes, you were. My dad terrified you.”

“You dad was like seven feet tall and displayed his weapons on the walls. I think I had a right to be terrified.” Hakoda argued.

“Either way, you two don't need to be afraid, okay? Have fun and bring them back at least before the night shift changes over.” Kanna said.

“Thank you.” Zuko whispered.

“Mom!” Katara called.

“Over here! And so are Azula and Zuko!”

“What?!” The sound of running suddenly filled the air as the young prince and princess raced through the halls until they were standing in front of their dates.

“We’re so sorry. We didn’t hear you guys come in.”

The two were dressed in their usual coats and pants but it seemed different. The furs were perfectly white, as if brand few and freshly cleaned, and they were both wearing an extra coat that fell down and trailed behind them. That as well was outlined with perfectly done fur. Other than that, they looked pretty much the same as they always did.

“Ready to get going?” Katara asked, receiving a nod.

Sokka didn’t ask, he just grabbed Zuko’s hand and led him out the door.

“Remember! Home before the night guard changes shifts!” Hakoda yelled.

“We will!” Katara called back.

——————————

“So, where are we going?” Zuko asked.

“Just follow me.”

Sokka ended up bringing him to the top of a decently tall snow mound within the village barriers. It was removed from where most people were walking around, so less chance of being spotted, and, if Zuko was honest with himself, very romantic.

“We’re here to watch that.” Sokka pointed straight up to the lights shining in the night sky, “The southern lights.”

Zuko’s eyes grew wider than they ever had. He’d never seen the night sky look this beautiful. In the Fire Nation, there was a lot of smoke from factories which, according to his parents, had made it so it was more and more difficult to see the stars at night. Here, it was the exact opposite. He could see every single star and they covered almost the entire sky. Covering the stars were the southern lights, the colors of purple, green, and pink shown in the sky.

“Wow.”

“The lights don’t come around that often, but when they do it’s amazing. I’m so glad they came while you guys are here.” Sokka said.

“And when we decided to go on a date?” Zuko added.

“If I’m being honest, I probably would have brought you out here if we were going on a date or not.” Sokka responded, his face blushing a little, “Everyone deserves to see the lights at least once.”

“...What if you could get a little closer?” Zuko asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you carry a knife on you at all?”

Sokka nodded. Almost everyone in the Water Tribe did in case they needed one, but not big ones. Just small ones that could be hidden in the boots in case they needed one final bit of defense. Sokka took his out and handed it to Zuko, who instantly turned the life on himself and thrust it towards him.

“ZUKO!” Sokka screamed.

The knife didn’t make contact with Zuko. The teenager, at the very last second, moved the knife away so that it hit the snow and not him.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?!” Sokka screamed, “Why did you try to stab yourselves on our first date?!?!?!?” Sokka didn’t think he was that bad that someone would prefer a stab wound to going on one date with him.

Zuko didn’t answer. Instead, much to Zuko’s surprise, the boy shifted into his dragon form. His skin turned red, wings formed from his back, a long tail emerged from Zuko’s coat and his neck grew long. Those were just the big changes Sokka noticed. He imagined there were a bunch of small ones as well that he hadn’t seen because he was still trying to recover a bit from Zuko’s attempt to stab himself. He had seem Zuko’s dragon form before but he never actually witnessed Zuko, or Azula, turn into a dragon.

“Zuko?” Sokka asked.

The dragon turned to him and lowered himself down to the ground.

“Wait, you want me to…Oh!” That’s what he meant by getting a little closer, “Fly north. No one will see you that way.” Sokka told him, earning a nod. It took him a minute but he eventually got on Zuko’s back, holding on to his horns to keep himself secure.

“Please no loops.” Sokka begged.

Zuko gave him a look that said, “We’ll see.” Raised his wings then flew off.

—-------------------------------------

“I’ve never seen so many stars.” Azula said, lying down next to Katara.

Katara had brought them down to the shoreline, far from sight, and gotten some extra blankets and furs to wrap themselves in. Not to mention, Azula ran warm because of her bending which just made them extra toasty.

“Not many in the Fire Nation?”

“My grandfather used to say they were everywhere until factories started showing up. Apparently, my grandmother loved the stars. When she married my grandfather, she would convince him to fly up into the sky almost every night for midnight flights, but now the stars are pretty much gone.”

“Your grandmother sounds like a nice woman.”

“She was.” Azula whispered, “My grandfather was not.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, my grandfather wasn’t that great either.”

“Oddly enough, it does.” Azula smiled, “But there has to be a better topic than our horrible grandfathers.”

“There is.” Katara agreed, “My Gran-Gran used to tell me stories about the lights when I was a little girl. She said the spirits were up there and they watched over us when the lights were shining. One of her favorite stories to tell was actually about a man who the spirits turned into a polar bear dog.” Azula looked at Katara with a look of disbelief.

“This I have to hear.” She spoke in a tone that made it clear to Katara she didn’t buy any of this for a second.

“Okay. Miss. Turns-into-a-dragon-when-emotional-because-of-a-family-curse.”

“Fair.” Azula said, putting her hands up, “I still want to hear it.”

“This man was once one of the best hunters in the village. It was said he could kill anything, but he was greedy and he was mean to the animals. He began to kill mother and baby animals for the fun of it and the elders didn’t like that, neither did the spirits. One day, he killed a polar bear dog mother and, as punishment, was transformed into a polar bear dog himself.” Azula couldn’t help but be reminded of the stories her dad used to tell her about Sozin and Azulon and the first time they realized they were cursed.

“He begged the spirits to turn him back but it was too late. The man realized that if anyone could help turn him back, it was the oldest person in their village, who was said to be able to communicate with the spirits. So, he started on his way back to the village, which was miles and miles away. While walking there, he met a polar bear dog cub and the cub began to follow him as he was the only one of its kind around for miles. Despite himself, the man found himself beginning to care for the cub and like him. When he finally arrived at the village, they attacked him and the cub. In a desperate move, the man pushed the cub out of the way and took a spear to the heart for him.”

“That’s the story!?” Azula suddenly snapped, “That was so depressing.”

“I’m not done.” Katara chuckled, “Wait until the end before you judge it. Anyways, the spirits, who say what he did, were so moved by his action that they turned him back into a human but the cub was now scared and alone. As it turned out, that cub that had been traveling with him was the baby of polar bear dog he had killed, so now the cub really was all alone. He ran into a nearby cave and refused to come out, no longer trusting the man as a human. Realizing that he had to take responsibility for what he did, the man agreed to remain a polar bear dog and returned to that form. From that day on, hunting polar bear dogs was no longer allowed and it can be said that sometimes, if you’re quiet, you can hear the man and the cub howling at night.” Azula, who had been so absorbed by the story, suddenly blinked and turned away.

“What’s wrong?” Katara asked.

“Nothing. I really liked the story. It reminded me of the ones my mom used to tell.”

“Like what?”

“You don’t want to hear-” Katara placed a hand on Azula’s arm and scooted closer. She didn’t say a word, just looked at Azula as if expecting a story, “My favorite one was about this princess and a prince. They were royalty, had riches, and their nation was prospering, but their family was broken and cruel. Their father was an evil man and their mother ignored them. The siblings grew up broken and alone. One day, they received word that a powerful spirit had been discovered and the father sent the prince out to go get him, but he failed so he sent the princess.”

“Despite growing up together, the siblings constantly battled one another until the princess managed to take down the spirit and bring her brother home. However, her brother soon betrayed her and left, leaving her alone with her cruel father. The prince grew happier and happier with each day while the princess grew sadder and more resentful. Eventually, there was one big battle between the two and the princess lost, too blinded by her own pain and suffering.”

“Okay, now this is a depressing story.”

“It’s not-” Azula put her head in the furs, “My mom tells it better.” She mumbled, “I’m not good at stories, Zuzu is. I’m good at being smart and a better bender.”

“That checks out. I mean, you do have blue flames.”

“Exactly.” Azula lit a flame in her hand, “It took me months to get this. My grandfather used to say it was a sign that I would be the one to take back the throne. Thankfully, he never said that in front of Yuto.”

“...Do you want the throne?” Katara asked.

Somehow, Azula knew Katara wouldn’t instantly turn on her if she said yes. She was looking for a real answer.

“No.” Azula admitted, “I don’t. I never have. I want a better life than we have now, but I don’t want a throne.” She revealed.

“Can I share a secret?” Katara asked, getting a nod, “Me neither. I don’t want to rule the South Pole one day.”

“What do you want?” Azula asked.

Katara shrugged, “I don’t know. What do you want?”

“I don’t know.”

The waterbender smiled, leaning her head against Azula’s shoulder, “Guess that makes us perfect for each other.”

—---------------------------------

Flying on a dragon was way more awesome than riding on Appa. Sokka, obviously, would never tell Aang or Appa that, but it was true. Zuko flew them down to the ocean, gently placing his wing tip in the water then straight up into the sky, as high as he could go. It was absolutely amazing.

Of course, Zuko had to have his own fun and flew into the water once or twice, getting Sokka soaked, and doing a few spins. He stopped when Sokka threatened to throw up on him.

“Zuko!” Sokka called, “We should head back.” Zuko growled in confirmation, turning back to the village.

He landed on the same snow hill they had started on. A few simple breaths and he was back to normal. While he did that, Sokka cleared Zuko’s dragon prints from the snow.

“Nice catch.”

“Thanks. Better safe than sorry.”

“Very true.” Zuko turned towards the village, “I should head back. I have to get back into the tent without Isamu noticing.” He winced. That would not be fun, but it was worth it for a night of flying with Sokka.

“See you tomorrow?” Sokka asked.

“Of course.” Zuko’s mind began to wonder if now was the time to kiss him. He’d done that before in some of his relationships. A good night kiss wasn’t totally crazy, but were things different if your date was a prince? Would it be offensive to Sokka if he tried to kiss him?

“Are you okay?” Sokka asked, taking Zuko’s hand.

“I’m okay.” Zuko nodded, backing up. He wasn’t ready for a kiss, “I have to go. Bye!” He yelled before running off.

“Bye.” Sokka muttered.

He had really been hoping for a goodnight kiss. Still, the night had been absolutely perfect. When he returned home, he went straight to his bed and fell down in it. His heart continued to beat happily.

—-------------------------

Azula decided to return Katara right to her door. There was no real reason, she had just wanted the extra few minutes with the princess. When they arrived, she noticed Katara stop at her door then turn towards Azula, playing with her hair.

“Ummm.” Azula began to play with her jacket. No. No, she could do this, “Would you like to…do a quick kiss?”

“Do a quick kiss?” Katara chuckled.

Huh? This was how she died? Death by embarrassment. She supposed there were worse ways to go. None came to mind at the moment, but there had to be worse ways.

Katara put a hand on Azula’s cheek, “I’d love to.” She moved towards the firebender until the two were kissing. Azula, doing what she felt was natural, put her hands on Katara’s back and in her hair.

As Katara moved to back away from their goodnight kiss, she found that she couldn’t. One look down gave her the answer why and made her giggle.

“Um, Azula?”

“What?” Azula asked.

“Look down.” The firebender did and her eyes widened. A blue tail extended from Azula’s lower back and wrapped around Katara, preventing the waterbender from leaving, “Spirits!” Azula pulled her tail away, “I’m so sorry! This thing has a mind of its own.”

“Don’t worry. I find it cute.” Katara smiled, bringing her hand to the tail to pet the fur at the end of it.

“Only you, Katara. Only you.” Azula whispered, three calming breaths later and the tail disappeared.

“Why wouldn’t I? It means you like me.” She smirked.

“After a whole date you’re just now realizing that?” Azula asked, a smile was planted on her face but she was also blushing badly. That’s not to say Katara was any better. The waterbender moved towards her date once again, giving one final kiss. This time Azula made sure to keep herself fully human.

“I think I have to head inside.” Katara whispered.

“Okay.” Azula nodded, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You will.” Katara agreed, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Azula waited until Katara was gone to do a little jump in the air. Because she was outside, she didn’t notice Katara doing something similar inside.

Chapter Text

“You’re sure no one will see us?” Zuko asked again.

“For the hundredth time, I’m sure.” Sokka said, “The hot springs are completely hidden from the village. Even if you’re both dragons, no one will see you.”

For Sokka’s part, he certainly wasn’t lying. The way the hot springs were created allowed them to be hidden behind major ice walls and invisible to anyone unless that person walked around the ice wall and took ten minutes to actually find the hot springs.

“Okay.” Zuko winced.

The entire group, since there were no meetings today and Azula and Zuko had the day off, decided to head down to the hot springs for some fun. The water was warm enough and heated up the area around it enough that their bigger coats weren’t needed and people could mess around or swim as they wished.

“Suki! Sokka! Come on!” Toph called, running into the water.

Suki and Sokka ran towards the younger girl, jumping in and splashing her in the face. A few years ago, Sokka had been the one to teach Toph how to swim using the hot springs. Poppy and Tao hadn’t been big fans of that but there wasn’t much they could do so they ignored it for the most part. Toph still was a little iffy about the water but she could swim pretty well.

“Wait for us!” Katara called, grabbing water from another hot spring and dumping it on them.

“Hey! That’s not fair! You can’t use waterbending.”

“I think I can.” Katara smirked, hitting them with water once more.

Aang instantly jumped into the fun, using his airbending and waterbending to hit everyone, minus Yue who was sitting in a calmer hot spring and enjoying the peace, with a water blast.

“Change of plans!” Toph yelled, “Attack Katara and Aang!”

“Yeah. That’ll end well.” Katara smirked, only to be thrown into the water with Toph’s earthbending, “Oh, it is on.”

Suki, being more nimble than Katara, came up behind her and dumped water on her head with barrels that had been left behind by other Water Tribe members.

“Ah!” Aang cheered, coming down like a rock into the water and splashing everyone, minus Katara, who made an ice shield for herself. The entire group was laughing their heads off by this point.

Sokka was about to counter Aang and Katara’s attacks, only to get another few gallons of water thrown on him from behind.

“Hey!” Sokka turned back to see who had thrown gallons of water on him. He expected to see Katara or Aang. Instead, he saw Zuko and Azula, fully in their dragon forms. For a split second, they looked panicked, as if they’d gone too far, then Sokka laughed “Took you long enough to join us!” Sokka cupped some water in his hands and splashed Zuko’s face.

Zuko and Azula, mindful of their size, ran around the springs, splashing anyone they could get to with water. Zuko even grabbed Sokka’s shirt and tossed him into the spring.

“You’re supposed to be on my side!” Sokka argued, “Attack Katara or Aang!” Zuko offered a small growl, pressing his muzzle against Sokka’s chest.

“Even your boyfriend knows we’re going to win!” Katara called.

Zuko froze. Boyfriend? Had Sokka called him his boyfriend with Katara? Were they boyfriends now? If Sokka was thrown by the word, he didn’t show it.

“You’ll see! Zuko will help me.” He yelled.

“Even if he does, we have Azula. It’s two waterbenders and a dragon against two nonbenders, an earthbender and a dragon in a water war. We’ll win.” Aang smirked.

“Four nonbenders.” Yue corrected, joining them.

“Still going to win.” Katara smiled.

“We’ll see.”

They did end up winning. However, Zuko did end up being a big help. At one point, he grabbed Katara, similar to what he had done with Sokka, and tossed her into the water.

“Don’t toss her.” Azula snapped, but it came out as a roar to the others. Zuko, however, understood that Azula was more annoyed than angry.

“Rules of the game.” Zuko answered, sounding to everyone else as a hiss.

“Okay.” A hiss.

Sokka and Katara shot each other a quick look. Was a fight about to break out? Did they have to stand in between them? Before either one could move, Azula jumped at Zuko, pinning him down. Zuko, using his back legs, pushed himself away from her while batting at her head to get her to stop. For a moment, the two just stood, staring at one another until Zuko reached out and began batting at her again with his claws stretched out. Azula, being smaller than Zuko, moved to her hind legs and began to bat at him as well. Thankfully, both of them weren’t huge dragons so this play fight really didn’t disrupt much. It was just fun to watch.

“So, are we okay just watching this now?” Sokka asked.

“Very much.” Aang confirmed, “This is so cute.”

Realizing the water war had stopped, Azula dropped down to four legs again while Zuko gave Sokka a confused look. Wasn’t the water war supposed to be happening?

“Sorry. We got distracted watching you two.” Sokka explained, “I think it’s safe to say that Aang, Katara and Azula won.”

“Ha.” Azula said.

“Like they do every year.” Toph added.

“Don’t feel so bad. If this was on earth, you’d beat us all in a heartbeat.” Yue told her.

“I would.” Toph smiled.

“Katara, do you mind?” Without a word, Katara removed the water from everyone’s clothes as well as Azula and Zuko’s scales.

“You guys just want to sit and talk?” Suki suggested, “I’m not ready yet to return to the village.”

“Sure. Yeah. I could do without my parents breathing down my neck.” Everyone found a spot on the snowy ground, including Azula and Zuko, who hadn’t left their dragon forms.

“You two want to stay dragons?” Sokka asked, receiving nods. They didn’t really get to spend much time in their full dragon forms anymore. It wasn’t like they needed to, but a switch up was nice every so often. Especially since no one was running in fear or trying to kill them, “Great.” He smiled.

“I have some news.” Suki said. Everyone turned their heads towards her, intent on hearing their friend, “I met someone.”

“Ohhhhh. Who is it?”

“This girl from the village. Her name is Hana.” Suki told them, “She joined the Kyoshi Warriors a few weeks ago and she’s so cute!”

“Awww.”

“Have you asked her out?” Toph asked.

“Well-…not in those exact words.” Suki admitted.

“Come on!” Sokka said.

“It’s hard!” Suki argued, “You wouldn’t get it.”

“Yes. I definitely don’t understand dealing with having a crush on someone.” Sokka said in the most sarcastic voice any of them had ever heard and, while at point, Sokka also held out his hand towards Zuko, “Totally don’t understand.”

“Just go for it.” Yue told her, “You’ll never know if you don’t ask.”

“I know, but-but what if I blow it?”

“You won’t blow it.” Yue promised.

“I could help you.” Aang offered, “When we’re done at the South Pole, I’ll go with you to Kyoshi and help you start up a conversation with Hana.”

“That would be great actually!” A large smile broke out on the Kyoshi Warrior’s face, “Thanks!”

“No problem! Ask these four, I’m great at breaking the ice.” Aang grinned at Sokka and Zuko.

Zuko snorted smoke in his direction, “You broke so many laws when you did that and I wasn’t kidding about going after your reincarnation.” Sokka warned.

“But my reincarnation will be a baby in the Water Tribe. You couldn’t hate one of your own people.” Aang argued, nervously holding up his hands.

“I won’t hate them.” Sokka argued, “I’ll just tell them their past life decided to break some laws and, as a consequence, they’re not allowed sugar until the age of twelve.” Sokka declared.

“Aang, your reincarnation is going to hate you.” Toph laughed.

“You wouldn’t really do that.” Aang said.

Sokka leaned away from Zuko, focusing more all his energy and attention on Aang, “Watch. Me.”

“Katara? You’ll help my next life, right?” Aang asked.

“….Maybe.”

“Maybe?!”

“We’ll see.” Even as a dragon, Azula’s noises could easily be understood as a laugh.

Aang hung his head, “You all are mean.” That got him more than a few laughs.

Slowly, the conversation drifted from topic to topic. Sokka and Katara eventually moved to laying against their partners and continued to talk to their friends, but as more and more time went on they became more and more quiet.

“We should probably head back.” Suki said.

“Yeah. You’re right.” Yue agreed, turning her attention to Katara and Sokka, “Oh!” She chirped, putting a hand over her mouth.

“What’s-Oh.” Aang’s attention turned to where his first two friends had been laying for the past two or so hours. Azula and Zuko were both curled up, still fully dragons, and Katara and Sokka were leaning against them, sleeping. Azula’s tail was protectively wrapped around Katara while Zuko had his neck wrapped around Sokka.

“Come on.” Yue whispered, “Let’s let them sleep.”

“Good idea.”

A few minutes later, Katara’s eyes slowly opened and she noticed Azula’s head right next to her. Without thinking, she began to run her hands through the fur on her neck. Azula moved her head closer to Katara, releasing a small rumbling noise that Katara quickly understood to be purring. Sokka, awakened by Azula’s purring, turned his head towards Katara.

Neither sibling said a word, not wanting to wake their partners, but they both cast each other a smile. Sokka, noticing Azula’s purring, began to run his own hand through Zuko’s fur, getting the same response. It took everything the siblings had not to laugh and hug Azula and Zuko, but they pushed their reactions down.

“Going to get some more sleep.” Katara whispered, resting her head again.

“I’ll keep watch.”

“Thank you.” Sokka just nodded, leaning against the large red dragon that he was dating. After a couple of minutes, Zuko rested his head right on Sokka’s lap. Without a word, Sokka continued to gently play with Zuko’s fur until he felt the massive head grow heavy and realized Zuko was asleep.

“Goodnight, Zuko.” Sokka whispered.

He received more purring as an answer.

Chapter Text

Emi and Anji, if asked, would say that they had a relatively nice life with their father. As far as parenting goes that is. Their mother passed away a few years ago from an illness and their father had grown more and more paranoid and angry with each passing day. It seemed that, now that their mother was gone, whatever had been keeping him calm left with her. He was still a decent father to them and a good Fire Lord, but, behind closed doors, the siblings knew things were getting worse every day.

On this particular day, when they only had a few more weeks left in the South Pole, their father came bursting into the room, pure hatred and rage in his eyes.

“Father?” Anji asked.

“I was right!” He suddenly yelled.

Emi, who was nervous, stood up, “Right about what, father?” She asked.

“Zuko and Azula!” He said, “I knew it! They were hanging around Hakoda’s children to get something.”

“What?” Emi asked.

“A couple guards decided to fill me in that they’ve been spending a lot of time with the Avatar and have apparently started spending alone time with the prince and princess.” Emi and Anji looked at one another, shock on their faces, “They were trying to get the Avatar to remove their curse but it didn’t work!”

“Father, how do you-“

“I just know!” Yuto yelled, “I know that they have some kind of plan! If it’s not exactly that then it’s something very close to it. That’s the only reason they would also be spending time alone with the Prince and Princess. They’re using them to get to the Avatar.”

“But, what if they just-“ Once again, Anji was interrupted.

Yuto held up his hand. He took a deep breath and pushed back his hair, “I apologize for my outburst.” He calmly stated, “That was not something I should have done, but I’ve come to the decision that we simply can’t wait around anymore for the two to make a move. We must handle this.”

“How?” Emi asked. Both she and Anji were very scared at this point. They didn’t know at all what their father had planned and to hear him talk so calmly made them both shiver.

“Follow me.” He said.

Yuto led them out to their ship. Theirs was, of course, the biggest one in the fleet, meaning that there were tons of places to store items that they wanted to keep secret. Yuto brought them down to the hull then walked to the very end.

“Father, what’s down here?” Anji asked.

“Let's just say our ancestors knew how to handle dragons.” Yuto told his son, a hand leaning against a large metal cage.

“You brought cages for them?!” Emi yelled.

“I had to ensure that we were protected at all times.” Yuto calmly explained, “But I am not a fool, I know a cage wouldn’t be enough to subdue them which is why I made sure to bring some other items as well.” He motioned towards a box that sat next to one of the cages, bolted shut but easily opened with a little bending.

A hand flew over Emi’s mouth. Inside the box was a dart gun, with enough tranquilizers to make a dragon sleep for days, muzzles big enough for dragons, and whips designed to catch on fire so they could be used on animals with thicker skin, the same items they stopped using because they were too cruel for the Komodo rhinos.

“Father, this is-we can’t use these on them. Azula and Zuko haven’t done anything.” Emi argued, “And they’re not animals. They’re people. This is just torture and it’s cruel!”

“Emi, you’ll understand one day, but this is the tough part about being the Fire Lord. I have to do what’s right for our people.” Yuto tried to place a hand on his daughter’s shoulder but she moved away.

“You’re accusing Azula and Zuko of a crime they didn’t commit! And planning to chain them up like animals! How is any of this right?!?” She yelled. She had known her father disliked Ozai and his family and, as a child, she understood why, but this? This seemed just plain cruel and inhumane.

“I’m disappointed in you, Emi. I thought you’d understand that is best for the people of the Fire Nation.” Yuto spoke as if his daughter was five and couldn’t comprehend his words.

“No. No, you’ve just lost your mind. You’re so deluded in this idea that they’re out to get you, but Azula and Zuko are terrified of you! You’ve destroyed them!”

“I’ve done nothing!” Yuto yelled, “They’re the ones who brought this curse onto them! Sozin and Azulon did this all on their own!” Anji, who was growing more and more terrified with their fight, began to back away.

“But why do Zuko, Azula and their parents need to suffer for it!? They did nothing!” That seemed to be the final straw for Yuto.

“They’re Sozin’s blood!!” Yuto roared, fire escaping from his mouth, “It’s their destiny to turn out just like him. Just like it is our destiny to protect the Fire Nation from them.”

“No.” Emi’s voice was low but strong, “I won’t let you do this.”

“Now, I’m really disappointed. I’ll have to straighten you out when we get home, but…for now.” Yuto, despite his age, moved fast. Fast enough to grab a dart from the box and stick it in Emi’s arm. His daughter looked at him for a moment with pain in her eyes then collapsed to the floor. When Yuto looked up, he saw Anji standing there.

“Anything to say?” Yuto asked.

“No, father.” Anji whispered, staring at the ground.

“Very good. Would you mind moving your sister to her room? And make sure you lock the door. We don’t need her running out and ruining everything.” Yuto instructed.

Anji moved slowly but he did move. He scooped up his sister and followed his father to her room where he laid her down then locked the door.

“What now?” Anji asked.

“It’s late now. Get some rest and, tomorrow, we’ll deal with the traitors.”

Chapter Text

“Stay.”

Azula and Zuko froze. They certainly hadn’t been expecting that when they came over.

It was hard to find a time when the two couples could actually meet up. With Katara and Sokka having responsibilities to their tribe and Azula and Zuko having to wait on the different nobles all day, the timing was almost impossible. More often than not, Azula and Zuko would sneak through the tribe at night and visit them then but even that was difficult and stress inducing.

This latest time was when Azula and Zuko managed to finish their chores early and headed to their house. Sadly, Katara and Sokka couldn’t leave because they still had papers to deal with, so Azula and Zuko just decided to stick around and talk. When the four did start talking, the conversations, inevitably, turned to the fact that they’d be leaving in a week.

“Why do you have to go?” Sokka asked.

“We have to go home.” Zuko told him, “We have our own family back home who need us.”

“But it’s so much better here.” Sokka objected.

“Yeah but in the Fire Nation we get to walk around without coats on all the time.” Zuko objected, Sokka still looked upset though, “I’m sorry, but we do have to go home.”

“Because of your family?” Katara asked.

“Yeah. Our parents need us to come back. Plus, Yuto won’t let us leave the Fire Nation.” Azula added, facing Katara, “We’re stuck there and with him.” Katara grabbed Azula’s hands, rubbing her thumb over the girl’s skin.

“What?” Azula asked.

“Stay.”

Azula froze for a moment so Katara continued, “Stay here. We can talk to our parents and get them to convince Yuto that you guys should stay here and you can bring your parents and-“

“Katara.” It seemed Azula finally regained control of herself again, “We can’t.”

“But-“

“You know we can’t.” Azula told her, “It’s-It’s more than just that we can’t it’s that, if we stay, we’re bound to mess up and reveal our dragon selves to your parents.”

“Yeah.” Zuko agreed, “You two might be okay with it but your parents probably won’t be. They have a responsibility to protect the tribe from threats. What’s more threatening than two dragons?” Sokka left his chair to go sit next to Zuko, gently playing with his hair to calm him down.

“You thought we’d be scared and hate you, but we clearly don’t. They won’t think that way. You don’t know that.” Sokka told him.

“Yes. Yes, we do.” Zuko looked at Sokka with a tired expression, “You two are our friends and you know us, it was easier, but with your parents…it’s a different story.” Sokka winced. How they eventually found out about the curse would not be what he described as easy. He really couldn’t imagine what Zuko was thinking it would be like to tell their family.

“It’ll be a political nightmare and then people will be asking why we’re coming to the South Pole and start investigating and-and Azulon didn’t die that long ago. It won’t be hard to find that he’s our grandfather, which will just be another bag of worm-beetles.” Azula added.

Both Katara and Sokka looked away in sadness. She was right. They knew she was right. The two couldn’t stay here and they couldn’t follow them to the Fire Nation, no matter how much they wanted to. Whether they liked it or not, they would probably not see Zuko or Azula again for a few…years, if they were being honest with themselves.

“Well this sucks.” Sokka mumbled.

“We can still send letters.” Zuko told him, “But we’d have to be careful that Yuto doesn’t find out about them.”

“Yuto is really starting to get on my nerves.” Katara growled.

“Imagine what it’s like being around him all the time.” Azula said, “He’s either casually threatening us or outwardly saying how we’re horrible people because of our bloodline.”

“Is there anything we can-”

“No. No, there’s nothing either of you can do which is why we shouldn’t even be talking about this. Come on, you’re both done with your work, so let’s head back to your house before people realize we’re gone.”

When the four returned to Katara and Sokka’s house, Katara and Azula went into her room while Sokka and Zuko went into his room. Sokka took a seat on his bed while Zuko sat at his desk.

“You can sit on my bed with me.” Sokka told him, patting a space.

“I-I know that. It’s just” Bright red covered Zuko’s face, “it’s not proper.”

Sokka barked out a laugh which only made Zuko blush more, “Not proper? I promise no one will find out if you laid down on my bed.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Relax, nothing will happen. I just want to be closer to you before you go.”

“I still have a week before we leave.” Zuko reminded him.

“Yes, but the two of us always get so busy. This may be our last chance to really be together before you have to go and I’d like for us to be closer than this.” Sokka said while gesturing to the bed and the chair which was on the other side of the room. Zuko began to think over Sokka’s words. He wasn’t wrong. He really didn’t know how many times he would be able to sneak away after today, especially once everyone started packing up to go home.

“Okay.” Zuko laid down next to his boyfriend. Sokka gently began playing with Zuko’s hair which made the firebender’s eyes begin to close.

“Zuko.” Sokka whispered, “You’re falling asleep.”

“I don’t care.” Zuko mumbled.

“What happened to ‘it’s not proper.’” Sokka chuckled, “Not that I’m complaining about having a heat source so close.”

“Is that all I am?” Zuko grinned.

“You got me. That’s the whole reason I want to date you. Firebenders run warm.” Sokka’s own eyes began to get heavy but he fought against it, “Seriously, don’t fall asleep. You’ll-”

“It’s okay. Azula will leave and she can cover for me.” Zuko told him. Only a tiny portion of Zuko’s brain was currently reminding him how bad this would be in the morning. Mostly he was just thinking ‘that’s future Zuko’s problem’. All he wanted to do right now was stay close to Sokka.

“True, but…” Sokka really couldn’t bring himself to say anything anymore. The rational part of his brain reminded him that he should definitely be arguing and telling Zuko to go back. If he got caught away from the other servants in the morning, he could get in trouble. However, the non rational part of his brain had control at the moment and all it wanted to do was stay here forever, “Okay. Goodnight, Zuko.”

“Goodnight, Sokka.”

—------------------------------

Azula didn’t need to be told by Katara to lay down in her bed. She did so the moment Katara laid down as well.

“Can I ask you something?” Azula asked.

“Of course.”

Azula brought a hand towards Katara’s face. Her thumb lightly wiped at a small scar on Katara’s cheek, almost unnoticeable.

“How’d that happen?”

“Oh. When I was first learning how to bend, I was very sure that I wanted to be a fighter. I told my parents and my masters and anyone who would listen that I was going to be a waterbending warrior one day. Then, one day, the South Pole was hosting a group of nobility from the North Pole. One of the older boys heard that I wanted to be a warrior and pushed me, saying girls couldn’t be fighters. Obviously, I fought back and used waterbending but he was bigger than me and I was only seven. He sent some, looking back, poorly made ice spears at me and one cut me on the face. My mom interfered before he could actually do any harm but I got this scar.”

“He didn’t want you to be a fighter just because you’re a girl?”

“It’s a thing up north. Yue says they’re trying to change it, but it’s baked into the culture that women only heal or handle more home environment type things.” Katara let out a small snort, “My mom nearly punched this one guy in the face when he pointed straight at her and asked why she was at a meeting. My dad had to hold her back and remind her that beating up people probably wasn’t the best for the South Pole’s international image.”

“Your mom is really growing on me. She sounds like my mom only…more outwardly violent.”

“Outwardly violent?”

“Yeah. Your mom threatened to punch the guy while my mom just slips stuff into their drinks and sits back.” Azula explained.

“....Your mom sounds terrifying.” Azula nodded her head when she saw Katara’s uneasy look.

“She is.”

“Does this mean you’re going to be terrifying?” Katara asked.

“I don’t know. I hope so though.”

“I mean you do have a dragon self that’s pretty scary.”

“Yes, but I want to be scary in a more silent kind of way. Not so much in a ‘give me what I want or I’ll burn you alive’ kind of way.” When Azula gave her example, she changed her voice up to sound more shrill and older which made Katara burst out laughing.

“What was that? What kind of voice was that? That sounded like a 90 year old woman!”

“Hey! I happen to think I’m very good at intimidating voices!” Azula pouted. She couldn’t exactly cross her arms since she was on her side but her face said enough. Katara stopped laughing but didn’t say anything. Instead, she brought a hand to Azula’s hair, wrapping one of her two braids around her finger.

“Stay here tonight.” Katara whispered, letting Azula’s braid fall from her finger but then pushing it back behind Azula’s ear.

“Katara, if they realize I’m gone-“

“Please.” Katara leaned her forehead against Azula’s, blue eyes staring at her.

Azula knew it was stupid. She should leave. Zuko was probably long gone but she was still here, putting them both at risk. Still, even knowing that, her body refused to get up. She wanted to stay here with Katara, she wanted to stay here forever. One night would have to do.

“Okay.” Azula came closer to her, wrapping her arms around the princess, “I’ll stay.” She buried her face in the girl’s neck while Katara laid her head against Azula. The two slowly fell into a deep sleep, letting any worry or fear they had about anything slip away.

Chapter Text

When Zuko first opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of the sun shining through the window and Sokka’s arm over his body. His boyfriend was gently breathing, still asleep, and had his head leaning against Zuko’s chest. Zuko took the opportunity to gently play with Sokka’s hair and enjoy the peace. The calm quiet morning that Zuko woke up to didn’t last long. Not that Zuko was expecting it to, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to hear Yuto’s voice outside the door then have the door slam open. Sokka’s eyes opened as he sat up, fear written all over his face but an arm in front of Zuko.

“Look what we have here.” Yuto smiled.

“What do you want?” Sokka asked, getting out of bed. Zuko stood up as well, suddenly very happy that he had clothes on from the previous night.

“That’s no way to speak to a guest, is it Prince Sokka?” Yuto asked, the way he said Sokka’s title made the teenager almost shiver.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong. You can’t arrest him.” Sokka argued. Based on what Zuko had told him, it didn’t take a genius to realize why Yuto was here.

“But he has. He’s clearly been manipulating you for power. An act of treason if I ever saw it.” Sokka looked at the man like he was insane.

“Manipulating me?!”

“Yes. He only wants to be with you to get closer to the Avatar so that he can fix him and Azula.” Yuto explained, “I’m so sorry you had to find out this way but-“ Yuto didn’t get to finish before Sokka threw snow in his eyes then turned to Zuko.

“Zuko, run!” Sokka yelled. The older boy clearly wasn’t about to waste time and bolted for the window, jumping out of it.

Meanwhile, Azula and Katara, who were only a room over, also heard this shout and Yuto’s voice. Katara hated seeing Azula freeze up when the Fire Lord started talking, fear in her eyes that she would be discovered next. When the girls heard Sokka’s shout, Katara waterbended the walls open.

“Run!” She yelled.

Both siblings bolted from the house. When they were outside, their eyes widened upon seeing one another.

“I thought you went back to the tent!” They yelled at each other.

“Clearly I didn’t!” Zuko snapped, “You were supposed to go back! You’re the responsible one!”

“You’re the older sibling! Let’s argue about this later.” Azula growled, seeing the guards start to get past Katara and Sokka.

Thanks to a few second head start and being much smaller and quicker than the guards, they avoided them as they ran for the tundra. The two refused to stop until they found themselves at a cliff with literally nowhere to go. It was a good hundred foot drop to freezing cold waters below them.

“Stop!” One of the guards yelled, having caught up with them, “Come peacefully and this doesn’t have to hurt.”

“I’ll jump if you do.” Zuko mumbled.

“I’ll jump.” Azula mouthed back.

“Come with us.” When the guard reached for them the two instantly jumped.

“They jumped?!?” The guard screamed, “Who jumps off a cliff?!”

“Insane people.” Another guard whispered, “We should tell the Fire Lord they don’t have to worry about the siblings anymore.”

“Yes. Let’s find some bodies then-“ The guard didn’t finish before a blue and red dragon flew up and into the sky, “It can’t be.”

The dragons flew back over the village, now visible to everyone. Had the two been thinking clearly, they would have flown further into the tundra and out of sight of everyone but they weren’t. They were both freaking out and scared and seeing hundreds of people now staring at them didn’t help. Children and adults all pointed to the sky, yelling about the sight of dragons in the South Pole. People seemed to be caught between pure fascination of the creatures and fear. The only two people dragon siblings were worried about running up to them though, waving their hands and pointing to the ocean and tundra.

“Fly away!” Sokka yelled, “Get out of here!”

“Fly!” Katara added her own screams to Sokka’s, hoping it would be enough to get the two away, “Go!”

“Zuko, come on. We have to go.” Azula said, trying to maintain a distance.

“I just-“

“I know. I’ll miss them too, but we have to leave. Yuto will-“ Azula’s eyes widened when the dart hit her stomach. Looking down, she actually saw three darts in her stomach and began to collapse. The tranquilizer did its job perfectly.

“AZULA!” Katara screamed. The girl wasted no time creating a snow sled and practically flying through the snow towards the falling dragon. Zuko, thankfully, hadn’t been hit yet, so he flew under Azula to help her have a softer landing on the snow.

“Azula?” Zuko asked, using his muzzle to lightly shake her, “We have to go now. Please, get up.” He whispered. She didn’t respond.

“Azula?” Katara asked, taking the darts out of her stomach, “Zuko, can you get her to turn back?” The waterbender tried shaking Azula’s head but nothing worked.

Azula’s eyes were closed and she was lifeless from the darts. Zuko, now angry that his sister was hurt, turned towards Yuto, who was coming towards them with a smile on his face. Fire began to build up in his mouth and he unleashed it onto Yuto. The Fire Lord didn’t seem to care much, simply firebending the fire out of his way.

“Zuko!” Sokka called, “Fly away!”

Zuko stopped, only for a moment, to look over at Sokka, which was all the time Yuto needed.

“Get him to.” Yuto ordered.

Three darts hit Zuko’s neck and he was out in a second. The last thing Zuko saw before the world went black was Sokka running over to him and brushing her fur out of his eyes.

“Sokka…stay back.” He whispered before his eyes closed.

—————————

“Please learn to control your children.” Yuto was clearly losing his patience as Kya and Hakoda attempted to restrain Katara and Sokka. Their attempts weren’t as strong as they would normally be both because Katara and Sokka were thrashing in their hold but also because they were still in shock and wanted more answers from Yuto and their children, but that would have to wait.

“You can’t do this!” Katara yelled, “They haven’t done anything wrong!”

“As I tried to tell your brother this morning, they have committed treason by socializing with you. They only wanted power and you were an easy way to get it.” Yuto told her.

“That’s not true!” Sokka snapped back, “You just hate them because of who their great grandfather is but they’ve done nothing wrong!”

“Enough!” Yuto snapped, “I am the Fire Lord and I know what is best for my people and, what’s best for them, is handling these dangerous creatures.” He turned back towards the ship as a guard yelled that they were ready to leave. Zuko and Azula had been loaded onto the ship, still in their dragon forms, and, to Yuto’s knowledge, caged.

“They’re not dangerous!”

“Katara! Sokka!” Hakoda scolded, “That’s enough! Fire Lord Yuto knows what’s best for the Fire Nation.”

“Thank you, Chief Hakoda.” Yuto told him, “It’s nice to see someone still has their head on straight. I must leave now to handle these creatures, but, please, do tell the Avatar that he may arrive at the Fire Nation whenever he is ready to learn firebending.” With a bow, Yuto stood up and walked away.

Katara and Sokka were only freed from their parents' grasp when the ship was moving. Katara, despite wanting to freeze the ocean where the ship was and run to it, knew there was nothing she could do. Even if she did do that, her parents would just scold her and Yuto wouldn’t let her or Sokka anywhere near Zuko and Azula. All the siblings could do was watch as the ship disappeared and, as more time went on, they knew they had no way of catching up with them.

Kya’s voice, after hours of silence, finally piped up, “Kids-“

“How could you let him leave?!?” Katara screamed, tears running down her face.

“They didn’t do anything and you just sent them to die!!” Sokka added, his own tears falling onto his coat.

“Kids-“

“No! I don’t care what you have to say! We’re getting them back! They don’t deserve-“

“Kids!” Kya finally yelled.

“What?!”

Kya’s face turned to a soft smile as she gestured towards Kanna and Hama, who were standing next to Aang, Yue, Toph, Suki and Appa. It quickly became clear to the teenagers that their grandmother’s had gone to get them while they were sulking about the boat disappearing.

“I think you’ll need a sky bison if you want to follow them.” She said.

Both Katara and Sokka broke out into large smiles, “You’re helping us get them back?” Sokka asked.

“We’re giving you a chance to do what you think is right, but that’s it: a chance. If there’s nothing you can do then you must return to the South Pole.” Kya told them, “Promise us you’ll be careful.” The siblings hugged their parents tightly.

“We promise.” Sokka said.

“Good. Now, go and, by the way, when you come back we expect a full explanation about how your boyfriend and girlfriend can turn into dragons.” Hakoda told them, handing them a bag of supplies he had gone to get, “Even with Appa, it’ll still take you a long time to reach the Fire Nation.” Katara and Sokka nodded.

“You guys are okay with coming?” Katara asked.

“Of course. We’re not going to let you have all the fun.” Suki told them, “Besides, you kind of need us.”

“Thank you.”

“We should get going.” Yue told them, already situated on Appa’s saddle, “We don’t know how much time we have.” Her words put fear in Katara and Sokka’s hearts. Yuto wouldn’t kill them before they reached the Fire Nation, right? Either way, they weren’t going to wait around to find out. Everyone loaded themselves and some supplies onto Appa as Aang took hold of the reins.

“Appa, yip-yip!” He yelled.

—-------------------——

Zuko’s eyes slowly opened while he was still caged. Still in his dragon form, everything was hurting him the second his mind was awake enough to perceive pain. Involuntarily, he let out a small growl which seemed to be enough for the guards next to his cage to act. They went over to some box and began digging around. While they did that, Zuko turned to Azula, who was also in her dragon form and still passed out or maybe she woke up again and was knocked out again.

“Azula?” Zuko let out a violent cough. How long had it been since he had water?

“Azula.” He tried again, his body slowly waking up more and more.

Azula didn’t answer. She didn’t even groan or move at all. Zuko wasn’t even completely sure she was breathing. Then, footsteps began to get closer to him.

“Who-“ Zuko didn’t even have much time to think before one of the guards hit him with a fire whip. The pain woke him up and caused Zuko to let out a pain filled roar which earned him another hit.

“Hey!” Another guard yelled, “You’re only supposed to hit him with the whip if he’s violent.”

“You got to hit the blue dragon.” The guard argued, “I get to hit this one.” Hit the blue dragon? They hit Azula with this thing. Zuko growled dangerously at the guard, “Quiet!” He yelled, hitting Zuko’s neck with the whip.

“Okay. You’ve had your fun. The Fire Lord Yuto won’t be happy if he finds out you damaged one of the dragons.”

“Fine.” The guard groaned and pulled a dart from his rock which he stuck into Zuko's tail, “We’ll be in the Fire Nation soon enough. Just go back to sleep, freak.” The guard mumbled as Zuko hit the ground. Darkness covered his vision once more. He didn’t even have much strength to speak, only to hope that everything would be okay soon.

——————————

Ursa and Ozai had woken up to a pretty typical day. There was nothing really different about it from their perspective at all. They got up, had breakfast, handled the animals then went off to work. However, halfway through the day guards from the Royal Palace arrived.

“Can we help you?” Ozai asked, standing in front of Ursa.

“You’re needed at the docks. Fire Lord Yuto has summoned you both.”

“Zuko and Azula.” Ursa whispered.

“It’ll be okay.” Ozai told her, “Just stay calm. We’ll figure everything out.” He promised. He took her hand as they followed the guards down towards where all the ships docked. When they were close enough, Ozai and Ursa could see Yuto’s giant ship.

“I’m telling you, Ozai, it’s about the kids.” Ursa said, “Yuto found out.” She kept her voice low enough so the guards wouldn’t hear her.

“It’s okay.” Ozai repeated, “Don’t say anything. Let’s just see how much he knows.”

When they arrived, Yuto was already outside the ship, waiting for them. He looked incredibly happy, which calmed Ozai. Maybe they had misunderstood the situation. If Yuto thought they committed treason, he’d be angry and calling for their heads but the Fire Lord just looked at him with a big smile.

“Fire Lord Yuto.” Ozai and Ursa bowed, “It is an honor to hear from you again. It’s been too long.”

“I agree. We really should think about getting together at some point.” Yuto told him, “We have a lot to catch up on.”

“We really do.” Ozai smiled, trying to appear as calm as possible.

“Like why your children attempted to fake relationships with the Prince and Princess of the South Pole to get the Avatar to remove the curse.”

Now that was a shocker. Both Ozai and Ursa’s jaws dropped. Their kids did what?! They were in relationships with South Pole royalty?!? It’s like they were trying to paint a big target on their backs!

“They did what?!” Ursa cried, voicing her thoughts before Ozai had the chance. Not that his would be any different.

“Yes. It seems they thought they could go behind my back and make an alliance to get rid of the curse. See, my only problem with this is that I doubt they acted alone. Don’t you think so?”

“Fire Lord Yuto, whatever you’re-“

“You all knew about this and planned it together!” Yuto took a breath, trying to control himself, “And so you will be punished together.” That was the moment guards forced Azula and Zuko off the ship.

They were still walking kind of weird because they had been drugged for the entire trip except the last day. Not to mention the burns they now had from the guards hitting them with the whips. When the kids saw their parents though, they instantly tried to bolt towards them.

“Mom! Dad!” The guards stopped them both and pinned their arms behind their backs.

“What are you doing?!?” Ursa yelled. She tried to run forward only to be grabbed by guards.

“It’s simple. Your children have committed treason and will be punished as much. And so will you two for assisting them in their actions.” Yuto told her.

“They’ve done nothing wrong!” Ursa yelled, “Take us if you have to, but leave them be!”

“They attempted to conspire with leaders of other nations, including the Avatar. For people of their blood, that is plenty treason.” Yuto explained, walking away. Ursa’s hands balled up into fists.

“You piece of-” Yuto was ready. He was practically cheering when Ursa transformed into her dragon self. He smiled as she roared in his face, looking ready to rip him in two. Ursa’s dragon form, being a full grown adult, was massive. Her muzzle was almost as big as Yuto himself and she was certainly bigger than Appa both in terms of height and length.

“Fire!” Yuto screamed.

Guards pulled out tranquilizer dart guns and fired at Ursa. It took eight and she began to roar and hit a lot of people with her tail, but eventually she collapsed on her side.

“Ursa! Mom!” Ozai, Zuko and Azula screamed.

Yuto grinned happily. This couldn’t have gone better. Ozai, seeing his wife on the ground, allowed his anger to get the best of him and so did Zuko and Azula. Even being surrounded by three dragons, Yuto didn’t feel a hint of fear because all three were on the ground in seconds.

Yuto walked over to Ozai, placing a hand on his face, “You should have stayed in your place.” He whispered, “Load them all up!” He ordered, “They’re coming to the palace!” That was the last thing Ozai heard before he lost consciousness.

Chapter Text

Ozai was only five when he woke up screaming or, actually, roaring. He’d gone to sleep that night as a human, lying down in his bed with a small blanket wrapped around him. It wasn’t much but his father was the only one providing money now so this was really all they could afford.

When he woke up, he fell out of the bed, having gotten tangled in the blanket, and quickly realized he had claws, scales, wings and a long tail which led to the roaring. Even though Ozai technically knew about the curse, it was another thing entirely to actually experience it.

“Ozai!” Azulon roared, making the boy become quiet, “What is it?!”

Ozai tried to respond to his father but all that came out were small chirps and growls.

Azulon rolled his eyes, “Seems you finally got the family curse. Just take a few breaths and you’ll be fine, but don’t come out of this room until you’re human again.” With that, Azulon left.

Ozai did exactly what his father instructed him to do. He took multiple deep and calming breaths, even tried to stand on two legs while doing so to tell his body it was time to return to normal but nothing worked.

“Dad!” He let out a chirp, trying to call for his father.

“That doesn’t sound like human to me!” Azulon yelled back, “Do not step foot outside of that room until you’re back to normal!” So, Ozai kept trying and trying and trying. He got nowhere.

Eventually, he just curled up on his bed and hid his face under his wing. Maybe he was destined to be a dragon forever? His father always said he was a worthless child, maybe he’d be better as a dragon. Ozai was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear Iroh come in.

“Ozai?” Iroh asked.

“Iroh!” Ozai forgot his pain for a moment and launched at his brother, who scooped him up into his arms, “I can’t turn back!”

Iroh chuckled, “I can’t understand you like this. Change back.” When he saw Ozai’s sad face, Iroh realized the truth, “You can’t, can you?” Ozai nodded.

“It’s okay.” Iroh set him down on the bed, “I’ll show you how. First, take deep breaths. You need to be able to center yourself and calm yourself down.” Ozai copied him, “Then, think of your human self. You know what you look like so just picture that in your mind.” Once again, Ozai copied him.

A few seconds later, he was completely human. The five year old jumped at his brother again, laughing as he was picked up.

“Thank you, Iroh!”

“You’re welcome. Does father know about your getting the curse yet?” Iroh asked.

Ozai nodded, “He said I couldn’t leave the room until I was human again.” Iroh’s face grew soft and upset when he heard Ozai’s tone.

“It’s okay. You’re human now, so why don’t we go get some food?” Iroh suggested.

“Yes!” Iroh brought Ozai out to the main room and began preparing him some food. Azulon was already gone so Ozai didn’t worry about saying anything that he wasn’t supposed to. Iroh never got made at him for talking.

“Iroh?” Ozai asked.

“Hmmm?”

“What was it like for you? The first time you got the curse?”

Iroh chuckled, “Crazy. I destroyed most of the house because I was running around so much. It drove mom insane.” He said, “She said she could only get me to turn back by promising to get me mochi that night.”

Ozai made a face, “Bleh.”

“Bleh? Mochi is bleh?” Iroh asked, getting a nod, “Your taste buds just haven’t developed yet. You’ll see soon.” Iroh set down a plate of sausage and fruit in front of his little brother, who quickly ate it up.

“Ozai?” The five year old looked at him with bits of fruit all over his face, which made Iroh smile, “You understand that you need to keep this curse a secret, right? You can’t tell anyone.”

“I know. Dad said I’d be kicked out if I told someone.” Ozai whispered.

Okay. Iroh did want Ozai to be careful, but threatening him with kicking him out of the house probably wasn’t the best way, “No, Ozai, it’s-it’s just that people will get scared and they might hurt you, they might hurt me and dad. You don’t want that, right?” Ozai shook his head, “Good, so just keep yourself from transforming and there will be no problems.” Iroh ruffled Ozai’s hair, getting him a giggle from the child, before standing up to finish the dishes while Ozai dug into his food.

———————————-

For twenty years, Ozai kept his promise to Iroh. He never had a single close call with someone almost discovering the curse, not even when he was a teenager or little kid. His emotions were always kept perfectly in check.

That changed when he met Ursa. The girl was a waitress at a restaurant in the next town. The second Ozai saw her he could almost hear his heart explode. He’d never seen someone that beautiful before.

“Are you ever going to order food?” Ursa asked him one day, taking a seat at his table, “You come here all the time and only get tea.”

“I’m never hungry.” Ozai shrugged.

“Then why are you coming to a restaurant?” Ursa asked.

He wanted to say you and add a smile, similar to what he saw Iroh do with girls all the time, but all he managed to get out was, “...I ummm…well…y-you?” He said. How did Iroh make this look so easy?

“Me?” Ursa asked.

Nodding was probably the safest bet at this point which is what Ozai did, “Any reason?” Ursa asked.

“You’re beautiful and kind and I saw you in that play, Love Amongst the Dragons, and you were amazing in that and…” Realizing that this kind of sounded a little creepy and strong, Ozai forced himself to stop, “Please speak now.” Ursa chuckled.

“You’re cute.” She said, “No one’s ever really called me pretty before.” She said, grabbing at her short hair.

“Really?” Ozai asked.

Ursa just shrugged, “Apparently I come on too strong.”

“Did you not just hear me rambling on like a crazy person five seconds ago? If one of us is coming on too strong it’s me.”

Ura shook her head, “Go on a date with me and you’ll see.” Ursa winced.

“Okay. When do you finish up here?” Both of them were heavily blushing at the realization that they were going on a date.

“Ursa!” An older woman yelled, “Come on! You’re supposed to be working!”

“Sorry, mom.” Ursa called back then quickly turned around, “I finish up at sunset.”

“I’ll be here.”

———————------------

Iroh sat down on the steps, having seen Ursa sitting outside as well and wanting to join her. No one else was around when he sat down and Ursa didn’t seem too bothered by his appearance so Iroh let out a small breath and took a second to relax.

“So it’s true.” Iroh said.

“Hmm?” Ursa looked at him in confusion.

“Father told me about my future nephew or niece.” Iroh pointed to Ursa’s stomach, which was already pretty visible.

“Yes, it’s true.” Ursa confirmed, a hand going to her stomach, “Already six months along.”

Iroh smiled, but could also plainly see that Ursa was not smiling, “You don’t seem excited.” Iroh said.

“I am. I’m very happy to meet my future son or daughter.” Ursa quickly said, “I just…I think it’s just pregnancy stuff.”

“I can understand that.” Iroh nodded, “My wife was frantic when she found out she was pregnant. Up until the very last minute she had to be planning every detail. Lu Ten ended up being a few days late and I’m fairly certain she was on her way to a full on freak out because her schedule would be messed up.”

Ursa chuckled a little, “I think it’s more so…curse pregnant stuff.”

“Oh.”

“I love Ozai and I know what I was signing on for when the curse affected me.” Ursa told him. She could still remember, clear as day, the morning she woke up as a full grown dragon. Thankfully, their room was just big enough for her but she was stuck there while Ozai tried to calm her down and tell her how to turn back, “I guess I’m just wondering and scared for our child now.”

“If you’re wondering about if the baby will have the curse, they will. When they’re young, the child will become a dragon for the first time. If you’re asking about during birth or anything like that, in some ways. My wife was in a lot of pain during the childbirth process and ended up half shifting into her dragon form. We had to do the birth at home to keep anyone from seeing her.”

“Other than that, there will be no real difference.” Iroh promised, sensing Ursa’s nervousness, “No eggs or baby dragons to worry about.” He chuckled, hoping his joke would lighten the mood a little.

“Well that’s good.” Ursa chuckled. She’d be lying if she said the thought of an egg hadn’t crossed her mind, “Anything else I should be worried about?”

“Nothing I can think of, but I’d talk to Ozai about how you’re feeling. We-“ Iroh suddenly froze.

“Iroh?” Ursa asked.

Iroh was staring in the distance, his eyes squinting to help him see on the sunny day. Suddenly, he stood up and grabbed Ursa’s arm.

“Tell Ozai that Yuto is here.”

“Wait. The Fire Lord is here? Why is he-“

“Ursa, just go.” Iroh snapped.

Ursa did as she was told. Ozai looked unsure and nervous but Azulon seemed to know exactly what they should do with the information.

“Ursa, go to the nursery and don’t come out. No matter what you hear.” Azulon ordered, “Ozai, come with me.” Ursa remained hidden, even when she started hearing some yelling. She couldn’t pick up everything, but she did hear a new male voice ask Iroh some questions about the Earth Kingdom.

“Just visiting my family.” She heard him say.

“We also got reports that there was a wedding.”

She didn’t hear the response but she did hear the man say, “And where is the bride? Don’t tell me she ran for the hills already.”

“Fire Lord Yuto, you really don’t need to check up on anything.”

“Nonsense. This girl you married is a member of our nation. She deserves to know what she’s gotten herself into.” Suddenly, the doors to the nursery swung open and Ursa was greeted by the sight of a smiling Fire Lord. She’d only seen paintings of him before so seeing him in real life was something new.

“Ah. You must be Ursa. Ozai’s wife.” Yuto said.

“I am.” Ursa confirmed.

“And-Oh! Already have a little one on the way.” Ursa really couldn’t explain why but Yuto looking at her stomach made her want to punch him. She took a couple steps back which made Ozai instantly walk past Yuto to stand in front of her, “I’m surprised, Ozai. I never would have taken you for someone who needs to have kids not even a year after the wedding.”

“How dare you talk to him like that?” Ursa snapped.

“Ursa, was it? Listen, I’m only stating facts. It is odd that a couple would have children so early. Almost as if he wanted to be sure that his bloodline would continue.”

“I think it’s time for you to leave.” Ozai growled, claws and fangs coming out, “You’re upsetting Ursa.”

“Am I?” Yuto asked.

“Yes.” Ursa answered, glaring at him.

Yuto didn’t seem offended by Ursa’s answer. He simply shrugged, keeping a grin on his face, and walked out the door, “I’ll be back when the little one is born.” His words, even if said with a smile, sounded like a threat. Ursa couldn’t help the small dragon growl that escaped her throat as she covered her stomach.

It wasn’t until he was gone that she allowed herself to sit down, “He can’t take our baby, right?”

“No! No, he can’t do anything like that. He’s like a baby deer-dog. All bark and no bite.” Ozai told her.

“But he’s the Fire Lord! If he wants our baby gone then what power do we have to stop it!?” Ursa cried.

Ozai, with no answer, only hugged her tightly.

———————————-

Ursa gave birth three months later. Similar to Iroh’s wife, she had to do the birth with only Ozai and no outside help. They ended up moving Ursa to the nearby mountains because the house wouldn’t be able to take it if she fully transformed. Hours later, Ursa was leaning against a cave wall with Ozai leaning over her as she held their newborn son.

“We have a son.” Ozai whispered.

“We do. He needs a name though.”

“Did you have something in mind?”

“Zuko.” Ursa whispered, holding the infant close to her chest.

“Zuko.” Ozai tried the name out, “I love it.” The baby cooed a little, his eyes blinking open, “And it seems he loves it too.”

Thankfully, Yuto never arrived after Zuko was born. Ursa took some comfort in that. Maybe Ozai was right and Yuto really was all bark and no bite. She was even comfortable when she found out she was pregnant again. Similar to Zuko’s birth, they had to go to the mountains and, because Ozai didn’t trust Azulon at all, brought Zuko with them. When they returned a few days later, Yuto was there to greet them.

“Awww. And who is this?” Yuto asked, looking down at Zuko.

Ozai pushed his son behind him, “This is Zuko and this is Azula.”

“Zuko and Azula.” Yuto said, “Good names, but I have to ask, do your children know their parents are half animal?”

“Daddy, what’s he talking about?” Zuko asked.

“They don’t know?” Yuto asked, “Kid, your parents are giant, bloodthirsty-”

Ozai scooped up Zuko and held him close, “Stop, Yuto. You’re scaring Zuko.”

“I’m scaring him? You brought him into this world, fully knowing the life you’ll condemn him to. He’ll be half a creature, a dragon. He’ll be a monster.” Zuko buried his face in his fathers shirt and began to cry.

“Enough!” Ozia yelled, “Get out of our house!”

“And just what makes you think you can speak to your Fire Lord that way! Your father and brother may also possess the curse, but at least they managed to retain their senses. They knew better than to speak in such a way to their superior! I guess common sense just skipped you.” Ursa’s hand went right across his face, leaving a red mark.

“Do not speak to my husband like that!!!” She yelled. Ozai quickly took Azula from her in case she transformed. The newborn was starting to whimper at all the loud noises and Zuko was still clinging to him and crying.

Yuto ran a hand through his hair, flashing Ursa another one of his fake smiles, “Put a hand on me again and I’ll have the guards come here and throw you in jail and your children will be removed.” Yuto’s smile seemed to get wider when he saw the fear in Ursa’s eyes, “I’ll be sure to stop by from time to time to monitor the children’s growth. Goodbye.” By the time Yuto left, both Zuko and Azula were sobbing.

“Quiet those brats. If they continue to scream and cry we’ll get looks from the neighbors.” Azulon grumbled before walking off.

“An infant and toddler crying? Whoever heard of that.” Ozai muttered, careful to keep his voice low enough so Azulon didn’t hear him.

“Daddy?” Zuko whispered, “Are we monsters?”

“No! No, Zuko, you’re not a monster. None of us are.” Ozai told him, “Yuto didn’t know what he was talking about.”

“But-But he said-”

“Yuto is wrong. I’ll explain more later, but you have to trust me, Zuko. He’s wrong.” Ozai said.

“Okay.” Zuko whispered.

Ozai and Ursa, having calmed down their children, brought them into their room and put them to bed. It wouldn’t be long before Azula woke up and needed something, so Ursa decided to get what little sleep she could on the couch. While she did that, Ozai stepped outside and took a breath, trying to control his thoughts. Would Yuto really arrest Ursa and take the kids? If he could take Ursa away, there was nothing stopping Yuto from taking him either. Spirits, what would happen to them if some random family took them in and they shifted for the first time? Or worse, what if they were left here with his father? No. No, nothing could happen to his children or Ursa.

“I have to protect them.” He whispered, “No matter what it takes.”

Chapter Text

When Zuko woke up, he instantly recognized the palace setting around him. He was in the throne room, with the fire in full force which lit up the entire room. There were chains on his wrists and ankles as well. The more he woke up, the more he could feel the cold iron against his skin. When he was fully awake, he quickly noticed Azula and their parents right next to him, all in a similar state as him.

“Zuko.” Ursa tried to move closer to him but her chains prevented it, “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, mom.” Zuko said, “We’re in the throne room?”

“Seems that way.” Ozai nodded.

“This is where Yuto brings people before he executes them.” Azula whispered.

“No, honey, it’ll be okay-”

“How!?” Azula snapped, “We screwed up and now we’re all going to be burned alive for it.”

“We’re not going to be burned alive.” Again, Ursa tried to get closer to her child but the chains held her back, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“What were you two thinking? Dating the Prince and Princess of the South Pole?!” Ozai scolded, “Have your mother and I taught you nothing about keeping low profiles?”

“We like them!” Zuko argued, “They were nice and they didn’t care that we were half dragon.”

“Zuko’s right. They let us be ourselves. They’re good people.”

“You revealed your dragon forms to them?” Ursa asked, getting nods from them both.

“And was it worth it to date them?” Ozai asked. That certainly made the siblings shut up.

“Ozai.” Ursa snapped, “Leave them alone. They’re human. They’re allowed to have feelings for people.” She gave them a soft smile, trying to reassure her children of their choice when the doors swung open.

“Ah. You’re awake.” Yuto’s footsteps echoed throughout the room.

“How long were we out?” Zuko asked.

“Almost two days. It seems that when my soldiers gave you those tranquilizers they were enough to knock out dragons for a few hours but also enough to knock out humans for almost 48 hours. I’ll have to remember that for later.” Yuto took a quick glance at which soldiers he had in the throne room. There were about 5, the perfect number to get him out of here when things went sideways. In the palace, he had a few hundreds guards and soldiers, minus the few he sent to take his children away to the countryside while he handled these dragons. Still, a few hundred soldiers could certainly take down four dragons.

“Yuto, leave them alone.” Ozai said, standing up.

“Leave them alone? I can’t just ignore when someone commits treason. That’s not how things work around here, Ozai. You know that.”

“They’re kids. Just let them go.” Ozai really didn’t want to beg in front of Yuto but if it was what he had to do to save his family then it was what he had to do, “Please.”

Yuto narrowed his eyes then smiled, “You’re right.” He said, earning a shocked look from the family.

“You’re letting us go?” Azula asked.

“In a way. I do admit that Zuko and Azula are young and that means that there is still time to mold them into proper Fire Nation citizens. Ones without the influence of Sozin and Azulon.” A pit began to form in Ozai and Ursa’s stomachs. He couldn’t be suggesting what they thought he was.

“I did tell you and your family to keep your curse and heritage a secret and you failed. Your failure will not go unpunished. It cannot go unpunished.”

“Fire Lord Yuto, we didn’t-“ Yuto cut Zuko off.

“Ozai and Ursa you two will be allowed to remain here, but your home will be under strict security. Everyone who comes in and out of your house will be monitored. Zuko, I think a decade or so in the army would do well to straighten you out. Azula, the Fire Nation has a lovely institution for troubled girls. I think you’d fit in nicely there until they deem you fit to rejoin our society.”

“You can’t do that!” Ozai yelled, “You can’t force us to never see each other again!”

“I can.” The Fire Lord said, “And I just did. Are you planning on disobeying an order from your Fire Lord?”

“Yes!” All Yuto did was narrow his eyes.

“Then you have committed treason yet again and I cannot forgive a second act. Guards! Kill him!”

“No! Dad! Ozai!” Yuto, by this point, had his back turned to the family but if people had been watching him more carefully, then they would have noticed him walking a little faster than normal. Almost as if he knew the throne room was about to be destroyed by four dragons.

“Fire Lord Yuto!” One of the guards grabbed him and pushed him out of the way of the falling debris as the dragons flew away, “We need to get you out of here!”

“No! Don’t worry about me. Focus all your attention on the dragons! They’re dangerous! Kill them!”

Ozai, Ursa, Zuko and Azula had flown up above the clouds, using them as cover, “Let’s go! We have to go now!”

“Ursa, take the kids and fly as far away from here as you can. I’ll give you three some cover.”

“No, Ozai, we don't need cover.” Ursa flew in front of her husband, “We just need to leave now!”

“We won’t get far if Yuto can follow us. Zuko and Azula can’t fly forever. We need to make sure Yuto has no way of following us.”

“Then let us help. We can destroy more of his stuff.” Zuko said.

“And I’ve been wanting to burn down the palace for a while now.” Azula added to her brother. Ozai didn’t like his children being so close to the fight, but they were right. Four dragons raining down fire on Yuto, his weapons and ships would be much faster and more destructive.

“Ursa, take Zuko and handle his ships. Azula and I will take out the spears.” Ozai ordered.

Ursa and Zuko disappeared as they flew out of the clouds then dive bombed the ships. As they flew, people pointed up at them and yelled. Some were yelling just because they were shocked, others in fear and a few in fascination. Nonetheless, all of the yelling turned to fear when the mother and son began burning down Yuto’s ships. A hard feat given that they were meant to handle firebending, but a doable one with dragon fire. Especially when Zuko used his claws to start tearing the ships apart.

—----------------------------------------

Appa wasn’t the fastest flying bison but he certainly was better than any boat. Sokka and Katara had managed to persuade Aang to have Appa fly as much as possible. Aang really didn’t like pushing Appa to his limit but he understood the time sensitivity of this mission.

“So, what exactly is our plan for when we get there?” Yue asked.

“What do you mean?” Katara asked.

“I mean we need a plan. We can’t just land in the Fire Lord’s lawn and demand Azula and Zuko be set free.”

“Are you suggesting we sneak them out?” Suki asked.

“Wait! We get to break people out of jail now?!”

“Well you don’t now.” Suki said.

Toph glared at the Kyoshi Warrior, “You’re no fun. I’m great at breaking people out of prisons.”

“Since when?” Yue asked, crossing her arms.

“Since always. I’m a master of stealth.” Toph smirked.

“Okay. Now I know you’re just spouting bull-“

“We can’t do that anyways.” Sokka said, “Yuto will just find them again and then have every right to get mad at us for taking prisoners. We should try and bargain for them. Maybe say that we’ll keep them in the South Pole where they won’t cause trouble.”

“Sokka. I’m thinking that plan won’t exactly work.”

“Why?”

“That.” Katara pointed forward to where Ursa and Zuko were destroying Yuto’s boats.

“Ohhhhh…Yeah, this is going to be really hard to ask Yuto to forgive.” Ursa, noticing the flying bison, flew off towards Appa.

“Woah! Woah!” Aang cried when Ursa flew inches in front of Appa, roaring at him. Appa roared back, clearly not about to back down, “Appa, no!”

“We’re on your side!” Sokka yelled, “We know your son!”

Zuko flew in between the bison and giant red dragon, roaring at the dragon. The bigger dragon roared back, this time much softer. After a few minutes, Zuko flew a little closer to Appa. Enough so that Sokka could hug his face.

“I missed you too. This is your mom, I imagine?” Sokka asked. Zuko nodded in response, “Hello! I’m Sokka. I’m kind of dating your son. Did not expect the first meeting to go like-“

“Sokka.” Suki rolled her eyes, “We have something we need to do.”

“Oh! Right. We came to help you and Azula but…you seem to have it handled?” Zuko nudged his head towards the palace where the group could distantly hear more roaring.

“Azula?” Katara asked, earning a nod from Zuko, “Come on! We have to help her.”

“Yip-yip” Aang hit the reins which made Appa fly off towards the palace with Ursa and Zuko right behind him. When they arrived, they found the royal palace completely destroyed. Ozai and Azula seemed to be basically finishing up when they noticed them.

“Azula!” Katara called.

Azula instantly flew over. Doing the same thing Zuko did and pushing her face against Katara, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Katara whispered.

“They came for them.” Ursa whispered.

“I see that.” Ozai sighed, “Fine. When this all blows over, I’ll give them a chance.”

“Thank you. Now, can we please leave?” Ursa asked.

“Yes. We’re getting out of here. I don’t know where we’ll go but we’ll find somewhere safe. Somewhere where Zuko and Azula can be themselves without fear.”

“I love you.” Ursa gently rubbed her face against her husband’s, “Now, come on. We’ve probably freaked out enough people by flying around.”

Ozai snickered at his wife’s comment, “Prob-“ The sound of some kind of object flying through the air then hitting something made everyone freeze. The kids, not knowing exactly what had happened, looked around for the source of the sound.

“Oh, no.” Aang whispered.

Ozai didn’t need to look down to know what had happened. There was a spear in his chest. He gave one final look to Ursa, Azula and Zuko before his wings stopped working and he fell to the earth.

“OZAI!” Ursa screamed.

“DAD!!” Azula and Zuko screamed.

Ozai fell from the sky and slammed into the ground, spear still clear in his chest. His eyes looked up at his family, all of them still in the air, then closed as he let out a final shaky breath. When he had taken his final breath, his form changed back into his human one. Sokka finally found Yuto, standing right next to the machine that had launched the arrow. He was smiling.

“How-How can he be smiling?!” Sokka yelled, “He just murdered a father! He killed their father right in front of them!”

“Ummm guys. What’s going on with Azula and Zuko?” Yue asked, halting Sokka’s rant.

Everyone’s attention turned up to the younger dragons. Both of whom looked ready to tear Yuto apart. Ursa flew in front of them, roaring gently, the kids assumed to try and persuade them to fly away, but they flew past her, raining fire down on the remaining soldiers. Azula even grabbed a couple soldiers in her claws and threw them in the air.

“They’ll kill them.” Aang whispered.

“We have to stop them.” Yue said.

“Aang, fly us down. Sokka and I will do what we can to calm Azula and Zuko down.” Katara told him.

Aang did exactly what Katara instructed him to do, “We’ll help people get out of Azula and Zuko’s range.” Aang said.

“Good. Work with their mother, I think she’s on our side.”

“Katara! Sokka!” Suki called, “What will you two do if you can’t get them to calm down?”

“Let’s not think about that.” Sokka winced, “We’ll figure something out. Just go! Get people out of here!”

“Good luck!” Toph called.

“You take Azula. I’ll take Zuko.” Sokka ordered.

“Okay, and Sokka! By careful.” Katara warned, “I-I don’t think Zuko would hurt you but they’re both angry and hurting. We have to be careful.” Sokka nodded. He knew she was right, but she was also right about one other thing. Zuko, as well as Azula, were still themselves, they wouldn’t hurt them.

“You too.” With that, the siblings ran off in the direction of their girlfriend and boyfriend, hoping to stop them from doing any more damage before it was too late.

Chapter Text

Sokka made his way over the rubble as fast as he could. Zuko didn’t exactly stay in one place all that long so it was pretty impossible to keep up with him and he was so angry that he wasn’t listening to him either.

“I’ve got to get his attention.” Sokka mumbled. His eyes landed on one of the fallen arrows that had been used and an idea popped into his head.

He grabbed the arrow and one of the bows, also left behind by a fleeing or dead soldier, and shot into the air. Sokka made sure to shoot it far enough that Zuko wouldn’t be hit but also close enough to get his attention. Zuko turned his head towards him, expecting to see a soldier, but his gaze softened when he saw it was just Sokka.

“Zuko! Zuko!” Sokka yelled. The large red dragon landed on the ground, “Zuko, you and Azula have to stop!”

Zuko growled, gesturing to Ozai’s dead body, “I know. I know you’re angry and you want revenge but this isn’t right and you know it! You’re mad at Yuto! Not these soldiers. If you continue, there will be nothing Katara, Aang or I can do for your family. Think of you mom!” Zuko huffed smoke in Sokka’s face, using a claw to point to Ozai then back at him.

“What would I do if it was my father?” Sokka asked. Zuko nodded, “Probably the same thing you’re doing and you would stand by me for the whole thing.” Another nod, “But I can’t do that for you, Zuko. I can’t just stand here while you and Azula get yourself and your mother killed.” Zuko narrowed his eyes but didn’t retreat back to the sky, “Please. I want to help but not in the way that has you and Azula killing hundreds of people.”

Staying silent was probably the best option at the moment as Zuko contemplated his words. It was true that Zuko was angry. He wanted the palace to be burned to the ground with Yuto inside. He wanted to tear Yuto apart limb by limb…but, at the same time, as he began to think things over, the logical portion of his brain began to work again. Sokka was right. This would only end badly and probably result in him, Azula and their mother being hunted for the rest of their lives.

Zuko was about to shift back and tell Sokka that he was right when the Water Tribe Prince ran behind him, “Sokka?” Zuko asked, his eyes grew when he saw what had happened. A few feet away was a single soldier, now looking absolutely terrified and confused, with a bow and now Sokka was lying on the ground with the arrow in his chest.

“SOKKA!!” Lightning filled up in his chest. Zuko had heard of firebenders powerful enough to use lightning but never a dragon using lightning. Still there was only one way to describe the feeling of electricity all over his body and the pure lightning that escaped from his mouth. He didn’t hit the soldier but he certainly did enough to scare him off.

“You created lightning.” Zuko turned back to Sokka. Still in his dragon form, unable to leave due to how emotional he was, he wrapped himself around his boyfriend and offered a soft whine, “I-I’ll be okay, Zuko. I’ll be…fine.” That would sound a lot more convincing if Sokka didn’t have blood on his hands.

—————————-

Azula flew down, back into range of the spears and arrows, and began to attack whoever she could see. At this point, she didn’t care much about a target, only that she hurt the Fire Lord’s precious palace. From time to time, she spotted Zuko’s red form flying past her but it was hard to see much because of the smoke.

“Azula!” Katara screamed, blinded and disoriented from the smoke, “Azula!”

Azula didn’t listen, too consumed by grief and anger, she tuned Katara out. Her blue fire rained down on the palace, forcing the remaining servants and soldiers to run for the hills.

“Shoot her down!” Yuto ordered. The few guards still by Yuto’s side got to work, loading a spear. A couple other guards managed to get a rope around Azula’s neck, forcing her in one place. Azula’s firebreathing didn’t do much to deter them as they were positioned in a way that allowed them to avoid her fire.

Katara noticed the spear, aimed directly at Azula’s neck, and froze it in its place.

“What are you doing?!” Yuto yelled, finally noticing her presence.

“You can’t kill her!”

“I think I can. She’s a wild animal destroying my home. I have every right to kill her as I did her father!”

“I won’t let you hurt her!” Katara yelled.

“You’re really going to stick up for an overgrown lizard? She would burn you alive!”

Katara looked up at Azula, who was still struggling against the ropes, “She won’t hurt anyone.”

“Oh, really? Let’s test that theory.” Yuto sent a fireball straight at Azula’s back, making her roar in pain, “Release her!” He yelled to the guards. They exchanged confused looks but couldn’t ignore an order from the Fire Lord so they did as they were told.

The dragon turned her attention towards Yuto and her eyes narrowed the second the ropes became loose. She tucked her wings in and began to fly faster towards the Fire Lord, not noticing the multiple spears and fireballs pointed in her direction. Azula got her blue fire ready as she drew closer.

Suddenly, Yuto grabbed Katara’s arm and thrust her in front of her dragon girlfriend, “She’s a wild animal, princess. She’ll burn you alive just to get to me.” Katara looked at Azula with wide eyes, filled with fear.

“Azula, please! It’s me! It’s Katara!” Fearing that Azula wouldn’t stop, Katara closed her eyes and waited for the end but it never came. When she opened her eyes again, she realized that Azula was covering her with one of her wings and only growling at Yuto.

“Azula!” Katara cried, running to her face. Azula’s eyes were still narrowed at Yuto, “It’s okay.

Yuto just laughed, “She won’t listen to you, princess. She’s a monster, a killer.”

Katara kept her eyes trained on Azula’s, “Azula, please. I can help you and your family, but there will be nothing I can do if you kill the Fire Lord. I know it’ll feel good, but it’ll feel good for two seconds before you get yourself, Zuko and your mother killed. You don’t want that. Please.” Gently, Katara grabbed Azula’s face and turned it towards herself, “Don’t prove Yuto right.” She begged, hugging Azula’s neck.

Slowly, she felt the form she was hugging shrink down and Katara instantly knew Azula was human again. She undid the hug enough to see that Azula had cuts all over her body, most likely from the spears that sliced her.

“Katara?” It didn’t take a genius to see that Azula was mentally and physically exhausted.

“It’s okay. It’ll be okay. I’m here.” Katara kept repeating, holding Azula.

“Katara, I-LOOK OUT!” Azula pushed Katara out of the way of Yuto’s incoming attack, sending a blast of blue fire at him. Katara turned onto her back to see that Yuto had fire in his hands, which hadn’t hit her only because Azula had thrown it out of the way. Azula, who now had Yuto on his knees because she was pushing him down by grabbing his palms, had fire in her eyes.

She threw the Fire Lord to the ground and, in the few seconds before he was able to get up, moved her arms in the same way she’d seen her father do so many times. Sparks of lightning came to her fingers but Azula kept perfect control and finally released.

Three inches from Yuto’s head.

“Next time I won’t miss.” She growled. Katara put a hand on her shoulder and offered a supportive smile.

“I never knew you could lightning bend.”

“Neither did I.”

“KATARA!” Aang yelled, “Get over here now!!” The girls ignored Yuto and ran towards Aang’s yell. When they finally found everyone, they saw Zuko, still in his dragon form, curled around Sokka.

“Sokka!” Katara screamed, falling to her knees in front of him. She grabbed water from her pouch and placed it over his wound, “You’re going to be okay. Just keep breathing.” The water began to glow and Sokka’s eyes fluttered open.

“You worry too much.” Sokka smirked. His breathing wasn’t good, “You should have seen what Zuko did.”

“What did you do?” Azula asked.

Zuko didn’t even look at Azula, he just nudged Sokka with his face, “He blasted lightning towards one of the soldiers.” Sokka said, resting a hand on Zuko to show him he was okay.

“You used lightning in dragon form?!” Azula cried. Now that was impressive. Azula had never even heard of anyone using it while in their dragon form.

Zuko hissed at her and gestured to Sokka. Clearly that was not all that important to him at the moment.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Azula said. Appa walked over to her and offered her a body to rest against, “Good boy, Appa.”

“Is it over?” Aang asked, “Where’s Yuto?”

“We just ran from him to come here. I think it’s over now.” Katara told them. A giant red dragon suddenly landed next to them. Her form shrinking down to human sized only seconds later.

“Mom!” Azula called.

“Azula! Zuko! Thank the spirits you two are okay!” Ursa cried, hugging her daughter tightly and placing a hand on one of Zuko’s horns.

“Hello. I’m Avatar Aang.” Aang introduced himself then turned to his friends, “This is Suki, Toph Beifong, Princess Yue, Prince Sokka and Princess Katara.”

“It’s nice to meet you all. Thank you for helping us.” Ursa fell into a bow which allowed for Aang to see Yuto coming up behind them with a fireball in his hand.

The Avatar was acting before any thoughts came to his mind, “Watch out!” Aang yelled, jumping over her and kicking out his leg which caused Yuto to go flying back into the wall. He didn’t even get a second to recover or say anything because there was suddenly an ice spike through his chest. The spike disappeared less than half a second after it did its job.

“Aang!” Toph cried, “Didn’t know you had it in you. Impressive.”

“I didn’t do that.” Aang said.

The group slowly turned to Katara, who was still working hard on healing Sokka, “There’s no way to prove his cause of death was an ice spike and no way to trace it back to the South Pole. For all purposes, Fire Lord Yuto was killed by debris.” Katara looked up at the others, “And as Princess of the South Pole I’ll tell my people that’s what happened.”

“So will I.” Yue confirmed.

“Tragic. There was nothing we could do.” Suki added.

Aang was clearly still uncomfortable about what Katara had done but he nodded along, “It’s over.”

“I think it’s time for all of us to go home.” Ursa whispered.

———————————-

Ursa was kind enough to allow Sokka to stay at their house while he recovered. As they left the destroyed palace, Azula and Ursa made sure to get Ozai’s body. Which they burned as was custom in the Fire Nation. The Gaang remained inside for the pyre while Azula, Ursa and Zuko stood together until the last flame had died out. Ursa managed to keep her composure for the most part until the very end of the ceremony when she broke down. Once again, the Gaang stayed out of the family’s way to let them mourn.

A couple days later, once Sokka was healed, Aang walked into the kitchen where Ursa, Azula and Zuko were sitting.

“Aang?” Zuko asked, noticing the younger boy’s nervous appearance.

“I-I just wanted to tell you that I’ll keep looking for a way to undo your curse.” Aang promised, “Once I learn how to enter the Spirit World, I can find the spirit that cursed all of you and get them to undo it.”

“Don’t.” Ursa’s voice was so low that the kids almost didn’t hear her. Almost, “At least not for me.”

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Azula asked.

“I want to keep the curse.” Ursa told them, “I want to keep it to have those memories of your father, so that I can remember the first time he took me flying and I crash landed in the forest, him showing me how to breath fire, rainy days we’d spend together in caves with his wing over me, being in the mountains when we had you two. There are too many memories attached to my dragon self and I-I don’t want to lose them.”

“I don’t want to get rid of my dragon self either.” Azula said, “I want to keep it…for dad.”

“For dad.” Zuko agreed.

“Okay.” Aang nodded, “You know that if any of you change your minds, I can always enter the Spirit World and find the spirit.”

“Thank you.”

That night, Azula and Zuko found Katara and Sokka around to board Appa. When the Water Tribe siblings realized Azula and Zuko weren’t moving to join them, they gave the siblings identical smiles.

“You’re staying here, aren’t you?” Katara asked.

“We have to. At least for the time being.” Azula explained, “We need to make sure everything is okay and our uncle is on his way.”

“It’s okay. We expected that you two would stay here in the Fire Nation for a while, but don’t think that means we still won’t send letters and remind you that you have a girlfriend and boyfriend in the South Pole.” Sokka said.

Zuko chuckled, hugging Sokka, “It’ll be hard to forget.” For a second the two were quiet until they pulled apart and kissed. Azula, getting a similar idea, hugged Katara goodbye and kissed her when the two parted.

“If you four are done, we’d like to get flying before it gets dark!” Suki called.

“We’re coming!” Katara called, “See you guys later.” Sokka gave Zuko one final hug before boarding Appa.

“Appa, yip-yip!” Aang yelled, making the bison take off into the air.

“Bye!”

“Bye!”

“I’m gonna miss them.” Sokka whispered.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Something tells me you’ll be seeing them both again very soon.”

Chapter Text

10 Years Later

“You’re sure about this?”

“For the millionth time, Zuko, yes. I am positive that I want to marry you. And, even if I wasn’t,” Sokka took a look out the window of their room, gazing at the guests that were making their way to their seats and spotting their friends dressed up for the ceremony, “little late to back out now.”

“I just want to be sure.” Zuko told him, “After we’re married, you’ll have the curse. There will be no turning back.”

“Even if we get divorced?” Sokka asked.

“Do you think we’ll get divorced?” Sensing he had just given his fiancé a brand new fear, Sokka quickly shook his head and hands.

“No! I was just being curious. You know that. I’m curious and lovable! It’s why you’re marrying me.” Zuko let out a breath through his nose and cracked a smile, “That’s true. Alright. If you’re sure-“

“I am. I love you, Zuko. I don’t care about the curse. If I’m being honest, I’m actually kind of looking forward to it. You said it yourself: no one from the Water Tribe has ever had a curse like this. I can’t wait to see what I look like as a dragon.”

“…Is that the whole reason you wanted to get married before Azula and Katara?” Zuko asked, mostly joking.

“Let’s not dwell on that.” Sokka chuckled.

The two men looked up when they heard the traditional Fire Nation wedding music, “I think that’s our cue.”

“I think so.”

One ceremony later, Sokka and Zuko were officially married. Because of the curse, the two decided to remain in the Water Tribe until Sokka got his dragon form. Ursa agreed to stay in the South Pole as well to make sure everything went okay.

“It might happen during the night.” Ursa warned.

“What was it like?” Sokka asked.

“Honestly, I was asleep for my first transformation but when I woke up it was weird. Your body is completely different and not at all human. It takes a while for you to understand how to work everything.” Sokka nodded at Ursa’s words.

“How long did it take for you to learn everything? Especially the wings.”

“Please don’t try to fly.” Katara said, looking tired already.

“You don’t know that’s what I was thinking.” Sokka argued.

“I very much do and I don’t feel like spending tomorrow watching you crash land in the snow. Actually…no I take that back. That would be awesome. Have fun.”

“Ha-Ha. You’re hilarious.”

Much to everyone’s surprise, the next morning, Sokka woke up human. Most of the day the new husbands spent out in the tundra. They didn’t want to risk something triggering Sokka and him destroying part of the village. As the day went on and nothing happened, the anxiety in both of them rose.

“I have an idea.” Sokka suddenly said.

“What?”

“You said that you could force your dragon forms out by hurting yourself or making yourself think you’re going to die, so what if-"

“No!” Zuko whipped his head around, “You are not doing that!! You probably just don’t have the curse. Maybe it won’t affect you because you’re from the Water Tribe? Or maybe the curse has changed and it only affects those in our bloodline now?” Zuko suggested.

“Only one way to find out.” Sokka said, eyeing a nearby cliff.

“Sokka, no!” Sokka, without a word, looked between his husband and the cliff and bolted toward the cliff. Seeing his husband falling to his death was enough for Zuko to completely transform and dive down towards him. He was only inches away from him when Sokka’s small human form suddenly grew. Reacting purely on instinct, Zuko thrust out his wings to keep himself from hitting the ice below while Sokka, now a giant blue dragon, flapped awkwardly to get back up to the snow.

“You…” Zuko whispered.

Sokka ignored Zuko for a moment to simply take everything in. He was a dragon. A real, living dragon with a tail, claws and wings. Azula’s scales were a light blue color, the same shade as her fire, but his scales were dark blue. The fur that went down his back however was as white as snow and his underbelly was a lighter shade of blue. Zuko was a bit bigger than him, probably because he was older and taller when they were humans, but not by much.

“I’m a dragon.” Sokka confirmed.

“How do you feel? Are you okay?” Zuko put his head under Sokka’s neck to offer a little comfort.

“I’m okay. I’m sorry for scaring you, I just…I had to see.” Suddenly, Sokka began to hear a rumbling noise in his chest, “Is that…?”

“You’re purring.” Zuko confirmed, a small laugh escaping, “You get used to it.”

“Anything else I should know about?”

“How long do you have?” Sokka answered by purring louder and wrapping himself around his husband.

————————————

Since Katara had no plans to become the new Chieftess of the South Pole, she was allowed to leave multiple times to go to the Fire Nation and see Azula. The two would usually spend their days either at the house or walking around. A couple times Katara would bring a lot of money and the two would spend the weekend on Ember Island. After Yuto died, Anji and Emi took control of the throne as Fire Lord and advisor. Aang, Katara and Sokka made sure to set up a meeting with them, Ursa, Azula and Zuko two months after the two came into power to see what they would do. It was unclear about if it was the fact that some of the most dangerous people in the world were at the other end of the table of Anji and Emi's pure beliefs, but either way, the siblings agreed that Yuto's rules about the dragon family would no longer be enforced. After the meeting, Emi even offered some cash to Ursa, Azula and Zuko for what they had gone through. Now, granted, no cash could bring Ozai back, but that didn't stop Ursa from taking the money.

"You think Ozai would let me hear the end of it after I die if I didn't take the money?" She asked.

Although the three did now have the power to go wherever they wanted, Katara and Azula loved Ember Island the most. Katara loved surfing in the water while Azula sunbathed. Plus, hardly anyone recognized them while they were there. One night, while they were enjoying a nice little beach house on the island, Katara couldn’t help herself anymore.

“I want to marry you.” She whispered.

Azula grinned at her girlfriend, “I should hope so. We’ve been dating for ten years now.”

Katara sat up which caused Azula to give her a confused look, “No. I want to marry you now. I want to be your wife.”

“Now? Like right now?” It was impossible for Azula to keep the surprise and, in all honesty, a bit of fear out of her voice. True, she had intended to marry Katara. She’s actually been intending to marry her since she killed Yuto. Tonight though?

“We’ve been together for ten years, we love each other, we’ve proven that being in two nations doesn’t slow us down, I know about the curse and have accepted every part of it, and, I think it’s safe to say, that getting married is just…the next step.”

“I hate when you list everything out perfectly.” Azula pouted. It made it so hard to debate her.

“Do you…not want to get married?”

“No!” Azula sat up, “I do! I really do! I just…it took me by surprise.”

“The truth.” Katara demanded.

“What if we get married and next week you think it was a mistake? The second we’re married you’re stuck with my curse. Sokka’s proof of that. I-I just don’t want this to stop.” Azula gestured to her and Katara then to the bed and house.

“It won’t.” Katara promised, “I know what us getting married will mean and I’m ready for that. I want to marry you. I love you, Azula.”

“I love you, too.” The two became locked in a kiss for a minute before Azula pulled away, “Okay. Let’s get married.”

That night, they found a tiny little place on Ember Island that did cheap and fast weddings. Thankfully, Katara and Azula were the only ones there so they were able to get everything done pretty fast. Once they finished, the two ran down to the beach, happy as could be.

“We’re married!” Katara yelled. “You’re my wife!”

“We’re wives!” Azula wanted to say more but she accidentally tripped and collided with Katara. The two fell onto the sandy beach, not hurt, but filled with pure joy.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Azula whispered, leaning down to kiss her new wife.

The next morning, Azula realized that whatever ground she was sleeping on was moving. Her eyes snapped open when this finally fit her and she sat up, trying to find out what the source of the moving was. Much to her surprise and amusement, she was laying on top of her wife, who was currently in her dragon form. Katara’s dragon self was bigger than Azula’s but pretty identical otherwise. The shade of blue on her scales was a little dark, not as dark as Sokka’s but not as light as Azula’s, but other than that the two looked fairly identical. Same fur color, underbelly color and horn color.

“Katara?” Azula whispered, jumping down and pushing Katara’s head, “Wake up. Wake up you lazy dragon.” Katara’s eyes slowly opened as she stressed out her body and roared. “Wake up or I’ll leave you here on the beach all by yourself.” That seemed to be the thing that made Katara realize she wasn’t human at the moment. The 25 year old looked over herself, taking the time to actually admire her dragon form before Azula grabbed her face.

“Come on. Change back so we can go back to the house. No offense but I don’t exactly think you’ll fit like that.” Katara gave Azula a soft roar. “What?” Once again, Katara roared at her but this time gestured to her body.

“Oh! Breathe.” She told her, “Imagine your human form and try to center yourself.” Katara closed her eyes, breathing in and out so that her human form would return to her. Within seconds, she was standing back on two legs without scales.

“Wow.”

“So, what was it like being a dragon? If only for a few seconds.” Azula asked.

“Amazing! You have to teach me how to fly!”

“Of course. Can’t have my wife unable to fly.” Katara wrapped her hand around Azula’s leaning on the woman’s shoulder as they walked to the house.

“I’m really glad I banged into you that day.” She whispered, “I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t met.”

“Me neither. But I imagine they’re for more ‘I might be dead’ reasons and less love related reasons.” Azula said. Katara just held her wife’s arm tighter, walking alongside her as they returned to their house.

———————————-

“Katara! Pull up! Pull up!” Katara couldn’t make her wings work right and ended up slamming down into the snow. Azula landed down next to her, giving her a sideways look, “You know…generally flying is about staying in the air.”

“You don’t say?” Katara picked herself up, shaking off the snow on her body, “You don’t have to yell, you know?”

“I just want to make sure you get this. A dragon that can’t fly doesn’t survive. It’s important that you’re able to remain in the air for at least an hour. Right now you’re hardly able to stay in the clouds for more than 2 minutes. I’ve seen newborn dragons with better wing strength.”

“I just became a dragon last month. Cut me some slack.”

Wing flaps could be heard behind the woman as Sokka and Zuko landed on the ground, “It’s not that hard, Katara.” Sokka said, “I could teach you.”

Katara allowed herself to growl at her brother, “I can do it. I just need some more time.” She began walking back to the cliff they had been working with, attempting to try again when Sokka had to pip up.

“And the ability to actually work your wings.” Sokka added. Katara instantly turned around, opened her mouth and blasted his legs with her frost breath. Being of Water Tribe heritage, Katara and Sokka learned pretty quickly that, in place of firebending, they now had ice breathing, “Katara!” Sokka complained.

His legs were all frozen, stuck to the ground. While Sokka was pretty good at flying, he was not good at his new frost power. Every time he tried to use it, it didn’t work, and every time he didn’t try to use it, he ended up using it, usually hitting someone in the face. There was definitely a learning curve, but he was getting better.

“What?” Katara asked, innocently. Zuko got to work unfreezing his husband while Azula followed Katara up to the cliff.

“You okay?” She asked.

“I’m fine. Just frustrated.”

“It’s fine if flying doesn’t come easily to you. It didn’t come easily to me.”

“Really?” Katara asked.

“Yup. Zuko was older and he was a stronger flier than me for years. When we were much younger he would hide stuff on the roof because he knew I couldn’t get up there.” Azula laughed, “But now I’m a great flier. You’ll get there too.”

“Thank you. Sokka just annoys me sometimes.”

“I get that.” It was true that, when Azula did spend more time in the South Pole, she and Sokka often got into a lot of debates. Never anything horrible where they refused to speak but certainly arguments that took up hours of the day. “Alright. Let’s try this again.” Katara leapt from the cliff. Instinctively, her wings opened which allowed her to glide for a few seconds. Azula was already right next to her.

“Flap your wings to keep yourself from losing altitude. Just try to stay in one place.” As it turned out, understanding what Azula was saying and actually doing it were two entirely different things. Katara did flap her wings but she somehow did it wrong because she was starting to fall again. Once again, she tried to flap her wings but only continued to plummet. Azula dove under her to keep her from crashing too hard into the ground which was at least one nice bonus. Unfortunately, Katara pressed her back claws into Azula’s wing, making her buck Katara off on instinct.

“Katara!” Azula yelled, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry.”

Shaking the snow off again, Katara nodded, “I’m okay. I think my wings are defective though. I flap and it doesn’t work.”

Now defrosted, Sokka walked over to his sister, “Because you’re flapping them separately.” Sokka told her, earning a glare, “I’m serious. I saw you. You’re flapping them like they’re two different things and they’re not. You need to do it together.” Sokka told her, “Let me show you.”

While Sokka and Katara walked back to the top of the cliff, Azula came to sit by Zuko. “So, when are you going to tell mom?” Zuko asked.

“What do you mean?” Azula asked, her tail now wrapped around her body.

“How stupid do you think I am?”

“Pretty stupid.” Azula smirked.

“Ha-Ha. Hilarious. You know what I mean.” Zuko used his wing to gesture to Katara, “You and Katara got married and neither Sokka or I were invited which means mom probably wasn’t invited. Hakoda and Kya know that you and Katara got married because of the…incident.” The incident had been that her and Katara had gotten into a huge fight about something and, when Kya walked in, she saw Katara half transformed. Her mother had tried to calm Katara down, having learned by now that their dragon selves were tied to their emotions, and accidentally stepped on Katara’s tail. This caused Katara to scream in pain and fully transform which ended up destroying a good portion of their house and exposing Katara’s dragon form to the rest of her family.

“What makes you so certain mom doesn’t know?” Azula asked.

“Does she?” Zuko asked.

“...No.”

“You should tell her.”

“I will. The wedding was just so sudden. Not even Toph, Suki, Aang or Yue know yet.” Zuko chuckled at that.

“Suki, Yue and Aang are gonna kill you for not telling them about the wedding.” He said.

“Aang won’t try to kill us. He’s a pacifist, remember?” Azula said, “Suki and Yue on the other hand…Yeah, we might be looking at some hits to the head for not telling them about the wedding.” Azula admitted, “I’ll tell mom. I’m sure she’ll be happy.”

“You know she will be and dad would be really happy too.” Zuko added.

“I hope so. I hope he and Lu Ten would be proud of us.”

Zuko draped his wing over Azula’s body. “You know they both would be so proud.” Azula only nodded at her brother’s words.

They would. They’d be proud of them for everything they’ve done.

“Azula!” Katara yelled, “Look!” Sure enough, Katara was staying in the air. Following Sokka’s orders, she synchronized her wing flaps and kept herself at a good altitude.

“You don’t have defective wings!” Azula spread her own out and flew up to the two blue dragons along with her brother, “Now we can teach you guys the fun stuff. See if you can keep up!”

“Hey! That’s not fair! Azula! Slow down!”

Chapter Text

“ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!” Katara’s scream could probably be heard throughout the entire tribe. 

She and Azula were inside their own home that they had made a year or so after they got married, but that didn’t stop shouts from being heard outside. Inside, Katara and Azula were both half transformed, tails, wings, and claws out and a couple dragon noises slipped past their lips. 

“Yes! I’m serious!” Azula yelled, “What is so hard to understand about not wanting kids?!”

“You said you were open to it!”

“I never said that! Call me crazy, but I like how things are with us, I love being here with you and getting quiet moments together. Why do we need to bring kids into the mix?”

“Because I’ve always wanted them. At least one. I’m not asking that we adopt a whole orphanage, but you seriously can’t see us with one kid? Putting them to bed, playing with them, and watching them grow up.”

“No, I can’t, because I don’t really want kids!” Azula argued, “How have we been dating for ten years and you always thought I did?”

“Are you calling me stupid?” Katara asked.

“Kind of!” Azula could tell by Katara’s narrowed eyes that she had screwed up. She knew the second the words left her mouth that she screwed up, but it was too late to back down now.

With anger in her eyes, Katara froze the water under Azula and watched her wife slide a little, “I don’t think I’m all that stupid now.” Katara grinned. Azula grabbed hold of a nearby chair and forced her body over to Katara “Woah!” Azula fell right on top of Katara.

“That go the way you planned?” Azula asked.

“You threw yourself on top of me.” Katara growled, “Get off!”

“But I like it here.” Azula smiled, laying her head down, “Tara, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that, but…I really don’t know how I feel about kids.”

Letting out a sigh, Katara looked up at her wife, “I get that. Can you at least keep an open mind? We don’t have to have any right now, but, could you at least think about it?”

“I will. As long as you can think about a life without kids.”

“Okay. I’ll do that…for you.” Her adding of ‘for you’ made Azula beam. 

“Thank you.” 

“But…now that that’s settled.” Katara smirked as Azula began kissing her, “I think we deserve to have a little fun after such a big fight.”

“I couldn't agree more.” 

As the two continued to kiss, with Katara and Azula standing up and heading to their bed to be more comfortable, the entire room began to fill up with smoke. Their argument had activated their wings, horns and claws but it had also activated Katara’s frost breath. That combined with Azula’s fire made for some heavy smoke. 

“I can’t make anything out in this.” Katara laughed. It was really hard to make out with her wife when she couldn’t even see Azula all that clearly.

“Me neither. I see your braids and that’s it.” Azula chuckled. Katara leaned down, making it impossible for Azula to miss her above her head.

“Now you see me.” The waterbender continued to kiss Azula. She slowly moved down Azula’s neck but that only made Azula add more hot air to the room.

“Ow! Ow! Katara, stop, stop for a minute!” Azula cried. A hand flew over her neck when Katara stopped.

“What? What’s wrong?” Katara suddenly asked, sitting up.

“Your frost breath is freezing my neck.” Katara shot her a look of understanding. They had faced similar problems with Azula and her fire breath as well. The girls looked at one another and burst out laughing. There was no real reason to laugh but the combination of the steam covering the room, making it almost impossible to see, and not even being able to make out because of their powers was kind of funny.

“You handle the steam and I’ll handle my frost breath.” Azula allowed her wings to stretch out to their full length after she opened the windows and flapped them strongly. The steam almost instantly disappeared from the room. When Azula finished her task, Katara was calmed enough that her dragon features disappeared.

“Now.” Azula said, “Where were we?”

Katara grabbed her wife and, in a single movement, threw her on the bed, “I think I remember.”

———————————-

“ZUKO!” Sokka screamed, “Get over here now!”

Zuko, who had been inside reading, ran to his husband when he heard the man yell. He found Sokka at the door with his back turned to him. A quick scan told Zuko that there was no danger anywhere which served to calm him a bit.

“What is it? What’s going on?” Sokka turned to face him and Zuko’s jaw dropped.

Sokka was holding a baby. The infant could only have been a few months old and was wrapped in thin clothes and a blanket that looked like Earth Kingdom designs. Sokka was softly rocking them which seemed to put them at ease. The same could not be said for the two men.

“Where did you get a baby?” Zuko asked.

“They were at the door.” Sokka whispered, “I just picked them up and brought them inside. They’ve gotta be freezing in these clothes.” 

“I’ll go look for their parents. They can’t be far.” Zuko said, quickly leaving the home while Sokka brought the baby inside and closer to the fire to help warm them up. 

Although the baby was now much warmer than before, it began to wail loudly which confused Sokka. Only a moment ago, the baby was perfectly quiet, almost getting ready to sleep, and now they were screaming like Sokka had hurt them somehow.

“Hey. You’re okay. You’re okay.” Sokka whispered, rocking the baby, “Shhh. Shhh.” Getting a smell of the infant suddenly told him why they were so upset, “Oh. Wow, that’s a powerful smell.” Sokka really had nothing to help clean the baby up, so, he wrapped the infant up then headed over to his parent’s house.

“Mom! Dad!”

“Sokka?” Kya asked, opening the door, “What’s going on?”

“Someone left this baby at our home.” Sokka told her, revealing the infant to his mom.

“Oh, you poor thing.” Kya slowly scooped up the child, “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

“I think they also need a diaper change.” Sokka told her.

“I think you’re right, but we don’t have diapers. Can you grab that old washcloth?” Kya asked.

“A washcloth?” Sokka asked.

“It’s better than nothing. We’ll get them a real diaper later tonight. For now, they can’t stay like this.” She was right so Sokka didn’t argue. He grabbed the washcloth and handed it to her while she set the baby down and changed it.

“It’s a girl.” Kya whispered.

“A baby girl.” Sokka whispered. With a clean diaper, or washcloth, the baby began to giggle and reach up, “She’s so sweet. How could anyone just abandon you?” Sokka asked, taking her back and holding her close.

The baby looked up at him with a confused face then scrunched up her nose. Sokka was prepared for a baby sneeze, he wasn’t prepared for a small gray dragon in his arms. The dragon was only about the size she had been as a human so it wasn’t much of a difference.

“Mom…tell me you’re seeing this too.” Sokka said, the little dragon began to pull on his fur which he allowed. A ripped coat was not his top priority right now.

“I am.” Kya confirmed, “She’s cursed too?”

“But-how?! I thought only Zuko and Azula’s family had the curse.” Sokka said.

“That’s something you’ll have to ask him, not me.” Kya told him.

“He‘ll come back soon. In the meantime, I have a baby dragon to look after.” Sokka was right since Zuko returned to the house ten minutes later.

“No sign of either parent. I can’t believe someone would just leave their baby alone in a storm! Who does that?! Who is that horrible?!?”

“I think I know why they did it.” Sokka told him, “Look at her.” Zuko leaned over Sokka’s shoulder to observe the baby and saw tiny slit eyes looking up at him.

“She’s-“

“Somehow she has the curse.” Sokka confirmed, “That’s probably why her parents gave her away.”

“But why does she have the curse? How does she??”

“I don’t know!” Sokka cried, “All I know is that we have to take care of her now.”

“We do?” In hindsight, the question came off a lot more jerk sounding than Zuko intended. He and Sokka had taken about the possibility of children but they hadn’t been planning on adopting so soon.

“Azula and Katara aren’t in the South Pole and won’t be back for months. We’re the only parents around that are also half dragon. We have to take care of her.” Sokka was right. They were the only ones around actually equipt to care for a baby like this.

“Okay.” Zuko admitted, “Looks like you got yourself two dads,…she needs a name.” 

“Izumi.” Sokka said.

“How’d you come up with that?”

“Name was on her blanket.” 

Zuko’s face turned to understanding then a mixture of calm and nervousness. They had a baby now. A daughter. They’d have to figure everything out in the morning, it was bound to be complicated especially with Sokka most likely being the next chief, but, for tonight, Izumi was all theirs.

—————————-

Izumi adapted to life in the village pretty well. Once Sokka set her up with warm clothes, she was a pretty happy baby. Zuko, despite his efforts, never found her birth parents or why she could turn into a dragon at such a young age. 

“You shouldn’t overthink it.” Sokka told him, “She’s ours now. That’s what matters.”

“Yeah, but we should know if there’s another spirit out there or if the same spirit that cursed my family is back.” 

“I’m sure that if either of those things happen then we’ll hear about it.” Sokka said, “The curse isn’t too much of a secret anymore. People will come to us if they’re having problems with spirits who curse people to turn into dragons. For now, just hold your daughter.”

“Sokka, I’m just-”

“Hold. Your. Daughter.” Sokka placed the infant in Zuko’s arms. She looked up at him, curious about who was holding her now, but found comfort in how warm his body was. Izumi let out a comfortable baby coo and closed her eyes, resting against his chest.

“She’s asleep?” Sokka asked.

“She’s asleep.” Zuko confirmed.

“Perfect. Let’s get her to her-”

“HELLO!” Katara yelled, opening the door. Izumi’s eyes snapped open and she began to sob at suddenly being woken up, “Oh! Was the baby sleeping?”

“Yup.” 

“Sorry.”

“What brings all of you here?” Sokka asked.

At the doorway were Katara, Azula, Aang, Suki, Toph and Yue, “We came to meet your daughter.” Yue explained, “You didn’t think you could hide her from us, did you?”

“I mean, Azula and Katara hid the fact that they got married for like two months-”

“And they received a proper punishment for that.” Suki argued, “But you can’t hide a baby the same way you can hide a wedding.”

“Especially our new niece.” Azula added. Katara took the baby from Zuko’s arms, holding her close.

“Oh, wait, there is something we should tell you-” Izumi wiggled in Katara’s hold, not liking that she was taken from her father, and slipped out of her aunt's hold by transforming into her dragon form and running back to Zuko, wrapping herself around his leg.

“She’s a dragon?!” Aang cried, “How!? I thought you could only get the curse if you were born or married into the family. Did it affect her when you guys took her in?”

“That’s the thing. She had it before we even decided to adopt her.” Sokka said, “We have no idea how she can turn into a dragon.”

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Azula asked.

“Sorry. After getting a daughter with zero notice, finding out said daughter is half dragon and having to take care of a baby, telling all of you the news wasn’t at the front of our minds.” Izumi looked up at Zuko and Sokka and chirped, using her claws against Zuko’s boots.

“Awwww. She’s so cute!” Katara, silently, brushed her arm against Azula’s and put her chin towards Izumi. Azula only rolled her eyes in response.

“And destructive.” Sokka added, scooping her up, “She seems to prefer her dragon form over her human one so she’s been destroying the house all day as a dragon and keeping us awake all night as a human.”

“Why don’t you let us watch her then?” Katara suggested.

“What?” Zuko and Sokka asked together.

“Yeah. What?” Azula asked.

“You two have a night to yourself while all of us watch Izumi.” Sensing they were still on edge, Katara rolled her eyes, “Come on. It’s us. You know we wouldn’t let anything happen to her and Azula and I are dragons so we have some experience in that area.”

“That’s true.” Sokka admitted.

“You can really watch Izumi?” Zuko asked.

“Yes. You two go have fun.” Katara started actually pushing them out the door, “Go! Go! No time like the present!”

“Katara, we can’t just leave right away. You don’t know where-”

“We’ll figure it out! Have fun!” Katara slammed the door behind them.

“Wow. You really wanted them out. Any reason?” Suki asked.

“What? No! Just sisterly love.”

“Well, that’s a pile of bulls-”

“Toph!” Yue snapped, “There’s a baby right there.” Izumi had switched back to her baby form and looked up at the adults in the room.

“Alright.” Aang scooped Izumi up in his arms, “There’s one baby and six of us. This can’t be that hard.”

It was hard. It was very hard. Zuko and Sokka weren’t kidding when they said Izumi liked to run around during the day in her dragon form and, since that was so small, she fit anywhere. Not only that, she refused to sleep or eat. Finally, Aang managed to get her to eat some fruit which the team took as a minor success but that was it. Izumi was still running around and refused to sleep or even stay put in her crib.

“We need to get a bell on her or something.” Toph mumbled.

“Please don’t put a bell on my niece.” Katara snapped.

“Then you figure out a way to find her before Zuko and Sokka come back and we have to tell them we lost their daughter.”

“We didn’t lose her!” Suki argued, “She’s here. She’s just playing hide and seek.”

“Aw. That’ll be a great excuse we can give them when the two turn into dragons and try to either burn or freeze us alive.” Katara decided to leave the rest of the group and continue her search in the bedrooms. Eventually, she stumbled across Zuko and Sokka’s room and noticed a weird lump in Izumi’s crib. 

“Hello?” Katara whispered.

“Shhhh. You’ll wake her up.”

“Wait. Azula?” Katara asked.

Sure enough, Azula was curled up in Izumi’s crib with the baby girl in her arms. Instantly, Katara’s hands flew to her mouth, “Not a word.” Azula whispered, “I found her a few minutes ago in her crib and tried to get her to sleep, but she refused until I crawled in with her.” 

Katara rested her arms on the crib, “You look very cozy in there.”

“It’s actually not that bad. The bed is very comfortable, if tiny.”

“I’m so impressed you got her to sleep.”

“What’s impressive and sad is that I fit in the crib.” Azula whispered.

After a few moments, a realization dawned on Katara, “You’re stuck in there, aren’t you?”

“Very much so. Please help.” Katara took hold of one of Azula’s hands and, gently, pulled her to her feet then helped her step over the bars of the crib and get to the floor.

“Katara?”

“Yes?”

“I…I think I’m ready to start talking about having kids.”

—--------------------------------------

Two years after that, Azula finally agreed to children. The two started looking into adoption options but found nothing. Turns out, people didn’t want to give two half dragon women a baby so easily. Even Katara’s royal title didn’t do anything to help them. A year later and it was getting more and more obvious that no one would let them adopt. Then, Yue came to them with a proposition. The spirits at the North Pole, Tui and La, might be able to help them if they judged the two worthy to have a baby. Katara and Azula both prayed to the spirits at the Spirit Oasis, but, for months, it seemed like it didn’t work.

Until Katara walked into the bedroom one morning after spending some time with the local healer. She was pregnant. They were going to have a baby, two of them. Despite her joy, and she was incredibly excited to meet her children, Azula was not overly thrilled with being turned into a servant by the third month.

“Azula!”

“Azula!!”

“AZULA!!!”

“Katara!” Azula yelled, annoyed at her wife, walking into their bedroom, “I’m here. What’s going on?” She asked.

Katara looked over at her wife, “The babies want fireflakes.” She said.

Instinctively, Azula’s eyes went down to her wife’s incredibly pregnant stomach. Katara was about eight months along with the twins at this point and Azula knew she was getting uncomfortable. Not only had she been confined to bed rest until they came but her dragon form and waterbending had been going crazy. A week ago, Katara’s hormones had gotten so bad that she froze Azula to their house then flew away. Thankfully, she came back a few minutes later and apologized over and over but it was still a crazy night.

“We’re in the South Pole. There aren’t any fireflakes around for miles.”

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeease.”

“Do you want me to fly to the Fire Nation, get you fireflakes then fly back?” Azula asked.

“Well, I don’t want it but the kids do.” Katara corrected, giving her her best polar puppy eyes.

“You’re not going to let this go until I get them, are you?” Azula asked.

“I’d do the same for you.” Why did Katara have to be right? 

“You’re lucky I love you.”

“Love you too, Zula. See you tomorrow afternoon!” Azula gave a soft grumble before leaving the house. The flights to the Earth Kingdom and back wasn’t a horribly long one but it wasn’t fun to be stuck flying for multiple hours at a time. That being said, when Azula did return home and gave Katara the fireflakes she felt that the kiss and beam from her wife was a pretty nice reward. 

———————————

In the following month, Katara gave birth to their twin daughters: Kanna and Umi. Kanna, oddly enough, was the spitting image of Azula. Her skin was pale, her eyes brown, and the only connection she seemed to have to Katara, for being a few days old, was a love of her mom’s hair loopies. Umi was much more of a cross between her mothers. She had Katara’s darker skin but Azula’s bright golden eyes. Personally, the two women thought it made her really stand out and look adorable though it did get them a few stares.

Sokka, Zuko and Izumi visited them first. When Katara went into labor, she went into the tundra to give birth in a place where there wouldn’t be a lot of people around. Kya came with Azula to help her with the birth then returned to the village to alert them to the news. 

“How long will she stay in the tundra?” Hakoda asked.

“A few days I imagine.” Kya said, “Twins are hard. She needs a few days to rest.”

“I know, I know. I just can’t wait to see our new granddaughters.”

“Our new, half reptile, granddaughters.” Kya specified with a laugh.

“I can’t believe this is our life now.” Hakoda sighed.

“It’s a great life.” Kya went to hug her husband, resting her hair against his chest.

“It really is.”

——————————

“Katara?”

Katara looked up from where she was playing with her two toddlers to see Azula standing at the doorway looking incredibly nervous.

“Azula? What’s wrong?” The twins saw their mother and instantly ran over to her, hugging their mother’s legs.

“Mom!” They cried.

“Hi. How was your day?” Azula asked. She knelt down to be more eye level with her children.

“Good. Mama showed us how to fish!” Umi chirped.

“That sounds like so much fun. Did you catch anything?” Both girls nodded.

“I caught the biggest fish!”

“No, I did!”

“No, I did!”

“I did!”

“I did!”

“Girls.” Katara said, “There’s no need to fight. Why don’t you go to your rooms? I think your mom and I need to talk.”

“Okay.” It took a minute or two for the twins to leave the room, but, once they did, Katara turned towards her wife, giving her a confused and fearful look.

“Are you-”

“I’m pregnant.” Azula said.

“...”

“Katara?”

“...”

“Katara!”

“Right. Sorry, I just…How!?” Katara yelled, “I mean…it’s not possible! To get the twins we had to beg before two of the most powerful spirits in existence!” Katara said.

“I know. I was there. I don’t-I don’t know how this happened! I’ve been feeling off for a while, so I went to see the healer today and she confirmed it. I’m…”

“Azula. How far along are you?”

“Four months.”

“FOUR MONTHS!? How did you not notice!?” Katara would be lying if she said that, now that Azula had pointed it out, she couldn’t notice the beginning of a baby bump.

“Excuse me for trying to be a present mother to my children! I’ve been so busy with them and everything else that I didn’t notice!”

Katara put a hand through her hair. How was this happening? Four months. They hadn’t gone anywhere spiritual in that time. Could Azula have-NO! Katara wanted to hit herself for even entertaining the thought. Azula wouldn’t cheat on her.

“Katara?” Katara broke herself out of her spiral to see that Azula was shaking a bit. She led Azula to their couch and began rubbing circles in her back, “What-What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know what all we can do. You're four months along. It’s pretty dangerous to do anything…medical at this point.” Katara told her, “I don’t want to risk your health or life.”

“And I’m terrified of the idea of giving birth! I saw you do it and it did not look fun. And…and I’m the only one in the family to get the curse through my bloodline and give birth. What if that means all of this will be different for me? What if the curse being from my bloodline and not marriage hurts the baby?” That was true. Azula was the only female born into her family in the entirety of the curse’s existence. That could mean that pregnancy and childbirth would be different for her.

“That won’t happen. Everything will be fine.” Katara promised, “Now that we know we can keep an eye on the baby and make sure the entire pregnancy goes smoothly.”

Azula just nodded, “I really love you, Katara.”

“I love you too.” 

—-----------------------------

To say Sokka and Zuko were nervous would be an understatement. Their sisters had practically disappeared for months. The only reason they weren’t flying to the Fire Nation, their last known location, as quickly as they possibly could was because of Izumi and because they were sure that if something was really, really wrong Ursa, the one living not far from them, would know and tell them. They both tried to keep their fear and anxiety down in front of Izumi but in private spoke about what could have caused them to practically disappear.

Then, a couple months later, Sokka and Zuko received a letter from Katara, telling them to come to the Fire Nation, more specifically Ursa’s home, as soon as possible.

The two arrived within a few days with Izumi. When they arrived at the house, the two were nowhere to be found. Only Kanna and Umi were there. The children bounced up and down upon seeing their uncles and cousin. 

“Izumi!” Umi called.

“Kanna! Umi!” 

Zuko turned his attention to Ursa, who was sitting down at the table looking pretty exhausted, which was to be expected if she was helping watch the twins, “Mom? Where are Azula and Katara?”

“The mountains.” Ursa told them, “You know they couldn’t have the baby here.”

“THE BABY!?!”

“They got another baby?!” Sokka yelled.

“Yes. Months ago.” Ursa clarified.

“Why wouldn’t they tell us?” Zuko asked.

A laugh that came tumbling out of Ursa got their attention once more, “I think I know why. Go to the mountains and you’ll see.” They followed Ursa’s order, leaving Izumi with her grandmother then entering the mountain terrain in their dragon forms and walking around until they found Katara sitting outside a cave. Her blue form was actually incredibly easy to spot amongst the tan shade of the mountains.

“Katara?” Sokka asked.

“There you two are.”

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked, “You guys have a baby!?” Katara only walked into the cave, laying down next to Azula, who was in her human form and holding a newborn.

“Hey. Look who came.” Azula gently turned the baby towards the two new dragons, “Zuko, Sokka, meet your new nephew: Ozai.” Zuko’s eyes grew. Even if he couldn’t communicate with his sister at the moment, Azula understood what he wanted when he moved his head closer to the baby. She held out the infant as Zuko gently nudged him, purring slightly.

“It turns out that the spirits thought it would be best for me to carry a baby since Katara had already done it. I didn’t even know I was pregnant until I was four months along. Gotta say, would not recommend childbirth.” Katara rested her huge dragon head on Azula’s legs, “We came to the mountains so I wouldn’t destroy anything and Katara’s been in her dragon form for the past few days to protect me, which I keep telling her is not needed.” Katara puffed a small cloud of smoke at her.

“Katara, me and the baby are well protected now. Turn back so you can hold your son.” Katara looked up at her brother and Zuko. All Azula could hear was a series of growling and roaring which she interpreted to be the two men telling Katara she could turn back because a few moments later Katara was leaning next to her and taking Ozai into her arms.

“We have a son.” Katara whispered.

“We have a son….and that’s enough.” Azula quickly added, looking at her and around the cave as if there were spirits around that were listening.

“I know, I know. The girl’s are going to be so happy to meet their brother.” Katara smiled, kissing the infant, “I love you.”

“I should hope so after a 20 hour long labor.” Katara raised an eyebrow.

“Tell this face that he wasn’t worth it.” Katara pushed the baby into Azula’s face.

“Yeah, yeah. He was worth it.” Azula admitted, “I love you too.”

“And I love you.” Sokka pressed his head against Zuko’s, “In case you were feeling left out.”

“Been married for years with a daughter, I’d be a little concerned if you didn’t love me.” Zuko said, draping his wing over Sokka.

“Lucky for us then, I do.” 

—----------------------------------

“Ozai!” Azula scooped up the multi-colored dragon by grabbing his neck with her teeth. Ozai’s dragon form was colored red with blue and green, from his great uncle, spots all over him. 

Kanna was a mix of red and blue scales. She had blue scales all over her body, a white underbelly then different shades of red on her wings and on the fur on her tail. 

Umi was the only one out of the family to get colors from Lu Ten, a fact that made Iroh cry the first time he visited her and saw her. Umi also had a white underbelly and white horns, a fact that certainly stood out, but other than that she was covered in golden scales and different shades of gold on her wings.

“Ozai, you can’t just run off the cliff like that.” Azula told him.

“But Izumi gets to.” The five year old mumbled.

“Izumi is a teenage dragon. She can fly on her own. You can’t.” Azula told him.

“That’s not fair.” He pouted, huffing smoke at his mom and slipped out of her hold onto the snow.

“You’ll get there eventually but today you have to fly with me or your mom.” Azula told him.

“Sorry, kid.” Izumi chuckled, already in her dragon form. She placed two claws on Ozai’s forehead as he walked closer to her, “You’ll get there someday.”

“Yeah. Someday.” Kanna chuckled, using her tail to lightly hit her brother. Ozai reacted to this by biting down hard on her tail, “OW!” Kanna flicked her tail to get him off which just caused him to go flying into Umi, the only one not in her dragon form.

“Hey!” She yelled, “Brats.” She grumbled, tossing snow at Ozai which he ducked and ended up hitting Izumi. The gray dragon turned around with her eyes narrowed, “Izumi…” Umi whispered, “You know it wasn’t meant for-“

Too late. Izumi slammed her tail down in the snow and a good portion straight at Umi. The girl narrowed her eyes at her cousin. She jumped on her back and grabbed Izumi’s horns which made Izumi roar and start trying to shake her off.

“OW!! Can everyone leave my tail alone?!” Kanna yelled, pulling her tail away when Izumi accidentally stepped on it. 

“Get your sister off me then!” Izumi growled.

“Ozai! Help me!” Umi yelled.

The youngest dragon chirped with happiness and jumped on Izumi’s back with Umi, “Kanna! Help me!” Izumi growled.

“I think I prefer this spectator role.” The girl chuckled, “Seems a lot more fun.”

Izumi only rolled her eyes then continued to try and get her cousins off.

Only a few feet away, Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Azula watched their children’s antics with soft smiles. All of them were in their human forms, sitting on nearby rocks, and, even with the roaring and chirping and cooing of dragons nearby they felt a sense of peace and pure joy.

Katara was leaning against Azula, her eyes closed. Sokka had his hand wrapped around Zuko’s, but his attention was mostly focused on their children. Azula and Zuko shared a quick look both at each other then at their partners then at their children. When their eyes landed back on one another all they could do was softly smile and let out a breath they seemed to have been holding since they were born.