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seyaryminamoto · 1 year ago

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The Shadows in her Reflection: Sokkla Saturdays 2023

Day 6: Fall

Rated M

On FF.net//On AO3

News from the Fire Nation seldom offered any positive revelations, and it was no different this time. Zuko never seemed to write just to say hi – it was no surprise that was the case, seeing as the Fire Lord went from one problem to the next, and he never seemed to have enough time to simply enjoy life as it came. Thus, the messenger hawk would bear unwanted tidings as it ever did, and Aang received it warily, vainly hoping it might just be better news than expected, for once…

And that was how he had learned that Zuko was on his way to Air Temple Island, bringing a wounded Sokka and Azula along with him.

That he'd found them, and that they were both alive still, was a relief… but Aang tensed up as he worried about the meaning of this new development: were they on their way to Air Temple Island as prisoners, or as the Fire Lord's guests?

"How could he bring her here?!" Katara exclaimed, fretting frantically in the corridors of their home. "Zuko's lost his mind! We're talking about Azula: Azula! He was calling for her head on a stake the last time we saw him, and now he's just… hanging out with her? Traveling with her and bringing her HERE?!"

"Katara… calm down," Aang sighed, taking her shoulders in his hands. Katara's fury didn't dwindle upon hearing that.

"I'm perfectly calm," Katara said, her voice failing to convey her words' sentiment, no matter how she stifled her emotions.

"We don't know what's going on exactly. But Sokka is coming and that's a good thing, right?" Aang said, with an awkward smile. "Let's focus on that, maybe?"

"He's injured," Katara scowled. "Zuko didn't explain why. How do we know it wasn't her doing?"

"Well, he said they were traveling together willingly…"

"Yeah, sure. Bet Azula told him that," Katara huffed, rolling her eyes and walking off irritably.

Aang sighed: his wife had been in an abysmal mood ever since the North Pole and, particularly, after her suspicions that Sokka had been taken by Azula against his will had begun.

It only occurred to the Avatar now that perhaps she would be even angrier to know that her brother might have left with Azula by his own volition.

The question of why they would have done such a thing certainly troubled Aang plenty.

The last auburn leaves still held onto the tree branches of Air Temple Island, the home he had worked hard to build for himself and Katara. It was still a small building, perhaps one day he would expand it further to fit new acolytes… but for now, it was his home. And as much as he didn't feel as strongly about Azula as Katara did, a part of him certainly was apprehensive over letting someone that dangerous and difficult anywhere close to one of the few places meant to be a haven for himself and the people Azula usually looked down on. He could only hope that Azula might just not be the person they always had thought she was, or that she had changed for the better somewhere down the line…

The dread over who she might be nowadays didn't recede once a Fire Nation airship began descending on the island, merely a day after the missive alerting them of their visit arrived. Aang swallowed hard, smiling as kindly as he could while Katara fumed beside him, outside the temple, glaring daggers at the vehicle as it landed carefully by the island's bay.

Her fury decreased only slightly once she saw her brother climbing out of the airship: his torso appeared to be covered in bandages, and he wasn't walking with his usual, strong gait. Instead, he was clearly in pain: he ambled strangely, reaching for support on…

On Azula's shoulder.

A new kind of dread dawned on Katara, countering her impulsive urges to rush over to her brother and ensure he was fine while asking what the hell had happened. Instead, she remained paralyzed as she watched Azula holding Sokka upright, no sign of madness or danger in her features. Her hair was neat, orderly… her clothes were perfectly smooth and decent rather than old and tattered.

And Ursa was there too. Right by Azula's other side.

Of course, Zuko had been the first to descend from the airship, awkwardly waving at them as they watched them from a vantage point deeper inside the island.

"W-what… what is going on?" Katara gasped, eyes wide. Aang blinked blankly.

"I… don't know. I really don't know," he said.

"Da! Da!"

Bumi's laughter behind them gave away that their son was up to his usual mischief: he was highly active often, and right now, he had picked out one of his favorite kites, no doubt eager to have Aang cast it into the air and use his bending to boost the toy into the skies.

"Bumi, go play in the backyard, okay?" Aang smiled awkwardly, kneeling before his son. "I'll be right there to help you with the kite once I'm done talking with grown-ups, okay?"

"Grown-ups…?" Bumi repeated: Aang nodded, and Bumi stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry at his father. "Boo!"

"You don't have to boo grown-ups," Aang laughed, patting his son's wild hair. "It won't take me too long, okay? I'll be right with you."

"'Kay, Da…" Bumi pouted: he kicked a small rock in light retaliation for his father's decision to leave the games for later, and he scurried off without another word.

"You sure you'll have time for that? Because I doubt we'll be done with this anytime soon," Katara said, her glare fixed upon the Fire Lord.

"Better if Bumi's not here for it, though," Aang said, with a sigh. "He'll just get upset if things get out of hand. Which… they might."

"You're not implying I'd be the one to make things… uncivil, are you?" Katara asked. Aang laughed guiltily, unwilling to answer his wife's question.

By then, Zuko had finally marched up the road, progressing far enough to reach them. He offered his married friends an awkward smile before bowing reverently in their direction.

"I'm sorry I came by at such short notice, and I know this is very inconvenient, but…" he said, rising fully to his height again. "Well, I'm sure you'd like to help Sokka yourself. As you can see, he's here after all and…"

"And he got hurt. Badly, from what you explained," Katara huffed, turning her attention to her brother, who had only just slowed down behind Zuko. Azula loosened his arm around her shoulders, letting him stand on his own. "I can't help but wonder who's to blame for that."

Azula tensed up: meeting Katara's glare shouldn't have been foreboding or off-putting, but having grown to cherish blue eyes of that same hue as much as she had, Azula certainly didn't thrive in seeing a similar gaze charged with such contempt towards her.

"It's not… it's not Azula's fault," Sokka said, raising a hand. Zuko crooked an eyebrow.

"What he means is, it wasn't Azula's fire," Zuko clarified unnecessarily, and Sokka glared at him. Katara scoffed.

"Was it yours, then?"

"W-what? No!" Zuko winced. "I…! I won't deny there were many errors of judgment involved…"

"Including on Sokka's part," Azula said. Sokka scoffed, bumping her hip lightly with his own.

"But Sokka took that wound because he was trying to… protect someone," Zuko said, leaving the identity of the object of said protection entirely vague, on purpose…

Only for Sokka himself to scoff and reveal it himself:

"I was protecting Azula. Zirin attacked her, she was wounded, couldn't fight back properly so I took down Zirin and saved Azula too. I'm just efficient that way," Sokka said, with a proud grin.

"Right," Katara said, blinking blankly. "And now the real story is…?"

"Hey! That's the real story!" Sokka squeaked, though he winced afterwards as the burn on his back reacted to his exclamations.

"Sokka," Azula warned him, glancing at his back warily even if there was no way she'd see anything when he was dressed up and covered in bandages, underneath those clothes. Sokka groaned.

"Stupid inconvenient burn. Can't even argue with my sister properly…"

"Guys… I know this is a very confusing and troubling situation?" Aang said, stepping forward, between Katara and the newcomers. "But I think you guys really ought to explain things more thoroughly than that. The last we knew, you were leading a manhunt after Azula and Sokka was her captive…"

"Oh, that final bit was a figment of all of your imaginations. Seriously, a guy can't even go on a road trip with, uh…"

"A firebending menace and wanted criminal?" Azula finished, helpfully. Sokka winced.

"Not how I was going to put it, but sure," he said. "Anyway, point is I was just going on a journey with Azula and there's nothing wrong with that!"

"There's something wrong with it when she is, indeed, a wanted criminal," Katara hissed. "Not to mention giving us no real information on what you were doing…!"

"You would've overreacted if I'd told you all along," Sokka pouted. Katara huffed, and Aang raised his hands as though to mediate between them. Azula, however, nudged Zuko with an elbow.

"They want to give us a run for our money as far as conflictive siblings are concerned, looks like," she said. Zuko scoffed.

"Well, if that's how it is, I'd rather they win and learn how to get along with you," he said, between gritted teeth. Azula gasped in outrage.

"But that'd be so boring…!" she said, accusingly. Despite himself, Zuko was smiling when he rolled his eyes.

"Look… let's just talk things over?" Aang pleaded to Sokka and Katara, who glared at each other with varying degrees of goofiness. Sokka scoffed, breaking his pout and shaking his head.

"Fine, we'll talk. But I get to say my share of stuff and you get to listen, Katara. No pretending I'm too stupid to understand what my own choices or experiences were, alright?"

"If you're already warning me that way, I'm sure this tale is going to be rich," Katara huffed, shaking her head.

"And… uh, sorry," Aang said, glancing at Azula with unease. "But it might be better if you're not there for this conversation."

"Wait, what? Why?!" Sokka exclaimed. Katara snorted.

"No real need to ask. Goes without saying," she grumbled.

"They're worried that I might be influencing your judgment in my favor, of course," Azula recited. Sokka yelped in horror. "Worth noting that, if I had intended to do that, it would be effective whether I'm around or not…"

"True! Wait, that's not the point!" Sokka winced, cheeks flushing. Azula smirked, though, raising her hands defensively.

"Mind you, I have no problem with waiting out here. Someone would like to see the look of these trees in the fall, I suspect," Azula said. Sokka's behavior shifted upon hearing those words. "But it's also worth noting that, if I were part of that meeting, you'd most likely have an ally rather than an enemy in me. Just saying."

She addressed the statement at Katara with a dry grin. The waterbender glared at her, unable to interpret her words properly. Azula turned towards her mother, who smiled reassuringly.

"We can stay together, enjoy the sights," Ursa decided. Azula nodded in agreement before sighing heavily.

"Just need… well, maybe a cup of water would do. For now, at least?" Azula said, glancing over at Sokka. He nodded, but Ursa held a hand up in his direction.

"I think I have a solution," Ursa said. Both Azula and Sokka appeared startled to hear that, but the older woman simply smiled kindly, taking Azula's arm. "Go on, now. Both of you."

Zuko nodded, clasping Sokka's shoulder and leading him indoors now. Katara glared at Azula scathingly one more time before following them, quick to bicker with Sokka over whatever he'd done to get his back in such bad shape. Aang glanced at the Fallen Princess wistfully: it was as though he wanted to forgive her, to overcome the heavy burdens that hung between them and Azula, but he didn't quite know how yet. Azula didn't shrink under his gaze, and she glared at the blue stripe of his arrow, over the back of his head, as he marched into the nearest building with the rest of his friends.

"Zuko and Sokka will be good advocates for you. I know they will be. But, in the mean time…"

Azula raised an eyebrow as Ursa smiled a little, withdrawing an object delicately from her pocket. It was covered in velvet fabric for its protection, but Ursa pulled it back quickly…

And Azula saw Yue again.

The Moon Spirit appeared dejected for just a moment before she brightened up at once, meeting her gaze with her own. Azula smiled back even before properly processing what she was looking at:

It was a mirror. A pristine, golden, regal mirror that Ursa urged her to raise her hands for.

"This… this was a gift I was given during my marriage to your father. For the life of me, I cannot remember who gave it to me at all," Ursa laughed. "It's a beautiful mirror, however. I was pleased to retrieve it once I came back to the Palace… but I struggled with looking at myself just as much as I used to, back in the day. The adornments of the frame are far better to admire than simply looking at oneself, wouldn't you say?"

"I'd likely agree, in other circumstances," Azula laughed.

"Do you like it?" Ursa asked. Azula raised an eyebrow in her direction. "You don't have to keep it if you'd rather not… maybe you hoped Sokka would give you another one. But, if it's just until you can replace it with a better one, I… I wanted you to have it."

"Mom…" Azula froze: a rather new, unexpected feeling burst aflame in her chest, as torrents of emotion arose inside her. Ursa smiled kindly at her, taking her hands in her own.

"It's nowhere near enough, but… I wanted to give you something meaningful, something you would value," she said. "And after I heard about the mirror, how it broke…! I figured I would give it to you sooner too, but, well… I wasn't going to invade your space with Sokka while we were on our journey here, it felt like a bad idea."

"Well, we weren't doing anything inappropriate anyway…" Azula mumbled, cheeks flushed.

"You still spent most of your time with him. I'd rather not get in the way of that," Ursa smiled. "Anyway… it's yours, if you want it."

Azula gritted her teeth: again, she couldn't possibly remember the last time she received a gift from her mother. She wasn't even sure Ursa had given one to her personally this way.

"Thank you. I… thanks. This really is valuable," Azula smiled, trying to contain the foolish tears that dared bloom in the corners of her eyes. "You didn't have to, but… but you did it anyway."

"You can see Yue properly in it?" Ursa asked. Azula nodded promptly, and her mother grinned. "Wonderful."

"Guess you'd like to see the fall, wouldn't you?" Azula asked the girl in the mirror, who smiled brightly and nodded.

"I'm so happy to see you again!"

"I can tell," Azula laughed. "I'm sorry I couldn't fix things any sooner, but we're okay. Sokka's supposed to be healed soon, by his sister."

"That's good," Yue smiled kindly, hands joined by her chest. "I hope she will help. Did she give you a hard time, though…?"

"Tried, but I didn't really let her," Azula smiled. "Anyway…"

She turned towards the trees, raising the mirror so Yue could see the hues of gold and auburn across the leaves… but her attention was quickly seized by something, just as Yue's was:

"Is that another airship?"

"A… police airship, apparently. I had no idea they had that kind of budget," Azula said, blinking blankly as the dark airship, having stealthily approached the island, descended by the shore right by the Fire Nation airship they had arrived on.

Evidently, the sole person who climbed off the vehicle wasn't the one in charge of steering: Toph Beifong marched in their direction with strong footing, and she raised her chin in acknowledgement at Azula once she finally reached the spot where she and Ursa stood.

"'Sup?" she said, bluntly. Azula raised an eyebrow at her casual, careless greeting.

"You were invited to the party too?" she asked.

"More like I figured I'd crash it when I heard Sparky's fancy ship had been sighted," Toph smirked. "They're all here?"

"We arrived just a moment ago, ourselves," Azula said. "I'm not welcome in their meeting. Apparently Katara thinks I'll beg and plead for mercy…"

"Pfft. You have too much dignity for that, for better or for worse," Toph laughed. "Of all people, you, groveling at her feet? Not a chance."

"I wouldn't particularly want to do that, no," Azula acknowledged, grinning dryly. "But I'm sure you're allowed to go in and tell them what a nightmare I am if you wish…"

"You're a nightmare now? Says who?" Toph smirked, stepping forward and passing between Ursa and Azula: she raised a fist, however, launching it towards Azula, only for the Princess to catch it firmly. Toph smirked. "You're fun, is what you are. I'll see if I can piss off Katara enough to make her rage more at me and leave you be."

"Guess that could be a tall order… but go on ahead," Azula smiled slightly, releasing Toph's hand. The earthbender offered her a cheeky grin, patting Ursa's shoulder too, before marching into the building.

"Then… shall we go see the sights?" Azula said: Yue smiled in the mirror, and with that, Azula and Ursa set out to wander the island.

Neither one knew much about what kinds of trees they were looking at, nor could they answer most of Yue's questions pertaining the location they were only just visiting for the first time. The sea was also beautifully colorful, and Yue appeared to cherish that, perhaps even more than the trees around them…

"It's restless, though," she said. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"It tends to be, in my experience," she said. "Some rather harsh waves rolled me and Sokka back when…"

She froze halfway through her statement, cheeks heating up when she remembered what, exactly, had followed their battle against the violent waves. Tingles of ghostly desire rushed inside her, reminding her of just how pleasant the experience had been… of how much she wanted to try it again, as soon as Sokka was in shape for it.

All of which she certainly didn't want to talk about with her mother, much less with Yue.

"Oh? You visited the beach in Ember Island, then?" Ursa grinned. "I hope you had fun."

Azula smiled and nodded as calmly as possible – she had the bad feeling that her mother wouldn't take too long to understand just how much fun they'd had indeed…

But before Ursa could pry into it some more, or poke Azula about it any further, a rustling sound and a childish cry caught their attention: Bumi, Katara and Aang's child, appeared to be jumping and pulling a string desperately, but whatever he was doing, it was to no avail…

"Oh, dear! What's the matter?" Ursa gasped, approaching quickly.

Azula studied the scene before her with a frown: the boy's string went upwards, into the treetop above him… all the way to where a kite was tangled in the tallest branches.

"Kite stuck…" Bumi said, nervously, approaching Ursa with wide eyes. "I call Da…!"

"Your father's busy right now, I'm afraid. I doubt he'll be able to come fetch it," Azula said, stepping closer and studying the situation with a slight frown. "What did you do, exactly? Did you airbend it into the tree by mistake?"

"I… don't know how," Bumi said, shyly. Azula eyed him with uncertainty.

"You don't?"

The boy wasn't an airbender? How surprising if the last airbender's child hadn't inherited the skill… weren't Air Nomads supposed to always be benders? Had the combination of two different ethnicities diminished the odds for the boy to be born a bender?

He seemed self-aware at her question, though… as though he had tried to bend and failed. As though his father had tested him to find out whether he could do it or not. As though he was already pressuring himself to be as good as Aang was… and he couldn't ever hope to measure up to the Avatar.

Azula gritted her teeth: she should not feel any manner of responsibility or empathy towards the boy her mother was currently speaking to reassuringly, letting him know she'd get his father as soon as the meeting ended…

"I could try and get it myself," Azula said: Ursa raised an eyebrow, looking at her in surprise while Bumi squealed happily. "Though be silent as I do it, understood? No ridiculous, noisy squealing or I'll climb right off."

"Quiet!" Bumi exclaimed, covering his mouth with his hands. Azula nodded.

"Good."

"Azula, are you sure about this?" Ursa asked, gripping her arm: Azula nodded, handing the mirror to her all over again. Ursa clasped it nervously.

"I've had to do menial, strange, mundane things far more often than you might imagine since well over ten years ago," Azula said. "I'll be fine. Just… wait there."

The Princess frowned as she began assessing what to do: the kite's string had gotten tangled in more than one branch, stuck in smaller branches, looping around some of them. It seemed that the boy's attempts to fly the kite, wherever they had happened, had resulted in a most unfortunate outcome where too much string had been loose and ripe to wind up in the messiest shape possible.

Thus, Azula started by climbing the nearest trees, untangling whatever she could of the string, always on her way to the kite that nestled near the top branches…

"Be careful!" Ursa called out.

"That one!" Bumi exclaimed, unhelpfully pointing at whatever new tangle Azula was due to undo – she wasn't about to glance back at him to confirm what direction he was pointing her towards.

"Kids…" she grumbled softly. "Definitely not going to get any of my own. Definitely…"

Though, if Sokka wanted some, she might just have to think about it. A little.

Her cheeks flushed at the thought: amending her bond with her mother, even if it was far from a done deal, might have also brought about foolish thoughts that she might just be a decent mother one day… though maybe she wouldn't be that bad at it. Maybe.

Oh, but this was a bother. After the fifth tangle, and still many more complicated ones to go, all willingness to ponder procreation certainly had fled her mind. She'd have a word with the damn Avatar, once she was finished with this ridiculous, self-appointed mission…

Inside, matters weren't going any more smoothly than Azula's retrieval of the kite was: Sokka rolled his eyes a thousand times, it seemed, as his sister healed his back while ranting endlessly about what a fool he had been, running off on a random adventure without explaining what was happening, especially with that kind of company, complaining about his lack of communication, his irresponsibility, his carelessness…

And then Toph shoved the doors open, startling everyone with her sudden arrival.

"And hello there, Team! What did I miss?" she smirked, proudly.

"Toph!" Zuko gasped, looking at her in surprise. Aang blinked blankly.

"You didn't have to come here…" he said.

"That's not a great way to greet your friend, Twinkle Toes. What a jerk you've become. That's what fatherhood did to you, huh?" Toph said, punching his shoulder. Aang winced at the impact.

"I'm not saying you weren't welcome! Just… I'm surprised you wanted to drop by at all," Aang said, with a small smile.

"Guess I felt responsible for a thing or two around here," Toph said, rubbing the back of her neck before raising her chin at Sokka, stretched across a futon where his sister was healing him thoroughly. "How's the trip been, Sokka?"

"Was fine until Katara decided to chew me out for having a life," Sokka pouted.

"A life? You're saying you took an indefinite leave from the council because you're having a life?!" Katara exclaimed.

"Exactly!" Sokka rebuffed her. "They're fine without me for now, I'm sure…"

"You were due to become the chairman! Aang's been doing your work when it wasn't even his turn!" Katara scolded him. Sokka sighed, glancing at Aang apologetically.

"It's okay… though I'd rather you were back, too. You're better at handling politics than I am," Aang said. Sokka sighed and shook his head.

"It was impossible for me to focus on that while dealing with, well, all of what I was dealing with! So excuse me for being efficient about resolving my main problems so that I could go back to work properly once that was done…"

"What, exactly, were you trying to resolve?" Katara scoffed. "You were worried about the moon, but last I knew, you hadn't figured anything out with that…!"

"That's… not exactly the case anymore."

Katara froze, the water dripping out of her control and spilling down Sokka's flanks. He winced at the sensation, glancing over his shoulder at the sister who eyed him skeptically.

"What… does that mean, exactly?" she said, pointedly, softly.

"Means Azula's got some mystical wonky connection with Yue."

Sokka froze: Toph made the statement carelessly, relaxing against a wall, arms folded over her chest… Zuko stared at her in disbelief, mostly over her nonchalance, whereas Aang and Katara gaped in utter confusion.

"She's… what?" Katara said. "Connected to…? That can't be!"

"It is true," Zuko said: Katara scoffed, glaring at him next.

"You're actually believing something your sister said? Zuko, you always said she's the biggest liar you've ever known!"

"Doesn't mean this isn't the truth," Zuko sighed, shaking his head. "She knew things that… that only Yue would've known. Well, you would've known too, you were there, but you wouldn't have told Azula about the things I said to you when we met in the Northern Water Tribe's Oasis, or would you?"

"Zuko, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have talked to Azula about anything at all, why would I talk to her about…?!" Katara started… then she froze. "Wait. She… she knows what you said that day?"

"What? What did he say?" Aang blinked blankly. Toph snickered.

"Zuko's heart is racing! Someone's nervous…!"

"Shut up!" Zuko squealed, cheeks flushing as Toph cackled. "No one needs to know what I said…!"

"He called me a 'big girl' and mocked me for being sure that I could protect Aang with my bending," Katara finished. Zuko winced, covering his face with his hands as Aang gasped in horror, and Toph, naturally, snorted and laughed with wicked delight. "You're telling me, though… that Azula knew that? Sokka, you didn't…"

"I wasn't there. Literally learned about it just when Azula said it out loud," Sokka said, pushing himself upright. "Moreover? She knew things about my relationship with Yue that… well, none of you would have known. Like the place where we first kissed, or the first gift I gave her. Or the weird way in which I tried to flirt with Yue… though Katara overheard that too, but evidently she wouldn't have told Azula about that either, right?"

"Clearly I wouldn't have told her a damn thing. I mean, when would I have done that, to begin with?" Katara said, frowning as she took her seat near Sokka, frowning. "I… no. I don't understand. How would Yue… connect to Azula spiritually in any way? Why would she choose Azula?"

"I'm not even sure that she did. But maybe she did and… maybe it's a good thing," Sokka said. Katara's confused glare made him sigh. "Look… I know it's weird to fathom after all these years that maybe Azula was only ever, well, someone who went through things she couldn't really handle. She came from the same environment as Zuko, and we gave him a chance…"

"Yeah, because we had no choice," Katara said, bluntly. Zuko scoffed. "It's true! We let you join us so you'd teach Aang firebending: it's not that I'm saying it was a mistake, I'm just saying we weren't doing it because we took pity on you or something. We needed you: I don't need Azula, and I don't know who of you does, but…"

"Yue does," Sokka said. Katara frowned, but this time, it was Aang who spoke.

"Why's that?" Aang asked, quietly.

"I… I don't really understand why Yue's only started doing this now," Sokka said. "But she has wishes, dreams she couldn't fulfill. Why is Azula the one to fulfill them? I have no clue, but… maybe she feels a kinship towards her. They're both princesses who went way too far to serve their people: Yue did it to save them, and she paid a price she never should have. She made the right choice, but… it wasn't fair that she'd have to do that. Meanwhile, Azula's every awful choice throughout the war was for the sake of fulfilling what she was taught as her duty to the Fire Nation. Doesn't mean it was okay, but it does mean that… that doing all those things destroyed her. She's been lost in life for a decade, pretty much. She didn't have a purpose until she started seeing Yue."

"How… exactly does she see Yue?" Aang asked, crooking an eyebrow.

"It's… kind of how she was seeing her mother's mirages, before," Sokka explained, breathing deeply. "She thought it was her mental illness acting up again, at first. But I'm sure it's the real Yue. There's no way this is just her subconscious mind speaking. So… she sees her in reflections of all kinds. Water, mirrors… I got her a mirror so she could talk with her more easily. It broke in the fight we had in prison, when she was talking to Zirin, trying to get through to her. Didn't really work, Zirin went ballistic on her and in the fight, well…"

"Wait… that's how you got hurt?" Katara asked, frowning. "Did you jump between them or something?"

"Well, only after I threw my boomerang and knocked out Zirin?" Sokka smiled awkwardly. Katara raised her eyebrows. "I just jumped in front of the last flames she threw at Azula. She couldn't move because she was wounded, so…"

"Ah. So, she couldn't move. That's a totally logical and reasonable motive to jump in the path of incoming danger," Katara said, with a dry grin. Sokka shrugged.

"Sounded like a reasonable choice at the time. Still does, actually," he said. Katara scoffed.

"Sokka… you're losing it," she determined. Sokka rolled his eyes. "I get that maybe this whole thing wasn't about Azula but about Yue, which is honestly a bit of a relief to know? But at the same time, what exactly are you expecting will happen here? How do you know Azula didn't do something weird or messed up to cause Yue to connect to her…?"

"When I came across her in the North Pole, Azula wanted nothing but to get rid of Yue. That's very much why she was there, she assumed Yue would sort of… flow out of her once she reached her hometown," Sokka said. "I even… well, took her to the oasis. Hoped it might help Yue return to the koi fish, kind of? Still didn't happen."

"So… she doesn't want this?" Aang asked. Sokka shrugged.

"Didn't at first. By now, though… they're friends," Sokka said. "We didn't give Azula a chance, guys: Yue did. And I only started doing it because Yue did. What I've found since then is… Azula is so much more than any of us ever imagined she was."

"So much more… what?" Katara asked, with a dry grin. "Dangerous? Unpredictable? Dishonorable? Twisted?"

"Strong. Intelligent. Profound!" Sokka nearly squeaked, glaring at Katara. "Could you stop pretending you have all the answers to everything for ten seconds and listen to me when I say that Azula has value you couldn't possibly fathom? You believed in Aang blindly when we met him and I refused to listen, and you proved me wrong! Why is it impossible to imagine that this could be a similar situation, just, the other way around?"

"Because this is ridiculous! You're talking about Azula, Sokka!" Katara scoffed. "Why the hell are you trying this hard to defend her and stand up for her and…?"

"Oh, I know that one: it's because he's banging her, right?"

Sokka froze, paling immediately: Katara was left mid-sentence, and she turned her head slowly towards the careless Toph with utmost disbelief. Aang blinked blankly… and Zuko gasped.

"Toph…?!" Zuko exclaimed. Toph scoffed at his reaction, shaking her head.

"You knew that already, you doofus. What're you getting all worked up about? Not news for you, I told you so in Ba Sing Se…"

"I wasn't sleeping with her in Ba Sing Se!" Sokka squeaked: by now, his cheeks had flushed instead… and Katara turned an outraged set of cerulean eyes on him.

"Oh, not by then? When, then, did it start, exactly?!" she bellowed. "Sokka, is this true?! Is it?!

His silence spoke for itself this time, and Katara gasped as she rose from her spot, no longer healing his mostly patched-up back.

"Sokka…! Hell, you've lost your damn mind! You can't be serious…! Toph is joking. Tell me she's joking!"

"Toph… is messing with me. Like she loves to do!" Sokka growled. Toph snickered.

"I mean, yeah, but… I can feel that heartbeat, Meathead. It's not the same as before," she smirked. "No more 'I wanna but I don't dare', more like 'if I weren't in this dumb meeting I'd be pinning her to a wall and having my way with her right now', right?"

"You…" Zuko said, turning towards Sokka with a raised, pointed finger. "You… you lied! You weren't just sleeping naked in Ember Island because you sleep naked in the Fire Nation, were you?!"

The Fire Lord's grand declaration left everyone in the room stunned in utter silence for a good five seconds… then Katara yelped, and shortly afterwards, Aang and Toph burst out with laughter. Zuko's cheeks flushed, and he glared at his laughing friends reproachfully.

"He…! He said he was only doing it because the Fire Nation weather makes him…! Ugh! Why the hell did I believe you at all?!" Zuko roared, stomping up to Sokka, who grimaced and raised his hands defensively. "Are you involved with my sister?! Answer me!"

"Where the hell is this nonsense even coming from…?" Katara said, eyes wide with horror. "Sokka, are you nuts?! Azula?!"

"I… fine! Yes! I'm involved with her!" Sokka exclaimed, cheeks flushed even when his face was a mask of determination. "It hasn't been that long since I started traveling with her, but I've never felt the way I she makes me feel before, okay?!"

"What the hell is that supposed to even mean?" Katara winced. "What, are you aroused upon being… scared?"

"What? I'm not scared!" Sokka squeaked. Katara glared at him skeptically. "I'm not! I… I know you are, sure, but…"

"I'm not scared of Azula! I could put her in her place if I wanted to…!"

"Sure, and that's why you're so pissed at me, first for traveling with her, then for being her friend, and now…"

"For doing her in," Toph finished for him. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Love how helpful you're being, Toph! Nice work!"

"I do try…"

"I'm not scared of her!" Katara exclaimed, again. "I'm just…! Sokka, what the hell is the matter with you? An affair with Azula behind Suki's back? I know things between you haven't been great, but…!"

"Things between us are better than ever right now, actually, because they ended," Sokka said, with a dry grin: Katara's jaw dropped. "And you know what? It's been… liberating, even. I can't believe how much better I feel now that we've cleared the air, talked things through and fully grappled with the reality that… that we're not each other's future! And we don't need to be! Sure, yes, she's pissed at me and probably will always be pissed at me, but…"

"So, you… rebounded with Azula?" Katara asked, with a grimace. Sokka huffed.

"I didn't rebound. You don't get it, nobody is likely to, and you know? That's kind of it," Sokka said, shaking his head. "What's going on between us defies anything I've ever known, okay? It's not like Yue, it's not like Suki… it's something else entirely. I don't know where it's going to go, if it'll go anywhere at all…! But I never imagined that I'd tell her I loved her as early as I have. But… I said it anyway. So… there. That's how it is."

"You… love her?" Zuko repeated, blinking blankly. Toph whistled.

"That's a taller order than I thought. You sure went in fast with the feelings, bud. Should've enjoyed the no-strings-attached period a bit longer, if you ask me…" Toph chuckled. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"I don't think that period really happened here," he said. "After we figure out how to fully help Yue, get her to see the world, all the seasons, experience everything she can through this bond with Azula… well, Azula and I will most likely stick together after Yue is back to her lunar duties, okay? And I have no idea on what terms we'll be together going forward, no idea if it'll last a lifetime or two months, though I really hope it's a lifetime instead…"

"Sokka, you had a chance to spend a lifetime with someone who wasn't a known criminal and terrorist, and you just happened to pick her?" Katara said, dryly. "Suki was perfect for you!"

"Pfft. I have no idea what makes you think that… but maybe I don't mesh well with perfection if you're right to say that," Sokka said. Katara's eyes widened. "I nearly proposed to her, Katara. I backed down when I knew it wasn't the life I wanted."

"And Azula is the one you'd want forever instead?" Aang asked. "I mean… if you're not thinking about it that way, I guess it's one thing, but…"

"Look, it's up to her if she still wants me after all is said and done," Sokka said. "But… the more I've gotten to know her, the more I'm convinced this is the life I've always wanted. I'm not joking around, this isn't just… banging, the way Toph puts it. Yue connected to Azula spiritually… and I think I connected with her too in just about every sense that counts. It's crazy that we've been traveling together for only a few months, and I already can't imagine my life without her in it. They say you don't know what you've got until you lose it… but sometimes? Sometimes you find what you didn't know was missing in your life and you know better than to let go. And that's what happened with us."

Katara blinked blankly before shaking her head, pacing inside the room. Zuko stared at Sokka in confusion: Sokka held his gaze defiantly, and the reality of what he was saying seemed to sink in then.

"You… love my sister," Zuko whispered. "That's… that's a new one."

"I know. But… was about damn time someone did," Sokka said. Zuko gritted his teeth, lowering his gaze.

"You could've… said that's how it was. I mean, I didn't really like the idea, but… I don't even know why I didn't. Still, if you love her…"

"You're still out of your mind," Katara said. Sokka sighed and shrugged.

"Well, not so far out of it that I ever expected you'd change yours, so I'm still not that crazy…"

"Sokka: you can't love Azula. Even if you do, you'd better stop doing it quickly," Katara said. Sokka scowled. "She's a menace! She's a hazard! You're entertaining her for now, but what about once she gets bored? She'll go right back to bad habits the minute she can't get what she wants from you anymore, and then you'll have been aiding and abetting a known criminal and terrorist who might just murder half our family if anyone looks at her funny!"

"That's not who Azula is!" Sokka exclaimed.

"You're sure of that, no kidding!" Katara said, with a dry grin. "But she's manipulating you, like she manipulates people all the time, like every single person who knows her ever said she did! Mai, Ty Lee? They said so too, and so did Zuko before he started being all… brotherly! If that's what this is!"

"Hey, I don't think Azula is doing that right now, okay? She's… acting a little different than usual," Zuko admitted. "If she weren't, I would've stuck it out with the same attitude I had the last time we met. But something's… changed in her."

"Or maybe… something that's always been inside her has finally been allowed to bloom?" Sokka said, with a dry grin. "And mind you: it's not because of me that it's blooming. It's because of Yue."

"Sokka, the more you try to convince me of that, the more I'm convinced, instead, that she just figured out something about you that you didn't expect and now she's using it to take advantage of you…!"

"Why is it so damn hard to fathom that…?"

"She killed Aang! Or nearly killed, anyway…!"

"Zuko nearly killed us too! More than once!"

"Sokka, I know I fucked up a lot of times, but there's no need to…"

"She deserves a chance as much as you did!"

"Look, you all know that I'm an advocate for giving people second chances, but…"

"Is there anything to eat? I'm kinda hungry right now…"

"TOPH!"

"Ugh! Everyone just shut up!" Katara exclaimed, hands going up to her head in confusion and desperation. "I… I don't want to listen, Sokka, because this makes no sense to me! I refuse to believe it because if anything happens to you because of her, if she hurts you or hurts anyone I love, I…!"

Her rant was cut off by a sudden, familiar scream in a childish voice.

The blood slowed in Katara's body: Aang leapt to his feet.

It was Bumi.

"AZULA!"

As fast as the Avatar might have been with his bending, Sokka, shirtless and almost fully healed, ran out the door before anyone else could.

He followed the voices, the noise, and everyone else followed him in turn: anxiety rose inside Sokka's chest: was she in trouble? Was she in danger? Had Bumi done something stupid to her somehow, or…?

While most his friends dreaded that Azula was the danger herself… the truth was a lot less flattering than that.

Sokka gasped at the sight of her once he reached the house's backyard: the Princess snarled… as she hung upside down at a tall tree, her right leg awkwardly tangled in a kite's string.

Bumi, near the trees, kept screaming in a panic, further convincing Azula that he couldn't possibly be an airbender – he might just have helped her out of this pointless, stupid ordeal otherwise… and her mother had rushed into the temple a moment ago, perhaps looking for something to help her out of the tangle she had wound up caught in.

She frankly couldn't believe she was dangling off the damn kite's string this way. She had tried to undo the string's every knot… only to wind up entangled in it herself before long. She was moments away from tearing the damn string up, from setting it on fire... and then she had fallen off the branch upon attempting to break herself free.

She wrestled with the damn thing in midair, guessing the blow against the ground would not be pretty if she burned it off, but it was far better than to dangle here forever, the blood rushing to her head while the annoying boy screamed…

"AZULA!"

Sokka's voice: her stomach sank.

Of all people, she certainly didn't want him to see her in such a stupid, embarrassing, preposterous situation…

But he did. She grimaced, glancing at him and waving briefly, upside down, as Sokka raced towards her eagerly…

Then, the ground rose to meet her body.

Azula gasped when she felt support on her back: an earthbender, most likely Toph, had raised a block of earth to help her find some stability. Moments later, Sokka climbed up the earthen block, taking her into his arms.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it was a stupid mishap…" Azula sighed: Sokka grimaced at the sight of the tangles of string up her body.

"What the hell is that?" he asked.

"Your nephew may have gone overboard flying that kite and getting it stuck in this tree. It defies any scientific explanation, what he did. Spiders could learn from his ability to weave webs that nobody can escape from…" Azula growled, back to work at undoing the knots…

She didn't need to do much more work to that end when Sokka pulled out his boomerang and cut the string.

"There. I'll restring it for him later, it's no problem," he sighed. Azula blinked blankly.

"Really? Just like that?" she asked. Sokka smiled.

"Won't be a big deal, I said. Getting new string for a kite is nothing out of the ordinary," he whispered. "For how long were you hanging there?"

"Uh. For however long the boy was screaming. Thank goodness he shut up by now," Azula said, eyes wide. "I'm never doing any favors to children again. They're on their own forevermore."

"Uh, yeah, sure thing," Sokka laughed, helping Azula by undoing the rest of the string's knots around her body. "You okay, though?"

"I'm fine, I said," Azula pouted.

"I didn't really mean… physically. Your pride?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, my pride? Why, your nephew stampeded over it, took a dump on it, and then cast it into the deepest pit of lava in any volcano known to civilization, but sure, I'm fine," Azula said, with a dry grin. Sokka laughed, hugging her to his chest and kissing her brow. "Yue's going to have the time of her life hearing about this one."

"She might just," Sokka smiled warmly at Azula, cradling her in his arms briefly to offer the support she seemed to relish in, right now. She might just shove him away later, but for now, while she didn't realize she was in plain sight…

But there were plenty of eyes upon her indeed: Aang and Katara froze in place, watching the pillar Toph had raised, with utter confusion. Even after hearing about Azula's relationship with Sokka, it was remarkably difficult to believe it could ever be real, no matter if they were seeing it for themselves right now…

"This isn't happening," Katara said, with an awkward smile. Aang swallowed hard, watching as Azula began wrangling herself out of the string too, helping Sokka with the tricky deed. He laughed as he assisted her, too. "It can't be."

But there was no denying that Azula's latest stunt, with its lack of dignity, hadn't resulted in a wild outburst of fire and lightning in retaliation, which was what they would have expected from her, normally. Aang leapt with his bending into the treetops, pulling out the kite without as much difficulty, now that the string had been cut, before landing next to Bumi with the kite.

"Sorry I wasn't here to help, Bumi," Aang said, handing the kite to his son. "I'll, uh, fix this in a bit, okay?"

"No string?" Bumi pouted. Aang smiled awkwardly and shook his head.

"I'll mend it, okay? But, for now, maybe…"

Aang bent the stringless kite into the sky, and Bumi squealed with joy as he watched his toy rising under his father's power. Aang smiled fondly at his son, just as Sokka and Azula finally climbed down from the earthen platform Toph had raised for them. The Avatar cleared his throat, stepping towards them.

"Sorry, I… I don't know how he did that. You're okay? Did the string burn your skin, maybe, or…?" Aang asked Azula.

"That's a good question: did it?" Sokka asked, grimacing. "If it did, Katara, come heal Azula…!"

"No!" Azula scoffed. "I said I'm alright, I just… didn't expect that outcome. It was my own carelessness, nothing more. You don't need to worry about me."

"You can't ask me, of all people, not to worry," Sokka said, nudging her lightly. Azula sighed… then she frowned, inching away from him, growing increasingly aware of everyone else's presences only then.

"Uh… this isn't, well…" Azula said, eyeing the Avatar warily. Aang blinked blankly before smiling carelessly.

"It's okay, Sokka already told us everything."

Azula froze. Sokka grimaced as she turned her head slowly, threateningly, towards him.

"What did he just…? What?!" she smiled dangerously, and Sokka stepped back, raising his hands defensively.

"Honestly? Wasn't my fault! Toph's the one who went and blurted out that…! W-well…! I tried to keep it cool at first but after a while I couldn't keep on denying it!" Sokka squealed, cheeks flushed as Azula scowled in his direction.

"You couldn't keep denying it," she repeated.

"Didn't you say I'm the worst liar you've met, or something like that?" Sokka sighed, lowering his hands. "They got me and since Zuko looked like he was moments away from beating me up, I kind of went and told them that it wasn't just a physical thing, so…"

"What's it to him, whatever it might be?" Azula growled. "None of his business either way… but curse you, couldn't you at least hold it in for a couple of hours?"

"Eh, I tried. Guess I love you too much to do that," Sokka declared smugly, raising his head as he finished his statement. Azula's jaw dropped.

"Y-you utter… ugh," she groaned, covering her face with a hand… and glancing at a smiling Aang, who shrugged at her.

"It's not a bad thing if you two are in love, I think? It actually makes me more willing to…"

"Sorry…"

Azula frowned, eyes falling on the child that stood beside Aang again, holding the kite that had finally landed again. He bit his lip but smiled at Azula.

"My kite… I got it now," he said. Azula huffed.

"So I see," she said. "Make sure not to lose it again."

"Okay!" Bumi grinned.

He finished off his latest exchange with Azula by rushing in to hug her leg.

Azula heard Katara's horrified yelp in the distance: it was far more satisfactory than it should have been. If just for the sake of annoying her, she simply leaned down slightly, patting the boy's head.

"It's quite alright, quite alright…" Azula said, her voice ringing with arrogance. "I wasn't even hurt by it, not truly… though, ensure to be more careful about who you ask for help in the future, when it comes to such matters. I'm far from the best candidate for the task. As for you, Avatar… keep an eye on your child?"

"I will, I will. Thank you for trying," Aang smiled awkwardly as Bumi let go of Azula's leg: he offered her one last broad grin before running off, carrying the kite over his head.

Azula smirked in Katara's direction: the waterbender appeared moments away from losing her mind to panic. She dragged her son towards herself once he passed near her, checking multiple times to ensure he wasn't injured in any way… naturally, finding that he wasn't. Frankly, being a good person paid off, above all else, just because of all the people who were betting everything they believed, everything they knew, on the expectation that Azula would never be able to change. Proving them wrong was shockingly invigorating.

"You sure you're okay?" Sokka asked, taking her hand in his. The instinctive urge to yank it out of his hold nearly overcame her, all be it to keep matters hidden… but Azula swallowed hard and nodded, squeezing his fingers back – more petty revenges, such as showing herself affectionate and kind to Sokka, would continue to unnerve his sister profoundly. She wouldn't feel comfortable doing this in front of other people if she weren't finding such a solid payoff from it.

"I'm fine. I'll just never talk to another child again," she concluded. Sokka laughed, leaning close to kiss her brow.

"Azula…! Oh, Azula…!" Ursa's voice reached them: after screaming Azula's name, she had rushed inside the temple and now she scrambled back out again, carrying a ladder with her. She had taken a different door in than the one the group had used to get out in the first place, so no one had seen her until now. "I was going to find a way to help you, but…!"

"Help found me before you found it," Azula said, with a smile and a shrug, as her mother dropped the ladder and approached her. "I'm fine."

Perhaps she was, indeed… but nothing prepared her to wind up in her mother's embrace next, as Ursa desperately hugged her upon ensuring she was safe.

Sokka let go of her hand, a small smile upon his face as Azula froze in Ursa's grip. She hardly knew what to do, for it was one thing to receive affection from Sokka… it was a whole other matter for it to happen with Ursa. She raised her hands tentatively, unsteadily, and placed them on her mother's back…

Tears suddenly flooded her eyes as she pressed her face to Ursa's shoulder – she didn't want the rest of them to see that part. Curses, she shouldn't get emotional over something so simple, so casual, so… so needed. Something she had been desperate for all across her life and… and suddenly, it was really there.

For once, her mother was embracing her and Azula held her, right back.

"Not what you would expect, now, is it?" Toph said, nudging Zuko's ribs with an elbow. He had watched the scene in confusion all around, but now he watched that embrace from afar… realizing only then that he had no recollection of witnessing a sight like this one before.

"Not really… but I'm glad it's happened," Zuko said, with a small smile. "There are a lot of things I didn't know, I guess. Lots of things I can't fix… but maybe others can."

"And you're not mad at those two for being naughty anymore?" Toph asked, amused. Zuko scowled. "What? You jealous or something? Want to be naughty too?"

"Stop it," he growled. "Nothing happened between us."

"Because you ran away. Chicken."

"I'm not going to…!" Zuko huffed, glaring at her to find Toph beaming proudly. "You realize just how crazy this nonsense of yours is? It's hard enough for me to wrap my head around all that's changing lately and now you're… throwing yourself at me?"

"Just for one night, what's the big fuss? I'm not asking you to marry me, I wouldn't be that dumb," Toph smirked. "Who'd want to get married at all?"

"Pretty sure Katara and Aang did," Zuko said. Toph made a grimace of distaste.

"Well, they're weird. You're too cool for that kind of boring nonsense, aren't you?" she said.

"What if I'm not?" Zuko pouted.

"Then maybe you should take me up on my offer and learn why it's better to be free like I am," Toph smirked proudly. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"You're free to do whatever you want, but I'm not joining your parade. To think you tried to cajole me into that kind of thing just to give me… what? What information were you going to give me about those two that I couldn't have found out through any other means?" Zuko scowled. "I found them without your help in the end…"

"Oh, I wasn't going to give you anything even if you went for it," Toph smirked. "I don't turn my back on my friends, not even for my other friends."

"That's…" Zuko said, frowning. Toph shrugged.

"You weren't ready to hear Azula's not who you think she is. Might be you're finally ready now. I had nothing to say, didn't really know where they were going or what they'd do next," she admitted, with a careless smile. "Was just easier to screw you over by pretending I did."

"You… ugh. Now you've definitely convinced me that you and I are never going to happen," Zuko huffed. Toph chuckled.

"Sad. Guess my imagination will have to be enough…"

"Stop imagining weird things! Ugh, Toph!"

"Prude."

Ursa sighed, pulling back and smiling at Azula while still holding her shoulders gently. The fallen Princess swallowed hard, offering Ursa a pained smile as the woman cupped her face.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more, but…"

"You didn't have to. You… I mean, what could you have done?" Azula asked, with a slight smile. "You did the right thing, they just got here before you could get them. It's… it's okay."

"I… I hope so," Ursa said, with a gentle grin. "I'm glad you're fine. That… that he came to your rescue."

She smiled knowingly at Sokka, who stood awkwardly behind them. Sokka grinned nervously, unsure of how to feel about Ursa's approval… knowing it was probably not a full, done deal, let alone a complete acceptance of Sokka as Azula's potential partner, but a greater step towards that direction than he had expected possible, quite so soon.

"He has a knack for doing that, looks like," Azula said, smiling a little. Sokka's gut fluttered happily upon hearing those words.

The conversation he was holding with the others before Azula's mishap had been cut off too abruptly, and it appeared that nobody was all that eager to return to it, most of all, those who believed Azula wasn't as bad as they had initially assumed she would be. To the Princess's surprise, a whole outdoors cookout was organized shortly after she had been saved from the throes of the kite's wicked string, mostly comprised by roasted vegetables, but Sokka managed to find some fish that everyone besides Aang could eat, too. It seemed as though their tense, suspenseful arrival had already smoothed over into perfect calm and peace… even if Katara still glared at her on occasion. Even so, glares were meaningless if she never acted upon them… which she certainly didn't, not after Sokka approached her with a grand idea to distract her from her spite towards Azula.

"Say, say. Azula and I were talking some time ago…"

"Do I need to hear this?" Katara grunted. Sokka nodded.

"It concerns you, so of course you do. Remember when you beat her back at the end of the war?"

"You… were talking about that?" Katara blinked blankly. "Why?"

"We talk about anything and everything, that's what couples do," Sokka smirked. Katara scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Though we weren't really together back then, but still! Point is… Azula shared some curious information about Fire Nation culture with me. She told me the winner of an Agni Kai is the one who burns the loser. And because of that, Zuko didn't actually beat her that day."

"Is that right?" Katara grimaced. "She'd obviously try to twist laws to her convenience…"

"Oh, no, no, no: you see, I realized that, by the logic they were using, YOU are the true Fire Lord because you defeated Azula after she defeated Zuko!" Sokka smiled brightly.

Katara, halfway through chopping some vegetables to roast, froze on the spot before staring at Sokka in utter confusion. He grinned still, hands behind his back.

"See? It was something that concerned you," he said, happily. Katara snorted.

"Fuck that," she said, eloquently. Sokka burst out laughing. "I'm not the…! Just the notion makes me sick! Don't ever say that again, Sokka! I'm not the Fire Lord, never would be…!"

"Even if that means you get to boss Zuko and Azula around because they're Fire Nation people and you're their rightful leader?" Sokka smiled mischievously.

Katara stopped, shooting a glance towards the other set of siblings. Both Zuko and Azula, busy by the grill at the moment, stared at her in chagrin, having overheard the conversation so far.

"T-that's not true! She's not…! Sokka, where the hell did you come up with that idea? Azula, you didn't…! Surely it was his idea, not yours, you wouldn't lead him to think something like that makes any sense!" Zuko squeaked. Azula rolled her eyes.

"Evidently, I told him it was unreasonable, so this isn't really… well, maybe it's partly my fault for thinking he'd have a logical reaction to things, but it is Sokka after all."

"Actually… I think this is great now: Azula, I command you to break up with my brother," Katara smirked at her: Sokka yelped, and Azula offered her a deadpan glare.

"In case you haven't noticed, I've spent a long time being a wanted criminal by Fire Nation authorities for defying the Fire Lord… do you really think I wouldn't rebel against your commands if I did against my brother's?"

"W-well…! I guess you would, but I had to try, didn't I?" Katara groaned.

"Tough luck," Azula smiled. Sokka snickered, approaching her and wrapping her in his arms. "Seriously, Sokka, what kind of trouble are you trying to stir, telling her something as ridiculous as that?"

"I was just trying to help her lighten up, nothing more to it…"

Despite the strange conversation hadn't resulted in Azula and Sokka's break-up, as commanded by Fire Lord Katara, the waterbender couldn't help but smile slightly as the other two ambled away, her brother still locked around his new lover, marching behind her as she berated him for putting weird ideas in people's heads. As much as his way of going about his goal had been rather strange, Sokka had achieved it nonetheless, ensuring that Katara had something to smile about.

Once they were sitting together by the steps that led back into the house, waiting for more food to be ready, Azula pulled out her new mirror, which Ursa had returned to her earlier, to Sokka's surprise.

"Your mom gave it to you?" Sokka asked, smiling warmly. Zuko continued tending to the grill nearby, refusing to give Toph any fish and constantly giving her the vegetables that she disliked the most.

"Yeah… I wasn't expecting it," Azula smiled at him before glancing at Yue. "But fortunately I didn't break this one when I fell from the tree like an idiot. My mom was holding it for me."

"You… huh? You mean, when you were trying to help Aang's son?" Yue winced. Azula smiled and shrugged "I couldn't tell what was happening because you weren't the one holding the mirror then…"

"I'm afraid it was quite chaotic. But we've survived worse than winding up entangled in a kite's string, haven't we?" Azula said. Sokka smiled.

"Maybe I should've been entangled in it with you, like when we hung underneath that bridge…" he suggested. Azula snorted and shook her head.

"I'm not sure the kite's string would've held us both, so I doubt it," she pointed out. Sokka snickered. "And no, I wasn't high enough that you could have or should have rescued me on a hot-air balloon like you did in the Fighting Cliffs… not that it was really a rescue, but…"

"You were being hunted down by Fire Nation soldiers, so I think it kind of counts," Sokka smirked, nudging her slightly. Azula rolled her eyes, smiling.

They had shared far too many strange experiences, far too many instances of camaraderie that had turned into much more than that: the peace they had found together had eluded them for the years through which they had never so much as fathomed each other as potential matches, partners. Now, that peace was finally within reach, at last, in the mysterious but fascinating future that lay ahead for the two of them.

And what was more, that future suddenly seemed promising in more fronts than the most obvious one: it wasn't merely that Azula had found someone worth spending her life with, shocking as the revelation was, most of all due to how sudden, how as good as random it had been… but having made peace with the people who had hunted her, the people who had resented her. Even if Katara wouldn't budge easily, she didn't get in the way of her conversations with Sokka, and she even eyed them with curiosity once Azula was holding Yue's mirror. As for the others, they appeared to have relaxed around her… Zuko no longer treated her as a bomb waiting to burst. Her mother offered her gestures of affection, even, and wanted to spend more time with her, getting to know her better, wishing to be part of her life.

As she sat where she did, Azula placed her head on Sokka's shoulder, suddenly taking in the landscape before her, with those darkened, brown leaves fluttering to the ground, as laughter and amusement lined the strange serenity of Air Temple Island. Half a year ago, she had been a fugitive… today, she was part of a family. She had chosen to be in one, too.

Her heart clenched at the thought, tears surging in the corners of her eyes: was this truly the life she would have? Had her unspoken hopes and longings been answered this way?

Her eyes fell upon the mirror, and Yue offered her a kind, heartfelt smile. Azula smiled back, retaining her immediate urges to pull back so as to not disturb Yue with her closeness to Sokka… she held her place there, unafraid, knowing Yue wanted her to be exactly where she was. Knowing she was finding happiness by Sokka's side, the way Yue might just have, if only the world had been kinder to the Water Tribe Princess…

They had a bonfire that night, impromptu as it was, enabling the whole group to rejoice in this unexpected, strange reunion. Aang staged a dancing competition, in which all Fire Nation-born folks declined to participate, while everyone else tried to show their best moves – Toph, naturally, did so by bending and messing with her dancing friends by making them trip or raising the earth under their feet before they knew what was happening. The amusing situation was not lost on Azula, sitting with her mother and brother… feeling content. Feeling alive.

Despite Katara's grievances, Azula was allowed to sleep in Sokka's room that night, if just due to Aang's leniency. Zuko's horror at such decision was deigned as irrelevant as Katara's, and Toph simply laughed while urging them to be careful not to turn Katara and Zuko into aunt and uncle, respectively, just yet… Ursa only smiled kindly, bidding her daughter good night.

"You're terribly self-aware about all this, aren't you?" Sokka asked, once they were safely behind the walls of their room. Azula huffed, running a hand over her hair.

"About a lot of things, I'd say," she whispered. "Aren't you? Or are you just used to being with someone in front of your family? I certainly cannot relate, if that's the case…"

"I'd say I am, but… it's different now," Sokka said, with a silly grin. He approached Azula, stroking her hair and kissing her nose softly. "I'm sorry I couldn't hold back the truth until we settled on what to do together, though. Wasn't the plan."

"I know," Azula said. "But… didn't turn out so badly, in the end. Guess your weakness can be a strength in disguise, sometimes."

"Heh, looks like it can be," Sokka smirked. Azula laughed softly, placing a hand upon his chest.

"Feels like this is way too real, way too fast," she whispered. "The things you're making me do, or even think of…"

"Good things or bad things?" Sokka asked, taking her hand in his.

"Sometimes both," Azula answered. Sokka snickered. "I… I never imagined this. A life like this, well… it was out of my reach until you found me. It hasn't even been that long, not really, but… you've changed my life in that time. You, Yue… I never believed anyone would think I was worth any of this."

"Guess it's nice to know that you're not always right if it's proven in this way, huh?" Sokka smiled. Azula laughed and raised her gaze to meet his.

"As if. I'd rather be right about everything, curse you," she mocked him. Sokka laughed, taking her face in his hands to kiss her lips warmly.

They should have shown restraint, but they lacked it direly with a relationship as new and fresh as theirs was: the futon received them without a hitch, and Sokka plunged into Azula's naked body after she stripped his clothes off, too. Their intimate embrace lasted longer than it should have, surely… but there was no letting go just yet. Not until the candles had run out, not until the sole light drifting into their room was that of the stars in the autumn sky…

Azula lay awake for a while longer as Sokka rested beside her, lying on his stomach, face turned towards her. He might just start drooling on the pillow, and she'd close his mouth for him if he did… but for now, Azula simply lay beside him, marveling at the fact that someone she had thought next to nothing of, not long ago, would have become such a crucial element to her happiness as Sokka had. It was a miracle, in the end… one she cherished deeply.

One she owed to someone else, too.

Despite wanting to lie in bed next to the man she loved, above all else, Azula pushed herself off the futon and picked up the sleeping gown she had been provided back in the Fire Nation airship, on their way to Air Temple Island. Dressing in it, she stepped towards the dresser – there was a mirror above it, from where Azula deeply hoped Yue wouldn't have been able to see what she and Sokka had done…

Azula smiled nervously at Yue when she spotted her in the mirror: the Moon Spirit offered her an awkward smile of her own.

"Hey, I… I don't know why I decided to talk to you rather than staying there," Azula admitted, nervously. "Just… w-well, you didn't hear that, did you?"

"Would it matter much, if I had?"

"I… I guess not," Azula acknowledged, running a hand over her hair absentmindedly. "I have to work on that self-awareness, I guess. Anyway, I just… I just wanted to say a few things now, as I had the chance."

"Things?" Yue said. Azula blinked blankly at how anxious the girl looked suddenly.

"It's nothing about Sokka… in any sense you might find distressing, I hope," Azula said. Yue gritted her teeth.

"It'd be okay if that's what it was…"

"Then… what wouldn't be okay?" Azula asked, puzzled. Yue smiled and shook her head.

"Nothing. Tell me. Just… tell me what you wanted me to know."

Azula breathed out, folding her arms over her chest. A thrill, or a goosebump, rushed up her back.

"I just… wanted to say thank you."

Yue's eyes widened. Azula shook her head, determined to keep going until she finished saying what she had to:

"Look, I… I wanted this. All of this. I didn't want to admit I did, but the truth is I was lost because I didn't think anything like this could be in the cards for me. You proved me wrong with your sheer stubbornness and strength of heart and I… I owe you so much more for that than I'll ever be able to say."

"Do you, really? Azula…"

"I know you might not want to hear it. I'm having the life you deserved, aren't I? It should be you here, not me, enjoying all these bonds, all these strange moments of joy and bliss and… and I can't really help but feel that I'm taking it from you, somehow. But… I'm growing to find peace with myself somehow, too. Suddenly, it's… it's possible to feel that, even if this life should have been yours, it might just be okay for it to be mine, too. And that's such a new feeling for me…"

She sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes as she smiled at the stricken girl inside the mirror.

"Thank you," Azula whispered. "Thank you for bringing back my… my will to live. For helping me learn that maybe I… maybe I could be more than what I thought I was. From thinking you were a pain, an obstacle in my way, a punishment I didn't deserve, I… I find myself thinking I would've gone nowhere in life, found no way out of hell with my old allies if you hadn't turned up when you did. For whatever reason you were with me for all this time, Yue, I… I'm grateful. You've… you've taught me how to live. You weren't even trying to, but you did it, nonetheless. A-and I know it's… it's self-congratulatory and embarrassing for me to say that I'll try to repay that favor by making Sokka as happy as I can possibly make him. For both our shares, I'd dare say, but…"

"For… whatever reason?" Yue said, with a sad smile. "So… you still don't understand why I did it?"

"I… well, you never told me," Azula frowned. "I didn't really understand because you refused to say, didn't you?"

"You know, we had more in common than we ever imagined possible," Yue said, smiling sadly. "But… I wasn't brought to you because I wanted to help you find this life for yourself."

"I guess not. It'd be awfully conceited of me to presume that, but…" Azula frowned. Yue laughed.

"That's not what I mean. What I mean is… this wasn't intended for your benefit. It was a punishment."

Azula frowned: Yue's gaze suggested her words were genuine… but the way she phrased them gave her pause, nonetheless.

"A punishment…" Azula repeated, eyes narrowing. "But… not for me?"

Yue smiled sadly… then she nodded.

"I never told you. I never wanted to. I never thought it would matter… but it does now," Yue said: tears bloomed in her eyes, and Azula's placid demeanor shifted abruptly. "This… is the last time I'll ever see you."

"What?!" Azula gasped: Yue held up her hands as though to pacify her, but that didn't stop the Princess from scowling heavily. "What does that mean? Yue…!"

"I would stay, Azula. I would, but…" Yue said, pleadingly. Azula's face was a mask of heartbreak that even the Moon Spirit was moved by it. "A… a comet struck the moon. Remember?"

"I remember," Azula said. Yue gritted her teeth.

"I… I didn't tell you the truth about a lot of things. That's why you always thought I was lying. I was, but not in the matters that you believed I was," Yue explained. "I… I can speak now. I have to speak now, because… this is the end. Azula, I… I've been a prisoner, for all this time."

"What? You… wait," Azula frowned, raising a hand towards the mirror. "Wait a fucking second, you… in my dreams. Yue, I saw things in my dreams, but every time I woke up…!"

"I was fine? I… I was. Because you were showing me your light," Yue said, with a sad smile. "Every time you looked in a mirror, every time you saw me in a reflection, it was… it was a window that opened in this darkness, allowing me to see something more than this nightmare. I…"

"The moon has been darkened," Azula recited, frowning. "It was… it was dark for you, too. You were trapped in darkness. What happened to you wasn't some mystery, you knew what was going on all along was because of…!"

"The comet that struck the moon, yes," Yue whispered, closing her eyes. "I'm… haunted by it. Another spirit has taken hold of me. I… I can't break free. I don't know how. The only way to keep it from draining me into nothingness was… you. You've… you've been saving my life constantly, Azula, without knowing you were doing it. I've… I've used you to stay tethered to reality. It didn't really matter, at first, what you might do, whatever you were up to… because the nightmare within this darkness only ever stopped if you were there for me to see."

"I… don't understand," Azula said, trembling. "Yue…!"

"At first I only wanted… the moments of respite from darkness that only you could provide. But the more I got to know you, the more I grew to see that I… I wanted you to have a better life than you did," Yue said, with a watery smile. "My captor let me see you, I think… because he believed that you would be my downfall. He let you be my last hope for safety, just for his sick, twisted enjoyment, I think… he thought that, if I wanted to be saved, I'd lose myself to despair because you'd never wish to help me. Because you…"

"Because I was… a selfish monster who took and took and would never give back?" Azula asked, scowling. Yue laughed.

"Isn't it funny just how wrong he was about you?" she said: Azula froze on the spot. "I… I wanted for nothing. I expected nothing. But you've given me everything I could have hoped for… you've given me a chance to experience your happiness with you. You showed me the world! I… I never thought I'd get to see it as I did, by your side! You helped Sokka find peace, closure, happiness…! And you found hope and strength for yourself, too. I don't… I don't care what happens to me now. I never did. I… I gave up all hope of salvation long ago. The one thing I still wanted… was your peace and happiness. I wanted you to have everything neither of us ever did. And now that you finally have it, well…"

"You… no. You can't be serious…" Azula said, scowling. "Well…! I'm not at peace, nor am I happy now, with everything you've said! You lied to me! You've been lying to me about my dreams for all this time…!"

"I never wanted to alarm you…"

"You did anyway!

"I had no power over what you saw. Every time you crossed over into this world in dreams, I… I was terrified that you might not be able to go back. That he would notice and entrap you too, so… I never wanted you to chase a solution. I only wished for you to live your life… to live it right. You have the chance to do so much I never could…"

"That's… that's no reason to resign yourself to some cursed fate!" Azula hissed, striking the wall beside the mirror. "You… You didn't make me give a damn about you, you didn't make me care as much as you did, only for you to leave now and expect me to do nothing! To say or feel nothing about this…!"

"There's… there's nothing you can do," Yue said. Azula snarled. "I'm sorry. I know this isn't the way you'd like for things to be, but…"

"You're so infuriating," Azula hissed, tears spilling down her eyes. "You…! I'm not going to forsake you just because you ask me to! Tell me this is all nonsense, that you just can't stand to see me being happy with Sokka, that this is all just a fabrication and that you just hate me for…!"

"I could never hate you," Yue said, earnestly. Azula snarled.

"You did all this… for your benefit, you said? That makes no sense. That… if it had been for your benefit, you'd have found a way to come back to life through me, maybe, or something like that! How's it to your benefit if the only one who got her dreams fulfilled was me?!"

"It's too late for me, it has been since I became the Moon Spirit. My life ended years and years ago. Yours didn't. I don't know if you would have done this for me, if our roles were reversed…"

"Oh, I wouldn't have, that's for sure…!"

"Right," Yue said, with a sad smile. "I… I didn't need you to change, Azula. I didn't ask you to. I didn't try to make you anyone else… I just liked you as you were. I grew to cherish you as you are. I'm sorry if I've… if I've ended up being a disappointment. But just know that… that I loved you. I loved Sokka. I hope… I hope for the best for you two. Please…"

"You… don't you dare leave. Don't you dare…!" Azula exclaimed, snarling at the mirror fiercely. "We're not done here! You wanted to see the seasons? You're still missing one, damn you! You can't just…!"

Yue smiled sadly: of course she had seen the last remaining season. She had lived in perpetual winter all her life, after all… but Azula's desperation manifested itself in her pleas and demands, nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Azula."

"You're not! You're…! Stay here. Stay. Yue, for crying out loud, tell me it was all a lie, all a joke, just tell me everything you just said was…!"

The Fire Nation Princess began crumbling emotionally: her hand touched the mirror… and so did Yue's, touching right against hers.

"He…" Yue said, eyes widening slowly. "He's coming."

"No. No one's coming. Nothing's wrong, Yue, nothing's…!"

The Water Tribe Princess froze: her tearful eyes widened: her features darkened, and she drifted backwards.

"No! No! YUE! COME BACK…! YUE!"

The darkness wrapped itself around her body: her features faded, one by one: the last to vanish was the hand pressed against the mirror, against Azula's own.

"Goodbye, Azula."

"YUE!"

The Fire Nation Princess's eyes snapped wide open: she sat up in bed abruptly, and the arm draped over her shoulders rose awkwardly.

"Azula…?" Sokka grimaced, pushing himself back as his lover's bare chest heaved. "What got into you? Are you…?"

"I'm…" Azula said: she hadn't gotten up. She hadn't approached the mirror by the wall…

There had never been a mirror there, to begin with.

A gripping fear surged inside her heart as she kicked the covers off and jumped out of the futon. Sokka, groggy and confused, grew more alert over her behavior slowly.

"Azula…?"

The Princess rushed through their nightstand's things until she finally found the mirror Ursa had given her. Her trembling hands turned it towards herself, careless about showing Yue any parts of her naked body…

But said bare body parts were all she got to see.

There was no one standing over her shoulder. Not the right one. Not the left one. Nowhere.

"No… no…!" Azula gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Azula, what's going on?" Sokka asked, crawling towards her with uncertainty. "What…?"

"She's not there," she said. Sokka froze.

"Wait… what?" he frowned. "You… wait, that can't be. That…"

"I can't see her, Sokka. I can't see her. I…" Azula said, turning towards him, her face a mask of horror and distress, tears spilling down her cheeks.

He shook his head: not again. He couldn't lose Yue again, not this way. Azula couldn't have been as helpless to save Yue as he had been…

But the aghast, desperate expression across her features spoke for itself:

Once again, Yue was gone.

#sokkla #sokka #azula #sokkla saturdays 2023 #sokklasaturdays #oopsies at the ending #but I hope you guys enjoy everything before it plenty #the chaos of having the gaang together #ngl those guys have insane team synergy #I loved writing that chaotic 5-people conversation/argument #Bumi becoming Azula's next best ally is hilarious to me too #the way this woman gains new incentives to be a good person by screwing with people's heads in doing so #she's going to start a whole scheme to become Bumi's favorite aunt soon #Katara found screaming into every pillow #it will be hilarious (?)#anyway anyway hope you enjoy xD

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