Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Every fishing trip is a unique experience. Currents change directions. Ice floes float away, melt, and refreeze in accordance with the seasons. Fish migrate throughout the different stages of their lives. Each venture out on the open sea must therefore forge a new path to improve the chances of success.

Most importantly, though, Sokka always comes up with some ridiculous new gimmick to make the trip more exciting. This time is no exception. He pulls out a spear as soon as they get on the water and declares that he’s going to teach himself spearfishing. It goes badly. He constantly misses his targets, nearly falls into the ocean twice, and somehow gets his spear lodged in an ice floe almost fifteen feet from them. Azula can’t quite tell if he’s being serious or just trying to lighten the mood with his myriad of failures. Regardless of his motives, she’s thoroughly entertained.

“It’s not getting away from me this time,” Sokka declares yet again. Azula peers forward to see a fish far too small for spearfishing swimming alongside the boat. “Watch and learn, Katara.” He grins like the brilliant idiot that he is and brandishes the spear with an almost comedic flair. “This is how you catch a fish.”

Azula looks from Sokka to Katara and finds that she’s already stopped paying him any attention. Instead, she’s staring at the water. Azula frowns, concerned. She hopes her friend hasn’t gone back to worrying about whatever chores surely await her when they return to the village. The whole point of this trip is to give her a break from all of that. It won’t do her any good if she dwells on it the whole time.

But then Katara takes off one of her gloves and starts bending ripples along the surface of the water. Her movements are slow and serene at first, almost like she’s playing. Then the other glove comes off. She guides the water under her hands in a spiraling motion until a single, slightly wobbly sphere breaches the surface. In the center of the sphere is the unmistakable sight of a cod icefish—a main staple of their diet now that there are no fishermen left to sail farther out for bigger catches.

“Sokka, look!” Katara exclaims happily.

Sokka doesn’t look up from his prey. “Shh! Katara,” he whispers as if it will make a difference to the fish. “You’re going to scare it away.”

“But I already caught one!”

This time, Sokka does turn. Unfortunately for him, the blunt end of his spear knocks into Katara’s water orb, causing both the water and the fish to fall directly on his head. The fish bounces off his wolf tail, flops back into the water, and makes its lucky escape.

“Hey!” Katara scolds him as she gestures to the ocean. “You made me lose my fish!”

Sokka glares at her even though it’s his own fault he got soaked. “My hair is mere seconds from freezing solid, and you’re worried about the fish?”

“Don’t be such a baby,” Azula tells him. She ignites her palm to dry his hair, but Sokka pushes her away.

“Absolutely not! I’ve experienced more than enough bending for today.” Sokka makes a grand show of drying his hair with one of his gloves instead. “There’s only so much magic a normal guy like me can take.”

“It’s not magic!” Katara snaps.

But then the canoe jerks forward as it hits a warm, rapid current, and suddenly their argument doesn’t matter anymore. They’re being dragged dangerously far out to sea at a speed they can’t hope to steer through. Azula pulls her oar into the boat before the strength of the current rips it out of her hands. Sokka, on the other hand, tries in vain to paddle through even though it isn’t helping their situation at all.

“Watch out! Go left!” Katara directs him as if it’ll make a difference. They’re at the mercy of the ocean spirit now. “Go left!”

They do not go left. Instead, they manage to barely slide between two ice floes before crashing directly into a third. The canoe splinters underneath them as they throw themselves onto one of the floes. Sokka slams his spear into the ice to keep the three of them anchored until the wake from the crash slows to a stop.

“You call that left?” Katara asks sardonically once everyone’s hearts stop racing.

The two siblings start to bicker, but Azula has had years of practice at tuning them out. She focuses instead on trying to discern their current position. Wolf Cove isn’t visible from this far out in the ocean, but she knows it’s somewhere vaguely behind them. It’s just a matter of how far. She has no idea if they’ll be able to make it back before the single hour of darkness the South Pole will experience tonight. They have no supplies either, having lost what little they brought with the canoe, so they might have to deal with the issue of scrounging for food and fresh water along their journey. It sounds like an impossible situation, but she reminds herself that she’s faced worse odds before.

Before she can finish coming up with a tentative plan, waves start to rock the floe they’re stranded on. Alarmed, Azula snaps her gaze back to her friends just in time to see a massive iceberg cracking in half. Sokka throws an arm around both her and Katara as the three of them once again find themselves at the ocean spirit’s mercy.

It’s not as bad this time around. Their ice floe stays intact, and no one falls overboard. A few shards of ice fly their way, but between Azula’s firebending and Katara’s waterbending, none of them manage to hit the trio.

“Okay…” Sokka drawls once he recovers from the shock of what’s just happened. “You’ve gone from weird to freakish, Katara.”

Katara gasps, realization dawning on her. “You mean I did that?”

Azula purses her lips. What in the world had she missed by tuning out their argument? How did it end up with Katara accidentally cleaving an iceberg in half? Sokka rarely says anything stupid enough to warrant that kind of response.

“Are you making the bubbles, too?” Azula has to ask because now the water is bubbling like a boiling stew and emitting a strange bluish white light that she’s pretty sure isn’t a natural occurrence.

Katara doesn’t answer her, but she doesn’t need to. Azula sees the glowing iceberg emerge from underwater almost as soon as she finishes asking her question. If she squints, she can see two shapes frozen within: one shaped like a human meditating and another an indistinguishable mass of something. She’s never been devout, but there's only one explanation that she can think of: they’ve just disturbed the spirits.

Azula takes an involuntary step backward when the spirit opens its eyes, but Katara rushes forward. “He’s alive!” she exclaims. “We have to help him!”

Katara steals Sokka’s club from him and runs off before anyone has the chance to stop her. Sokka yells after her, but when it becomes clear that she isn’t listening, he grabs his spear and runs after her. Azula follows reluctantly because, as stupid as all of this is, she isn’t about to let her friends face a potentially angry spirit on their own.

She gets there just in time to be blasted with a great gust of wind as the iceberg splinters open like a massive egg. Bright, blinding light shoots upward, and all three of them have to cover their eyes. It’s like nothing Azula has ever seen before, and yet, she can’t help but find it familiar in some strange way.

(Those who are blessed by the spirits will always recognize their presence.)

Eventually, the light dims, and a figure emerges from what’s left of the iceberg. Rather than the angry spirit Azula had been expecting, it’s a little bald child with an arrow on his forehead. She observes him from afar, confused. It’s been seven years since she’s seen a painting depicting those same arrows, but she will never forget their meaning. Somehow, nearly a century after their genocide, Azula is face-to-face with an airbender.

Said airbender could not possibly care less about how out of place he is. He asks Katara to go penguin sledding with him, waves off both Sokka’s spear and suspicions as if it’s completely reasonable for him to be here (for someone like him to still exist), and introduces them to a gross fluffy monster that hasn’t been seen in just as long as any airbender.

“Did you see that crazy bolt of light?” Sokka reminds Katara, who is entirely too entertained by the newcomer and his pet to heed any of the usual safety precautions for encountering strangers. “He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy!”

“Why would an airbender want to signal the Fire Navy?” Azula points out before Sokka can get too far into his conspiracy theory. “He’d be in even more danger than us.”

Katara gasps and looks at the boy with renewed wonder. “You’re an airbender?”

“Sure am!” the boy confirms.

Less enthusiastic than his sister, Sokka leans closer to Azula and whispers: “How’d you know he was an airbender?”

“All master airbenders had those arrows,” Azula whispers back. “What I want to know is how he and his people have been able to hide from the world for so long, and how he got separated from them.”

Sokka grimaces. “He has to go back to them as soon as possible,” he decides. “If the Fire Nation finds out that there are still airbenders around…”

He doesn’t have to finish his sentence for Azula to understand. She knows all too well what her country of origin does to benders from other nations.

Miles away, another firebender sees that same bright light and recognizes it for what it is—no matter how impossible such a thing ought to be.

“Helmsman!” he shouts. “Set a course for the light!”

They end up riding the fluffy monster back to Wolf Cove. Somewhere along the journey, Azula learns that the monster is actually a sky bison named Appa. The airbender is named Aang. It’s a name that none of them have ever heard of before and probably won’t hear of again.

Azula is staring up at the hazy evening sun when Katara asks Aang if he knows what happened to the avatar. She doesn’t even have to look at him to know his denial is a lie. What she doesn’t understand is why. She plans to ask him when they’re back on land, but the kid falls asleep before they reach the shore. Sokka ends up having to carry him into his family’s igloo. Aang is so exhausted that he doesn’t stir once—not even when Sokka nearly drops him after tripping on a rock.

“He has hypothermia,” Katara tells them once she checks the boy over. “It’s surprisingly mild considering he was frozen in ice and has such thin clothing, but I’m going to need to check on him every half hour or so until his temperature comes up a bit.”

Azula takes this as her cue to grab one of the extra blankets she keeps for polar nights and drapes it over Aang. It’s not as if she’ll be needing it at any point in the next five months. She figures there’s no harm in letting him keep it until he’s well enough to return to wherever his people are hiding.

Aang wakes up late the next morning looking awkward and out of place. He politely declines all offers to borrow warmer clothes, claiming that his airbending will be able to keep him warm now that he’s feeling better. Katara doesn’t seem to believe him, but Azula does. Her own bending can keep her warm for a few hours at a time if she focuses on keeping her breathing steady. Airbending, she supposes, must involve a great deal more breath control than any of the other elements.

Still, the thin yellow and orange linen stands out in an endless expanse of blues and whites and thick fur pelts.

Another thing that stands out when it comes to Aang is that he’s almost completely unaware of the war. It’s as if whoever had been sheltering him had never once bothered to explain why they were in hiding. Azula notices the horror and confusion written all over his face when Gran-Gran says that everyone thought there were no airbenders left in the world. She sees the way he pales when it dawns on him that their village is barely scraping by. She hears the tremor in his voice when he pulls her aside and asks how the state of everything has gotten so bad.

Azula tells him. She doesn’t go into detail—doesn’t share her own personal grief. They’d be here for days if she had to list out every hurt that lives within her and everyone else who remains. Instead, she lists the main points. The raids. The blockade. The abduction of waterbenders. The decades long genocide of the Southern Water Tribe. The men leaving to join the war because staying means accepting that the Fire Nation has already won.

“And this has been going on for a hundred years?” Aang asks, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. His eyes are so unusual, round and slate gray and unlike anyone else’s, and yet, Azula could swear she’d seen someone with eyes like his before.

“Nearly,” Azula replies, ignoring the way Aang’s eyes seem so familiar. She hopes he doesn’t actually start to cry. She’s never been good at handling other people having emotions in front of her. That’s usually Katara’s job. “It’s gotten much worse since Fire Lord Azulon took the throne.”

“Azulon?” Aang repeats like it’s the most ridiculous answer he’s ever heard. His face scrunches up in confusion. “But isn’t he like… only eight or nine? Why would he want to do this to the Water Tribes?”

Azula stares blankly at Aang, entirely at a loss for words. Her former grandfather was ancient when she left the Fire Nation. It makes no sense that a twelve year old would only know of the Fire Lord as a young child. Not unless—

“When did you get frozen in that iceberg?” she demands to know even though she’s already dreading the answer.

Aang shrugs. “I don’t know. A few days ago?”

“And the exact date?” Azula presses.

Aang raises an incredulous eyebrow but answers her all the same. “Two days before the festival for the Century Comet.” Azula feels her breath catch in her throat. No one has called it that since before the war. Aang keeps going, oblivious. “I take it from the lack of festivities here that I missed my chance to see it. Well, I guess I might see it again if I live to be one hundred and twelve. But I missed this one, didn’t I?”

Azula has no idea how to tell Aang that he missed so much more than a simple comet.

Telling Aang goes badly—not that it could have gone any other way. His initial response is one of obstinate denial. It should be impossible for someone to survive in ice for a hundred years, especially without aging a single day. And yet he knows deep down that this world he woke up to isn’t the one he left behind. There is no other explanation.

Azula is relieved when Aang asks to be left alone while he processes the news. She can’t bear to witness another moment of his grief.

It isn’t until much later that she remembers that he’d lied about knowing what happened to the avatar, but she supposes it doesn’t matter now. His information would have been a century out of date anyway.

“We need to prepare for the possibility of a Fire Nation raid,” Sokka declares later that afternoon. “If they saw that light beam yesterday, then it’s only a matter of hours before their ships arrive.”

Azula doesn’t disagree, especially when Karmik reveals that she’d seen the light all the way from Wolf Cove. If the village could see it, then so could any Fire Navy ships that happened to be on patrol.

“Shall I go and steal Katara from her chores?” Azula asks before they can get into any specifics. “She’ll want to be a part of the planning.”

Sokka grimaces. “Yeah, about that…”

“What.” Azula says flatly. She has a feeling that she won’t like what Sokka is about to say.

“As far as the Fire Navy knows, we have no benders,” Sokka points out sheepishly, like he knows Azula is following his train of thought and that she doesn’t approve. “I don’t want to run the risk of them discovering otherwise. Should there be a raid, you and Katara need to take Aang far away from the village and stay out of sight until one of us comes to get you.”

“Absolutely not!” Azula disagrees immediately, vehemently. “I’m not hiding. You’re going to need me here if there’s a fight.”

She understands why Sokka wants Katara far away from any raids. While the last raid and the men leaving had spurred Sokka and Azula (and eventually Karmik) to train more and fight harder, Katara had been burdened with ever-increasing responsibilities. She wouldn’t be able to keep up in a physical fight—at least not without her bending.

But Azula has never slowed in her training. She’s the only one in the village who can match Sokka’s skill with a club. She can do this. She knows she can.

Sokka shakes his head. “No. It’s too risky,” he insists. “If something happens and you end up having to defend yourself with fire, you’re as good as dead.”

“And you’re so much better off with nothing whatsoever to protect you if you get disarmed?” Azula spits back. “I’m not letting anybody else get burned!”

“Anybody else?” Sokka’s expression goes from confused to horrified to understanding. “Azula, you were only eight last time. There was nothing you could have done.”

“Well I’m not eight anymore.” It feels whiny and petulant to say as much, but Azula refuses to back down. She hasn’t spent all these years training just to be sent away at the first sign of trouble. “I know how to fight with a club and a knife, and I can wear war paint to obscure my Fire Nation features. None of the raiders will ever suspect that I’m a firebender.”

Sokka starts to waver, looking at Azula like he’s weighing the pros and cons of letting Azula join the fight. Karmik uses this as an opportunity to voice her support. “Azula is a much stronger fighter than me,” she points out. “Our chances of success will be far greater if she stays.”

“Fine,” Sokka concedes. “You can fight with us.” He exhales a long, gusty sigh. “But I already suggested that Katara take Aang penguin sledding once she finishes up with her chores, and I’d appreciate it if neither of you tried to change her plans.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Karmik easily agrees.

Azula resists the urge to sigh, thinking of all the ways in which this could come back to bite them. “Okay,” she says anyway. “But it’s on you to deal with Katara’s inevitable rage afterwards.”

Sokka waves her off. “It’ll be fine,” he lies. And then, more truthfully, he adds: “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

They wait until after Katara and Aang leave the village to start preparing for the raid. Katara had been kind enough to repair and reinforce Sokka’s watchtower before departing. Sokka exclaims over and over again that she’s the best sister ever until she gets so annoyed that she hits him in the face with a snowball.

Aang laughs.

As soon as the two benders are out of sight, Sokka runs up to the top of the watchtower. “Fire Navy ship,” he reports to a waiting Azula and Karmik below. “Only one that I can see, but it could just be a scout.”

“How long do you think we have?” Karmik asks.

A moment of silence passes. “A little under an hour,” Sokka tells them.

Azula mulls this over. An hour is enough time for the three of them to prepare, but it’s not nearly enough to evacuate all the women and children. Even if they did have that sort of time, there’s nowhere to send them that won’t leave them vulnerable. There isn’t nearly enough cover out in the tundra, especially not in the light of the endless sun. They’d be sitting turtle-ducks for the Fire Navy to pick off one by one.

“We could try lying to them,” she suggests. “If they don’t attack us outright, I mean. We can say that we have no idea what light they’re talking about, or we can claim it was the celestial lights. With Aang gone, they won’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

She pointedly does not mention what happened the last time someone in their tribe lied to a raider.

Sokka shakes his head. “Either way, we still need to show some kind of resistance,” he points out. “It’ll be too suspicious if we don’t try to fight them off.”

“Then we attack, but not with everything we’ve got,” Azula replies. “We act offended that they’ve come to our shores when we’ve done nothing wrong.”

“And when they ask about the light,” Sokka continues for her, having figured out the plan. “We lie. They’ll see a small village made up almost entirely of women and children, decide we’re not a threat, and leave. It just might work.”

It will have to. The Fire Nation ship is nearly at their shores.

Chapter Text

Sokka stands on the wall protecting their village and watches for the Fire Navy ship. Azula and Karmik are positioned between the wall and the village, weapons in hand, waiting for Sokka’s signal. Behind them, mothers try to keep their children from getting too close. Many of the women have taken whatever sharp objects they can find in their homes and put them in their pockets in case they need to defend themselves.

The crunch of footsteps in snow grows louder behind them, and Azula expects to see a child who has managed to wiggle past their mother. Instead, she finds a warrior with a spear in her hand and more tattoos on her face than any other woman in the tribe: her mother.

Tapeesa steps into the empty space between Azula and Karmik like she’s been a part of their plan this whole time. She raises an eyebrow, silently questioning her daughter’s failure to include her, before facing forward with the stoic determination of a military general. Her expression is so intense and so genuine that Azula can’t bear to witness it. She looks away.

Metal and ice crash into each other with a low groan, and that’s all the warning anyone has before the ground begins to quake below them. Cracks splinter underfoot—small and shallow at first, but they grow deeper and deeper the further inland the ship gets. The wall and Sokka’s watchtower crumble. Sokka falls with them in an avalanche of compacted snow. They are so, so lucky that all he did was fall.

The ship comes to a stop nearly ten feet into the ice. Azula can’t tell if this is meant to be an intimidation tactic, or if the captain doesn’t know how to dock on a frozen shore. She and the others take a few steps back regardless. It’s good that they do. The bow opens like a yawning metal maw, unhinging its jaw onto the spot where they’d once stood. Smoke and steam pour out, a poor imitation of a dragon, and three figures emerge.

Sokka crouches low to the ground as if stalking his prey. Azula and Karmik stand ready at his side, while Tapeesa stands behind them—the last line of defense between the Fire Navy and their village.

(Azula won’t let it come to that.)

As their enemies approach, Azula studies them for weaknesses. All three soldiers wear full armor, though only the two on either side of their leader have kept on their face plates. That might protect them from facial lacerations and broken noses, but it makes them far more vulnerable to concussions when struck with a blunt weapon. Her father had taught her that. The one directly facing Karmik has uneven footfalls, clearly favoring his right side. The one in front of her, meanwhile, walks evenly but with heavy steps. He won’t be agile enough to keep up with her.

The leader, the one flanked by these faceless metal men, has a burn scar on the left side of his face. It’s so large and so clearly a sign of being dishonored that Azula can’t hide her surprise that he’s showing his face at all. He has no eyebrow on that side, and the eye itself is ever so slightly narrower than his unscarred one. She’s willing to bet that he’s visually impaired—maybe even blind in his bad eye. At the very least, the damage must impede his depth perception and peripheral vision.

“Charge!” Sokka shouts over his shoulder, running at the scarred soldier with his club at the ready.

Azula rushes the soldier in front of her. She ducks when he aims a fire blast at her face and jumps when he aims for her feet. Her enemy (her prey) is mostly stationary, hoping to take her down before she can get close enough for her superior speed to matter. This strategy fails when she finally gets in striking range and swings her club into his stomach. He doubles over, hands scrambling for where he’s been hit. It gives her the perfect opening to bash the left side of his helmet in. He falls, unconscious, to the ground with two new dents in his armor.

She’s the only one on her side to succeed.

Karmik’s opponent is hobbling and his bad leg is bent outwards at an unnatural angle, but he’s still mostly standing. The same cannot be said for her. She’s sprawled out on her back and can’t seem to get up. Her parka is singed near the stomach, but she isn’t screaming like she’s been burned. She gasps and heaves like she can’t get enough air, and Azula realizes that she must’ve been thrown backwards by the force of the blast.

Sokka is half buried in the snow and trying to dig himself out. His opponent has already moved on to the only fighter left: Tapeesa.

Azula has always been amazed by her mother’s strength. She can drag the weight of an elephant seal with nothing but a wooden board and a piece of rope. She fights with the force of a blizzard and the drive of a grizzly bear-wolf defending her cubs. Many of the men had been disappointed when she’d chosen to stay behind with the tribe for they believed her fierceness would’ve been of great use in the war.

None of that matters when she sees flames fired in her mother’s direction.

(She is eight, and Kya tells them she can handle the firebender in her home. Smoke is still rising from her corpse when they get back to the tent.)

(She is fourteen, and she isn’t going to let anyone else burn for her.)

Azula pushes her way between her mother and the soldier before she can even think about what she’s doing. She grabs the soldier’s wrist and twists it, forcing his flames to shoot up over their heads. Threats and insults are already forming on her tongue as she looks into the soldier’s eyes.

They get caught in her throat when she gets a good look at his face.

She knew this soldier once upon a time. The scar is new (yet too old to belong to someone so young) and time has eaten away at the chubby cheeks and baby fat of youth, but she would recognize him anywhere. For the first time in seven years, she is face to face with Zuko.

Recognition doesn’t go both ways. With the war paint on, only Azula’s eyes betray her Fire Nation blood. Any stranger would assume her to be a war child. These years have turned her closest kin into one such stranger. All he sees is blue clothes and gold eyes and nothing of his sister.

Azula hesitates for too long, trapped between two people she considers family. Zuko takes advantage of her distraction and tosses her into the snow by her arm.

With her out of the way and Tapeesa running to her side, the two Fire Nation soldiers still standing close in on the rest of the tribe. “Where are you hiding him?” their leader, her brother, demands to know.

Everyone falls silent.

Zuko grabs Kanna by the hood of her parka and turns her around for all the village to see. “He’d be about this age,” he continues, agitated. “Master of all elements?”

The silence continues. No one has any idea who he’s talking about. Azula is starting to worry about her brother’s sanity. The last master of all the elements was Avatar Roku, and he died over a hundred years ago. His successor, if he ever had one at all, surely burned with the rest of his people. There’s no such thing as the Avatar anymore.

“I know you’re hiding him!” Zuko insists as he shoves Kanna back into the crowd of women. Karmik’s twin sister Taupek catches her and glares at the soldiers like she’s daring them to go after her next.

Sokka charges the soldiers from behind, club in hand, and swings wildly with a shout. Zuko ducks and throws Sokka right back into the snow. Fists ignite, but Sokka has always been quick to dodge. He rolls out of the way and throws his boomerang. It goes wide, distracting Zuko just long enough for one of the younger boys to toss Sokka a spear.

“Show no fear!” the boy yells.

Zuko is too busy breaking the wooden handle of the spear to notice the boomerang’s return. Sokka grins with anticipation. It hits him square in the back of the head with enough force to send him lurching forward several steps just to keep his balance.

Azula hates herself for cringing as the metal echoes around her first brother’s skull. She’s always known that forsaking her Fire Nation loyalty meant betraying her birth family; she just never expected to see that betrayal up close and personal. It was supposed to be a distant thing neither Zuko nor Lu Ten had no part in.

(Years ago, it was supposed to be the three of them against Sozin’s legacy.)

Fire daggers ignite in Zuko’s hands. They’re snuffed out just as quickly as they appeared when something moving too fast to see flies into him from behind. Zuko is sent flying. So is his attacker—a blur of yellow linen and blue arrows atop a penguin seal.

“Hey, everybody,” Aang greets them cheerfully.

Sokka sighs, irritated. “Hey, Aang. Thanks for coming.” His words are laced with sarcasm and bitterness and the fear that he has failed this child who will surely be taken by the Fire Nation.

Katara arrives on her own penguin seal sled a moment later. She rushes over to Sokka’s side, ignoring the way the soldier with a broken leg shouts at her. When he tries to approach the two siblings, Katara pulls a knife out of her pocket and brandishes at him with the determination of someone willing to risk it all.

Aang, too, has taken on a more serious demeanor than usual. He shifts into a round, flexible fighting stance—his staff held firmly in both hands. With large sweeping motions, he uses his staff to airbend a layer of snow over the Fire Nation soldiers.

This, Azula thinks, is exactly why Sokka hadn’t wanted Aang to be here when the soldiers arrived.

Aang pulls up from his fighting stance just enough to look Zuko in the eye. “Looking for me?” His question comes out like a statement, like he’s known all along that this would happen.

Zuko gapes at Aang. “You’re the airbender?” he asks, incredulous. “You’re the Avatar?”

Aang doesn’t deny it. Instead, he points his staff at Zuko and braces for a fight.

Azula can’t help but wonder if this is some kind of strange, unusually lucid dream. Perhaps she hadn’t won her fight earlier. Perhaps the soldier had knocked her out, and the last five minutes have been nothing more than whatever nonsense her unconscious mind decided to slap together. Surely, surely, that is the only explanation for both her brother and a spirit made mortal to be standing here in front of her.

But how else would Aang have survived a century encased in ice? How else could he have emitted that ethereal blue-white light? What else could he have ever been?

“No way,” Sokka mutters, echoing Azula’s thoughts.

Zuko and Aang circle one another like coyote-vultures around the bloated remains of an animal carcass. “I’ve spent years preparing for this encounter,” Zuko says even though almost no one believes in the existence of the Avatar anymore. “Training. Meditating.” He sneers. “You’re just a child!”

Aang cocks his head to the side like he doesn’t understand how his age is relevant. “Well, you’re just a teenager,” he retorts.

Zuko hurls a barrage of flames Aang’s way.

Azula watches the two closely as she and her mother join the rest of the villagers. Aang makes no move attack; he is all evasions and deflections. Zuko, meanwhile, doesn’t even bother to defend himself against the gusts sent his way as he fires off blast after blast of scorching orange flames. He burns and burns and burns as Aang unknowingly circles back in front of everyone. The redirected flames shoot upward, arcing over the heads of terrified women and children…

…And Aang surrenders. He gives himself up to the cruelty of the Fire Nation to protect a village of near strangers.

As they all watch the Avatar—the only hope for ending the war—disappear into the belly of the Fire Nation ship, Azula feels sick. What's the point of surviving today just for her and her people to die out in a few years' time? What will it matter if the raiders return or the next winter is too long to get through or the war ends in Fire Nation victory? This short reprieve isn't worth the price they've paid.

Zuko's ship has barely left their shores when Azula runs back to her igloo. She tears her room apart in a mad dash to grab all the essentials. A knife. A club. A sleeping bag. Dried fish. A water skin. She wracks her brain, trying to remember what else she'd seen the men pack when they'd left to join the war efforts. If she's going to steal the Avatar off a Fire Nation ship, she might as well go all in and start fighting.

"I had a feeling I might find you here."

Azula freezes when she hears her mother's voice. She doesn't turn around, doesn't trust her resolve to not waver if she does. She has to do this. Eyes glued to the mess she's made and her fingers tight around the straps of her bag, she says: "You can't stop me from leaving."

The reasons to leave are numerous. Aang is the Avatar. The Avatar is the world's only chance to end the war. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she stayed here and let the Fire Nation kill him—or worse.

But that's only a part of it. Her brother is out there, with fury in his eyes and a scar that's far too old, stealing that hope from everyone. What does he stand to gain from this? What reason does he have for caring about the Avatar? Why isn't he at the Caldera? He's still too young for military duty; he won't be sixteen until the solstice.

(Who had burned him, marked him as dishonored, when he was still just a child?)

A gentle hand grasps her shoulder. Azula freezes. The prospect of chasing after Zuko leaves her feeling guilty, like she's betraying the family she has now. She loves her parents and her tribe, and she knows they love her in return, but her brother is an old wound that never healed over. Some desperate part of her still wants him to be a part of her life. She's chasing after nights of sneaking into the kitchens for midnight snacks and afternoons spent burning glass hand prints into the sandy shores of Ember Island. Those times are gone forever, but she still drags the weight of them forward.

The life she has here, though, is the one she refuses to give up. She has everything she has ever wanted in the Southern Water Tribe. In the Fire Nation, she has nothing left but memories of friends who have long ago become strangers to her.

Slowly, Azula turns her head, but only enough to see her mother's fingers. She knows the shape of them well. They have spent seven years smoothing her hair, holding her whenever she needs comfort, and tending to her bumps and bruises. This is what she has now, and she wouldn't trade it for anything. It's all the more reason to leave. There isn't going to be a Southern Water Tribe for much longer unless they win the war soon, and that isn't going to happen without the Avatar.

"I wouldn't dream of stopping you," her mother assures her. Only then does Azula find the courage to look her in the eye. She sees pride and understanding, but also sadness. "My brave little fighter, I always knew you'd leave to join the war someday. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"Neither did I," Azula admits. In fact, she isn't sure she ever expected it. The idea of leaving had always been as intangible as smoke. She could imagine doing it, but only someday. Only eventually. She isn't sure if she'd have ever done it without this sign from the spirits calling her to action.

Her mother pulls her into a fierce hug. "I'm so proud of you, Azula," she says with quiet sincerity. "And I love you so, so much. Be safe."

"You, too," she replies as she returns her mother's embrace.

This is not a goodbye. They will see each other again. Azula will fight tooth and nail and fire to make sure of it.

Azula expects to have to sneak out of the village and steal a canoe. Her plan is dangerous, and the women of the tribe are overprotective. They'd try to stop her despite having her mother's permission to go.

This is not what happens. Instead, she finds Sokka waiting outside her door with camping supplies for three people. "Want to come on a rescue mission?" he asks with a grin. "We're planning to leave right now. Katara's already on the bison."

Azula holds up her own bag of supplies and returns his grin. "It's been a while since I've fought another firebender, but I'm still up to the challenge."

As they race towards the direction of the bison, they pass a group of women who wave in their direction before returning to a conversation about hunting. A few of them intend to learn so that they can help Karmik and Tapeesa. Another, an elderly woman with arthritic hands, offers to watch the others' children whenever they have to leave the village for hunts. Some of the young boys nearby start sharpening their weapons and argue about who will lead warrior training with Sokka gone. A few of the girls have started igloo repairs; they are too young to remember that this was once considered men's work and instead associate the task with Katara and her endless devotion to their tribe.

Another three are to leave their already dwindling numbers, but they'll adapt and survive. Such is the nature of water.

They get on the bison, and somehow, Katara seems to be steering the beast even though she's hardly pulling the reins at all. The only thing she can't get it to do is fly.

Sokka complains about it nonstop. "Go," he says, monotone. "Fly. Soar."

Katara starts giving the bison a pep talk like it's a child struggling to learn a new skill. Azula rolls her eyes. It might be a domesticated animal, but she doubts it understands more human language than a few commands. Katara is surely wasting her breath.

"Come on," she urges. "Don't you want to save Aang?"

The bison grunts but continues paddling through the water. Azula hadn't expected anything different.

"What was it that kid said?" Sokka asks, more to himself than the others. "Yee-haw? Hup-hup? Wah-hoo? Uh… yip-yip?"

A low grunt and the beating of a tail against water are their only warning before the bison lurches forward. They all scramble to hold onto whatever is closest. Azula digs her fingers into the side of the saddle so hard that she knows her knuckles must be a bloodless white under her gloves.

Katara, gripping the reins for dear life yet still grinning, declares: "You did it, Sokka!"

Azula braces herself, looks beyond the saddle, and sees that the ocean is now over a hundred feet below them. The bison is flying. They're in the air. They're in the air. It never occurred to her that this type of travel was possible. She finds it both terrifying and incredible.

If they fall, they die. But if they can maintain this height? They'll have an advantage over their enemies that no one still living has ever thought to counter. The sky is theirs and theirs alone. She can see it now. Attacking from the air. Flying away from those pursuing them. Azula is almost dizzy with the possibilities.

"Take us left," Sokka tells his sister. Azula turns to see that he's pointing at something in the distance. It's little more than a sliver of steel from this far away, but she knows what it must be as soon as she spots it. "That's got to be the ship that took Aang."

Katara pulls the reins a little too hard, and the bison turns left with such abrupt intensity that they all nearly fall off. Luckily for her, Sokka is too focused on catching up with the ship to throw yesterday's retort of "You call that left?" back in her face.

"Do we have a plan of attack?" Katara asks as they start gaining on the ship. "Or are we just going to land Appa on the ship deck and hope for the best?"

"I was thinking of tearing apart the engine room," Azula shares. It had originally been her plan for distracting everyone on the ship so that they'd be too busy to notice her freeing Aang, but she sees another use for it now. "While I do that, the two of you can grab Aang. The four of us can escape on the bison, and the ship will be stuck in the water until they can get their engine back in working order."

Sokka taps his chin, considering the plan. "There's probably a thousand different ways for that to go wrong, but I can't think of anything better," he admits after a moment. "My biggest concern is where we're going to hide Appa so that we can sneak up on them."

"I don't think we'll need to sneak up on anyone," Katara says suddenly. She points excitedly in the direction of the ship. A figure in yellow and orange stands on the deck, staff in hand, against a Fire Nation soldier. "It looks like all we need to do is grab Aang and go."

Azula pushes down the relief she feels at hearing this. Her brother might be on the opposing side of this war, but she doesn't want any real harm to come to him. It's why she'd planned to merely trash the engine room instead of blowing it up; she would have gladly done such potentially irreparable damage to any other Fire Nation ship.

The fire blasts grow bigger and less controlled. Aang can't keep up. He loses his staff, and then his balance. Katara is screaming before he even hits the water.

Aang stays under the water for what feels like a lifetime. Each second that passes feels like a decade, the fear and anticipation slowing time almost to a standstill. Azula wonders, a bit hysterically, if this is how the Avatar ended up in an iceberg a century ago and if they're going to have to break him out of another one.

And then the water erupts. A geyser shoots out, swirling like a riptide. It grows taller and taller until it's more than fifty feet above the ship. At the very top is Aang, and he's glowing like he did when they first found him. He rides the vortex of water like a wave until he lands on the ship deck. With a sweep of his hands, all the water he'd been riding whips across the deck, pushing everyone on deck back with tremendous force. Two of the soldiers even fall into the water.

Katara gasps. "Did you see what he just did?" she asks them.

Azula nods, amazed. She'd been so focused on the fact that Aang is a child in the clutches of the Fire Nation that she hadn't taken the time to consider what him being the Avatar actually means. So much power resides within him, more than someone so small can possibly keep contained, that she suspects they've only caught a small glimpse of what he can do.

"Now that," Sokka declares, grinning, "was some waterbending!"

They land Appa on the cleared off deck, and Katara races to Aang's side. He's exhausted from the strain of whatever causes that glow. Katara helps him up while Sokka makes a beeline for his staff. Azula keeps a watchful eye on the fallen firebenders in case they get back up. She only looks away for a moment to help Aang up onto the bison's head.

Out of the corner of her eye, Azula spots the firebenders stirring. They get up slowly and a bit clumsily, and take a fighting stance. Azula matches it without hesitation.

Katara moves her arms as if pulling something behind her. A nearby puddle sputters and shakes until it takes the shape of a stream around her. She tries to copy what Aang did before on a smaller scale, but she gets the momentum wrong and accidentally freezes Sokka's boots to the metal of the boat. Azula remains at her side, ready to strike if need be, as Katara turns away from the soldiers and encases them in ice.

With the soldiers taken care of, Azula lets off a quick fire blast to melt the ice around Sokka's feet. He startles and checks over his boots as if there was a chance that Azula was so imprecise as to singe them.

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang," he mutters to himself as he catches up to them and climbs up Appa's tail. "I didn't ask for all this flying and magic." Katara rolls her eyes as she pulls him into the saddle by the arm. "Yip-yip!" he commands as soon as he's seated. "Yip-yip!"

They take off just as a heavyset old guy—possibly the officer in charge—comes out onto the deck. He takes in his surroundings like he can't trust what he's seeing. Azula can't see his face from this far away in the air, but she glares at him all the same. If he's their commanding officer, then there's a chance he's the one who burned Zuko. Few others would have the authority to maim a member of the royal family in such a way, even one not in the direct line of succession like her brother.

Together, the commanding officer and one of the soldiers synchronize their movements to form a powerful fire ball and send it their way. Azula jumps up, ready to part it, but Aang beats her to it. He sweeps his staff through the air, hard enough to change the direction of the fire ball. It hits an iceberg instead. The strength of the blast knocks so much snow and ice loose that it buries the front of the ship. It'll take a long time for them to dig themselves out.

Once they've flown far enough that the ship has disappeared from sight, the four of them begin to relax a little. Aang is taking them to the Southern Air Temple both because it's too high in the mountains for a ship to find them and because he needs to see the ruins for himself. He explains that, while he believes them about what happened to his people, he's having a hard time accepting it as truth. Appa apparently knows the way, so Aang lets go of the reins and lies back against the bison's head and neck.

Katara leans over the front edge of the saddle and starts asking Aang all sorts of questions about waterbending and being the Avatar. She looks disappointed when he admits that he doesn't know how he was able to waterbend and isn't sure how to replicate what he did. Her disappointment only grows when Aang admits he'd never wanted to be the Avatar. To her, he is blessed by the spirits to have this incredible power. She can't fathom why he would want to refuse this blessing in favor of being normal.

Azula thinks she gets it. Everyone talks about the war like the Air Nomad genocide was the first act of violence perpetuated by the Fire Nation's armies, but the truth is that they'd been colonizing border towns in Earth Kingdom for years before they'd ever set their sights on the Air Temples. Aang would have known from the moment he learned he was the Avatar that the whole world was waiting for him to intervene on the Earth Kingdom's behalf. It's an impossible burden to put on the shoulders of a child.

Regardless, Aang doesn't have a choice. The war has only spread in the hundred years since whatever accident led to him being trapped in ice. He needs to end this war and soon or else the remaining nations might never recover. It's his duty. But he doesn't have to do it alone. Azula, Katara, and Sokka are willing to share this burden with him. They'll be by his side until the end—no matter what the end may look like.

The more they talk, the clearer Azula's destiny becomes. She is perhaps the only friendly firebender they'll encounter along their journey. When the time comes, it will be up to her to teach the Avatar firebending.

Chapter Text

The Southern Air Temple is too far from the South Pole to make the entire trip in one day, so Aang finds a place in the foothills of the Patola Mountain Range to camp for the night. Sokka unpacks the sleeping bags, Katara fills water skins with fresh water from a nearby stream, Aang forages for berries and mushrooms, and Azula starts a campfire to keep them warm.

She still hasn't told the others about Zuko.

The details of her past had never mattered before. Everyone in their tribe knows the basics: that she's from the Fire Nation but no longer wanted by her birth family. It's a story they understand. Her father had said nearly the same twenty years prior. Some had been warier of her because of her bending, but within a matter of weeks, she was more or less accepted by the entire tribe.

In all that time, no one had ever asked her for any of the specifics. Most saw it as either an invasion of privacy or a terrible thing to make a child relive. This worked to Azula's advantage. At first, she had kept the nature of her identity to herself out of fear. An enemy princess is a valuable hostage when they're wanted by their family, but she knew no one in the Fire Nation would want her enough to negotiate with the Southern Water Tribe. She'd worried she'd be killed as some sort of symbolic attempt at revenge as soon as they discovered her uselessness.

Even after she realized that her new home wouldn't stoop to such underhanded measures, she still didn't want anyone to know. That part of her life had ended the day Ozai sent her away. Or maybe it had ended before that—back when she was still an open wound bleeding anger into every corner of the palace. She'd seen the chance to cut all ties to her past and grabbed on with every ounce of her strength.

She belongs to a new nation and a new family. She's the daughter of Cupun and Tapeesa, and she is loved. That's all she wanted. It's still all she wants.

Zuko arriving in Wolf Cove has complicated everything. He will recognize her eventually, and when he does, he's sure to make a scene. As different as he is now, that aspect of his personality seems to have remained the same. Everyone in shouting distance will become privy to the life she left behind. It's inevitable. And so, as much as she wishes she could forget that part of her life ever happened, she knows she has to tell her friends. She doesn't want them to find out from Zuko.

The problem is that she has no idea how to bring it up. They've all just left their home to help the Avatar master all four elements and end the war. Said Avatar is still catching up on the hundred years of history that passed him by in his suspended state. He has yet to fully understand that his people are gone—that he will soon face the aftermath of the worst atrocity in all of history. Talking about her brother seems so small and petty in comparison. He might be their enemy right now, and he is ruining her chance to leave the Fire Nation behind for good, but at least he's still alive. The same cannot be said for those that Aang has lost.

Azula keeps her explanations locked in her throat all night. It's far too easy. The others talk more about the Fire Nation as a whole than the ship they encountered, so she doesn't have to wonder whether to speak or hold her tongue over all the questions Sokka and Katara would have surely asked. As far as they care, what happened today is just one more attack in an assault that's lasted all their lives. Even if they knew who Zuko was, it wouldn't change anything. He'd just be the latest name in a long, long list of invaders.

"Are you alright?" Katara asks her before they crawl into their sleeping bags for the night. Her voice is quiet and steady but laced with worry. "You were quiet during dinner."

"It's a lot to take in," Azula replies vaguely, not really lying but barely scratching the surface of the full truth.

"I'll say," Katara agrees easily. "We finally have a real chance at winning this war. It almost seems too good to be true." She looks away, toying with the pendant on her necklace. "But it's kind of scary, right? Because if we have the Avatar on our side and we lose, then we lose for real. It won't be endless battles with no real winner anymore. The Fire Nation will just kill us. But if we win… I don't even know what peace would look like. How are we all supposed to come to terms with everything this war took from us once there's nothing left to fight for?"

Azula has no answer for her. They both have a hard time sleeping that night.

When Azula finally drifts into sleep, her dreams terrify her. She sees Zuko, older than she ever knew him but still young and unscarred, kneeling on the cold stone floor of an Agni Kai arena. A monster obscured by shadows stands over him, its fiery hand reaching to grab her brother's face. His screams are still ringing in her ears when she startles awake.

She lies awake for hours wondering why the faceless monster reminds her so much of Ozai.

The group ventures out bright and early the following morning. Azula tries to enjoy the view as they fly over the Patola Mountains, but all she can think about is what they'll likely find once they reach their destination. The Air Nomads were killed a long time ago. Whatever remains of their bodies will be ash and bone. She remembers the horror of seeing Kya freshly dead, and she's glad they won't be walking into the same thing now, but she doesn't know if skeletons will be any easier to face.

There is no easy way to witness death.

Katara must be thinking the same thing because she tries to prepare Aang for what they might see at the Southern Air Temple. "The Fire Nation is ruthless," she explains gently. "They killed my mother even though she wasn't a warrior, and they would have done the same to your people when they attacked the temples."

Aang winces at Katara's words, but he tries to put on a smile anyway. "I know it won't be good, but I don't think it'll be as bad as you fear either," he tells her. "All the temples have tunnels that lead to lower ground. They're supposed to be for natural disasters since we're so high up and isolated from any nearby villages, but I bet they made for a great way to escape the Fire Nation soldiers as well."

Katara doesn't look convinced. If Azula had to guess, her friend is probably imagining soldiers catching up to anyone in the tunnels and burning them all until nothing remains but ash. Anyone who tried to flee that way is probably still there—forgotten and unnamed in their underground mass grave.

They don't dwell on it for long. After another minute of flying, Aang shouts "Yip-yip!" even though they're already high up in the air. The bison ascends impossibly further at a speed that has Azula's stomach threatening to fly up her throat and out of her mouth.

Miraculously, no one suffers altitude sickness on the way up. Sokka complains that his ears popped and Azula's stomach hasn't quite settled, but that's as bad as it gets. Both Aang and Katara, meanwhile, seem to be completely unfazed.

"There it is," Aang tells them, gesturing towards clusters of stone buildings connected by pathways and courtyards. It's silent and empty but undeniably beautiful. "The Southern Air Temple."

Katara takes it all in and gasps. "Aang, it's amazing! I've never seen buildings like this before. They look so… so elegant. And sturdy!"

"Must be nice to not have to worry about your home melting during the warmer months," Sokka mutters loud enough for only Azula to hear.

Surprise flashes across Azula's face before she hides it with a roll of her eyes. She hasn't given it much thought until now, but Sokka and Katara have never seen buildings made of stone and wood. They know only igloos and furs and the cozy sort of warmth that can't be found anywhere else but by cuddling up around a fire. Will they be fascinated or disappointed when they first step foot in cavernous rooms and echoing corridors? Will they see all that empty space and feel free, or will it leave them as lonely as it did Azula once upon a time?

The bison lands on a large flat platform on the lowest point of the temple. It's made of earth and stone tiles, most of which are chipped and dull from decades of neglect. Aang tells them that the tiles are arranged in the shape of the air insignia. Too many are missing for any of them but Aang to see the resemblance.

As the bison shuffles off to what's left of the dilapidated stables, Aang guides the three teens to a long and narrow staircase that's been carved into the mountainside. He talks happily about all the things he wants to show them: the airball stadium, the fruit tree orchard, a music room full of woodwinds that all the children learned to play from a young age. It should be exciting. None of them have ever seen or experienced these things—not even Azula, who'd spent her early years eating all sorts of exotic fruits without ever seeing the trees they'd come from. But they all know, even if Aang hasn't accepted it yet, that there won't be anything left of all that they're supposed to see.

"Can we check out that orchard first?" Sokka asks when he notices Aang's cheerfulness dim. The quiet stillness of their surroundings have started getting to him. "I'm getting pretty hungry from all this walking."

Katara purses her lips, gearing up to scold her brother for being so focused on food, but keeps her mouth shut when she notices that Sokka's comment has rallied Aang's spirits.

"Of course we can!" Aang says with a grin. "I hope you like moon peaches. We always have a ton of them this time of year. Did you know that they're one of the only fruit trees that grow better at higher altitudes? A lot of trees struggle to thrive this high up in the mountains because of how thin the air is."

Sokka blinks as if unsure what part of Aang's comment to reply to. Eventually, he settles on: "You know, I don't think I've ever had a moon peach before. We mostly imported fruit from the southernmost parts of the Earth Kingdom before the blockade."

"You're in for a real treat then," And tells him. "Moon peaches are a lot sweeter than anything you could've gotten from the southern Earth Kingdom."

The orchard is in surprisingly good shape for being so flammable. Old, dead trees show signs of ancient scorch marks, but otherwise, nature perseveres. Younger trees and shrubs sprout from the weedy, overgrown fields. Wildflowers bloom, attracting insects to pollinate the other plants. Vines with oblong berries wind around decaying branches.

Aang picks a handful of them and pops one into his mouth. He calls them honeydew berries and encourages the others to try them. They're delicious yet unlike anything they've ever tasted before.

The moon peaches are also good. They remind Azula a bit of the nectarines that grow in the Fire Nation, although she prefers the smoothness of the nectarines to the fuzzy skin of the peaches. Peeling the skin off with her nails makes the experience far more enjoyable. Katara stuffs at least a dozen of them into her bag so they'll have snacks for their next journey.

"I can see why Aang was so excited to show this to us," Katara admits to Azula while Aang is distracted by throwing ground cherries directly into Sokka's mouth. "I just wish it could've been while people still lived here. There's something a little bit creepy about being somewhere so abandoned."

Azula wonders how many airbenders would be out here tending to the orchard a century ago before immediately cutting off that line of thought. Knowing the history of this place is bleak enough without speculating on the specifics.

(It's even bleaker knowing that the blood in her veins is the same as the man who ordered these atrocities to be carried out.)

Aang tries to teach Sokka how to play airball. It does not go well for Sokka.

Katara and Azula find the helmet of a Fire Nation soldier while watching the game. Katara waterbends a mound of snow over it to keep Aang from seeing, but it doesn't change the fact that it's there.

No amount of wishful thinking can change history.

That afternoon, once Sokka has recovered from losing at airball, Aang introduces them to a statue in one of the courtyards. It's of an older airbender meditating. "This is Monk Gyatso," he says with reverence. "The greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know."

Aang bows to the statue, and Azula feels compelled to do the same. She copies her companion's hand placement out of respect. The Southern Water Tribe has no traditional style for bowing, and flame over closed fist is no way to greet someone who surely died by fire.

"You must miss him," Katara says gently, placing a hand on Aang's shoulder.

Aang sighs. "Yeah." His sadness lingers for just a moment before morphing into determination. He lifts his head up a little higher and makes his way to the corridor at the other end of the courtyard.

"Where are you going?" Katara asks.

"The air temple sanctuary," he replies. "There's someone I'm ready to meet."

Azula and Sokka exchange incredulous looks. This place has stood empty for a century. No one has been here but them. Katara glances back at them, the same confusion and disbelief written all over her face, and then catches up to Aang. The other two follow suit if only to be there for support; they both worry that this will be what sets off Aang's inevitable grief.

Aang leads them to heavy wooden doors that are taller than all the igloos in the South Pole. Faded, chipped paint and interlocking metal tubes form the air insignia—one half on each door. It would have been beautiful once upon a time. Now it only serves as another reminder of the negligence that has befallen the temples ever since the deaths of all who once lived here.

"Cool door," Sokka comments. "Very sturdy. Good color combination. Nice pipe things. Quick question, though: how in the name of Tui do we open it? I don't suppose you have a key?"

Aang smirks and drops into a bending stance. "The key, Sokka, is airbending."

Air cycles around them, swirling from all sides as Aang shapes it into two controlled currents—one in each hand. He guides them up and into the metal tubes adorning the doors. They stutter and tremble, stuck from their disuse, until the force of the air inside them pushes them outwards. Aang stops bending, and those last whispers of a breeze leave the now unlocked door swings open for them.

Aang rushes in without a second thought. The others can do nothing but follow.

"Hello?" he calls out. His voice echoes against old stone and a century's worth of dust. "Anyone home?"

No one answers. They are the only living people here. Hundreds of figures line the room, arranged in a circular pattern, but they are nothing more than stone.

"Statues? That's it?" Sokka complains, but he keeps glancing over at Aang to monitor the younger boy's reaction. "Where's the cool stuff you wanted us to see? Or better yet, meat!"

"Air Nomads don't eat meat," Aang tells him, only half paying attention. His eyes keep darting around from statue to statue as if searching for something. "The only animal-based foods we eat are dairy and eggs."

Sokka lets out a long, disappointed groan.

Katara stops in front of a statue of a man in traditional Water Tribe clothing. "Who are all of these people?" she asks.

Aang frowns, pensive. "I'm not sure, but it feels like I know them somehow." He freezes beside Katara and points to the statue beside the one in front of her. "Look! That one's an airbender!"

"And this one's a waterbender," Katara adds as she gestures to the statue in front of her.

Azula stops in front of the statue on the other side of the airbender. The clothing she wears may be nothing more than gray stone, but its place of origin is undeniable even without the familiar shades of red and black. "This one's a firebender."

"They're lined up in a pattern," Katara realizes. "Air, water, earth, and fire."

Aang's eyes go wide. "That's the Avatar cycle!"

"So these are all the past Avatars?" Azula asks, still staring at the firebender statue. She knows, of course, that past Avatars have been Fire Nation. The last one before Aang had been one. And yet, even with this knowledge, she can't quite picture a firebender maintaining peace and balance.

(She only knows the Fire Nation as it is now. The fact that it was once different—that its people were once more like her and less like Ozai—is something she has yet to discover.)

"Of course!" Katara agrees, grinning. "All these people are your past lives, Aang."

"Past lives?" Sokka asks incredulously as Aang meanders down the circular path. "Katara, you really believe in that stuff?"

"It's true," Katara and Azula retort at the same time. They look at each other, and Azula gestures for Katara to finish the explanation. "When the Avatar dies, they're reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle."

"Didn't you pay any attention when we learned about the spirits in school?" Azula asks, smirking.

Sokka grumbles. "I hate it when you two team up against me."

Azula's smirk only grows.

When the three of them notice that Aang has been quiet for an unusually long time, they walk down the path in search of him. It doesn't take long to find him. He's standing in the very center of the room, staring unblinkingly at the last statue as if in a trance. Azula wonders if this is normal Avatar business or if she ought to be concerned.

Katara chooses concern. She grabs Aang by the shoulder and shakes him. "Aang," she states. Her voice is firm and unwavering, but her eyes shine with worry. "Snap out of it!"

Aang blinks, dazed. "Huh?"

"Who is that?" Katara asks, glancing at the statue before returning her attention to Aang. Her hand is still on his shoulder, fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt, as if her grip is the only thing keeping him tethered to the present moment.

"That's Avatar Roku," Aang says. "The Avatar before me."

Azula looks up at the statue, eyes wide with curiosity. The Southern Water Tribe spoke little about him, and all she ever learned during her early years in the Fire Nation was poisoned by the propaganda celebrating Fire Lord Sozin's endless war. She finds herself suddenly desperate to know more about him—to learn all that she can about the last honorable man in Fire Nation history.

What she discovers is that he looks like any other man. She doesn't know why, but a part of her expected there to be some physical sign of being both a fully fledged Avatar and someone who opposed the Fire Nation's first forays into imperialism. She had hoped to look at him and immediately understand what made him so different from everyone else in her former nation. Instead, all she sees is a tall old man who could pass for anyone's ordinary grandfather.

"There's no writing," Katara points out. "How'd you know his name?"

Aang rubs the back of his head. "I'm not sure. I just… know it somehow."

"You just couldn't get any weirder," Sokka grumbles, crossing his arms.

"It's a logical assumption," Azula interjects because she needs Sokka to see how obvious it is. "Anyone paying attention could've figured it out. Roku was the last Avatar, and we're at the end of the path."

Sokka looks around and then smacks himself in the forehead. "Oh. I didn't even notice, but you're right. There aren't any more statues after him."

"How did you know that the last Avatar was named Roku?" Katara asks. "I don't remember learning his name in school." Her confusion dissipates into an incorrect understanding. "Oh, did your dad tell you about him?"

"A bit," Azula agrees, and it's not even a lie. She learned the propaganda while living in the Fire Nation, but Cupun told her what little he knew of the truth behind those glamorized tales. The stories go a lot differently in the towns that remember a time before the occupation; they remember that the Avatar had once been on their side.

But Cupun isn't the reason why she knew the name, and the more time they spend away from the South Pole, the clearer it becomes that she must tell her friends about her life in the Fire Nation as soon as possible. It never occurred to her that her friends wouldn't have heard Avatar Roku's name before. If she's capable of overlooking something as simple as this, what else has she failed to share with them? She might have the answers to questions they never even realized they could ask her.

"Actually, I was referring to—"

A thud in the distance cuts her off. They haven't seen a single soul all day. The closest they came was a mountain duck that had strayed from its stream to eat berries in the orchard. It wasn't particularly small, but it certainly wasn't big enough to make the sound she'd just heard.

The four of them scramble to hide behind the statues when a two-pronged shadow passes the doorway. Azula ends up crouched behind Roku with Sokka while Katara and Aang are shielded by an Earth Kingdom Avatar with a stone sword. It's not at all a secure hiding place. Their shadows form strange, elongated shapes in the dim light of the room. Anyone bothering to look at the floor would immediately notice the presence of something that doesn't belong.

Sokka leans over Azula's shoulder to get a better look at the approaching shadow. "Firebender," he whispers. "Nobody make a sound."

"You're making a sound," Katara irritably points out at the same volume as her brother.

Both Sokka and Aang shush her.

The shadow approaches slowly, cautiously, like whoever is making it knows it's not the only one in the room. Azula stands up straighter despite the limited room in the hopes of better blending in with the statue. She feels Sokka shift to a standing position at her side, fumbling for his club with one hand and signaling his plan with the other.

"That soldier won't know what hit him," Sokka mouths with a grin.

Katara rolls her eyes at him.

Sokka steps silently out from behind the statue, club above his head, and just… stares. A soft, confused "huh" leaves his lips as he lets the club fall to a resting position.

Azula looks over to see what's going on and finds what looks like a squirrel-bat with a monkey's face. Its upright posture and triangular ears had become distorted by the shadows until they took on the shape of a helmeted man. Embarrassment ignites in her gut like a flame as the realization sinks in; she and her friends had all gotten spooked by the local wildlife.

"Lemur!" Aang hollers excitedly.

"Dinner," Sokka declares, looking hungrily at the creature. He must feel everyone's incredulous stares because he defends himself. "Look, we can't live on fruit forever. Sometimes we're going to need real food."

"Absolutely not!" Katara argues, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm not eating something that has thumbs like a person!"

The boys pay her no attention. Instead, they race out of the room and down the corridor in an attempt to catch the lemur. Azula suspects that this will end with Aang victorious and Sokka injured from his own stupidity. Aang has all the advantages as both an airbender and a native to this temple. Sokka, on the other hand, has tripped three times so far today from unexpected stairs and turns.

Azula turns from the door to face Katara. "Want to wait up here?" she asks. "I don't exactly feel like chasing them after all the walking we've done today."

"Sure," Katara says with a shrug. "Actually, do you think you could tell me more about Avatar Roku? All I really know is that Sozin waited for the previous Avatar to die before starting the war. I didn't even know his name or that he was from the Fire Nation until today."

"I'm hardly an expert," Azula tells her friend to keep her from getting her hopes up. "A lot of what I know came from the Fire Nation, so it was biased in their favor. The best I can do are my dad's stories and my own interpretations of the truth beneath all the utter garbage I was taught."

Katara's face falls. "You don't have to tell me anything you learned in the Fire Nation," she replies with the same gentleness she'd used when trying to warn Aang of what they'd find here. "I know you prefer not to talk about that part of your life. I don't want you to relive it for my sake."

But talking about it doesn't feel like reliving it. It feels like a confession.

This is the perfect opening, Azula realizes. She has a chance to explain why she didn't want to talk about it before and why she needs to do so now. Katara can be her trial run, and once she gets over her initial feelings of betrayal, she can help Azula break the news to the others with minimal damage. It'll be easier to deal with the fallout in stages and with someone willing to knock sense into Sokka than to tell all three of them at once.

But then the eyes of all the statues start to glow, and Azula knows she missed her chance for the second time today. She's starting to wonder if she should take this as a sign to say nothing at all.

Finding Aang is easy. All they have to do is follow the giant glowing sphere of wind. The problem is that the wind sphere doesn't want them to get any closer. They must cling to tree branches and scramble for natural footholds in the cliff side to avoid being blown away.

Azula and Katara rush over to Sokka's side when they spot him holding onto the roots of an upended tree. "What happened?" Katara shouts over the howling wind.

Sokka jerks his head in Aang's direction. "He found out firebenders killed Gyatso!"

"Oh no!" Katara gasps, and Azula can only think the same. Of all the dead airbenders Aang could have possibly found, his mentor is surely the most devastating. "It's his Avatar spirit. He must have triggered it. I'm going to try and calm him down."

Azula white-knuckles the rock in front of her—the only thing keeping her anchored to the ground. "How?" she asks. "Will he even be able to hear you over the wind?"

Katara grimaces. "I don't know," she admits, "but it's worth a shot."

"Well do it!" Sokka tells her, barely more confident in this plan than his sister. "Before he blows us off the mountain!"

Somehow, Katara succeeds. She speaks of grief and of love, and she promises Aang that the three of them are his family now. He isn't alone. She won't let him be alone. It works. The wind recedes, the bluish light fades, and Aang floats to the ground. He looks so vulnerable and so lost, but there's a spark of hope in his eyes, too.

Azula steps forward, Sokka at her side. Together, they walk over the ancient remains of Fire Nation soldiers and the terrible things they did to this place. In another life, Azula might have been upset or even outraged by all the dead lying before a single airbender. Instead, all she feels is disgust. These soldiers did something unforgivable, while Gyatso was only defending his home.

"We're not going to let anything happen to you," Sokka assures Aang once they reach his side. "Promise."

Aang lowers his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Katara tells him. "It's not your fault."

Azula's eyes find Gyatso's skeleton and the familiar wooden beads still around his neck. She can't even begin to imagine how it would feel to go home and find nothing left but her parents' bones. Would she have to identify them by the embroidery of their parkas because there was nothing left of their remains that resembled them? Would she even know their clothing well enough to know it was them? The mere thought makes her sick.

"But you're right," Aang says, pulling Azula out of her increasingly distressing line of thought. "And if the firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones, too." He closes his eyes and exhales deeply. "I really am the last airbender."

The four of them sit on the ground and hold onto each other until the sun starts to set.

Miles away, Zuko trounces Commander Zhao in an Agni Kai. His victory is tainted by the commander's lack of honor. He walks away with his head held high all the same.

Azula lies awake in her sleeping bag and stares at the stars. Everyone was too exhausted to travel, so they set up camp in one of the temple courtyards. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but under the dark of night with nothing but shadows to keep them company, she wishes they'd left.

There's violence in her blood and savagery in her ancestry. The man responsible for turning these once beautiful temples into cemetery ruins was her great-grandfather. Can the spirits of this place sense it? Do they place any of the blame from generations ago on her?

She doesn't know which possibility scares her more: that they do or that they don't.

"Hey," someone whispers, startling her. She turns to the source of the sound and finds Aang crouched on the ground beside her. He'd managed to get out of his own sleeping bag and walk over to her without making a noise. "Can't sleep either, huh?"

"No," Azula admits. There's no point in denying it.

Aang glances around, checking that the others haven't woken up, before asking: "Want to come to the music room with me?" A bit shyly, he adds, "I don't want to go by myself."

The refusal that had been forming on Azula's tongue melts away. "You know you won't find whatever it is you're looking for, right?" She doesn't think she can endure a second round of the Avatar State today.

Aang shrugs. "Maybe not," he agrees, "but I'd rather see it and know for sure than assume and miss something."

They leave quietly so as not to wake Sokka and Katara. It isn't a long trek, and the stars are enough to light the path well enough for Aang to know where he's going. Azula follows a few paces behind, less sure of her steps on these old and unfamiliar stone floors.

"What do you want from the music room anyway?" Azula asks once they're far enough away that they won't be overheard.

"Closure," he says with quiet determination. "My people have… had… songs that they would play after someone died. There's no one left to do it but me." He sighs, long and gusty. "They're usually played on the bansuri, but I'll be happy if I find any instrument at all. If I don't, I guess I'll just have to hum."

How can one person carry so much? A lost culture. A lost nation. The last shreds of hope people have for the war to end. It's far too heavy a burden for such narrow shoulders.

Azula wonders why he asked her to come along. She isn't an airbender or of Air Nomad descent; she doesn't know anything about his people's practices besides what he's told her. At best, she'll stand there as a clueless observer. At worst, her presence as a firebender and as a descendant of Sozin will poison these last rites of a nation killed on his orders.

The music room is no better off than the rest of the temple. All that's left of the door is ashes and a few splinters of rotting wood. Whatever furniture might've been in the room is long gone. Blackened scorch marks decorate the stone walls. Rubble and scraps of wood and metal litter the otherwise empty space. The only mercy is that they find no skeletons here.

Aang's featherlight footsteps barely disturb the debris as he makes his way to a nook at the far end of the room. Azula watches on from the doorway. She can't bring herself to come in any further than that.

"There's still a few instruments over here," Aang calls out to her. He carries an oddly shaped horn with rust on the bell in one hand and a warped wooden flute in the other. "They're not in the best condition, but it's better than nothing."

He hands her the horn once he reaches the doorway. "Do you think this thing could make a similar sound to a tsungi horn?" he asks.

"I have no idea," Azula replies. "Why?"

"For the Fire Nation soldiers," he says like that explains everything. "The ones that were left here all this time."

Azula arches an eyebrow. "What about them?"

"Their spirits need to be put to rest."

"Why?" Azula demands, disgusted. "They destroyed your home, Aang. They killed your people. No one will blame you if you let them continue to rot. It's the least they deserve for their crimes."

Aang stares at her for a long time, his gray eyes seeming to pierce straight into her soul. "You're right," he agrees. "What they did was terrible, and there's no telling if the balance can ever recover from this. But they were still people, and they still deserve dignity in death. Their actions don't change that fact."

"How can you say that?" Azula spits. "They were monsters! Irredeemable monsters! You don't owe them anything!"

She isn't seeing Aang, not really. She sees ships with sea raven flags attacking their shores and fleeing just as quickly. She sees a helmeted man telling her to leave so that he can kill Kya without witnesses. She sees chains on her wrists and Ozai smiling as he discards her like dirty laundry.

(She sees herself and the sickening legacy that lives in her veins.)

"It's not about who owes what," Aang states. His voice is still calm, but there's a steely edge to it like he's struggling to keep himself contained. "It's about my people and the beliefs they lived by. All life is sacred and deserving of dignity. I have to honor that even when it's hard because I'm the only one left. If I don't, it dies with me."

His lower lip starts to wobble, and he throws himself into Azula—holding onto her like a lifeline. Azula stumbles back a step but manages to catch his weight before they both fall.

"And maybe…" he continues, muffled from burying his face into Azula's shoulder. "I feel like I need to mourn the Fire Nation, too." He shudders, his breath catching in his throat. If he wasn't already crying, he is now. "It was one of my favorite places to visit, but now… it's like I'm grieving the parts I loved about it because they're gone, too."

Azula now understands why Aang asked her of all people to join him for this. It wasn't just because she happened to be awake or because he wanted company. He could see that she was carrying that same grief before she even knew that was the word to describe what she felt.

All that ties Azula to the Fire Nation is four people, and one is fighting against her. It's like losing her brother for a second time even though he's right there. Aang probably met people in the Fire Nation, maybe even had friends there, and now he has to grapple with the fact that their fathers might have killed his people. He may have shaken hands with these skeletons dressed as soldiers once upon a time.

"Okay," Azula decides. "Let's go put your people to rest and grieve the Fire Nation. But I'm looting any weapons and scrap metal I can find on the soldiers first. I might need it later."

That shocks Aang out of crying. He pulls back far enough to face her. "You want to loot the bodies?" he asks incredulously, like he can't tell if she's being serious.

"Yes, for metal," Azula confirms. "It's a valuable resource that can be used for tools, weapons, or even trading if we get enough of it."

Aang mentally weighs the pros and cons. "This seems like a bad idea spiritually, but I'm going to look the other way since it sounds practical."

Azula takes that as a win.

They do the last rites for two nations—one gone and one that has lost its way. Neither of them discuss the specifics of their grief. Azula doesn't think she could have handled either of them speaking.

At least she got her scrap metal.

When Katara and Sokka wake up the next morning, they give no indication that they ever notice their absence. Aang doesn't tell them about the night before, so Azula doesn't either. She doubts they'd be able to understand. They're facing the exact version of the Fire Nation they've always known. It hasn't occurred to them that it might have ever been different.

Admittedly, the lemur joining the group also played a large part in keeping the conversation off the previous night. It seems to like Sokka despite his multiple attempts to get the thing to leave him alone.

Azula still doesn't know how to tell the others about Zuko. She hopes she figures it out soon because she has no idea when their paths will cross again—only that they will. Zuko isn't one to give up. He'll find them again. She's sure of it.

Chapter Text

The four of them are making their way to… somewhere. They've made several wrong stops over the past few days because all Aang can remember about where they're going is that it's near water. This isn't exactly helpful when they've been flying over the ocean since the day after leaving the Southern Air Temple. The only land they've seen lately has been in the form of islands, many of which are too small to be inhabited by people.

"I think that makes them islets," Sokka muses as he looks over their old and probably outdated map. "The smallness, that is."

Katara groans. She'd suggested asking for directions two days ago when they ended up on an island with a small village, but Sokka had shot that idea down. Every wrong turn since then has only fueled her frustration with him.

"Who cares?" she asks, staring down at the ocean for any clues as to where they are. "They're basically the same thing."

"If they were the same thing, there wouldn't be two different words for it," Sokka argues. "Aang, you're well traveled, right?"

"I guess you could say that," Aang replies from his perch on Appa's neck.

"Would you say that there's a difference between an island and an islet?"

Aang scratches the back of his head, thinking. "I don't know," he admits after a moment. "I've never really thought about it before."

Katara grins, victorious. "See?" she says, gesturing to Aang. "It clearly doesn't matter."

Sokka deflates. "Whatever," he mutters. "I should've known that a bunch of children wouldn't have any appreciation for my knowledge of geological formations."

Azula looks up from the pair of pants she's been mending. Sokka had managed to tear a hole in the left leg during his race around the air temples with Aang. He ignored it at first because it was so small, but over the last few days, it's grown bigger from continued wear. She'd nearly had to fight him for the pants because he'd seemed to be content to wear them until they were completely destroyed.

(He'd been too scared to ask Katara after she'd yelled at him for assuming that being a girl meant she enjoyed sewing. Azula had been offended by that comment, too, but not to the point where she'd rather listen to his complaining than fix the pants herself.)

"It's an islet when it's too small to support human life," she says, needle still in her hand. "So yes, we have been flying over islets." She waits for Sokka's spirits to rally before adding: "However, the ones we've passed are parts of larger chains that include islands, which makes them isles."

"You—you're—" Sokka sputters. "What even are isles?"

Katara, always eager to annoy her brother, tells him: "Weren't you listening? Azula just explained what isles are."

Sokka glares at her. "The two of you are the absolute worst."

Katara smiles back like she's never done anything wrong in her entire life.

"Oh! Oh!" Aang calls out, pointing at a speck of land in the distance. "That's it! That's where we're going!"

"How can you tell?" Katara asks, doubtful. "It looks like any other island from up here."

Aang turns to her, grinning. "The shape," he explains. "Do you see how the one shore on the island is almost unnaturally straight?"

"I guess," Katara says with a shrug.

Sokka squints, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand as he peers into the distance. "This is the third island you've shown us with a straight shore," he reminds Aang. "And we've made so many stops already. Don't you think we should keep flying? We haven't even made it to the equator yet. At this rate, it'll be months before we make it to the North Pole."

"It'll just be for the afternoon," Aang assures him. "We can stretch our legs, take a swim, and maybe grab some snacks. And if we let Appa take a break now, he'll have the energy to fly all night. We'll be flying over the main continent of the Earth Kingdom by the time we wake up tomorrow morning."

Katara and Sokka look uncertain, so Azula speaks up. "We leave after dinner and not a second later," she instructs Aang.

Aang cheers.

Azula's first impression of the island is that it's unremarkable. She sees no difference between it and all the others that they stopped at by mistake. It has a sandy shore, chilly water, and some pine trees further inland. Whatever makes this place important to Aang is completely lost on her.

Aang runs towards the shore, takes a sharp breath, and points. "Look!"

Azula looks and sees… fish. They're large with orange and cream scales. Aang doesn't eat meat, and even if he did, the four of them wouldn't be able to consume an entire one of these fish in one meal. Is this really what they've spent days searching for?

"That's why we're here," Aang confirms excitedly as he strips down to his undergarments. "These are elephant koi, and I'm going to ride one. Katara, you've got to watch me! I bet you could come up with some cool waterbending moves based on this."

Aang runs and dives into the water, popping up briefly to alert them to how cold it is, and then goes right back under. When he surfaces again, he's standing on top of an elephant koi's back and holding onto its dorsal fin like a sail. To Azula's surprise, the fish doesn't seem to be the least bit bothered by this. She supposes that it must be a popular activity; the penguin seals back home are just as casual about being ridden as the elephant koi.

"Whoohoo!" Katara shouts, waving wildly in support when Aang tries to get their attention.

Sokka arches an eyebrow at her. "Seriously?"

"What?" Katara states. She crosses her arms, immediately defensive. "It looks like fun, and he seems to be really good at it."

"Are you kidding me?" Sokka retorts. "The fish is doing all the work."

"You're just jealous because you wouldn't last two seconds on an elephant koi."

Sokka scoffs. "Want to bet on it?"

"I'm not pulling you out of the water if you hurt yourself," Azula interjects.

"I wouldn't pull you out either," Sokka retorts, but it's obvious from his tone that he doesn't mean it.

Katara opens her mouth to add her own snarky comment, but stops when something in the distance catches her eye. "Appa, no! Don't eat that!" she shouts as she runs over to the bison. "That bedroll is not food!"

"Speaking of food," Sokka says, gesturing to the ocean. "We should probably go fishing if we're having dinner here tonight. It might be our last chance to get fresh meat for a while if we can actually get Aang to follow the schedule."

That idea gets tossed out the window as soon as they see the sea monster.

Aang escapes the sea monster. They get ambushed. Their captors escort them inland, bags over their heads, and tie them to a pole. Azula finds the whole proceedings supremely annoying and inconvenient. They have better things to do with their time than play along with this interrogation.

Things go from annoying to outright hostile when Sokka opens his mouth. "Wait a second," he says as soon as their captors take the bags off their heads. "There's no way that a bunch of girls took us down."

The leader of this group of exclusively female warriors grabs Sokka by the collar. "A bunch of girls, huh?" she spits angrily. "The unagi's going to eat well tonight."

"No, don't hurt him!" Katara pleads, leaning forward as best as she can while tied up. "He didn't mean it. My brother is just an idiot sometimes."

The warrior frowns, but lets Sokka go—shoving his head against the pole in the process. Sokka winces.

"It's my fault," Aang pipes up, wearing a sorrowful expression that's at least partly feigned. Azula suspects he's just trying to deescalate the situation so that they can get out of here. "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi. It didn't occur to me that it might not be permitted anymore."

His words fail to sway the older man who had accompanied the warriors. If anything, he looks even angrier after hearing Aang's excuses. "You think an apology can fix this? How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" he spits. "Kyoshi has stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

"Cowards," Azula mutters under her breath.

This island is in Earth Kingdom territory. Do they really believe that their neutrality will keep them safe should the Fire Nation win the war? Or do they think their sea monster will be able to protect them when the naval fleets arrive? It's foolish. They'll be conquered or killed just like their kin on the mainland.

"You say something, fire eyes?" one of the warriors mockingly asks Azula. She isn't the one who grabbed Sokka, but she doesn't seem any friendlier for it. "Your looks aren't doing any favors in your defense, you know."

The smart thing would be for Azula to keep her mouth shut. Their captors are clearly looking for an opportunity to hurt them, and saying anything will only give them a reason.

"I said you're a bunch of cowards," Azula says anyway because she knows it will hurt them, and right now, she wants that more than she wants them to think she isn't a threat. "You talk a big game when your supposed enemies are four teenagers, but you're so scared of the war that you'd stand aside and let the Fire Nation burn the rest of your kingdom to the ground. I suppose that means you'll let their forces walk all over you once they finally turn their sights to your island."

The warrior lunges towards her, but stops in her tracks when Aang airbends himself out of his restraints and hovers in the air. Several people point and whisper, amazed by a type of bending that hasn't been seen in a century. "We're all on the same side here," he tells the warriors. "I'm the Avatar, and my companions here are from the Southern Water Tribe. We'll leave since you don't want us here, but there's no reason for all this anger and suspicion. Just let my friends go so that we can all be on our way."

Most of the warriors seem convinced by Aang's words and actions. Some even take a few steps back, as if worried that the Avatar will retaliate for their capturing him.

"Avatar," says the warrior who'd grabbed Sokka. Azula suspects that she's the one in charge. "I apologize on behalf of all my warriors. Please allow our island to host you for the night as repayment for this slight against you and yours."

Aang's eyes go wide, surprised by the formality of the invitation. "I'll have to discuss this with my companions," he replies in an attempt at sounding equally official. "Once you untie them."

Azula doesn't wait for one of the warriors to untie her. Instead, she burns the rope around her arms to ash—scaring a number of onlookers and causing the one warrior to look smug at having so accurately guessed her origins.

"A word of advice," she tells the smug warrior. "Rope isn't going to do anything against a firebender that actually wants you dead. You ought to keep that in mind for next time."

"You—" the warrior starts, face twisted with rage.

"Stand down!" orders the head warrior. "I will not stand here and let you make an enemy of the Avatar's firebender. Have you forgotten our island's history? Do you dismiss the importance of Avatar Kyoshi's own firebending instructor?"

The warrior bows her head to her leader in acknowledgement, but she doesn't look happy about it. "My apologies," she says without so much as a glance at Azula. "My impulsiveness was unbecoming of a Kyoshi Warrior. I will endeavor to do better in the future."

"See that you do," the head warrior says with a sniff.

Azula finds not a single trace of sincerity in the apology. She commits to memory everything she can about this particular warrior. She doubts this is the last she'll hear from her.

They end up staying the night despite Azula's apprehension. Sleeping indoors is a nice change after days of camping, but the benefits don't outweigh the drawbacks. It sets them back by miles and miles; Appa probably could've gotten them to the main continent of the Earth Kingdom by flying overnight. The longer they remain, the harder they'll have to push themselves later on in their travels.

Morning arrives with a spread of pastries and sweet breads delivered directly to the dining room of the house they'd stayed in. Aang digs right in with gusto. Katara takes a bit of convincing as she's never seen these types of desserts before, especially not in the context of breakfast. Azula finds a few things similar to what she used to eat in the Fire Nation to put on her plate. Sokka, meanwhile, refuses to join them at the table.

"Sokka, what's your problem?" Aang asks during a rare break from stuffing his face with the sweetest things he can find. "Eat!"

"Not hungry," Sokka grumbles.

Aang's eyes go wide, and he nearly falls over from surprise. "But you're always hungry!"

Katara smirks, swallowing a bite of the pastry Aang insisted she try. "He's just upset because a bunch of girls kicked his ass yesterday," she explains.

"They snuck up on me!" Sokka protests.

"Right," Katara drawls. "And then they kicked your ass."

Azula rolls her eyes. "I don't see what the big deal is," she says. "I kick your ass all the time, Sokka."

"That's different!" Sokka insists. "You're basically one of the guys."

"You are?" Aang asks, looking genuinely worried. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were a girl. Do you consider yourself exclusively male? Or are you somewhere in between? What are your correct pronouns?"

"…What?" Sokka mutters.

"I am a girl," Azula corrects both Sokka and Aang. "I just happen to be a girl who prefers to take on tasks that are traditionally seen as more masculine among our tribe."

Aang lets out a sigh of relief.

"That's what makes you one of the guys, though," Sokka states.

Katara throws a melon bun at her brother. It hits him right in the middle of the forehead. "Stop saying stupid things and eat some breakfast," she scolds him. "Maybe you'll be less cranky once you eat."

"Or maybe I'll be less cranky once I show those girls a thing or two," Sokka grumbles. He takes a bite of the melon bun despite his claims of not being hungry. "I'm not scared of any girls." Getting up, he grabs two pastries with the hand not holding the melon bun. "Who do they think they are anyway?"

Katara rolls her eyes as Sokka leaves the room.

"What's he so angry about?" Aang asks, gesturing excitedly around the room. "It's great here. They're giving us the royal treatment!"

Katara nudges him. "Hey, don't get too comfortable," she warns him. "It's too risky for us to stay in one place for very long."

"Plus you still have three more elements to learn," Azula adds. "We don't exactly have time to take a vacation."

"But look how happy I'm making the town!" Aang points out the window to show them the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. "They're even cleaning up that statue in my honor!"

"And you can come back to see it restored," Azula assures him, "after you learn waterbending."

Aang makes puppy eyes at her. "Just one more day? Please?"

Azula would rather leave as soon as possible, but there isn't a way to push the issue with Sokka gone. They can't leave without him. "Just until Sokka gets back," she concedes.

Aang grins brighter than the sun.

The generosity of Kyoshi Island doesn't end with breakfast. Azula and Katara, deciding to use their time here more practically than the boys, discover this when a shopkeeper insists on giving them the sack of rice and dried lentils they'd picked out for free. The woman behind the fruit stand does the same when they try to use the money they'd saved on mangoes and bananas. Other vendors follow suit as if competing for the title of most generous. By lunchtime, they've amassed such a large haul that they worry Appa won't be able to carry it all.

Speaking of lunch: several baskets of steamed buns are brought to them in the middle of the afternoon. Aang drops by to grab a few of the vegetable buns before disappearing with the group of fans that have been following him all morning. Katara scoffs when she hears the girls' squeals at Aang's return, ripping into her pulled pig-chicken bun until shreds of bread and meat fall onto her plate.

"I can't believe he's letting all this Avatar hype get to his head," she grumbles. "What happened to his claims of being a simple monk?"

Azula considers her words for a moment before stating: "This is the first time he's experiencing the positive benefits of being the Avatar. I'm sure he'll go back to normal once he gets used to it."

She hopes this proves to be true. While it doesn't bother her nearly as much as it bothers Katara, she still finds it annoying. They all have more important things to do than entertain a bunch of young girls.

Katara scoffs. "Well he better go back to normal by the time Sokka gets back," she decides, "because I don't know if Appa is going to be able to carry his massive ego."

Azula, having seen far more inflated egos during her early years in the Fire Nation, tries not to roll her eyes at her friend's antics. A kid getting temporarily swept up in his own fame is nothing compared to generals bragging about how great they are at burning down Earth Kingdom villages.

Just as they finish lunch, someone knocks on the door. Katara and Azula glance at each other, wondering who it could be, before Katara answers the door.

"Can I help you?" Katara asks.

Azula can't see who she's talking to, but she can hear that the person at the door is a woman. "I'm so sorry if I'm interrupting your lunch," she says, a bit shy. "But I was wondering if your firebender friend has any time in her schedule to talk to me and maybe spar."

"Why?" Katara questions, distrustful.

There's a short pause, as if the woman is unsure of what to say. "This might be my only chance to learn how to defend myself against a firebender outside of a life-or-death situation," she admits. "I've been thinking of joining the war effort for almost a year now, but I don't know that I have enough training to be of any use. Even a little bit of experience sparring with a firebender could go a long way… if your friend doesn't mind, of course."

"Alright," Azula agrees, getting up from her seat and approaching the door. She can see now that the woman is a Kyoshi Warrior, but she is neither their leader (who they now know is named Suki) nor the one who has it in for Azula. "Let's spar."

The woman's face lights up underneath her face paint. "Really?" she asks excitedly. "Oh, thank you so much!"

Azula follows the woman, who introduces herself as Kimyo, to a clearing far from the village and its wooden buildings. There's grass on the ground and a few trees nearby, but there's nothing important in their general vicinity. Azula can only assume that Kimyo is taking these precautions because she's never witnessed a firebender fight with any real control over their flames.

"So," Kimyo begins as they stand a few paces apart in the middle of the clearing. "Before we get started, I wanted to thank you for pointing out how cowardly Kyoshi's isolationist policy is. I've been trying to convince the other warriors for over a year now, but no one ever listened to me until you spoke up. Now I might actually have a real chance of getting at least one of them to come with me to the mainland."

Azula doesn't know how to respond, so she merely nods. This seems to be the right course of action because Kimyo grins at her.

"Anyway," she continues, "how do you want to do this? Are there specific moves I should learn to block? Or do we just spar so that I can get a feel for fighting against fire?"

"Let's do a bit of both," Azula decides.

She demonstrates for Kimyo a few of the more basic firebending combat katas. Kimyo circles her to get a good look at each one from multiple angles. While she does that, Azula shares some of the combat advice she'd learned in the South Pole. She's learned a great deal about how to redirect an opponent's energy and use it against them, and she's experienced firsthand how well this works against the offense based style most firebenders prefer.

"Remember," she states once Kimyo has perfected the art of dodging less powerful fire fists, "the main principle behind firebending is to overwhelm one's opponent with the sheer force of the attack. This leaves them with little room for defense, especially at the start of a fight. If you can get past the first few flames, you'll quickly find an opening to strike the torso or even the head. Most don't think to protect their sides even when their opponent is within striking distance, especially those who are more arrogant about their abilities."

"You really know a lot," Kimyo comments. "Have you and your companions encountered many Fire Nation soldiers on your journey?"

"A few," she says, thinking of her brother and the way he'd attacked her home in search of the Avatar. "But most of what I know comes from my own firebending training."

Kimyo's eyes widen in surprise. "Are there many firebenders in the South Pole then? Since there was at least one master to teach you?"

Before Azula can answer, two warriors run towards them. "Fire Nation soldiers are at the shore!" one informs Kimyo. "We need everyone back at the village to defend it."

"That includes you, Water Tribe," says the other warrior. "Jie will protest against it, but Suki won't. Having a friendly firebender with us might just save someone's life."

Azula's grin is too wide with too many teeth. She could not possibly care what Jie, who she assumes is the warrior from yesterday who hadn't liked her, thinks. "It would be my pleasure."

The Kyoshi Warriors pride themselves on their stealth and silent ambushes. Despite the long skirts and deceptively heavy weight of their uniforms, they all move quickly and quietly to get into position. This means that Azula is perched on a roof with Kimyo and the other two warriors when she learns exactly which Fire Nation soldiers are attacking the island.

"Come out, Avatar!" Zuko yells from the saddle of a komodo rhino. Six soldiers flank him, sitting two to a rhino. "You can't hide from me forever!" After several seconds of utter stillness and silence from the village, he commands the other soldiers: "Find him!"

The soldiers direct their rhinos down the village's main street. Just as Azula had predicted the day before, they show no hesitation at invading an island that's stayed out of the war for the last hundred years. The mere possibility of the Avatar having been here is all they need to bring violence to this place.

From one of the rooftops across the street, Suki gives the signal. She, Kimyo, and two other warriors all start running soundlessly across the wooden beams of the roofs, hopping over alleyways where even more warriors brace for the soldiers' approach. Once they're close enough, they leap off the roofs and directly at the soldiers—knocking half of them off the rhinos before they hear a thing.

One of the warriors lands in front of the rhino leading the group. The soldier that managed to stay on the beast stabs at her with his spear, but he's too slow. The warrior slides to the right, grabs the spear, and throws it on the ground. With that taken care of, she jumps onto the rhino and knocks her opponent off with a spinning kick to the head. He drops to the ground with a thud, either unconscious or too shocked to think of protecting himself from the fall.

Azula jumps down into the fray with the second wave of warriors. Both her Water Tribe clothing and her mixed fighting style set her apart from the others, drawing fire from their enemies. She blocks their attacks with ease and dissipates their flames before they can spread.

"This one is a firebender!" one of the soldiers shouts, jabbing his spear in her general direction.

Azula kicks the spear out of his hand.

Three of the soldiers completely ignore the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors to shoot fire fists at her, clearly thinking that she's nothing more than a minor threat to get out of the way. Azula takes their fire in, wraps the stolen flames around her, and sends it back at them with twice as much force. All three soldiers fly backwards in a wave of blue flames.

"Nice work, Water Tribe," says one of the warriors, patting Azula on the shoulder. She and the others circle the injured soldiers, fans drawn, and bind them so that they can't escape.

"Rope won't hold firebenders for long," Azula reminds them.

"I know," the warrior replies. "But if we kill them, the Fire Nation will send an entire battalion as retribution. It's how they captured Whale Tail Island."

Azula huffs, frustrated. "What do we do then? Drag them to the beach and hope they leave?"

One of the captured soldiers lifts his head. "Look, we're just here for the Avatar," he tells them, a frantic look in his eyes. "Let us capture him, and we'll leave."

"I'm sorry," says Azula without an ounce of sympathy. "I can't let you do that. Now shut up before I decide that letting you live isn't worth it."

The soldier pales.

A loud thud in the distance stops their conversation short. Azula searches for the source of the sound and finds Zuko standing over two felled Kyoshi Warriors. He jumps over one of them and stands in the middle of the street.

"Nice try, Avatar!" her brother shouts. "But these little girls can't save you!"

"Hey! Over here!" Aang shouts before Azula has the chance to take offense to her brother's words. He's made his way to the middle of the main street, staff at the ready.

"Finally!" Zuko growls.

As the two begin their fight, Azula comes to a realization. Like the soldier tied up before her had said, they're here to capture the Avatar. If the Avatar leaves Kyoshi, the soldiers will have to follow him. The best way for them to end this fight is to fly away.

Azula spots Katara ushering two younger girls into one of the buildings. She runs over to her, but before she can explain her plan, Aang joins them.

"Look at what I brought to this place," he says, sorrowful, as he gestures to the smoldering buildings and scared children hiding behind Katara.

"It's not your fault," Katara is quick to assure him.

Aang shakes his head. "Yes it is. These people got their town destroyed trying to protect me."

"Then let's get out of here," Katara suggests.

Aang looks hesitant, so Azula speaks up. "One of the soldiers said their only mission is capturing you. If we leave, then they will as well."

"I'll call Appa," Aang says, sounding sad.

As Aang whistles for the bison, two Kyoshi Warriors head their way. Azula recognizes Suki by her short auburn hair, but she's surprised to recognize the other warrior. It's Sokka.

"What's the plan?" he asks them.

"We're leaving," Katara informs him. "Why are you wearing a dress?"

Sokka grimaces. "It's a long story."

"Sokka's an honorary Kyoshi Warrior now," Suki explains with a smile. "He humbly requested to be taught our ways. All of them."

Katara looks like she doesn't know what to make of that. "Okay then," she says slowly. "Azula and I are going to make sure that all of our stuff is packed. Do… whatever it is you need to do, and then we have to go."

Checking their bags doesn't take long. Azula suspects that Katara had already been gearing up to leave before the attack even started because all the supplies they'd gotten at the market are packed neatly on Appa's saddle. She helps Aang secure them with rope so that they don't get jostled on their journey.

Sokka returns just as they're finishing up. He's still in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform and face paint, so Azula doesn't know what he could have possibly been doing with Suki for the last few minutes. She thought he'd have returned the uniform and changed into his normal clothes by now. Perhaps Suki had told him he'd earned the right to keep the uniform?

"Appa, yip-yip!" Aang commands as soon as Sokka gets in the saddle.

Appa groans and takes off. As they ascend, they see just how much damage the Fire Nation has done to this island. Half the buildings on the main street are burning, smoke billowing and choking the air. The Kyoshi Warriors continue to defend what's left of their village until Zuko and the other soldiers finally notice that Aang has left.

Aang cringes as he looks below.

"I know it's hard, but you did the right thing," Katara tells him. "The Fire Nation would have destroyed the rest of the village and maybe even some of the others further inland if we stayed." She leans forward, not quite leaving the saddle but far enough out of it that she can reach Aang to put a hand on his shoulder. "They're going to be okay."

Aang looks at her, determined. "You're right, Katara." He stands up, leaps off Appa's head, and dives into the ocean below.

"What are you doing?" Katara calls after him, but it's too late. He's already under the water.

In the few seconds that Aang is submerged, Azula wonders if this is a plot to trigger the Avatar State. He had utilized waterbending with an intensity that no one had ever seen before back when Zuko pushed him off the edge of his ship. If he can do it again now, he'd be able to force the soldiers to flee and put out all the fires.

Instead, Aang reappears on the back of the unagi. A stream of water bursts from its mouth as it tries to buck off its unwanted passenger. Using the unagi's whiskers like reins, Aang positions it to spew water over all of the burning buildings. Once he's sprayed most of the village, he launches himself into the air and allows himself to be caught in Appa's front paws.

"I know, I know," Aang says sheepishly as he climbs into the saddle. "That was stupid and dangerous."

"Yes," Katara agrees. "It was." She reaches over to hug him anyway because, despite the danger he'd put himself in, he'd found a way to save Kyoshi from burning.

All Azula can do is stare at the island until it disappears from view. How many more places will be destroyed because of them? Will this be the fate of every village they stop at for supplies? So few places remain untouched by the war. Even fewer are strong enough to withstand a Fire Nation invasion and live.

Aang must be thinking the same because as soon as he's out of Katara's embrace, he announces: "I hope you're all ready for a long few days of flying. We're not stopping to do more than sleep until we reach Omashu."

Chapter Text

Omashu is great until it isn't. Aang convinces them to ride in one of the mail delivery carts, and they end up getting arrested for it. Guards take them to the palace to be personally sentenced by the king. All the while, the owner of the cabbage cart they crashed into yells about wanting them to be beheaded. Azula thinks that's a bit extreme for cabbages. They're cheap. The four of them could probably pool their money together to pay for the damages and still have coins left to spare.

The king orders neither beheading nor restitution. Instead, he throws them a feast that turns out to be an elaborate plot to get Aang to airbend. He orders the guards to toss them into a prison cell that's nicer than anywhere else they've stayed so far in their travels.

"We should all get some sleep," Katara decides when Aang's plan to send Momo through the air vents to get help fails. "We're going to need it for these challenges tomorrow—especially you, Aang."

Guards kidnap them from the cell while they sleep and place creeping crystals around their fingers. Azula is pretty sure she could heat the crystals until they explode, but she keeps that plan as a last resort. Firebending in an Earth Kingdom palace where the king already has it out for Aang is far too risky. She doesn't want to give anyone here even more of a reason to keep them imprisoned here.

The first two challenges are stupid. Azula has no idea why the king of one of the only free cities on the continent has decided to waste his time making Aang get a key from under a waterfall and lure his weird pet monster out of some kind of enclosure. Doesn't he have anything better to do? Like fighting the Fire Nation? Or directing troops to defend nearby towns?

And then Aang duels the king, and the old man is frighteningly buff for his age. Aang has a much harder time fighting this old man than he did Zuko. The king seems to know exactly how to counter airbending—something no one else they've met has successfully managed to do. It's almost as if he's sparred against airbenders before, but that must be impossible. No one that old could be this strong and agile.

The fight eventually ends in a stalemate that could have easily been a victory for the king if he'd pushed even the slightest bit harder. He claims to be the greatest earthbender alive, and Azula has no problems believing that.

(In a few months, she'll meet an even more powerful earthbender and will be immensely grateful that they're on the same side.)

"Answer this one question, and I will set your friends free," the king declares as they leave the earthbending arena. "What… is my name?"

To everyone else's surprise, Aang figures it out quickly. He runs to greet one of his closest friends from a century ago. "Bumi," he says with a wide grin, "you're a mad genius."

King Bumi laughs like he's on the verge of having an asthma attack and releases them from the creeping crystal. It turns out that it was just rock candy the entire time. Both the king and Sokka both start eating it once it's no longer encasing three whole people. Katara scolds Sokka for eating something he picked up off the floor.

Aang and King Bumi do one last mail cart super slide before they leave. Somehow, they crash into the same cabbage merchant from their first day in the city. Katara offers to buy a couple of the cabbages because she feels bad for all the bad luck befalling this man, but he refuses to let her anywhere near his cart.

Azula is glad to see the city disappear into the distance when they fly away. She hopes they never have to come back here. King Bumi might be Aang's friend, but nothing during their stay in Omashu convinced her to like or even trust that crazy old man.

They spend the next week trying to keep a low profile, only flying in the dark of night. Aang leads them through an expansive forest that gives them plenty of cover to hide Appa during the day. He explains that, as long as the forest hasn't been cut down too much over the last hundred years, they should be able to travel all the way to the equator without being spotted by the Fire Nation.

The plan works well. They go days at a time without seeing anyone else, and on the rare occasions that someone does cross their path, it's always another traveler keen on staying hidden just like they are. Only one ever spoke to them, and it was just to warn them of the Fire Army's camp less than a mile to the west of their location.

However, avoiding towns also means avoiding anywhere that they can restock on supplies. By day six, they've finished the last of what the Kyoshi Island vendors had gifted them. Day seven comes with a tentative plan to ration what they got in Omashu. They hunt and forage when they can to better fill their stomachs, but doing so uses up valuable time that could be spent traveling. There are nights where they have to climb onto Appa with nothing but rice in their stomachs because they can't find anything to eat with it in the few hours that the bison spends resting.

By the eleventh day, they're nearly out of food. The last town they ventured out of the woods to check out was occupied by Fire Nation soldiers, and the next one that Aang knows of will take at least two more days to reach. They're all certain that there must be more towns out there, but none of them know where to look or if whatever is out there is even safe to visit. And so, they resort once more to foraging.

"We've got a few options," Sokka tells them all when he returns from his short expedition into a part of the woods that's too thick for Appa to get through. He rifles through his bag to show what he's found. "First: round nuts. And some kind of oval shaped nuts? And some rock shaped nuts… that might just be rocks. Dig in!"

Momo scrambles for one of the rock nuts.

Katara lets out a tired sigh. She'd spent the last half hour restocking their water supply by bending clean water out of the silty stream near their makeshift camp. "Seriously?" she says more than asks, eyeing Sokka's haul skeptically. "What else did you find?"

Sokka is saved from answering when several large booms echo in the air and shake the ground below them. They chase after the source of the sound and find an earthbender who can't be much older than Sokka. He panics and runs away when they call out to them.

"Hey, that guy has got to be running somewhere," Aang points out. "We must be near a village, and I bet that village has a market."

They trace the earthbender's tracks to a village, and it does indeed have a market. However, it also has Fire Nation soldiers all over the place. Aang manages to quickly buy a hat that covers the arrow on his head, and they duck into the nearest shop so that they can assess their situation. Staying in an occupied town with the Avatar seems like a terrible idea, but they also desperately need supplies.

"Hey," Katara says to the teen working in the shop. "You're that kid from before. Why did you run away earlier? I promise we don't mean you any harm. We just wanted to say hello."

The teen in question grimaces. "Uh… you must have me confused with some other kid."

"No she doesn't," Aang is quick to interject. "We just saw you earthbending a couple of minutes ago."

Both the teen and the woman running the shop gasp in horror. They slam the door and window shutters shut, looking frantic. "You know how dangerous that is, Haru," the woman warns the teen. "You know what would happen if they caught you."

Azula thinks of the lack of waterbenders in the South Pole, and of how the adults always cautioned her and Katara to never bend in view of outsiders. Here, Fire Nation soldiers patrol the streets while a mother fears that her son's bending will be discovered. It can only mean one thing. They've started rounding up the earthbenders, too.

A heavy knock at the door sends them all into a panic. Sokka, closer to the windows than the rest of them, peaks through a gap in the shutters. "Fire Nation," he whispers. "Act natural!"

It turns out that Azula is the only one capable of following these directions. Her three companions strike weird poses while she stands next to the counter, feigning irritation as though this newcomer has just interrupted her shopping.

"What do you want?" Haru's mother asks as she lets the man in, annoyed and afraid. "I've already paid you this week!"

The man's grin makes Azula's skin crawl. "The tax just doubled," he announces arrogantly. "And we wouldn't want an accident, would we?" His palm ignites in red flames. "Fire is sometimes so hard to control."

Azula would love to show him what out of control really looks like.

Haru's mother pays the man, leaving her register almost entirely empty. He throws the copper coins on the floor with a laugh and slams the door behind him.

"Nice guy," Sokka says sarcastically once they've all had a moment to recover from their initial panic. "How long has the Fire Nation been here?"

Haru's mother sighs sadly. "Five years," she tells them. "Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

Azula's blood goes cold. "Fire Lord Ozai?" she repeats faintly.

"You didn't know?" Haru, the earthbender they followed here, asks. "We were surprised when we found out, too. But General Iroh's defeat at Ba Sing Se was apparently so shameful that Fire Lord Azulon cut him from the line of succession in favor of his younger son."

Everyone keeps talking, but Azula can't hear anything over her own revelations. Azulon is dead. Iroh is disgraced. Ozai is Fire Lord now. But how? She can't recall a single instance where her former grandfather showed any preference for his younger son. The Dragon of the West was a legend who conquered plenty of cities in the name of the Fire Nation. Ozai was merely a political advisor who had never once served his nation beyond being a part of war council meetings. It makes no sense for him to be chosen over Iroh even if he lost at Ba Sing Se.

And where is Lu Ten in all of this? With his father out of the line of succession, the title of Fire Lord should have passed directly to him when Azulon died. He'd be twenty-five now, so it's not as if he'd need Ozai to serve as his regent until he was of age. So why isn't it him who wears the crown?

Azula thinks she knows the answer. She also thinks that she will shatter if her suspicions prove correct. All that ties her to the Fire Nation is four people, and one is fighting against her. She doesn't want to believe that another is dead.

Haru and his mother let them take shelter in their barn for the night. It's best for them to remain hidden while in occupied territory, and Haru's mother fears that they'd be spotted through a window if they stayed in the house. Azula suspects that she also wants to have some plausible deniability. Should the worst happen, she can pretend she had no idea that anyone was hiding all the way out here.

Still, it's better than sleeping in the woods.

"It's terrible what the Fire Nation is doing to this town," Katara says as she unpacks her sleeping bag and smooths it out against the dirt floor. "These people just want the war to end, but now their enemies are taking all their money and resources for themselves." She shakes her head. "And everyone who tries to stand up for themselves gets taken away to spirits knows where…"

Aang stares at the ground, morose. He's been carrying around a hundred years of guilt ever since they visited the Southern Air Temple, and it gets heavier every time they discover more Fire Nation cruelty. Azula doesn't know how he can shoulder all that weight and keep moving forward.

"I know," Sokka agrees with his sister. "It's awful. We should get out of here first thing tomorrow morning, or maybe even before daybreak. It's way too dangerous for us to be here."

Katara sighs sadly. "You're right. I just wish we could do something to help before we go."

"What could we possibly do?" Sokka asks, sounding exhausted.

"I don't know." Katara hangs her head.

Azula doesn't know either. None of them do. If the town couldn't keep the Fire Nation out before all their fighters were imprisoned, there's no way they can liberate themselves now. Any help the four of them can give will be quickly done away with when the soldiers come down even harder than ever on these people.

"Hey, Azula," Sokka says when the silence between them goes on for too long. "Earlier when they were talking about the Fire Lord—" he winces, and Azula glances over to see that Katara has nudged him in the ribs "—did the name Ozai mean something to you?"

"You don't have to answer that," Katara says immediately, forcefully, before her brother is even finished speaking. "Sokka, you know better than to ask something like that."

Sokka scoffs. "What do you mean?" he retorts. "I was just curious if she knows anything about the Fire Nation royal family. Everything we know is seriously out of date. According to Haru, Fire Lord Azulon died five years ago. You know, right around the time that the blockade started. That means it was probably done on this Ozai guy's orders."

Azula feels sick. Every hurt ever dealt to her has been by Ozai's decree. She didn't escape his cruelty when the Southern Water Tribe rescued her. It merely took on a different form.

Katara pales but quickly recovers. "Then we should see if we can get more information from Haru to learn whatever else we've missed," she decides. "Fire Nation origins or not, Azula's been behind the blockade right alongside us. She doesn't know anything more recent than we do."

"I know, I know," Sokka says, putting his hands up in a placating gesture. "But seriously, Azula, do you remember hearing anything about Ozai in the past?"

This isn't how Azula wanted it all to come out, but she knows she can't keep putting off this conversation forever.

Katara's hand covers her mouth before she has the chance to speak. "Sokka, stop," she demands. "Azula, ignore him. You can tell us at your own pace, or not at all if you don't feel like you can. Don't let him pressure you into speaking before you're ready."

Azula is confused. While Katara has always been intense about ensuring that Azula's privacy regarding her past is respected, this is strange even for her. A question about the royal family shouldn't come off as personal at all. So why is Katara treating it like it is? What does she suspect, and how long has she suspected it?

Sokka, however, doesn't seem confused at all. Instead, he lets out an exasperated sigh. "Katara, you need to stop believing that old gossip. Azula isn't General Iroh's secret kid."

Azula chokes on nothing. She'd never heard of any gossip like that before. Had people in their tribe really suspected that? If so, she wonders why they did and how they came so close to being right.

Katara takes Azula's shock as confirmation and glares at her brother. "Now look what you've done!" she says, gesturing in Azula's direction. "You should've just left it alone."

"Iroh isn't my father," Azula blurts out before anyone else can come to the wrong conclusion. "Ozai is."

Katara looks surprised for only a moment before wrapping her arms around her in a tight embrace. "It's okay," she promises. "You're okay. He isn't your father anymore."

"Yeah," Sokka agrees even though his eyes are wide and he looks seconds away from passing out. "And I'm sorry for being so pushy before. I really thought you had no ties to the Fire Lord beyond knowing his name."

Azula doesn't understand why they're being so kind. She might be Water Tribe now, but she still has the blood of Ozai and Azulon and Sozin running in her veins. Their legacy lives within her like a disease with no cure. She wishes she could rip out all the parts of her that come from them and replace them with pieces of the parents that actually love her. But she can't. There is nothing she can do to change her origins.

But her friends don't see it that way. They remember what she was like when she first arrived at the South Pole, even if they didn't fully understand what they were seeing back then. Sokka can still see the watchful, almost fearful look in Azula's eyes whenever an adult entered the room, and he remembers how she flinched when anyone touched her. Katara recalls bruises and scars on her too thin new friend, and how horrified her mother had looked when she asked her about it.

("We all know the rumors that the Fire Nation royal family does away with any daughters born to their line," she'd overhead her Papa Bato whisper to her other parents one night. "Whoever named her must've been trying to appeal to Azulon's ego, but it clearly wasn't enough to keep her safe.")

(Katara promised herself all those years ago that she would keep Azula safe from now on.)

The four of them hold onto each other just like they did when Aang found Monk Gyatso's skeleton. Azula doesn't believe she deserves this sort of comfort, especially not from people who have lost so much to her family and its bloodthirsty legacy, but she doesn't have the presence of mind to push them away. All she can think about is that Ozai is out there and more powerful than ever. This war has never felt more personal.

Katara extricates herself from the group hug to get food and tea from the market. She comes back two hours later with a story about how Haru saved a man who'd been crushed in the mines by earthbending the rocks off of him. Sokka is quick to point out that she forgot the tea.

"Well sorry for being distracted by an old man almost dying," Katara says sarcastically. "Next time, I'll tell the guy to wait for a bit so I can finish my shopping."

They don't bring up Azula's origins again that night. If it weren't for her friends' concerned glances, she might be able to trick herself into believing they'd never spoken about it at all.

Haru's kindness comes at a steep price. The man he saved shows up at his door with Fire Nation soldiers in the middle of the night. They take him away in the cover of darkness just like they did to his father five years ago.

"They took him!" Katara cries when she returns from refilling their water supply. "They took Haru away!"

Azula drops the blanket she'd been folding. "What?" she asks at the same time as Aang.

"The old man from yesterday," she explains hurriedly. "He turned him into the Fire Nation! It's all my fault. I forced him to earthbend!"

Katara starts pacing, and Sokka puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Slow down, Katara," he says, voice even despite the concern in his eyes. "When did this happen?"

Katara worries her lower lip between her teeth before responding. "Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight."

Sokka deflates. "Then it's too late to track him," he informs her, holding onto her tighter when he feels her sag against him. "He's long gone."

Katara pulls out of his grip and resumes pacing. "We don't need to track him," she decides. "The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru."

Aang cocks his head to the side, confused. "And… why would they do that?"

Azula would also like to know.

Katara slams her fist into her hand, determination all over her face. "Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending!"

Azula, Aang, and Sokka all look to one another in horror. There are so many ways in which this could plan could go wrong.

The idiot Fire Nation soldiers actually fall for the fake earthbending and arrest Katara. Azula and the others follow them to the shore and watch as their boat sails out to a prison barge several miles out. They'll be back tonight with Appa.

"So…" Sokka says awkwardly while Aang flies them up above the clouds after nightfall. "Haven't you been on a Fire Nation prison ship before?"

Azula arches an eyebrow. She's never actually spoken about that before, but now that she knows the tribe had been speculating on her origins, she has to assume that one of the sailors who'd found her recognized her prison attire and shared what he knew with everyone else.

"Yes," she agrees with as much nonchalance as she can muster. She has no idea where Sokka is going with this, and she's not entirely sure she wants to.

Sokka nods like he'd expected that to be her answer. "Got any ideas in case Katara and Haru need help breaking out?"

"We have a flying bison, Sokka," Azula points out. "I can't imagine them needing any more help than that."

"But how did you get out?" Sokka asks, and it dawns on Azula that this conversation isn't about their current prison break at all. He's searching for the context behind rumors he'd once ignored as nonsense.

"It was a metal ship lost at sea in a thunderstorm," Azula tells him. "Lightning struck, and the ship caught fire and exploded. I grabbed onto a piece of metal that splintered off the side and used it as a raft." She shrugs, trying to be casual even though she still considers it to be one of the most terrifying moments of her life. "A Water Tribe ship found me the next morning. You know the rest."

Sokka stares at her like he's seeing her for the first time, or maybe he's just seeing what it really means when she says she escaped the Fire Nation. "I don't know as much as I should," he admits.

"I never told you," Azula reminds him.

"Yeah," he says, voice hollow. "And I never bothered to ask."

Out of the corner of her eye, Azula sees Aang pretending to be extremely focused on steering even though they're just flying in a straight line. She appreciates his less than subtle attempt to give them the space they need to talk.

"You just showed up at the South Pole one day," Sokka explains, reaching out as if to put a hand on her shoulder before deciding against it. "Katara and I were so young when it happened, so all the adults ever told us was that they found you while trading with the Earth Kingdom. For a long time, I thought that meant you were an orphan they picked up at a port. Even after Katara overheard our parents talking, I brushed off any gossip and kept choosing to believe you were this… I don't know. A blank slate, I guess?" He cringes. "It felt like you were always supposed to be a part of our tribe. I refused to accept anything that might've contradicted that."

"That's what I wanted," Azula tells him. "I always thought that if anyone knew the truth, I wouldn't be accepted as part of the tribe anymore."

Sokka's face falls into something akin to devastation. "That would never happen," he promises her. "You'll always be a part of the tribe. Nothing about your past could ever change that."

Azula doesn't believe him quite yet, but she thinks she's starting to.

Azula and Sokka wait on Appa while Aang searches the prison barge for Katara. They're hesitant to let him go at first, not wanting to risk the safety of the person the Fire Nation is actively trying to capture, but they cave when he reminds them of how quickly and quietly he can move around. Of the three of them, he's the least likely to be either spotted or heard by the guards.

Neither of them say a word until Aang returns with Katara. "Your twelve hours are up," Sokka whispers to his sister. "Where's Haru? We've got to get out of here."

"I can't," Katara tells him.

"You can," Sokka insists, motioning for her to get on the bison. "We don't have much time. There are guards everywhere. Let's go!"

Katara doesn't move.

Aang turns to her, worried. "Katara, what's wrong?"

"I'm not leaving." Katara raises her chin like she's daring them to argue. "I'm not giving up on these people."

"What do you mean you're not leaving?" Sokka asks incredulously.

Katara glares at her brother. "We can't abandon these people. There has to be a way to help them."

As much as Azula would love to plan a prison break, she has to remind her friend: "We'll be helping them by getting Aang to the North Pole."

"Maybe she's right," Aang interjects, though he doesn't sound fully convinced. "What do you say, guys? We can at least give it a try."

"I say you're both crazy!" Sokka replies, ducking when a search spotlight passes over their location. "Last chance! We need to leave now!"

"No!" Katara refuses, her posture straight and stubborn.

They know there's no arguing with Katara when she gets like this. "Fine," Sokka gives in. "But we don't have much time. What are we going to do?"

Katara looks to Azula, hopeful.

Azula shakes her head. She doesn't know enough about the ship or its crew to come up with a plan on the fly—not when the earthbenders on board won't be providing any support. It'd be one thing if they were to join her in fighting the guards. They might have a chance at seizing control of the ship and sailing back to shore. Without them, though, it's just four teenagers plotting to take down the crew without having the luxury of disabling the ship in any way. She can't start breaking things when they need to get this giant hunk of metal out of the ocean.

"I wish I knew how to make a hurricane!" Aang says after a moment.

The other three stare at him, uncomprehending. How could a hurricane possibly be a benefit in this scenario?

"The warden would run away, and then we could steal his keys," Aang explains.

Sokka shoots him an incredulous look. "Wouldn't the warden just take his keys with him?" he asks.

Aang shrugs. "I'm just tossing ideas around."

"I don't think we can do this without the earthbenders helping," Azula admits.

"I think you're right," Katara agrees, though she doesn't sound happy about it. "I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work. If only there was some way we could help them help themselves…"

Sokka considers this. "For that, they'd need some kind of rock or earth," he says. "Something to bend with."

"But this whole ship is made of metal," Katara laments.

"What about sand?" Azula suggests, unable to think of anything else. "Maybe if we fly Appa back to the shore, we can gather enough buckets of sand for them to fight with."

"I don't think we'll have to go that far to find earth," Aang says, gesturing to the smokestacks. "Look at that smoke! I bet they're burning coal. In other words, earth."

Azula looks up at the smokestacks and then down to Aang, and is amazed that no one had thought of that before. "I bet this ship has air vents just like the mine," she ventures.

"Oh, that's genius!" Sokka whisper-shouts. "Aang, close any openings in the vents you find except for the ones that lead to the prison deck. That way, once you airbend the coal out of the fuel room, it'll only come up here and nowhere else. Azula, go with him and watch his back. Redirect any fire that comes your way." He turns to his sister. "Katara, you and I will stay up here and make sure that the coal gets into the earthbenders' hands."

Azula and Aang disappear into the belly of the ship. It's surprisingly easy. The door wasn't even locked. Azula tries not to think how broken the spirits of the earthbenders here must be if the guards aren't worried about taking basic safety precautions. Will coal be enough to inspire them to rebel?

Disruptions in the air around them allow Aang to sense when someone is coming. He pulls Azula into a side corridor and behind a storage container mere seconds before two guards march down the corridor they'd just left. They listen for the footsteps to disappear in the distance and resume their mission.

Finding and closing the vents goes quickly. The guards seem to be aware that something is going on, but they're unsure of what it is. Azula hears them muttering to one another about a possible intruder. She assumes they mean the two of them inside the ship, but when a group of guards rushes out to the prison deck, she realizes that Sokka and Katara have been discovered.

"You cool off the engine!" Aang tells her once they reach the fuel room. "That way, they can't try to take us further out into the water when the earthbenders start fighting back."

With that, he ducks into the fuel room and shuts the door behind him. A cacophony of wind and a cloud of coal dust follow in his wake.

Azula wrenches open the engine room door. There's only one soldier inside, blasting fire into the coal furnace. Azula knocks him away from the furnace with one blast of fire and knocks him into the wall with the next. He falls to the floor, unconscious.

Bending the heat out of the coal fire is easy. It's one of the first things firebending novices learn. The air hisses and metal groans as Azula pulls the heat from the coals into herself. She's never had to do this for such a large fire before, and while it isn't much of a challenge, absorbing it rather than redirecting like she would in a more open space it leaves her feeling strangely invigorated. She hasn't been this warm in years.

She runs back up to the deck and kicks the door open just in time to hear the warden command his soldiers: "Show no mercy!"

"For the Earth Kingdom!" shouts one of the earthbenders as he and his allies erect a massive wall of coal to defend themselves from the onslaught of fire. "Attack!"

The earthbenders slam the coal back down against the metal deck, sending chunks of debris at the soldiers. Firebenders fight back with ignited fists and fire whips. Sokka takes on the armed soldiers in close combat. His boomerang splits their spears down the middle while Katara and Aang use their bending to snuff out any fire that comes his way. They all take turns tossing the broken off spear tips to Momo, who flies high enough to keep them out of the soldiers' reach.

Azula joins the fray. Not wanting to confuse the earthbenders, she fights without fire, dodging and blocking attacks while still making a nuisance of herself. Two firebenders chase her around the deck and throw fireballs at her, but they're too slow to keep up. They end up doing more damage to the ship itself than to her or anyone else on board.

A compressed sphere of coal rams into the door and upper deck. All soldiers stationed overhead fall onto the main deck below.

"Get to the ships!" commands the same earthbender as before. At his side is Haru, launching lumps of coal hard enough to dent the approaching soldiers' armor. "We'll hold them off!"

"Do not let them escape!" cries the warden.

Haru and the earthbenders near him turn their attention to the firebenders flanking the warden. While they defend against the fire blasts from the front, Aang shoots coal at their backs using an air funnel. Together, their attacks knock all the firebenders and the warden to the ground.

The earthbenders work as one to gather all the coal into a platform. They sweep up all their adversaries off the ground and levitate them over the water with nothing but a thin layer of coal below keeping them from falling into the ocean.

"No! Please!" the warden begs. "I can't swim!"

Azula doesn't believe him. The Fire Nation is made up entirely of islands. There are beaches everywhere. She can't think of a single person she knew as a child who couldn't swim. She suspects he's lying in the hopes of receiving undeserved mercy.

"Don't worry," an eathbender mockingly assures the warden. "I hear cowards float."

With that, he and the others drop their opponents into the water.

Azula peers overboard and sees that the warden is treading water just fine. She grabs some coal and tosses it Haru's way. "Let's make sure they don't get back on board."

Haru grins and launches the coal directly at the warden's forehead. The warden stops paddling to tend to his head, unable to pursue the ship.

It isn't until they're back on the shore that Katara realizes her mother's necklace is missing. Terrified that it fell into the ocean during the fight, she's inconsolable. The only thing keeping her from sobbing her guts out is the knowledge that this town won't be occupied by the Fire Nation for much longer.

Chapter Text

The solstice is in two days. It wouldn't normally be a big deal beyond the usual significance as a change from one season to the next, but this year, Azula can't stop thinking about it. In two days, her brother will turn sixteen far from the Caldera, hunting the world's last hope for peace. There will be no royal ceremony for the crown prince's coming of age. Azula can only vaguely remember attending Lu Ten's ceremony, having been four at the time, but she knows that her former family had stressed the importance of the event and what it represented. Sixteen is when the future Fire Lord first begins to serve their nation.

But Zuko is already doing that. He's an underage sailor with a burn scar so old that he must've still been around Azula's age when he got it—maybe even younger. Just how long has he been in the military? How much of his childhood has been spent fighting? Why isn't he at home like Lu Ten had been for his sixteenth birthday?

(Azula is too terrified to answer her own questions.)

She still hasn't told the others about Zuko. It feels a bit silly. They already know that her former father is the Fire Lord. That her brother is the one hunting them can't be all that surprising after that revelation. Yet some part of her isn't ready to acknowledge it. The longer they go without running into him, the easier it is for her to pretend that he's changed his mind about capturing the Avatar. She knows, though, that it can't possibly be true. Zuko never gives up once he's made up his mind about something.

"Hey," says Katara, getting everyone's attention. She gestures to a spot in the distance. "What is that?"

Azula peers over the edge of Appa's saddle, trying to catch a glimpse of the ground. It's incredibly cloudy, which gives them enough cover to start flying before dark but makes it hard to see where they're going at times. Azula has to crane her neck to find a gap in the cloud coverage. When she finds one, she immediately knows what caught Katara's attention. In the middle of an otherwise verdant forest is a large, dark patch of dirt and soot.

Sokka lets out a long, solemn sigh. "It looks like a scar…"

"We should go see what happened," Aang decides, already steering Appa lower. "If the fire was recent, there might be survivors who need help."

When they land, they quickly discover that the fire didn't happen recently. The ground is nothing more than exposed earth and wood ash, and it's cool to the touch. Whatever heat the embers of this forest left behind went out a long time ago.

"Listen," Sokka tells them.

"I don't hear anything," Katara responds, confused.

"Exactly," Sokka agrees. "It's so quiet. There's no life anywhere."

Aang falls to his knees in front of the remains of a charred tree stump. There are hundreds more just like it, blackened wood standing against the solid ground like grave markers.

"Aang?" Katara calls out gently. "Are you okay?"

Aang is too focused on the sight before him to come up with a reply.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka grits out through clenched teeth, pointing to footprints in the soot. Some belong to komodo rhinos while others are the same narrow, pointed indentations that can only be made by Fire Nation military boots. "Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for—"

Katara shushes him.

"What?" he whispers angrily. "I'm not allowed to be mad about this?"

Katara gestures to Aang, her expression brimming with concern. Sokka understands in an instant. To the rest of them, this is just another wrong committed by the Fire Nation. For Aang, who is still learning how to live in a world at war, this burned forest holds so much more significance.

Aang picks up a handful of dirt and lets it slip away between his fingertips. It stains his skin with dark gray ash. "Why would anyone do this?" he asks no one in particular. "How could I let this happen?"

Katara kneels down beside him. "Aang, you didn't let this happen," she says. "It has nothing to do with you."

Aang turns away from her. "Yes, it does," he solemnly insists. "It's the Avatar's job to protect nature, but I don't know how to do my job. All I know how to do is be an airbender."

"That's why we're going to the North Pole," Katara reminds him, a soft smile on her lips. "To find you a teacher."

Aang scoffs. "Yeah," he agrees reluctantly. "A waterbending teacher. I'll learn one more element, but not how to be the Avatar." He shakes his head. "Monk Gyatso said that Roku would help me."

"The Avatar before you?" Sokka asks. When Aang nods, he continues. "But he died over a hundred years ago. How are you supposed to talk to him?"

"I don't know."

None of them do. Anyone who might have had that knowledge is surely long dead by now. Aang is right. There is no one who can teach him how to be the Avatar. It's something he'll have to figure out on his own.

Azula stares out at the vast stretch of scorched earth around them and wonders how anyone in the Fire Nation can still support this senseless violence. Nothing about this forest could have possibly deserved so much of it being burned to the ground. Why can't the Fire Nation see that? Why do they keep bringing devastation everywhere they go? Surely she can't be the only one to ever notice how wrong this is.

"Hey, Aang," Katara says, a smile on her lips and her hands behind her back. "You ready to be cheered up?"

Aang doesn't so much as look in her direction. "No," he replies, sullen.

Katara tosses whatever she'd been hiding in her hands at Aang. It hits him in the side of the head.

"Ow!" he yelps, rubbing his head. "How was that supposed to cheer me up?"

Sokka chuckles. "It sure cheered me up." When a projectile hits him in the head with far more force than it hit Aang, he sighs and admits: "Ow. Okay, yeah. I probably deserved that."

Katara holds up a third projectile. Since this one isn't flying through the air, Azula can properly make out the shape and details of the object. It's an acorn. "These acorns are everywhere, Aang. That means the forest will grow back," she explains, kneeling down on the ground beside him. "Every one of these will be a tall oak tree one day, and all the birds and animals that once lived here will come back." Taking his hand in hers, she places the acorn on his palm.

Aang looks down at the acorn and then up at Katara. He still looks sad, but not as much as before. "Thanks, Katara."

Katara smiles and nudges his shoulder with hers.

Their moment of relative peace breaks as soon as they hear footsteps in the distance. Azula whips around to find the source of the sound: an old man with a long beard and Earth Kingdom attire. He looks harmless enough, but Katara had thought the same about the man who got Haru arrested by the Fire Nation. It's hard to know who to trust in times of war.

"Hey!" Sokka calls out, eyes narrowed as he inspects the newcomer. "Who are you?"

The old man looks at Sokka as if searching for something. Whatever it is, he must have found it because he tells them: "I am Kay-Fon, one of the spiritual leaders of Senlin Village." He gestures to Appa. "When I saw the flying bison, I thought it was impossible. But… those markings…" Green eyes take in Aang's arrow tattoos and yellow clothes. "Are you the Avatar, child?"

Aang looks at Katara for permission, which she gives with a nod. "Yes," he agrees. "I am."

Kay-Fon gives him a tremulous smile. "I see that you are young and likely inexperienced in such matters, but my village desperately needs your help."

Aang hesitates. "Oh," he says awkwardly. "Is it the Fire Nation? Because my friends and I do have some experience with fighting them off."

"No," Kay-Fon admits. "It is not the Fire Nation. As you can see, their soldiers have already passed through this place and found nothing they deemed valuable." He shakes his head. "I'm afraid that we are in need of your spiritual wisdom, young Avatar."

They arrive in Senlin Village not long before sunset. The dimming red-orange sun casts long shadows over the splintered wood of half crushed buildings like long, jagged fangs biting into what remains. Azula can't imagine what could have caused this kind of damage. There's no ash or scorch marks, so it can't be the work of the Fire Nation. Perhaps it could have been done by a large boulder or similar feat of earthbending, but she finds nothing out of place with the ground nearby and no dirt on the exposed wooden beams.

Azula has a bad feeling about this.

Kay-Fon leads them to the farthest building from the village entrance. Inside are dozens of people, probably everyone who lives here, shuffling about and setting down blankets to sleep on. One man tries to put a child to bed, but the child keeps asking for a mother who never comes. In the far corner of the room, a young woman keeps glancing out the window, her eyes wide with fear.

Azula's bad feeling keeps getting stronger.

"This young person is the Avatar," Kay-Fon tells the others, smiling down at Aang.

Aang waves.

A middle-aged man in formal clothing approaches them. "So the rumors of your return are true," he says, bowing to Aang. "It is the greatest honor of a lifetime to be in your presence."

"Nice to meet you, too!" Aang replies with a friendly smile. "So… I hear there's something you need my help with?"

The man turns his gaze away, his expression doubtful. "I'm not sure…"

"Our village is in crisis," Kay-Fon reminds the man. "The Avatar is our only hope." He turns to Aang and explains: "For the last few days at sunset, a spirit monster comes and attacks our village. He is Hei Bai, the black and white spirit."

Azula and Sokka share a look. Aang might be the Avatar, but his ability to tap into that power is sporadic at best. It's probably one of those things he's supposed to be learning from Roku… however that's meant to work. Regardless, sending an untrained twelve year old to calm an enraged spirit sounds like a terrible idea.

"Why is it attacking you?" Sokka asks.

The spirit tales they grew up on always stressed that the spirits only lash out when they feel they've been wronged. If Hei Bai has been attacking their village for the last few days, then something must have happened shortly before that to anger the spirit. They just have to fix it, and then the attacks will stop.

"We do not know," the village leader admits, which ruins their chances of making amends with the spirit. He walks towards the window and gestures to the damaged buildings. "But each of the last three nights, he has abducted one of our own and destroyed our homes." He sighs. "We are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near."

"What happens then?" Katara asks.

It's Kay-Fon who answers her. "As the solstice approaches, the natural world and the spirit world grow closer until the line between them is blurred completely. Hei Bai's attacks will become stronger and more frequent when the solstice arrives. I fear he soon will stop waiting until sunset to begin his destruction."

"We fear for our missing as well," the village leader adds. "There is no way of knowing if they'll be able to return to the natural world after the solstice has passed. The longer they remain there, the less likely it seems that they will be able to make their way back on their own."

Aang looks worried for the safety of these people but also confused. "So what exactly do you want me to do?" he asks.

Azula also wants to know. Surely there must be more to this plan than for adults to throw a child at their problem and hope it works out.

Kay-Fon grins. "Who better to solve a crisis between our world and the spirit world?" he muses. "You are, after all, the great bridge between humankind and the spirits."

Their plan is genuinely just throwing a child at the problem and hoping it works out. Azula would love to strangle Kay-Fon with his own beard right about now. How can he possibly think this is a good idea?

Aang puts on an unconvincing smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Right," he agrees awkwardly. "The great bridge. That's me."

"Hey, Mr. Bridge Guy," Katara mutters, grabbing Aang by the elbow. "Why don't the four of us take a moment to discuss this?" She gives Kay-Fon a pointed look like she's daring him to follow before leading Aang to a quieter area of the room.

Azula and Sokka follow them without any additional prompting from Katara. Neither of them want to be the next to get dragged by the arm.

"Aang," Katara says quietly once they're all away from the others, peering over her shoulder in search of eavesdroppers. "You seem a little unsure about all of this."

Aang winces. "Yeah, that might be because I don't know anything about the spirit world or mediating between spirits and humans," he admits. "Some air nomads could get into the spirit world, but it took years of study, and you had to be an adult to even be allowed to learn because of how dangerous it can be." He wrings his hands together. "It's not like there's anyone left who can teach me, and especially not in the few minutes we have until it gets dark."

"Maybe it works differently for the Avatar?" Katara suggests, trying to stay positive despite the way the corners of her mouth are threatening to fall into a frown. "The legends say that the Avatar is both a person and a spirit. That could be what Kay-Fon meant by you being the bridge. Maybe the part of you that's the Avatar spirit will be able to reach out to another spirit's presence."

They all take a moment of silence to digest that before Azula says: "You could not possibly sound more desperate right now."

Katara's face falls. "I know," she groans. "Aang… be honest. Do you actually think you can help these people? I don't like the idea of you risking yourself if you don't think you're ready for this."

"I have to try, don't I?" Aang tells her, sounding both resigned and determined. "Maybe you're right. Maybe whatever I need to do will just… come to me. Like you said, I'm part spirit. Hei Bai might be able to recognize that."

Katara leans into him and gives him a reassuring pat on the back. "For what it's worth, I think you can do it," she says. "You've already done some really incredible things since we left the South Pole, and you've become a lot more comfortable taking on the role of the Avatar, too. I have a feeling that this is going to be another one of those times."

Sokka and Azula nod to show their support as well but say nothing. Azula has her doubts, and she knows her friend does, too. It'll be up to them to rescue Aang from any danger he might encounter since no one else seems to be half as worried for his safety as they are.

As the sun finishes setting below the horizon, Aang leaves the relative safety of the building in which the entire village has hidden. He makes his way toward the village entrance, staff in hand and his head on a swivel as if he doesn't know where Hei Bai will appear. "Hello, Spirit?" he calls out into the darkness. "Can you hear me? This is the Avatar speaking. I'm here to help with whatever it is that's upset you."

Azula, Katara, and Sokka watch from the window. None of them like letting Aang do this by himself, but both he and the village elders had insisted they remain inside. Everyone else seems content to cower here and hope for a child they'd just met to save them. They all believe that anyone other than the Avatar will surely be taken by Hei Bai.

Sokka fiddles with the leather strap that secures his club to his side. "This isn't right," he says, anxious. "We can't sit here and cower while Aang waits for some monster to show up."

Azula nods her agreement. As frightening as the prospect of facing a spirit might be, she doesn't like leaving Aang undefended.

Kay-Fon places a hand on Sokka's shoulder. "If anyone can save us—" he gestures outside with his free hand, "—he can."

"That might be true," Sokka reluctantly agrees because Aang is still the Avatar despite his young age, "but he still shouldn't have to face this alone."

"The sun has set," Aang continues telling the air around him. "Where are you, Hei Bai?" He looks around as if expecting to see the spirit come out from behind one of the buildings or nearby trees. "Well… spirit… uh… I hereby ask you to please leave this village in peace." Spinning his staff in his hands, he declares: "Okay… well, I guess that's settled then."

Something charged in the atmosphere around them tells Azula that this not, in fact, settled.

She's quickly proven right when, shortly after Aang turns to make his way back to them, a gigantic black and white monster manifests from within the darkness. It must have some sort of physical presence because Aang twitches the way he always does when he feels an unexpected disturbance in the air. He turns on his heel to face the spirit.

"Hi," Aang greets him with a wave. "You must be the Hei Bai spirit. My name is—"

Hei Bai screeches shrilly. A beam of whitish light and energy shoots from his mouth directly at Aang.

Aang dodges.

Hei Bai advances on the village, and Aang follows. "My name's Aang," he tells the spirit. "I'm the Avatar, and I would like to help." The spirit ignores him, sprinting past the damaged buildings in a blur of light. "Hey, wait up!"

Hei Bai stops in front of the first undamaged building he finds and smashes the roof in. He screams once more, the energy pouring from his mouth further splintering the now exposed wooden support beams.

The village leader peers over the teens' heads to get a better view. "The Avatar's methods are… unusual."

Azula mentally adds him to the list of people in this village that she'd love strangle. What did he expect would happen? That Aang could magically make this spirit go away through the power of friendship and airbending?

Sokka frowns. "Hei Bai doesn't seem too interested in what Aang has to say," he points out, gesturing to where Aang is once more chasing the giant spirit monster. "Maybe we should go help him."

"No," Kay-Fon immediately disagrees. "Only the Avatar stands a chance against Hei Bai."

Azula hates this guy more and more.

"Aang will figure out the right thing to do, Sokka," Katara assures her brother with a confident smile. "He always has before. Besides, it doesn't look like he's in any danger from the spirit. Hei Bai is mostly ignoring him."

Hei Bai smashes another building.

Aang groans, frustrated. "Would you please stop destroying things and listen?" he asks. "I'm trying to do my job as the spirit bridge." He gets closer, but Hei Bai is still focused on turning the building before him into kindling. "Excuse me, would you please just turn around?" Sucking in a huge breath, he shouts: "I command you to turn around now!"

Hei Bai turns, and for just a moment, Azula thinks that this might actually work. But then the spirit shoots one of his energy beams directly at Aang, sending him flying into the roof of a nearby building. Aang lands on his back with a thud.

"That's it," Sokka declares, marching to the door. "He needs help."

"Sokka, wait!" Katara calls after him, trying to follow as he goes outside.

Kay-Fon stops her with a hand on her arm. "It's not safe!"

Seeing that the odds of getting around him and out the door without a struggle are slim, Azula jumps out the window. She lands crouched down on the balls of her feet and starts running after Sokka.

"Hei Bai, over here!" Sokka shouts. He throws his boomerang at the spirit, but it simply bounces off his side and falls to the ground. Hei Bai doesn't even bother looking around to see what hit him.

Sokka changes tactics and goes around the spirit to stand next to Aang. Azula, a head shorter than her friend, sees a shorter route and goes under Hei Bai's stomach, flames bursting from her heels to push her forward faster than she could manage from simply running.

"Sokka! Azula!" Aang cries out when they guard both his sides, worried. "Go back inside with the others!"

"I don't think so," Azula disagrees.

Sokka puts his arm around Aang's shoulders. "We'll fight him together," he promises.

Aang grimaces, shaking his arms in disagreement. "I don't want to fight him unless I—"

Azula hears Hei Bai's shrill screams, and then she hears nothing at all.

When Azula awakens, she sees nothing but a thick, gray fog. She blinks furiously, assuming it's a side effect of being knocked out, but it doesn't work. No amount of blinking or rubbing at her eyelids clears up the hazy nothingness around her.

Her fingers brush against the ground beneath her as she pulls herself into a sitting position. It's hard and rough with dried out crevices like exposed clay soil baked by the relentless summer sun. This should be impossible. Other than the burned section of the forest, everywhere surrounding Senlin Village is lush with leafy trees and verdant grasses.

Azula is starting to suspect that she isn't in Senlin Village anymore.

She gets up and goes to brush any dirt off her clothes, only to find none. This, too, is impossible. She has spent the last few weeks hiking through the forest and sleeping on the ground. Dirt gets everywhere, especially when the ground is dry and dusty like this place. There should at least be a little bit on the parts of her that had brushed against the ground.

"Sokka!" she calls out. "Aang! Where are you?"

No one answers—not even the echo of her own voice. She is completely and utterly alone.

A cold trickle of fear drips down the length of her spine, making her shiver despite the warm air around her. The last time she was alone, truly alone, was when she was stranded at sea seven years ago. Back then, while the odds had seemed to be against her, she had at least been somewhere she could recognize as belonging to the natural world. Her surroundings tell her that this isn't the case this time around.

How in the names of Tui and La is she supposed to get out of the spirit world?

She wonders if the entire place is made of fog. The spirit world is said to be mystical and ethereal, so it would make sense that it uses a dense fog to shroud whatever mysteries it doesn't want mortals to uncover. Perhaps, she thinks, she might be able to make out her surroundings better if she were a more spiritual person.

Something moves in her periphery. She turns her head, expecting a spirit or that whatever she saw had already vanished back into the fog. Instead, she finds… a woman. The woman is dressed reds and blacks with subtle steel armor protecting the vulnerable points of her upper arms and torso. Her hair is pulled up into a tidy top-knot adorned with a golden flame hairpin. It's her face, though, that startles Azula the most. She looks startlingly like a younger version of Ursa—perhaps at the age she'd been when she first married Ozai. It's strange, though. She remembers Ursa being tall. This woman is only Azula's height.

"Who are you?" Azula asks, wary.

The woman cocks her head to the side, feigning surprise. "Can't you tell?" Azula's own voice asks from the stranger's mouth. She leans in closer, and Azula can finally see that this is not a grown woman but a young teenager in heavy makeup. "I'm who you could have become if you'd only been stronger," croons her double. "Ozai's favorite child. The crown princess to the Fire Nation. The youngest firebending master in a generation. Loved and feared by all. I have everything I could ever want—everything we could ever want."

Azula recoils. "I don't want any of that," she spits out because the mere thought disgusts her. "I never have."

Her double only smirks. "Maybe you should have. Then you'd still be a princess instead of a failure."

"A failure?" Azula repeats. "Is that what you think I am? Tell me, Princess, how have I failed? I may not be a true firebending master yet, but I'm personally escorting the Avatar to the North Pole to learn waterbending. Once he masters water and earth, I will teach him fire. We will end this war together with our mutual allies and begin an era of peace."

"Peace?" Her double scoffs. "Who cares about something as fickle as that when I'm about to have the whole world?"

"Will you, though?" Azula arches an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Or will you only have what few scraps Ozai deems you worthy of?"

No one else would buy her double's continued nonchalance, but Azula knows herself. She sees the first cracks beginning to form. This is a battle she can win.

"I'm to be Fire Lord one day," her double says instead of answering the question outright. "By then, there will be no other type of ruler. I will be the empress of them all!"

Azula finds herself immensely grateful she left the Fire Nation when she did. This version of herself has enough hubris to rival their birth father. She knows, though, that this level of pride can only be sustained by a desperate need to hide other insecurities.

"How does Mother feel about all of that?" she asks the double. "Is she proud of you yet? Have you finally managed to earn her love?" She smirks at the alarm flashing in her double's eyes. "Or does she still think you're a monster?"

"What she thinks doesn't matter anymore!" the double snarls.

Azula, the real one, has long since come to terms with all that she suffered as a daughter of the royal family. The double before her clearly hasn't. And even though some of the wounds are still fresh, still in the process of scabbing over, she knows that digging into them will hurt the double more than it hurts her.

"And Zuko?" she pushes. "How does he feel about you trying to claim his birthright? Is he supportive? Does he think you're better suited for the role? Or will you have to usurp his crown in a coup just like your father did?"

"That's not how it happened!" her double screams. "You don't know anything! Father became Fire Lord because Uncle is nothing more than a lazy old failure with no heirs to take the crown when he dies. He's so useless that he couldn't even burn down Ba Sing Se as revenge for killing his son!"

Azula flinches at Lu Ten's death being so openly discussed. She's suspected ever since she heard that Ozai became Fire Lord, but she's never let herself dwell on it. And while she trusts neither her double nor whatever spirit controls it, she knows it must be true.

(All that ties her to the Fire Nation is three people because Lu Ten is no longer alive to be counted among their numbers.)

"And Zuko is banished anyway," the double continues, "so what he wants doesn't matter anymore!"

Azula's breath catches in her chest, but she wills herself to keep breathing anyway. Her brother might be banished in whatever version of events her double came from, but it can't be the case in reality. With Lu Ten dead and Azula a traitor, there's no one left but Zuko to be the heir. Ozai couldn't possibly be so foolish as to banish his only child. It would surely be seen as a sign of weakness, of his own failings, that the other nations could easily exploit in order to win the war. All they'd need to do is secure an alliance from Zuko, depose Ozai, and install their new ally on the throne.

She shoves all those thoughts out of her mind to study her double. There's doubt in her eyes and loneliness hidden in her painted on smile. "You miss him," Azula notices. "Zuko. Your big brother. The only person besides Lu Ten who loved you more than he feared you. Now you have no one, and Ozai can hold it over your head that he'll do the same to you if you ever slip up at being perfect."

"I never slip up," the double argues, looking less and less sure. "Father will never have any reason to get rid of me. He needs me."

"No," Azula tells her. "He doesn't. You're just a weapon, and he'll dispose of you as soon as he has the chance. Nothing you do will ever be good enough to keep him happy forever. He will abandon you just like everyone else, and then you'll have nothing. So tell me, Princess, which one of us is the failure here?"

"Shut up!" the double screams. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" She screeches and sobs under Azula's unflinching gaze until she dissipates into the fog.

Azula lets out a sigh of relief and turns to search for Sokka and Aang. She makes it three steps before running into another Azula.

This one is dressed in the same blue and white Water Tribe garb as her, but her face is different. She wears her hair in a long braid to perfectly show off her darker skin, wider nose, and bright blue eyes. "Hello, pretender," says the real Azula of the Southern Water Tribe.

It would be a lie to say that Azula has never imagined what she would look like as Cupun and Tapeesa's biological child. Even though no one in the tribe has ever said anything about it, she knows she looks like she doesn't belong. The spirit world knows, too.

"I'm no pretender," Azula tells the spirit. "My mother has the tattoos to prove it."

"Yet you have the eyes and flames of the enemy," her double retorts.

Azula arches her eyebrow, unimpressed. Her own thoughts on the matter have taken far darker turns than this. "No one in the Fire Nation has flames like mine."

Her double keeps talking as though she never heard her. "You were their princess, named for the very man who ordered my people to be wiped out." She sneers. "If it weren't for your family, then mine would still be here! Gran-Gran Hama and Auntie Imiq and Kya are gone because of you and your family, and yet you still try to claim a spot among us."

It's true. Sozin started the war, Azulon expanded its reach, and Ozai is making moves to secure global Fire Nation rule in his lifetime. If she had never left the Fire Nation, would she have cared about the fate of the Southern Water Tribe? Or would she be yet another callous warmonger who disregards the crimes against them as nothing more than the natural consequences of defying the Fire Nation?

"Even after seven years of living among my people," the double continues, "you still have mixed loyalties. You still care about your cousin who died waging war against the Earth Kingdom, and you care about your brother who hunts the Avatar."

Azula takes a step back, once again unable to defend herself against her double's words. For all that she considers herself a part of the Southern Water Tribe—for all that they've accepted her despite her heritage—she still has three living people and one who's passed connecting her to the Fire Nation. She wouldn't have these traitorous ties if she'd been born to her parents. She wouldn't care who was chasing her and her friends across the world. She wouldn't occasionally wonder if friends she hasn't seen in half a lifetime are safe and whole.

"That's enough of that."

Azula flinches at the sound of her own voice coming from behind her. How many more times is she going to have to confront herself?

Her Water Tribe double vanishes with a scowl.

The newest double steps out from behind Azula and takes the last one's spot. Unlike the others, this one is identical to her in all ways. "I am you," she states. "I have no insults or insinuations because we are the same."

"Then why are you here?" Azula asks, suspicious. The others had clearly been the spirit world's attempts to test her and antagonize her. She thinks it must be the same for this one. "And why did you help me?"

"Your time here is almost at an end," her double, her mirror, explains without answering her questions. "At this very moment, the Avatar is securing your safe passage out of the Fog of Lost Souls."

"Aang's okay?" Azula asks, desperate for information. She doesn't know how long she's been here or how much time she's wasted arguing with herself. Anything could have happened to her friends either in or out of the spirit world since she arrived here.

Her double gives her a small smile. "Yes," she confirms. "You underestimate him too much. He is capable of so much more than you could possibly imagine." Her smile transforms into a smirk. "And so are you. Once you come to terms with who you are—with all the facets that make up your identity—you will reach your true potential."

How is she meant to do that? The blood in her veins is tainted by her ancestors' crimes, and her early years were nothing more than a cycle of violence spinning out of control. She doesn't want to come to terms with that; she wants to cut it all out and leave it behind.

Her double fades before she can ask any more questions.

When the fog dissipates, Azula finds herself once more in Senlin Village with no memory of what happened.

"What happened?" Sokka asks as they step through a thatch of bamboo that they don't remember being there before. "The last thing I remember is running after Hei Bai."

"I don't know," Azula admits. She tries in vain to remember, but all that comes to mind is fog and a vague sense of unease.

Katara runs up to them to explain: "You were both trapped in the spirit world for over twenty-four hours! How are you feeling?"

Sokka opens his mouth, closes it, thinks for a moment, and then opens it again to say: "Like I really need to go to the bathroom." He wanders off, his face tinged green with nausea.

Katara casts a worried glance in his direction before turning all of her attention on Azula. "And you?" she inquires. "How are you holding up?"

"I have a mild headache," Azula tells her. "Nothing a little sleep won't fix." She studies her friend, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. "You look like you could use some sleep, too."

"Rude," Katara retorts, sticking her tongue out. "But you're not wrong. I haven't been able to sleep since you, Sokka, and Aang disappeared." She puts her arm around Azula's shoulders and sags against her. "Now that I know you guys are okay, I feel like I might crash at any second."

"Let's get you on Appa before you fall asleep on me," Azula decides.

Unfortunately, Kay-Fon and the leader of the village take this moment to start profusely thanking Aang. They keep going on and on about how they could never repay him for this until Sokka comes back and suggests actual monetary payment. Katara grumbles that Sokka shouldn't have asked so bluntly, but they get both money and enough food to last a few meals out of it, so it doesn't seem like anyone minded his bluntness.

"While I was in the spirit world, I found a way to talk to Roku," Aang drops on them as they load the supplies (and a half asleep Katara) onto Appa's saddle.

"Okay…" Sokka replies, looking uncertain. "Does he… live there or something?"

Aang cocks his head to the side. "What?" he asks, but it sounds like a statement. "No, the past Avatars don't live in the spirit world. His dragon sent me a vision."

Sokka goes from uncertain to skeptical. Azula isn't far behind.

"The vision showed me a crescent island where I could talk to Roku on the solstice," Aang explains.

Katara rouses, pulling herself into an upright position. "But the solstice is tomorrow," she points out.

"Yeah, and there's one more problem," Aang admits. "The island is in the Fire Nation."

Azula groans. "That's so far away. We'll have to fly all night and most of the day to get there in time."

"Let's get going then," Sokka decides a bit reluctantly. "The sooner we leave, the more time we'll have for Aang to talk to Roku."

"What?" Aang asks, frowning. "You guys aren't coming with me. It's way too dangerous."

"We're not splitting up," Sokka tells him. "That's not how we do things in the Southern Water Tribe. You never let anyone face danger on their own."

"But—"

Azula silences him with a piercing glare. "If you don't want us to go, you'll have to throw us off the bison," she declares.

Somehow, that works. For the first time in seven years, Azula is returning to the Fire Nation.

Chapter Text

They decide to sleep in shifts on the way to the Fire Nation. Part of the reason is that they don't want anyone entering enemy territory while exhausted, but that's not their only motivator. Aang and Katara are both feeling the effects of staying up for over twenty-four hours. For Azula and Sokka, though, that entire day may as well have never happened. They're just as awake and alert as they were when they first went chasing after Hei Bai with Aang.

"Is it weird that we don't remember anything?" Sokka asks not long after Aang starts snoring softly. "About the spirit world, I mean."

Azula shrugs. "I don't know," she admits, "but neither of us ended up there on purpose. It wouldn't surprise me if the spirit world only allowed those who intended to be there to remember the experience."

Sokka strokes his chin as he considers this possibility. For all that they'd learned from spirit tales as children, the subject of people being abducted into the spirit world never came up. "I guess that could be it," he agrees, though he doesn't sound certain. "Man, I wish we knew more about this stuff. It didn't occur to me how important it would be for traveling with the Avatar. I feel so unprepared."

Azula feels unprepared, too. She'd expected traveling to the North Pole and fighting the Fire Nation, but she's out of her depth when it comes to spiritual matters. Until Senlin Village, she hadn't even known that the Avatar was the bridge between the natural world and the spirit world. Now they're flying into enemy territory because an Avatar who died over a century ago sent a spirit dragon to give Aang a vision of a temple with a statue of Roku.

"So…" Sokka drawls when the silence between them has stretched on for too long. "The Fire Nation. I know it's probably a long shot, but do you know anything about this temple we're going to? Or the island Aang described?"

"Not a clue," Azula replies. "To be honest, I'm surprised Avatar Roku even has his own temple. He's considered a traitor to much of the Fire Nation, so it never occurred to me that commemorating him in any way would be permitted."

"But he was from the Fire Nation?" Sokka says, but it comes out more like a question.

Azula gives him a pointed look. "He was," she agrees, "but he also had the very anti-Fire Nation belief that waging war against the whole world was a bad idea."

Sokka grimaces. "Yeah, I guess that'll do it." He glances over at Katara and finds her sleeping in a starfish position with both her braid and one arm draped over Aang. "Speaking of the Fire Nation… you don't have to say anything, obviously, but if you think you might know something useful…" He trails off awkwardly, still watching Katara in case the mere mention of Azula's early years will have her waking up to yell at him for prying.

Azula decides that this is as good an opening as any. "You know that Fire Navy ship that's been chasing us since the South Pole?" she asks.

Sokka leans in closer as if expecting vital information. "Yeah," he agrees because there's no forgetting that. "We haven't seen it since Kyoshi Island, though."

"We haven't been at sea since then," Azula reminds him. "But we're about to be in the next hour or so, and we're on our way to the Fire Nation. We'll probably encounter it on our way to the Crescent Island."

"Okay…" Sokka replies. "Is that all?"

Azula shakes her head. "No. I know the identity of the guy with the huge scar on his face. It's my older brother Zuko—crown prince of the Fire Nation."

Sokka swears. "So your brother is hunting us and your father is the Fire Lord." He lets out a long sigh. "Man, your birth family sucks."

"I know," Azula agrees with a groan. "What's strange is that, of the two of us, Zuko was always the nice one. I don't understand why he's doing all of this." She shakes her head. "He's nothing like I remember."

"A lot can change in seven years," Sokka tells her even though he sounds doubtful that any member of the royal family besides her could ever be considered nice. "And you were still Fire Nation when you knew him."

The logical part of Azula knows that, but it doesn't change that she remembers Zuko as being so stubbornly kind and caring that it often got him into trouble. No punishments, no attempts to "toughen him up", ever deterred him from his relentless compassion. It had irritated Azula back when they were children because she was too lost in her own anger to see the strength in what she had once perceived as a weakness. Now, though, she wishes desperately that she could find even the slightest trace of the old Zuko in this teenage soldier who wears her brother's face.

(The scar on his face tells her that someone burned the compassion out of him a long time ago.)

Sokka seems to sense Azula's discomfort and brings the conversation back to more neutral territory. Neither of them are particularly good at dealing with emotions, especially not their own or each other's. Discussing possible routes to the North Pole feels safer. They debate the various merits and detriments of continuing to travel through remote areas and pretend that the war is so much less complicated than it really is.

Telling Katara and Aang about Zuko is awkward. Katara keeps trying to comfort her over what she assumes must be a terrible betrayal. Aang, meanwhile, says nothing. Instead, he looks at her with so much compassion and understanding that she feels like they're back in the Southern Air Temple mourning the Fire Nation of a century ago.

Azula feigns exhaustion to cut their reactions short. It takes her ages to fall asleep, but she keeps her eyes screwed shut the entire time.

Morning arrives with a clear blue sky and clear blue water. Katara tosses Azula some of the food the people of Senlin Village gave them and tells her that they officially left Earth Kingdom territory about an hour ago. The ocean, as vast as it is, hasn't been claimed in its entirety. They still have several hours worth of flying over neutral waters before they reach the Fire Nation.

Sokka wakes up a little while later and starts explaining the changes he made to their itinerary last night. It follows a similar path to the one Aang had suggested after they left Omashu, but they'll be along the edges of the wilderness instead of deep within it so that they can more easily get supplies. Aang, remembering the night they almost had nuts for dinner because they were out of food, enthusiastically agrees to Sokka's ideas.

"Some of these towns might be occupied by the Fire Nation," Katara points out. "Aang, do you still have that hat you got in Haru's village? You might need it."

"I've still got it!" Aang happily assures her, pulling the conical hat out from one of their supplies bags.

Azula doesn't think that hat is half as good of a disguise as Aang and Katara seem to believe it is.

As midday rolls around, they start to see the occasional ship sailing below them. Aang takes them higher up in the air, taking advantage of cloud coverage wherever he can find it as most of the ships wave Fire Nation flags. They know they won't get to their destination unseen, but they can at least minimize the number of sightings. The less people who notice them, the less likely it'll be that a full naval division gets deployed to shoot them out of the sky.

"Aang!" Katara exclaims after almost an hour of trying to hide in the clouds, pointing wildly behind them. "We've got trouble!"

Sokka whips around to see what has caught his sister's attention. "Yeah! And it's gaining fast!"

"Zuko," Azula realizes when she sees the ship.

None of the other naval ships they've encountered had been as small and discreet as his. She figures this must be on purpose. After all, capturing the Avatar requires an elite team that can travel quickly through Earth Kingdom waters. A bigger, heavily weaponized ship would draw too much attention and earn a much more hostile response than one small enough to be mistaken for a merchant's boat.

That's not to say that Zuko's ship is without weapons. Despite its small size, it's still armed. Azula can vaguely make out a group of sailors dragging heavy equipment into the middle of the deck, though the hundreds of feet between her and them make it impossible to tell what, exactly, they've brought out. She figures it out pretty quickly when they use it to launch a massive, burning projectile their way.

"Fireball!" Katara yells over her shoulder.

Aang tugs on Appa's reins. "On it!" he yells back, already steering them out of the fireball's path.

The fireball misses, but it leaves a horrible sulfuric odor in the air around them. Fire alone produces no smell, which means it must have been some kind of ignitable projectile. Azula coughs and scrunches her nose, wondering what it's made out of. She assumes it must be some kind of rock or earth, which no one on this bison can bend. Their only options if more of these are launched in their direction are to keep dodging or hope that extinguishing the fire stops their momentum.

"Gross!" Sokka exclaims, pinching his nostrils.

Katara covers her nose and mouth with her hand as a makeshift mask before declaring: "We've got to get out of Zuko's range before he shoots another fiery stink bomb at us!"

"Can't you make Appa go any faster?" Sokka asks.

"Yeah," Aang admits, though he doesn't sound too certain. Taking one hand off Appa's reins, he gestures to the view in front of him. "There's just one problem."

Azula turns her attention from Zuko's ship and sees dozens of massive warships in a holding pattern. She's never seen one in person before, but she knows exactly what it is. "A blockade," she breathes out, alarmed but determined. "How do you want to handle this, Aang?"

Aang takes a moment to think about it. "If we fly north, we can go around the Fire Nation ships and avoid the blockade," he replies. "It's the only way."

Katara shakes her head. "There's no time!"

Azula agrees. They're already cutting it close. Taking a detour will ensure their safety, but it'll also ensure that they miss the solstice entirely.

"This is exactly why I didn't want any of you to come!" Aang snaps. "It's too dangerous!"

"And that's exactly why we're here!" Katara tells him.

Sokka smirks. "Let's run this blockade!" he boldly declares.

Aang takes one last look at everyone to make sure they're all on board with this plan, and yells: "Appa, yip-yip!"

Almost as soon as Appa starts gaining speed, the warships ahead of them unleash dozens of fireballs into the air. Aang manages to avoid taking any direct hits, but one of the fireballs grazes Appa's side and singes some of his fur. While the rest of them snuff out the remaining smoke, Aang brings them even higher up into the air.

Unfortunately, this provides them with little extra protection. Most of the next round of fireballs are shot directly upwards to give them more height. Now Aang has to swerve to avoid projectiles that he can't even see until they push through the clouds below them. He does his best, but when two collide and explode in front of them, Azula jumps onto Appa's head and deflects the brunt of the damage. It doesn't go quite as smoothly as she would have liked, and they nearly lose Sokka. Katara manages to grab him by the back of his shirt and keep him from plummeting into the sea.

"Awesome!" Aang cheers once the blockade disappears behind them. "We made it!"

Katara and Sokka look terrified, but Azula doesn't understand why. They all made it past their biggest obstacle relatively unharmed.

"We got into the Fire Nation," Sokka says with a distinctly concerned tone. "Great."

Azula peers over Appa's side in search of land but only finds more open ocean. "Now we just need to find the crescent-shaped island."

"It'll be a couple more hours until we reach it," Aang tells them. "You guys might as well get some rest now. You're going to need it to explore the temple."

The rest of their flight is uneventful. Aang finds a small cove at the far side of the island to hide Appa. A few feet away, they find the start of the stone bridge that leads up the side of the volcano. As they make their ascent, Azula notices lava oozing like a lazy stream below the bridge. There seems to be a lot of it, or at least more than she remembers seeing anywhere else, and she can't help but wonder just how active this volcano must be. She hopes it isn't due to erupt any time soon. That would be extremely inconvenient for them.

"I don't see any guards," Sokka says when they get to the courtyard in front of the temple.

Azula looks around and sees that it's true. There isn't a single soul in sight. It feels like a ghost town, yet it doesn't escape her that there are no overt signs of neglect. Despite how empty it is right now, someone may have been here recently.

"Everyone must have abandoned the temple after Avatar Roku died," Katara surmises.

Azula isn't so sure she believes that. Maybe no one lives here anymore, but it doesn't feel abandoned either.

"It's almost sundown," Aang notes, gesturing to the slowly setting sun. "We better hurry!"

They rush inside, and Azula once again notices just how well kept this place is. The interior is old-fashioned, but it's far from derelict. She doesn't even see any dust on the ground.

"Wait," Sokka whispers. They all stop in their tracks. "I think I heard something."

Turning on their heels, they find themselves face to face with five older men dressed in formal red robes and tall hats. "We are the fire sages," announces the oldest of the men. "Guardians to the temple of the Avatar."

Azula drops into a fighting stance.

Aang does not. "Great!" he tells them with a grin. "I am the Avatar!"

"We know."

Five fire blasts rain down upon them. Aang deflects most of the fire with his staff, and Azula uses the sages' distraction to return fire. "I'll hold them off!" he shouts over his shoulder. "Run!"

Katara and Sokka duck into a nearby corridor so they don't lose track of Aang. Azula positions herself between them and the start of the corridor in case one of the sages decides to aim more fire in their direction.

With them safely out of the way, Aang leaps forward and sends a blade of air at the sages' legs. The force of the blast knocks them off their feet and onto their backs. He takes one last look to make sure none of the men are still standing before running to his friends.

"Follow me!" he instructs them as he races down the corridor and to the left.

"Do you know where you're going?" Sokka asks as they all chase after their friend.

"Nope!" Aang admits. "Roku's dragon took me up through the ceiling, so I didn't get a good look at the layout of the building." He darts around a corner, but before they can catch up with him, he's already running back to them. "Wrong way!"

"Come back!" calls out an unfamiliar voice. Out of the same corridor Aang had just fled comes yet another fire sage.

Azula and her friends take that as their cue to run after Aang at a breakneck speed. This proves to be a mistake when the four of them end up trapped at a dead end with the fire sage blocking their way out.

Aang and Azula both drop into fighting stances. She doesn't know if she's cold-hearted enough to kill an elderly man, but she's willing to give it her all if the fire sage tries to use lethal force against them.

The fire sage raises his hand in surrender. "I don't want to fight you," he tries to assure them. "My name is Shyu, and I am a friend."

Sokka stares the man down. "Fire Nationals aren't our friends," he retorts.

Shyu falls prostrate into a dogeza at Aang's feet. Sokka and Katara wear identical expressions of confusion; this level of subservience to another is never displayed in the South Pole. Aang, though, nods that he understands.

"I know why you're here, Avatar," Shyu tells him.

Aang cocks his head to the side, surprised. "You do?"

"Yes." Shyu eases up into a standing position, careful to keep his hands in a posture of surrender until Aang gestures for him to stop. "You wish to speak with Avatar Roku. I can take you to him."

"How?" Aang asks, skeptical.

Shyu flips a nearby wall sconce to reveal a hole carved into the stone. With a small, sort burst of firebending into the hole, the wall shudders open to reveal a secret passageway. "This way," he says.

Azula thinks this is a terrible idea, but when they hear the other sages getting closer, she accepts that this is the best option they have. The four of them could easily take on Shyu in a fight if it came down to it. Their odds aren't nearly as good if they let the rest of the sages catch up to them. And so, they let Shyu lead them into the secret passageway.

As soon as the door closes behind them, they're hit with a wave of hot air. Shyu leads them downwards into an increasingly warmer cavern that's indistinguishable from the volcano itself.

"Avatar Roku once called this temple his home," Shyu explains to them like they're here for a guided tour and not Avatar business. "He formed these secret passages out of the magma."

"Did you know Avatar Roku?" Aang asks, which feels like it should be rude since Shyu doesn't even look half as old as King Bumi. He says it so innocently, though, that Shyu takes no offense.

"No," Shyu replies. "But my grandfather knew him. Many generations of fire sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place."

Now that Azula thinks about it, this place does have a certain aura of spirituality to it. She hadn't noticed at first because they were being chased, but now that they're safely ensconced in here, she thinks she can feel the connection Shyu is talking about. There's something almost soothing about it.

Aang looks up at Shyu. "Is that how you knew I was coming?"

Shyu nods. "A few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred," he says, a breathless quality to his voice. "The statue of Avatar Roku—its eyes began to glow!"

Katara's eyes widen in understanding. "That's when we were at the Southern Air Temple," she realizes. "Avatar Roku's eyes were glowing there, too!"

"At that moment—" Shyu turns to Aang "—we knew you had returned to the world."

"Really?" Sokka asks, surprised. "Then? But we had a Fire Navy ship on our shores demanding we hand over the Avatar two days before that even happened."

"I'm afraid I don't know much when it comes to military matters," Shyu admits. "The sages are rarely consulted for anything beyond spiritual rites these days. Fire Lord Ozai prefers to keep all other matters between him and his war council."

That doesn't surprise Azula in the slightest.

"I consider his lack of interest in us a benefit not only to the nation but also to us," Shyu continues. "While the fire sages have been forced to swear their loyalty to the crown ever since Fire Lord Sozin killed the Air Nomads, serving the Fire Lord was never something I wanted to do." He shakes his head sadly. "However, most of the other sages do not share this belief. With so little to do, they are increasingly interested in working more actively to support the war. This is why, instead of helping you, they attacked. I knew as soon as you arrived that I would have to betray the others in order to fulfill my true duty as a fire sage."

Aang bows to Shyu, and the others follow suit. "Thank you for helping us," he says. "For helping me."

Shyu smiles at them, looking almost relieved.

The journey through the secret passageway and up the spiral staircase to the top floor of the temple is a long one, but they make good time. Azula keeps track of the sun's position in the sky by looking out the windows on each floor. It's only just starting to set beyond the horizon when they reach the top, the sky fading from orange to pink. They should have just enough daylight left for Aang to make contact with Roku.

"Oh no!" gasps Shyu as they make their way past a row of pillars with dragon statues spiraling around them as if in flight.

Aang picks up his pace. "Shyu, what's wrong?"

"The sanctuary doors," Shyu explains, gesturing to two massive doors adorned with a complicated locking mechanism not unlike the one at the Southern Air Temple. Instead of bison and wooden pegs, though, there are five interlocking metal dragons with their mouths wide open. "They're closed!"

Aang tries to open the doors despite all the locks. He fails.

"Can't you just open them with firebending?" Katara asks hopefully. "Like you opened the other door?"

Shyu shakes his head. "No. Only a fully realized Avatar is powerful enough to open this door alone. Otherwise, the sages must open the door together with five simultaneous fire blasts."

"How many fire blasts can you do at once?" Azula asks him, inspecting the five dragon mouths. They're close enough that it's not impossible to ignite several at once, but she'll have to stretch to reach. "I can cover two of these."

"I'm afraid I can't cover three on my own," Shyu admits. "There are very few people who can breathe fire powerfully enough to unlock this door with it, and I am not one of them."

Azula huffs in frustration. She's never breathed fire before. The most she's ever done is spit a few sparks. It's an advanced technique that can be dangerous without proper practice. Trying it right now would almost certainly lead to her coughing up smoke.

Sokka, however, lights up. "I think I know how to help with that fifth fire blast," he declares.

Katara shoots him an unimpressed look. "No offense, Sokka, but how?" she wants to know. "Last I heard, you're not a firebender."

"It's an idea I got from Dad," Sokka explains, and Katara groans preemptively. Hakoda doesn't have the best track record for coming up with clever solutions to things. "Get me a few cups of the lamp oil from those wall sconces. We're going to make some explosives."

"What?"

Sokka ignores Katara as he reaches into pockets he definitely didn't have before and starts pulling out some spare animal skin casings and twine. "If we line up a bunch of these in the last dragon mouth, either Azula or Shyu can ignite the twine before doing their own blasts. It won't be the same as one big fire blast, but I think several smaller ones should be able to do the trick."

"Since when do you have all these pockets?" Katara asks, taking one of the skins as her brother starts searching yet another pocket for more twine.

"I tried teaching myself how to sew after we left Kyoshi Island," he tells her absently as he throws a skin at Azula, who catches it easily. "Pockets are all I've figured out how to do so far."

"Figured out" is a bit of an overstatement. The stitching is neither straight nor tidy, and two have been sewed on crooked. Still, Azula can't believe that no one noticed him sewing five new pockets onto his pants at any point in the last several weeks. Who even needs that many pockets?

They gather the oil from the sconces and pour it into the animal skins. Sokka ties them together in a string, feeding it up into the center dragon mouth until only the twine trailing from the last skin hangs out—a wick ready to be ignited. Azula takes her spot at the two mouths on the left while Shyu takes the two on the right. With a silent nod to each other, they inhale in unison, step forward, and unleash all the fire they can from both hands. Shyu sends a quick jet of flames to the twine, and within seconds, the skins ignite with enough force to spin the lock open.

Aang runs past them as the doors open and disappears into the room before anyone has the chance to see the inside. The doors slam to a close as if pushed by a great force. Blue-white light fills the entire floor, forcing them to cover their eyes until it recedes behind the narrow gap under the door. When they're able to see again, the door is locked once more.

"It worked!" Sokka exclaims, sounding far too surprised considering it was his idea. "I can't believe it actually worked!"

Shyu inspects the scorch marks produced by the fake firebending, stroking his beard. "It looks fairly convincing, too," he says. "There's little residue and no odor, so the other sages won't suspect that the door was opened outside of the traditional methods."

Azula takes that to mean that they could probably get away with doing this again in the future if they ever need to. She hopes it doesn't come to that. While they've managed to evade the other sages for this long, she'd rather not make breaking into their temple a common occurrence.

"So, what do we do while Aang talks to Roku?" Katara asks after a moment. "Guard the door? The rest of the fire sages will probably come searching up here sooner or later, right? They must know why he's here, too."

"They do," Shyu confirmed. "I suspect that's why the doors were closed earlier. Someone likely realized that Avatar Aang is not yet a firebending master and had hoped that shutting the doors would keep him out."

"I wonder what they think Aang might learn that has them so concerned…" Sokka muses, eyes fixed on the locked doors. "It's not like he can become a fully realized Avatar in a single conversation." He pauses, arches an eyebrow, and turns to Shyu. "Or can he?"

Shyu shakes his head. "No," he immediately shuts Sokka down. "But there is a long history of Avatars seeking wisdom from their past lives. Avatar Roku knew Fire Lord Sozin personally for many years. He was there when the first discussions of war began. Whatever advice he shares with Avatar Aang may provide clues for how to finally end this war."

Shyu knows the answers to at least some of their questions, Azula realizes. Years of dedication to Avatar Roku's temple have given him ample time to learn what it means to be the Avatar and the challenges they have historically faced. He might be able to help the rest of them better support Aang as he goes through the process of mastering the elements.

Before she gets a chance to decide what she wants to ask first, she's cut off by the sound of footsteps in the distance. "That must be the other fire sages," she tells the others.

Katara's eyes go wide. "What do we do?" she asks, alarmed.

"The three of us should climb up those dragons to hide," Sokka suggests. "Shyu, when they get here, make up some story about how Aang is already inside and you need help getting the door open."

"But he is inside," Azula points out even though she's already climbing up one of the dragons.

Sokka pretends she never said anything. "Once the other sages are distracted trying to open the door, we attack from behind. That way, when Aang comes out, the threat will already have been dealt with and we can make our escape."

Azula thinks Sokka might be overestimating their abilities, but it's the best plan they have. The three of them climb until they're almost impossible to see. As soon as they're situated, Shyu starts yelling.

"Come quickly!" he calls out, his hands circling his mouth to amplify his voice. "The Avatar has entered the sanctuary!"

The other sages rush over to him. "How did he get in?" asks the oldest of them.

"I'm not sure," Shyu lies, "but look at the door!" He gestures to the fresh scorch marks. "The metal is still warm. This must have been done recently."

Another sage looks down at the bottom of the door. "I think I saw movement inside," he announces.

"We must open the doors immediately!" the oldest sage declares. "Before he has the chance to contact Avatar Roku!"

As the sages line up in a row and ready themselves to firebend, Azula and her friends slide down the backs of the dragons and sneak up on them. It's absurdly easy. They grab three of the sages, and Shyu grabs the fourth. All are pinned with their wrists immobilized before they get the chance to shoot off so much as a single spark.

"What now?" Katara asks her brother.

While maintaining his hold on one of the sage's wrists with one hand, Sokka pulls a leather cord out of yet another poorly sewn pocket. "Let's tie them up. It probably won't hold for long, but it should be good enough until Aang is done talking to Avatar Roku."

"No!" declares a familiar voice. "The Avatar is coming with me."

Azula grits her teeth. She should have realized that Zuko would catch up with them eventually. Kicking the fire sage in the knees and tossing him aside, she turns to face her brother. "If you want the Avatar," she tells him, "you'll have to go through me."

Zuko doesn't so much as look her in the eye as he shoots a fire blast in her direction. It isn't until she deflects it and fires back that he bothers to pay her any attention. "Who are you?" he demands to know. "Why would a firebender fight against the Fire Nation?"

Azula's chest tightens until it hurts to breathe. Her brother doesn't recognize her anymore. She doesn't understand how he couldn't. All that's changed is that she's grown older. Had he really cared so little about her that he no longer remembers what she looked like?

Disappointment turns to anger. She is going to make sure he never forgets her again. "I'm the savage your father couldn't wait to be rid of!" she retorts before launching a volley of blue flames at one of the few people in the Fire Nation she thought had cared about her.

The reference goes over Zuko's head. So do the worst of the flames because, even as hurt and as furious as she feels, she still can't bring herself to truly hurt her brother.

"You half-breed peasant," Zuko sneers, blocking most of her fire but not enough to stop his right sleeve from smoldering. "You don't know anything about my father!"

"Oh, I know enough!" Azula counters.

Her brother is a strong bender, but he's not amazing. She easily defends herself against the best he has to offer—a best that she surpassed by the age of ten. Not even his knowledge of more advanced katas is enough to match her raw power. His movements are sharp, solid, and easy to predict in advance. She dodges and deflects, advancing all the way, until she's close enough to tackle him to the ground. He struggles against her, his physical strength far greater than hers, but she manages to keep the both of them down.

"Look me in the eye," she tells him, her fingernails digging hard enough into his sleeves to snag the threads. "And tell me I don't know anything about Ozai."

Zuko looks away, so Azula grabs him by the cheeks and turns his head until they're face to face. His eyes go wide as he takes in her facial features for the first time. "No!" he whispers, terrified. "This is… it's some kind of trick! You… my sister died years ago. I don't know how you learned that you look like her, but as soon as I find out—"

"Shut up, Zuzu!" she hisses. Even with the rumors of her death, she can't believe he's still in denial. "And stop being so irritating. Hunting down the Avatar went out of style back in Sozin's time. Reviving it really isn't a good look for you."

Zuko glares at her, still disbelieving, until his eyes lock on something behind them. He frees himself from her hold and gets up quickly. "What are you doing here, Zhao?" he growls at his new target.

Azula gets up to see a middle-aged man with hideous sideburns and about a dozen soldiers flanking him. Something about him rubs her the wrong way. Without even realizing what she's doing, she puts herself between him and Zuko.

"Commander Zhao," says the oldest of the fire sages, bowing with an open palm over his fist. Behind him, the other sages struggle to take down Shyu, Sokka, and Katara.

Zhao doesn't so much as acknowledge the old man. "Prince Zuko," he croons in a way that makes the hairs on Azula's neck stand on end. "It was a noble effort, but your little smoke screen didn't work."

"You're too late, Zhao!" Zuko spits. "The Avatar's inside, and the doors are sealed!"

Azula gets the feeling that these two have some kind of an unpleasant history. Zhao is an adult and a navy commander. Zuko is a sailor with a scar too old for someone so young. She wonders if these two things are connected. If what she suspects is true, then Zhao is her enemy for so much more than his interest in capturing Aang.

Zhao grins menacingly at them. "No matter," he says. "Sooner or later, he has to come out."

They're greatly outnumbered by his men, and when one comes to capture her, Azula knows better than to resist. She lets the soldier drag her over to her friends and tie them to the pillars with metal chains. This is bad, but she reminds herself that they've gotten out of seemingly impossible situations before. Maybe Aang will learn something useful from Avatar Roku on how to escape this situation. Or maybe his Avatar spirit will take over like it did on Zuko's ship and at the Southern Air Temple.

(Or maybe she'll have to find a way to melt these chains and hope her friends have enough time to escape.)

"How's Aang going to make it out of this?" Katara asks quietly, her voice laced with concern.

Sokka jerks his chin in the direction of all the soldiers. "How are we going to make it out of this?" he replies.

Azula wishes she knew how to answer their questions.

The doors begin to glow once more, and it's impossible not to notice that the color of the light is the exact same shade of Aang's eyes and tattoos when the Avatar spirit takes over. Streams of smoke unfurl from under the doors like mist at daybreak. Slowly, the dragon mouth locks spin, opening the doors to reveal a blinding beam of light.

"Ready!" Zhao commands his soldiers.

The light recedes until only two glowing eyes watch them from the darkness. Sokka and Katara struggle against the chains while Azula tries to melt them. As powerful as Aang is in this state, he shouldn't have to take on all these soldiers alone.

"No!" Katara shouts. "Aang, be careful!"

Zhao joins his soldiers in their fighting stances. "Fire!"

Together, they unleash enough firepower to make an entire squadron of soldiers retreat. It fills the entire frame of the massive doors, preventing any safe method of escape. Yet the flames make it no further than the door before being twisted and shaped into a swirling sphere that reminds Azula a bit of Aang's air scooter. Red robes become visible as the fire swirls around the Avatar, for there is no doubting that this is the work of the Avatar. It just isn't Aang.

It's Roku.

Seeing him in action makes it all click for Azula in a way that the statue in the Southern Air Temple couldn't. He is so powerful and so enraged that the mere furrow his brow sends Zhao and his men running. This is the legacy of Avatar Roku.

Avatar Roku gathers the circling fire in one quick motion and sends it back in a powerful wave that engulfs the room. It melts the chains without burning anyone, and as soon as she's free, Azula finds herself running towards him. The ground shakes beneath her feet as the temple's windows shatter into thousands of tiny shards. It does nothing to deter her. She dodges the destruction until she's standing beside this long dead Avatar.

"Get back!" Shyu implores her, but she barely notices him. "Avatar Roku is going to destroy the temple. We have to get out of here!"

"Not without Aang!" Katara tells him.

Avatar Roku lunges into a forward strike, splitting the floor open like a burning wound. As he pulls himself back into an upright position, he raises his hands above his head. The entire building rumbles as if there is an earthquake happening beneath their feet. Lava shoots like geysers from newly formed holes in the volcano's sides. He will burn this entire island to the ground to prevent enemies of the Avatar from ever calling this temple home again.

He looks over his work—his destruction of this once sacred place that had been corrupted far too long ago—and exhales. When his eyes meet Azula's, something akin to recognition flickers across his face. Azula feels it, too. Don't I know you, they both ask without words. Have we met before?.

Avatar Roku smiles down at her like he sees someone else, someone he loved while alive, in her features. And then, in a flash of blue-white light, he becomes Aang once more. Azula catches him before he falls to the ground.

Sokka and Katara make their way over to help. "It's okay," Sokka says when Aang struggles to lift his own weight. He puts an arm around the younger boy's waist to keep him upright while Katara lets him lean on her for support. "We've got your back."

"Thanks," Aang replies, his voice weak. "Where's Shyu?"

"I don't know," Katara admits as they all help Aang towards the stairs. "He wanted us to evacuate with him, but we couldn't just leave you here."

Aang sighs. "I hope he got out safely."

"Me, too," Katara agrees.

The stairs are overflowing with lava, but thankfully, Appa greets them outside the busted windows. They all hop through, Sokka half carrying Aang, and get onto the bison's back.

As they fly out of Fire Nation territory, Azula doesn't know what to feel. She thinks she should miss her former home, but the word home only reminds her of snow and ice. The Fire Nation is nothing more than the place she came from; it has no hold on her like it did when she was young. She watches it fade into the distance and wonders if there's something wrong with her for caring so little about leaving it behind again.

Chapter Text

"So," Aang addresses them while pacing the length of Appa's saddle. He hasn't been still for a moment since recovering from being possessed by Avatar Roku. "I talked to Roku about the vision his dragon sent me, and it's bad."

"How bad?" Sokka asks over his shoulder.

He's been steering them vaguely northeast ever since they fled the temple last night. It's morning now, and dark circles hang below his eyes, but he's not the only one. None of them have gotten a full night's sleep in days.

Aang sucks in a gusty breath through his teeth. "Sozin's Comet is returning at the end of the summer, and the Fire Lord is going to use it to end the war permanently. I have to master all of the elements and defeat him before the comet arrives, or else balance might never be restored to the world."

Sokka chokes on nothing. Katara starts mentally calculating how much time that is, her face rapidly losing color as she realizes that Aang will have to master three elements in just under nine months. Azula doesn't react at all. She isn't sure she can. Aang's words keep spinning around in her head, but she can't quite grasp their meaning. It's as if he'd spoken in a foreign language that she'd only ever heard in passing. He can't possibly mean the end of this summer, right?

(She knows it's true; she just isn't ready to believe it.)

"We need to make getting to the North Pole our highest priority," Sokka declares, digging around in his bag for the map. "We'll still have to make stops to rest and get supplies, but we should plan on never staying in the same place for more than a day. Impromptu prison breaks and spirit adventures will have to be a no-go from this point on." He side-eyes Katara, who purses her lips. "Aang, you should also start trying to waterbend whenever we take breaks."

"I can help with that," Katara adds, perking up. "I've never been formally trained, but I've figured out a couple of moves over the years."

"You'd do that?" Aang asks, looking hopeful.

Katara nods vigorously. "Of course!" she agrees. "We just need to find a good source of water."

Sokka grins. "Great!" he declares. "We can work that into the schedule. How about this? Next time we make a pit stop, the two of you can splash around in a stream until Aang starts getting a handle on the basics."

"I know just the place!" Aang tells them excitedly, gesturing for Sokka to switch places with him. As soon as his hands wrap around the reins, he announces: "It's pretty secluded, so we should be able to catch up on our sleep while we're there, too."

They fly northeast for another hour until Aang announces that they're nearly there. As they descend below the clouds, a river comes into view. He keeps taking them further down, passing a long stretch of perfectly usable water, before bringing him to the exact spot he had in mind: the bottom of a massive waterfall.

"Wow!" Katara gushes as she takes in the scenery. "This place is beautiful!"

"Yeah, it's great," Sokka agrees without really looking. He grabs his sleeping bag and slides down Appa's tail. "Try not to be too loud while you're playing in the water. I'm going to take a much needed nap." Tossing his sleeping bag on the ground, he flops down on top of it and promptly falls asleep.

Azula considers joining him in his slumber, but despite her exhaustion, she feels the need to do something. Avatar Roku's deadline keeps rattling around in her head. Winter might have only just begun, but the seasons pass quickly. She'll have to be at the top of her game if she's to have any chance at helping Aang win the war in less than a year's time.

There's so much she hasn't had the opportunity to learn. It's the same for Katara, but at least she'll be able to find a master when they reach the North Pole. Unless they miraculously find a formally trained colonial, Azula doubts they'll encounter anyone willing to teach a traitorous firebender at any point in the next nine months. And so, she decides that her best course of action is to watch the benders around her and see what she can use to further her own abilities.

This is how she ends up getting a front row seat to Katara and Aang's waterbending lessons. Katara has so much potential; Azula has seen her erect walls of ice and heal injuries that could have killed someone. She has kept their tribe alive with her gifts. When it comes to bending water in its liquid form, though, she hesitates. The moves she shows Aang are mostly steady, but there's the occasional shiver in the water—like she isn't quite sure if she's allowed to manipulate it in the way that she does.

Aang doesn't hesitate. He has an entire element already mastered and all the confidence that comes with such an achievement. His movements, though clumsy at first, become steady and fluid as he integrates his muscle memory from airbending into pushing and pulling the water. It spirals around him with the same ease as air currents, and Katara can't teach him fast enough.

"Well…" says Katara, trying her best to remain pleasant despite her obvious frustration with Aang's abilities. "I kind of know this one other move, but it's pretty hard. I haven't even totally figured it out yet. The idea is to create a big, powerful wave." She moves her hands in a rocking motion, building a small wave in the river, but as soon as she notices how intently Aang is watching her, she loses her concentration and drops the water.

Aang looks from her to the water, and widens his stance. "So, like this?" he asks, mimicking Katara's movements but putting more of his weight into it than she had. A massive wave rises over their heads, blocking out their view of the trees on the other side of the river.

Katara clenches her fists like she's trying to stop herself from punching Aang in the face. "Yeah," she replies, her voice clipped. "Just like that."

Aang grins, oblivious. "Great! What next?"

"Why don't you work on putting the wave down gently for a while?" Azula suggests before Katara has the chance to say something she'll regret. "You just sent one of our bags downstream, and I'd prefer if it didn't happen again."

Aang has the decency to look embarrassed by his mistake. "Sorry," he tells her, his cheeks flushed. Turning to Katara, he adds: "I really appreciate you teaching me so many things so quickly, but Azula is right. I need to work on my control for a little while. You can keep practicing if you want, though. I promise not to try anything else you do until you or Azula say that I'm ready."

"Right," Katara agrees awkwardly. "Let's just do that."

When Sokka wakes up, the four of them venture over to a nearby port town to replace the bag they lost. Luckily, nothing important had been lost—just a few stale buns and some vegetables that were on the verge of spoiling. They're down to their last few copper pieces, though, so their grocery run doesn't go as well as they'd like.

It doesn't help that Aang wasted one of their copper pieces on a bison whistle.

The last shop they visit turns out to be a pirate ship. It's anchored by the docks along with the other merchants, so it's an easy mistake to make. Azula studies all the stolen items and wonders if there are any the pirates won't miss. Her gaze lands on a few valuable knickknacks that they could sell after they leave town, but the piercing stare of the ship's iguana-parrot keeps her from pocketing it. As much as they need money, it isn't worth the risk of getting caught.

Katara has no such qualms. She steals their stolen waterbending scroll and nearly gets them all killed by pirates.

"How could you be so reckless?" Sokka demands to know. "You put all of our lives in danger just so you could learn some stupid, fancy splashes!"

Katara glares at him. "These are real waterbending forms!" she retorts. "You know how crucial it is for Aang to learn waterbending!"

"Whatever!" Sokka huffs and storms off.

While Azula understands his concerns, she supports Katara's decision to steal the scroll. It's a cultural artifact that belongs to their people. Those pirates had no right to it, and neither did their prospective buyer in the Earth Kingdom.

"Well," says Aang, casting one last glance in the direction Sokka had gone. "What's done is done. We have it, so we might as well learn from it."

"Great!" Katara replies with a grin. "Why don't we take turns? You hold the scroll while I practice, and I'll do the same for you."

"Okay!" Aang agrees.

Azula decides to go with them. "Aang, I was wondering if you could show me something while Katara practices," she says as they make their way down to the river together.

"Sure," Aang replies. "What is it?"

"When we were in the temple and the soldiers all fired at Avatar Roku, he took control of their flames and bent them into a sphere of fire before sending it back at them," she explains. "His arm movements reminded me of your airbending, especially the air scooter. If you can walk me through the proper forms for it, I think I'll be able to replicate what he did in the future."

Aang beams at her. "Of course! It's pretty easy, but it might feel awkward at first. Airbending uses a lot more circular motions than firebending. You'll have to keep your limbs looser than you're probably used to."

Azula nods that she understands. She's seen Aang fight enough times to know that he moves like no one else she's ever met.

"Just don't hog all his time," Katara says, only half teasing. "This is supposed to be a waterbending lesson."

The waterbending lesson gets cut short by Katara's temper. She keeps trying to rush through the forms on the scroll in the hopes of figuring them out quickly, but all she ends up getting out of it is frustration. It doesn't help that Aang figures everything out right away.

"You'll get it," Aang is quick to assure her. "You just need to shift your weight through the stances. The key to bending is—"

"Will you please just shut your mouth for once?" Katara shouts at him. "Believe it or not, your infinite wisdom gets a little old sometimes! Why don't we just throw the scroll into the river since you're so naturally gifted?"

Aang's eyes grow glassy with unshed tears, and Katara rushes to apologize. Sokka comes back as soon as he hears the yelling and tells Katara to go take a nap. Like everyone else, she hasn't been getting enough sleep over these past few days. The combination of fatigue and her own competitiveness have finally pushed her to her limit.

Katara apologizes profusely to Aang and then does as she's told. By dinnertime, she's in better spirits, though a bit subdued. Their evening conversations around the fire that night are slightly stilted; everyone focuses too much on not upsetting anyone else to let their words flow as freely as they usually do. Azula can tell that Katara feels bad about snapping earlier, but she can also tell that Aang has already gotten over it. Right now they're just trying to reestablish that easy rhythm they'd fallen into from the moment they met in the South Pole. She's sure they'll be back to their usual selves by the next morning.

An ambush wakes them in the early hours of dawn, and Azula realizes that she was wrong last night. Things have not gone back to normal—at least not in regards to Katara. She's missing, but pirates are everywhere. The only logical conclusion is that she ran off in the middle of the night to practice waterbending and got caught. Now they're being rounded up to face pirate justice.

"I am so sick of that stupid scroll," Sokka complains as they get dragged towards the river in large nets.

When they get to the river, Azula has to stop herself from groaning. Katara is tied to a tree, which is nothing less than she expected. The Fire Nation soldiers surrounding her, though, are an unwelcome surprise. Most are in full armor with their faceplates secured to their helmets. Two are not. One is her brother. Apparently, he hasn't had enough of getting his ass kicked by a child pacifist. The other takes a moment. His hair is grayer than she remembers, and he's put on a bit of weight, but he still looks enough like himself that she's able to recognize him as General Iroh—her former uncle.

Sokka takes in the sight, turns to her, and mutters: "I'm also sick of your stupid brother."

"You're not the only one," Azula replies. Zuko's antics are getting tiresome. Lifting her chin and looking up at her former family, she states: "Well, well, well. Look at how low the Fire Nation royal family has fallen. Working with pirates now, are we? And here I expected you to have standards."

Zuko glares at her before turning his attention to the pirates. "Give me the boy," he commands the captain, gesturing in Aang's direction.

The pirate captain shoots him an unimpressed look. "Give us the scroll first," he replies, wary.

"Hold up a second," Sokka interjects, feigning surprise. Azula glances over to him and sees that telltale spark in his eye that he's got a plan to get them out of this. "You're really going to trade the Avatar for a stupid old piece of parchment?"

Azula catches on immediately and tries not to smile.

Zuko must catch on, too, because he tells the pirates: "Don't listen to him! He's trying to turn us against each other!"

The pirate captain ignores him and turns to Sokka. "Your friend here is the Avatar?" he asks, intrigued.

"He sure is!" Sokka agrees with an easygoing smile. "And I'd bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than some fancy scroll."

"Shut your mouth, you Water Tribe peasant!" Zuko shouts at him.

"Yeah, Sokka," Aang agrees, seeming to have not yet caught onto the plan. "You really should shut your mouth."

Azula catches his eye and gives him a subtle shake of her head. She isn't sure if he understood, but he doesn't protest again.

"I'm just saying it's bad business sense," Sokka continues. "Think of how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would all be set for life."

The pirates look to one another, coming to a silent agreement. "Keep the scroll," the captain tells Zuko. "We can buy a hundred with what we'll get for the kid."

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me," Zuko warns the pirates.

As soon as she sees the first sign of fire, Azula ducks and rolls. Sokka and Aang drop to the ground along with her, but she loses sight of them when the pirates set off smoke bombs. Metal blades clash against one another, unseen but impossible to ignore, as she burns the restraints around her wrists to ash. The glow of her own fire illuminates the ground around her just enough for her to see a dark leather boot that doesn't belong to any of her friends. She extends her leg to trip the person, and is pleased when it's the pirate captain himself who grunts and curses as he falls. It serves him right for wanting to sell her friend to the Fire Lord.

As soon as they all make it out of the smoke, they make their grand escape by stealing the pirates' ship. Aang and Katara work together to push the boat off the embankment and into the water. Once they're all on board, Sokka runs to the helm in the hopes of being able to steer them to safety—only to discover that their setup is unlike any he's worked with before. He tries anyway. After a few little mishaps, he starts getting the hang of it.

And then, in the span of a minute: pirates descend upon them, they fight said pirates, Katara and Aang manage to bring an entire waterfall to a standstill to keep them from crashing, get rammed into by Zuko's boat, and fall directly into Appa's saddle.

"I knew that bison whistle would come in handy!" Aang declares with a grin. "Thanks, Appa."

Azula is never going to question Aang's purchases ever again.

A little while later, when things have calmed down, Sokka reveals that he stole back the waterbending scroll. Katara nearly cries with relief. It might not be much, but it's one more piece of their culture that can't be looted and put on display by people who would treat it like a relic from a dead nation.

They manage to make it three days before having another run-in with the Fire Nation. This time, it isn't Zuko or Zhao or anyone else who has taken on the task of hunting them down. The battalion they stumble across in the forest looks just as surprised about this encounter as them. A group of children descend from the trees and take out the entire battalion in a matter of minutes. Azula and her friends barely have to do a thing.

"My name is Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters," says an older teenage boy with hooked swords slung over his shoulder and a piece of wheat in his mouth. "Sneers, Longshot, Smellerbee, The Duke, and Pipsqueak."

Azula does her best not to roll her eyes at their dramatic nicknames. While she can understand their need to hide their identities, they could have been more subtle about the aliases they picked for themselves.

"It's great to meet you!" Aang replies, waving to each and every one of them. "I'm Aang, and these are my friends Sokka, Katara, and Azula."

Jet's eyes widen upon hearing such an obviously Fire Nation name. He casts a skeptical glance in Azula's direction. She meets it, unflinching, until he gets distracted by his little gang looting the campsite.

Katara approaches him, a slight flush to her cheeks. "Um… thanks for saving us, Jet," she says in a shy voice. "We're lucky you were there."

"I should be thanking you," Jet tells her, smirking. "We were waiting to ambush those soldiers all morning. We just needed the right distraction, and then you guys stumbled in."

Azula doesn't trust that smirk one bit. Something about it feels sinister, like he's trying to use a friendly facade to hide his true intentions. She turns to Sokka, arching a skeptical eyebrow. He responds with a slight jerk of the head in Jet's direction and then a grimace. Clearly, he's getting the same bad feeling from this Jet guy.

Unfortunately, neither Aang nor Katara seem to pick up on it. They listen to Jet's stories of past fights with unbridled enthusiasm and ask questions about the supplies they're stealing. Most of it is weaponry and explosives. Azula finds it strange that they load up crates of blasting jelly into Pipsqueak's arms but take hardly any of the food, bedding, or spare clothes.

"We're ready to take this stuff back to the hideout," The Duke announces once everyone in their group has gathered all the supplies they can carry.

Aang's whole face lights up. "You guys have a hideout?" he asks excitedly.

"You want to see it?" Jet suggests, a smug quirk to the corners of his mouth.

"Yes!" Katara agrees before either Sokka or Azula have the chance to decline the offer. "We want to see it!"

Their hideout turns out to be several tree houses connected by rope bridges and pulley systems. Azula finds it underwhelming. Most of the structures don't even have four walls to keep out the elements. She gets that they're all kids and teenagers, and that they probably don't have a lot of experience in construction, but surely one of them should have figured out how to replicate the basic shape of a shelter by now.

"It's so beautiful up here!" Katara gushes.

Azula can only imagine she means the reddish leaves on the trees. There isn't much else to look at. Regardless, she doesn't see the appeal. They're the same leaves they've seen everywhere for the last two days.

"It is beautiful," Jet agrees, gesturing vaguely around them. "And more importantly, the Fire Nation can't find us."

Smellerbee drops down from one of the pulleys. "They'd love to find you," she says, nudging Jet in the side. "Wouldn't they, Jet?"

Jet smirks. "That'll never happen, Smellerbee."

Sokka waits until neither Jet nor Smellerbee are looking to stare right into Azula's eyes and rolls his as dramatically as possible. Azula has to bite the inside of her lip to stop herself from laughing.

Katara steps closer to Jet. "Why does the Fire Nation want to find you?" she asks, eyes wide with concern.

"I guess you could say I've been causing them a little trouble," he tells her with a wink. "See, they took over a nearby Earth Kingdom town a few years back."

Pipsqueak grins as he heaves a box of explosives over his head to be taken up via yet another pulley. "We've been ambushing their troops, cutting off their supply lines, and doing anything we can to mess with them."

"One day," Jet says as he turns in the direction of the town, "we'll drive the Fire Nation out of here and free that town for good."

Katara gasps. "That's so brave."

Azula is starting to feel like she's missing something. Everyone in their group has done objectively braver things than that over the past few weeks. They've encountered people who've done braver things, too: the Kyoshi Warriors, Haru and his father, and even Shyu. And so, while she can appreciate that Jet's crew is doing what they can to fight in the war, she doesn't understand what exactly it is that has Katara so impressed by him.

"Yeah," Sokka mutters just loud enough for her to hear. "Nothing's braver than a guy in a tree house."

Azula snorts. She's glad she isn't the only one who's unimpressed by Jet.

They spend the night at the Freedom Fighters' hideout despite Sokka's initial protests. Staying wastes time that could be better spent traveling, but it also means sleeping somewhere with at least one wall and a roof. Azula considers it a worthwhile reason for delaying their travels. Who knows how long it'll be until their next opportunity to stay somewhere sheltered from the elements?

Granted, the hideout can only be called shelter in the vaguest sense of the word. The tree house that Longshot guides them to has a floor, two walls, and a roof that only covers half of the structure. It's a good thing it isn't raining because at least one of them will have to sleep under the open sky.

"Isn't it amazing how much Jet and the Freedom Fighters are doing?" Katara asks quietly as they prepare for bed. "Do you think we could stay and help for a while?"

Sokka scoffs. "We're kind of busy personally escorting the Avatar to the North Pole," he reminds his sister. "After whatever it is Jet wants me to help with in the morning, we should get going."

"Why do you get to help out but not the rest of us?" Katara wants to know.

"I don't know," Sokka admits, shrugging. "Maybe it's because I'm older? That's the only thing I can think of since all the others here are on the younger side."

Azula considers this. "Maybe you'll be undercover as new military recruits or something," she suggests. "You'll be sixteen in a few months, and you look old enough that no one would doubt it if you said you're already of age."

"That would make sense," Aang agrees. "The rest of us definitely look too young to pull off something like that, and we're too conspicuous with our tattoos anyway."

They all decide that this is probably the most likely reason why the rest of them weren't asked to join this mission and finish getting ready for bed. Katara is still a bit disappointed that she doesn't get to help, but Aang assures her that they can both help out around the camp in the morning. Azula assumes she'll end up getting dragged into their plans and tucks herself into her sleeping bag. She'll need all the rest she can get to keep up with others in the morning.

It turns out that Sokka was not, in fact, needed because of his age. He tells them about how he's gone along with Jet, Longshot, and Smellerbee to survey the forest for any soldiers that might have lingered after yesterday's fight. The only person they came across was an elderly man. He was undeniably Fire Nation, but he was also harmless. Jet beat up and robbed him anyway.

Katara crosses her arms, doubtful of Sokka's version of events. "I want to hear Jet's side of the story," she declares.

"He was an assassin," Jet claims. He pulls out a knife with a vial of some kind of translucent liquid stored in the handle. "See? There's a compartment for poison in the knife. He was sent to eliminate me." He turns to Sokka, feigning a grateful expression. "You helped save my life, Sokka."

Azula struggles not to roll her eyes. Jet's pretty good at keeping a straight face, but there isn't an ounce of sincerity in his voice. Probably, he found the knife at some other point and was now using it to cover up the fact that he accidentally attacked an innocent old man. Hyper-vigilance can cause anyone to make a mistake like that. It's not an excuse, but it does happen. She just wishes he'd be honest about it.

Katara falls for it. "I knew there was a good explanation," she says with a grin.

Sokka eyes Jet suspiciously. "I didn't see any knife."

"That's because he was concealing it," Jet replies easily.

This only confirms Azula's suspicions. Between years of hunting expeditions and weeks of being hunted by Fire Nation soldiers, she's seen Sokka in action enough to know he'd never miss something as crucial as a hidden knife. He has a keener eye for weapons than anyone she's ever met.

Katara puts a reassuring hand on Sokka's shoulder. "See, Sokka?" she tells him gently. "I'm sure you just didn't notice the knife during the scuffle."

"There was no knife!" Sokka insists, his voice laced with anger and surety. Azula believes him wholeheartedly. "I'm going back to the tree house to pack up!"

Some strong but unrecognizable emotion flashes in Jet's eyes before being quickly replaced by his usual placid demeanor. "Tell me you guys aren't leaving yet," he pleads, mostly to Katara who blushes. "I really need your help with something."

"What can we do?" Aang asks because he's apparently just as trusting as Katara.

Azula pointedly turns away from their conversation and goes to follow Sokka. She can't believe the others are taking the word of some stranger over the person who's had all their backs since before they even left the South Pole.

"There was no knife," Sokka insists before Azula has a chance to ask if he wants any help packing their things.

"I know," Azula replies. "Jet's a better liar than most, but he's still fairly obvious about it."

Sokka nods before tossing one of their bags to her. She catches it as he explains: "I told him from the start that the old man didn't seem like a threat. I get that they probably have a lot of genuine enemies, but this guy couldn't have been much younger than King Bumi."

Azula snorts even though that probably isn't the best comparison to make in this situation. King Bumi is more than capable of being a threat despite his age.

"Anyway," Sokka continues, shoving a blanket he'd stolen from that Fire Nation soldier camp yesterday into his bag. "I don't trust Jet or his judgment, and I'm worried that he might convince Aang and Katara to go along with something that they wouldn't normally support. We need to get out of here before that happens."

"Jet was saying something about a possible forest fire," Azula recalls from the snippets she'd heard as she walked away from their conversation. "Katara and Aang will probably want to stay to put it out." She thinks of Hei Bai and the day she can't remember. Who knows what spirits might reside in this forest? Unleashing something like that on a bunch of kids living in the woods would be a disaster. "But obviously we can't stick around forever and wait for it to happen. We have more important places to be."

Sokka considers this and shudders—likely thinking about Hei Bai as well. "If there's no fire by midday tomorrow, we should leave," he suggests. "They should be able to collect plenty of water for the Freedom Fighters to put out any future fires by then."

When Aang and Katara return, they reluctantly agree to Sokka's proposal. Aang, in particular, is uncomfortably aware of how little time they have before the comet returns. As much as he wants to help everyone he meets right away, he understands that ending the war is the only way to help everyone permanently. Katara takes longer to come around, but she eventually agrees that she can't wait here for an indefinite amount of time for a fire that might not even happen.

"I just wish we could do more," Katara laments as she gets into her sleeping bag for the night.

"We're already doing the most that we can," Sokka points out, gesturing towards Aang. "I know you want to be more actively involved in combat. So do I. But there are thousands of people with more training and more experience than us who are already doing that. We need to focus on our own mission for now."

Sokka is already gone when Azula wakes up. She finds this odd as she and Aang are the two early risers of the group, while Sokka would be content to sleep until midday if they let him. When she notices that his weapons are gone, she lets go of her initial concern. He probably decided to squeeze in a quick hunting trip before their departure.

But he doesn't come back.

Azula starts worrying again when breakfast comes and goes without an appearance from Sokka. The sun has fully risen and shines brightly through the leaves of the trees above. They only have a few hours left before they're supposed to leave. If Sokka doesn't return soon, he won't have enough time to butcher and cook anything he kills before they're meant to be in the air.

"He might not even be hunting," Katara reminds her. "For all we know, he got into an argument with Jet again and decided to walk it off. He's been so weird about Jet ever since we got here."

Azula can't deny that this is also a possibility.

Not long after they finish eating, Jet comes to collect Aang and Katara for their mission. Katara hesitantly admits that they plan to leave around midday. While Jet insists that he'd love for them to stay longer, he claims to understand that the Avatar can't stay here forever.

It's enough of a change from his usual routine that Azula notices. She wonders if Sokka really did get into it with Jet this morning, and if Jet has finally decided that the usefulness of having two benders who hang onto every word he says is no longer worth the effort of having to deal with Sokka's distrust.

"If you're not too busy packing," Jet says to Azula, "you should take a trip to the village down in the valley. They have a pretty good market for stocking up on supplies before you all head out."

Azula wonders how he knows that since he never seems to leave the forest. Then again, this group has been getting food and supplies from somewhere. Even if Jet isn't the one doing the shopping, he'd seen what gets brought to their tree houses after others return from the village.

Katara beams up at Jet. "That's a great idea!" she agrees. Turning to Azula, she asks: "Can you get some lentils and rice if they have any? And maybe some fruit?"

"I'll see what I can do," Azula states, not wanting to promise anything. They're down to their coppers. Getting both fresh and dried goods might be a bit more than they can afford.

She grabs the coins and heads out not long after Aang and Katara leave with Jet. The trek down to the village isn't much more than a mile, though she's dreading having to get back to the tree house while carrying supplies. The way back is nearly all uphill. She almost wishes she'd been asked to help with the forest fire instead, but she knows that would involve far more strenuous labor since she isn't a waterbender.

The market proves to be nice but a bit on the expensive side. Azula has enough money to get the essentials, but fresh fruit and vegetables are out of their budget. Hopefully they'll encounter another village happy to help the Avatar soon or else they'll be back to foraging for their meals.

A familiar voice calls out just as she finishes packing the rice and beans into her shoulder bag. "I swear I'm not joking!" Sokka loudly states. "Those kids in the woods are serious about blowing up the dam! They even stole blasting jelly from a Fire Nation camp a few days ago!"

Azula pushes through the crowd of people until she can see Sokka with her own eyes. He looks a mess with his disheveled hair and faint bruising in the shape of hand prints around his arms. His eyes, though, are bright with determination.

"Excuse me," says an old man beside her. He's shorter than her, hunched over with age, and dependent on a cane to get around. "Let me through please. I need to help that young man."

"So do I," Azula tells him, gesturing for him to follow her. "He's a friend of mine."

The old man looks at her blue clothes and gold eyes, and smiles. "I see," he replies. "Your friend is a very kind young man. He helped me yesterday when those young hooligans attacked me in the woods yesterday morning."

Azula bites her lip to avoid reacting outwardly. This man is even more fragile looking than Sokka had described. She feels foolish for having assumed before that Jet had attacked him out of a misplaced sense of fear. The only possible explanation is that he was an easy target for Jet and his Freedom Fighters to go after for revenge.

"It sounds like those hooligans are about to do far worse," Azula states.

The old man nods. "Leave it to me."

True to his word, the old man handles the situation well. The Fire Nation soldiers don't believe Sokka, likely assuming it to be a prank or a distraction by the Freedom Fighters, but the old man assures them that Sokka is telling the truth. They had already heard about the previous day's attack and are much more interested in listening now that they know they're speaking to someone who doesn't outright hate every Fire Nation citizen.

As Sokka goes over Jet's plans and how he found out about them, icy dread fills Azula. Hadn't they just speculated yesterday that Jet would try convincing Aang and Katara to do something they would normally be against? That story about a forest fire must have been a lie to get them to bend enough water to fill the dam. He plans to use their naivety to flood this entire village.

And wasn't it Jet who told her and Katara about the market? Had it been his idea for Azula, the only member of their group with Fire Nation blood, to come down to the village at the same time he planned to destroy it?

"If what you say is true, we don't have time to reach the dam and stop them," one of the soldiers says after Sokka finishes his story. "By the time we get there, it'll have already been blown up."

"Then we need to evacuate," Sokka tells him.

Another soldier gives a nod of agreement. "Yes, that might be our only option at this point." Turning to the others, he orders: "Warn all villagers that they have less than a half hour to grab anything they can carry and get to higher ground."

Sokka and Azula stick around to help with the evacuation efforts. They go door to door with the soldiers and assist anyone who can't pack up and leave on their own. Azula helps the market vendors move their wares to safety so that the village doesn't starve after the flood decimates everything. At some point, Appa shows up and lets them load people's belongings onto his back. Azula suspects that Sokka must have grabbed the bison whistle when he left this morning. It's a good thing he did because there aren't enough arms to carry every necessity, every small child, and every injured and sick person that can't leave the village on their own.

By the time everyone is safely out of the village, a sense of camaraderie has formed between the villagers and Sokka and Azula. It almost feels like they've known these people for weeks instead of less than an hour. Some of them even insist that the two teens remain with them as they travel to higher ground.

"You'd be safer with us than going off into the forest alone," a woman carrying a toddler tells them.

A soldier nods in agreement. "Yes, especially if that Jet kid discovers that you helped us. He and his gang will surely seek revenge."

"We appreciate the offer," Azula states diplomatically, "but he has two of our own right now. We need to get them and then get out of here."

"I understand," says the soldier. "Good luck." He bows to them in the Fire Nation style, and Azula returns the gesture. Sokka attempts to do the same but gets the hand placement wrong.

Once they're out of earshot, he tells her: "Man, that was weird. I hope a Fire Nation soldier never bows to me ever again."

Despite the situation, Azula laughs.

They take Appa through the woods, sticking to the ground instead of flying in the hopes that it will stop Jet from seeing them coming. It doesn't take long until they find him along with Aang and Katara at the edge of the reservoir.

"This was a victory, Katara," Jet crows despite being frozen to a tree. Azula suspects Katara was the one to do that to him. "The Fire Nation is gone, and this valley will be safe."

Sokka's hands clench around Appa's reins. "It will be safe," he agrees. "Without you."

Jet whips his head in their direction, shock and anger written all over his face. "What?"

"Sokka! Azula!" Katara calls out to them. Tears of relief well in her eyes. "You're both safe! I've been so worried ever since I learned what Jet had planned."

Azula hops off the bison and approaches her friends. She tries to put a hand on Katara's shoulder to assure her that she's fine, but Katara pulls her into a hug before she gets the chance. Aang joins them, a fragile smile on his lips.

Sokka remains focused on Jet. "I warned the villagers just in time," he says.

Jet's face twists with rage. "You—"

A water whip to the face silences him.

"At first they didn't believe me," Sokka explains. "The Fire Nation soldiers assumed I was a spy or even one of your Freedom Fighters. But one man vouched for me, the old man you attacked. He urged them to trust me, and we—" he gestures to himself and then Azula "—got everyone out in time."

"Sokka, you fool!" Jet shouts. "We could have freed this valley!"

Sokka scoffs. "Who would be free?" he retorts. "Everyone would be dead."

"You traitor! Of course you and your pet half-breed wouldn't understand!"

Katara goes rigid beside Azula and then melts into pure rage. "How dare you!" she shouts.

Azula nudges her gently. "It's alright, Katara. I can defend myself." She saunters over to Jet until she's barely a foot away from the ice encasing him. With a cold smirk, she ignites her palm with blue flames. "It's pet ashmaker, actually."

Jet spits at her, but Azula dodges. "Gross," she tells him.

"Azula, come on," Aang says from behind her. Azula turns to see that he's got his arm around Katara's waist in an attempt to keep her from attacking Jet with her bare hands. "He's not worth it."

"And don't call yourself that," Katara adds before once again trying to wriggle free from Aang's hold. "Let me just get one hit in," she mutters to Aang. "It's the least he deserves for using us like this."

Azula wraps her arm around Katara's waist as well, and she and Aang work together to get their friend onto Appa's back without incident. It isn't until they're flying over the tree line that Azula lets her go. Katara sobs, furious, as she thinks of all the deaths Jet tried to put on her conscience.

They fly in silence punctuated by tears for a long, long time.