#AzulaShipChallenge

[fyrebend]

credit to // @gingerhaze

[squiddybeifong]

Acceptance

Day Eight of the Azula Ship Challenge

Pairing: Tophzula

Notes (on chronology) in tags

--

The water around the banyan-grove tree was murky as ever, occasionally rippling as a bug flittered against it or a vine collapsed. Toph took a deep breath as she took in all in, trying to work up the strength to smile at the feel of fog and mist against her face. Tired, her knotted hands came up to unravel her bun; hair she knew to be the color of snow tumbled down her shoulders until they hit the ground.

She poked at one of the vines with her toe, feeling the shaky vibrations. Even though the ground was never solid and the mud was adequate at best, the earthbender absolutely loved coming to the Foggy Swamp.

Nothing about it made sense. People apparently saw visions here and pants were optional. It was just as welcoming as it was menacing.

The whole swamp was a neutral force, but nowhere was it stronger than the banyan-grove itself.

The metalbender felt a grin slip onto her face. She sighed, happy at the sensation. It had been a few months since she'd genuinely smiled. They had been in Zaofu; Azula had insisted that they be there for the birth of Su Yin's twins, having missed her previous two. It had been really nice to see her daughter again, despite their differences. Junior had been ecstatic to see them both, climbing into their arms and babbling “Oma! Gramma!” over and over again.

Azula had been flustered at the title but she hadn't refuted him. No, instead she only pressed a kiss to her lover's cheek and tucked the child under her arm like a sack of bread.

Blind eyes closed as Toph relived the day. Suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, reality nudged its way in, reminding her of the bitter truth that she had been trying to avoid. It was all around her, haunting her every move. The emptiness in her chest, the still scratchy remnants of Katara's hugs, the numb feeling of chilly flesh, the frustrating futility of forcing herself not to cry.

The harrowing vibrations that one morning, when she woke up and her firebender was gone.

She had touched the princess's shoulder but no breath came. Her chapped lips settled over Azula's heart but nothing sounded. Blinking slowly into the muggy air, Toph reminisced at the full fledged earthquake that ravaged the area and destroyed an entire mountain range as she came to grips with what had happened.

Azula would've been proud of the sheer power and amount of destruction she had caused.

But Azula wasn't here anymore.

Swallowing thickly, Toph ignored the tightening in her chest as she reclined against a vine, tucking her hands behind her head. She shut her tired eyes, listening to the near imperceptible heartbeat of the swamp, thrumming with buzzing insects and rippling stagnant water.

Without even thinking of her movements she dug her hand into her pockets, pulling out a small scroll. The edges are ripped and the once consistent color has faded in some areas and darkened in others. Smoothing the sheet out, Toph slowly slid her fingertips across the raised ink.

The lines had been worn down through the years but the image was still just as clear as the day it was painted. The details are still immaculate: the haughty smirk, wide shoulders, pristine hair pinned up with a clip, the curled digits of her hand, raised up as she balanced a flame on her fingertips.

A tremble overcame the old woman's lips as she rubbed her fingers along the smooth lines that created her lover's face; Azula hadn't changed too much with age and neither had her portrait. A calloused thumb pressed against the princess's ink lips, recognizing the shape and remembering the taste. Toph brought her thumb up to her mouth and kissed the end, feeling as her shoulders started to shake.

Carefully refolding and placing the scroll back into its place the earthbender sagged onto the tree’s trunk, furling and unfurling her creaky fingers against her knees.

Her head lowered until her chin dug into her collarbone, the press of bones together uncomfortable but welcome. A melancholic laugh erupted from her throat and she was gripping at her pants, “By the spirits do I miss you, Lightning Bug.”

She forced down another laugh before it could become a sob. Calming herself, Toph let her shoulders hunch until they were nearly level with her ears. She breathed in and out, over and over and over again, until the tears had dried in her skull and the throb in her heart and settled down in her stomach.

The blind woman planted her soles against the ground, looking around the swamp. All her adventures, all her exploits, all her accomplishments, pver eighty years worth of experiences; everything whittled down to this moment, curled up alone in a swamp, crying over her lover's death.

Over and over and over again she chanted in her mind, ‘I miss you. I miss you. I miss you.’ Toph fought back the urge to smile at that; all those years of schooling and her vocabulary was simply three little words.

She wiped at her eyes, feeling the sag of her skin and the arthritis in her joints. Against her wishes her brain forced the memory of not even a season ago, when Azula had pressed her bony hands into Toph's own and cackled about what old farts they had become. Toph had showered her with kisses and the two had lazed around that day, drinking tea and each other.

A languid grin twisted up the edges of her lips at the thought, and before she even realized it she was talking into the air, “Heh, we sure had a whole lotta fun, didn't we?”

The dreary wind rustled the vines and Toph slowly nodded until she let her head hang, knowing that her firebender wouldn't answer.

--

The air was thick; smoke and ash and dust clogged up the air, making it nearly impossible to breath. In the clearing two girls stood, one wielding fire and one commanding the earth. All around them was evidence of their fight: the trees were singed black, the once smooth ground had been torn up, boulders and rocks scattered the ground, lightning burns had dried up all the grass.

Despite the chaos the two were laughing as they fought, expertly dodging the other’s attacks and responding with her own. Suddenly the earthbender lunged at her opponent, tackling the firebender and pressing kisses onto her neck. Azula let out a whine as they tumbled to the ground but did not refute the smaller bender; instead, she wrapped her arms around Toph’s shoulders, greedily tearing apart the girl’s signature bun.

Toph buried her head in Azula’s shoulder for just a moment, nose crinkling at the beat of the sun’s rays against her skin, before she placed her palm flat on the ground. Her fingers flexed and the ground underneath them shifted, moving the two under the shade of one of the only non-singed trees.

Both sighed happily at the lessened heat, curling up together even further. Azula snorted as she wiped a bead of sweat away from her forehead, cleaning her hands on the grass. Toph was warm against her form and the princess found herself softening as she started to run her fingers through the blind girl’s hair.

She felt as Toph smiled against her skin and couldn’t contain her shiver as thin lips started to trail up her neck, peppering butterfly kisses on the underside of her jaw. Even as the younger girl gripped at her waist, Azula couldn’t help but mention a fact lingering on both of their minds, “It was a tie.”

Toph paused for a second before chuckling, lifting her face in disbelief. A thin brow raised over her eye as she deadpanned, “It was not a tie. I beat ya, Firefly. No doubts about that.”

The princess shook her head, “Not at all. That tackle didn’t count.”

Toph’s other eyebrow jumped to mimic its twin. Her lips pursed in a pout and Azula couldn’t ignore how attractive she looked. Golden eyes noticed that she was going to keep arguing the point and she immediately pulled the metalbender into another kiss, humming as she was kissed back.

Azula broke the kiss, pulling Toph down and letting a small grin work its way onto her face. Her eyes slid shut and she took in the sounds of the forest: the faint buzz of honey-crickets, the fluttering wings of pigeon-rats, the sweaty sniffling of armadillo-bear cubs, the wispy rattles of the wind blowing through the leaves. One eye creaked open as Toph grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers.

Both eyes opened to watch as Toph absentmindedly pressed smooth pecks onto her knuckles. Something warm flooded her torso at the sight and Azula pressed her lips to the blind girl’s temple, “I’m glad that you kidnapped me,” she murmured against the still-damp skin.

Her gaze turned to her other hand, watching as her manicured nails slid in between Toph’s inky locks. They were tangled and dusty, but still unbelievably soft to the touch.

Toph shifted against her, wrapping her other arm around the firebender’s hips as she settled for brushing her lips against the princess’s palm, humming sleepily.

Azula rested her cheek atop Toph’s head, for once not feeling ashamed at the dopey smile that rested on her lips. She smelled the scent of wet earth and smoke in the air. “I really love this,” she whispered into the air, surprised at how easily the words slipped off her tongue.

Although her heart began to beat faster and her palms threatened to start sweating, Azula didn’t bother to continue talking, instead allowing her declaration to hang in the air between them. Toph breathed in the wonderful smell of grass and lightning, the words escaping her throat lowly, “I really love it too.”

[purpleplatypusbear21]

Cold When You’re Not Around is now available to read on FF.net and AO3!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12682316/1/Cold-When-You-re-Not-Around

http://archiveofourown.org/works/12317571/chapters/28004118

Thanks again to the lovely, talented @seyaryminamoto for the beautiful artwork to this story!

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Azula Ship Challenge

Week 8: Acceptance 

Ship: Azulaang

Song Rec: Jaymes Young’s Northern Lights and  MYSTXRIVL’s Things We Miss

Aang takes Azula on a trip to the north pole, along the way they discuss that which troubles them. Azula finds herself falling for him and has a bit of trouble coming to terms with it. 

“You’ve never seen the North Pole?” Aang asked. And just like that he carried her away, far away from the noise of the capital and the judging glares of the people.

On the back of his bison, the pair had round after round of deeply personal conversations. Weirdly personal, she had to admit. She found that loneliness and sorrow could loosen the tongue. A part deep within her, longed for someone to vent to. Longed for release. The Avatar seemed like a good place to start. The boy was wide eyed and—for the most part—of pure intention. She had trouble picturing him sharing the secrets of others, knowing the distress it could cause. So she reluctantly opened up to him. Often, he would nod his head and not say anything. Other times he would offer a piece of what he hoped was well placed advice or reassurance.

For that, she kept talking and on occasions, she listened to his troubles. One such strife—that was discussed weeks into their journey—was a fight with Katara that ended with a pretty bitterweet breakup. “She wanted to go back home and I wanted to stay in the Fire Nation and make sure things were okay.” He told her. That’s how it started. It finished with them agreeing that a long distant relationship just wouldn’t be possible—Aang had a duty and she had a family so traveling the world together just wasn’t going to work anymore. Of course, that left him wondering if they had only gotten together because the war had brought them there. That, perhaps, their love only ran as deep as their need to save the world.

 “I’m sure you’ll find someone else.” Azula replied and couldn’t help but add a resentful, “there are plenty of worthier people anyhow.” To whom she was referring, she hadn’t yet realized. Of course, Aang wasn’t thrilled with the offhanded remark, but chose to let it go in light of things.

 The conversation to follow was one that Azula had been dreading. The one where he asked her about her mother. She mostly kept quiet but that was enough to let him know he was touching a raw spot and he continued to pry until she turned her back to him so he wouldn’t see the few tears that slipped out. They didn’t speak for the rest of that day. He probably feared that he shattered the eggshells their entire relationship seemed to resemble; because that night when he brought Appa to the ground he approached her. She was laying on her stomach when he asked if he could sit next to her, when she didn’t wave him away he dropped down. Slowly and soothingly he rubbed her back and said that she didn’t have to talk about it if she didn’t want to. Somehow, that always made her want to get things off of her chest. She sat up and relayed what she had known for a long time, that her mother never enjoyed her company and would have been better off with just a son. As she did so, Aang took her hand and squeezed it, telling her that it wasn’t true and that possibly, her father had planted those thoughts. She furrowed her eyebrows, she’d never considered that she’d heard those ill-words not from her mother’s own lips, but from her father speaking for her mother.

That night she let Aang fall asleep by her side. Without much thinking, she wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled her face in the crook of his neck. He didn’t move away, in fact he looked pretty cozy.

 After that their conversations had become less heavy. He would share a story or two from their life on the road—her favorite was the one about Sokka and the baby sabretooth moose-lion. In turn she mentioned a thing or two about TyLee catching a fish and stuffing it down the back of Mai’s shirt. She made sure to mention that this occurred during their little chase.

 The two of them were just about as different from each other as two people could be. But they had a certain vibe that Azula enjoyed. He was as gentle as she was harsh. She was as cold as he was friendly. But somehow it worked—she could get him to toughen up when times called for it and he had a way of slipping under her armor and exposing a more sensitive side. They brought each other out of their comfort zones until it was no longer uncomfortable.

 Only one thing remained uncomfortable for her. And by the time they got to the North Pole it became more apparent. Seldom did Azula come across a person who accepted her as wholly as he did—for not just her brains, cunning, loyalty, and skill, but for her manipulative streak, cold demeanor, and paranoid nights (among other things) as well.

Under the glow of the northern lights it became apparent that she more than enjoyed his company. She yearned to keep it. She savored his light and caring embraces, the twinkle in his eyes when he realized that he had made her laugh or helped her work through something tough. Stranger still for her, was that she took relief in finding out that she’d helped him.

 “You’ve really never seen them before?” He asked again, motioning to the colorful glowing patches that danced about the sky like dreamy specters.

 “To be honest, I didn’t know that the sky could do that.” Azula admitted. The display was dazzling. It was like the smoke she was used to seeing but in graceful pastels that washed the snow in shades of green and pink and sometimes blue.

 Aang shot her that wide and goofy smile. He seemed proud of himself, for showing her something that she found fascinating.

 “I just wish it wasn’t so frigid.” She replied, shaking with cold. Aang scooched closer and tossed his blanket around her. “Can we get closer?” She asked.

 Aang peered at Appa. “Are you up for that, buddy?”

 The bison gave a lazy groan but stood up anyhow. Aang took Azula’s hand and helped her into Appa’s saddle. He seemed to be bursting with joy, “I can’t wait for you to see them up close!”

 She responded to his words with a warm smile. They were skybound in no time at all, idly drifting nearer to the wintery spectacle. As Azula gazed at the curtains shifting in the night sky, Aang came to stand behind her. He wrapped his blanket around the both of them and then his hands around her middle. It was quiet, serenely so save for the breeze that fluttered her hair. In this instance there wasn’t a need for words.

 In that moment, Azula realized that Aang accepted her for everything she was. Now she had to accept that she loved him for it. As impossible as she thought it was, she loved him in general. She felt a soft kiss on her ear.

He was making it so easy for her to accept.

So she did and kissed him back.

[fanwright]

Azula Ship Challenge 2017

Hey Azula fans! Monday October 9th, 2017 is the start of the #AzulaShipChallenge!

Please free to participate in this 8-week writing and art challenge. The rules are simple:

Each Monday, post a story, story chapter, or art piece based on the corresponding prompt of your choosing (see below for dates and prompts).

You will have two options from which to choose for each week - pick one or the other, but not both!

Azula must have at least one ship - it can be anyone; it can be multiple people; it can be a BrOTP!

Tag your work with the #AzulaShipChallenge tag

No word limit for writers- write as much as you want!

You can write 8 separate stories or one 8-chaptered story or anything in between. The choice is yours!

Each chapter can involve a different ship for Azula - highly encouraged!

All ratings are accepted. Please tag any work with adult oriented content with the additional #NSFW tag when applicable.

It is highly encouraged to branch out from your OTP/OT3 and write something unexpected. You may surprise yourself!

As stated before, art contributions for the challenge are also highly encouraged! Please feel free to contribute an art piece in place of a fic for the prompts.

Dates/Prompts:

Monday, October 9th, 2017: Mistake /or/ Pact Monday, October 16th, 2017: Partners in Crime /or/ Lightning Strikes Monday, October 23rd, 2017: You Miscalculated /or/ Playing with Fire Monday, October 30th, 2017: Lies /or/ Bad Joke Monday, November 6th, 2017: Bittersweet /or/ Silk Monday, November 13th, 2017: Devotion /or/ Blood Monday, November 20th, 2017: Madness /or/ Two Sides of the Same Coin Monday, November 28th, 2017: Acceptance /or/ Caught

If you have any questions regarding the challenge, please contact @purpleplatypusbear21, @clarielparke, or @fanwright​.

[seyaryminamoto]

Azula Ship Challenge: Day 4 - Bad Joke

OTP: Sokkla ; BroTP: Azula + Gaang

Rated: T

The red standards flew in the air along with the blue ones. Horses charged without any restraint, weapons shining in each warrior’s hands. Resistance was futile: every military unit was being wiped out systematically by the powerful siege weapons that tore down buildings, walls and guard towers. Nothing could slow down the destruction of an entire civilization, as the winds of conquest swept by. Time was running out already, but the untimely demise of the Japanese civilization could not be slowed, not when all their castles and samurai had been slain…

“Ugh! I quit!” Toph shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. Suki groaned.

“Come on, just a little further, we have resources…!”

“They’ll have wiped out our buildings before we can do a damn thing. Leave it be! Quit and let them celebrate already!”

Suki sighed and resigned from the game, and on cue, the red and blue team started their mandatory celebration, laughing and kissing as the rest of the competition sighed in defeat.

“Well, you should be glad you guys were the last to fall, if anything,” Katara told Toph and Suki, pouting.

“Yeah, well, your team was very easy to target once we realized Aang had no military forces,” Sokka laughed at Katara, with Azula’s arms still around his neck.

“We are most grateful for that, Aang,” she said, smirking at the bald, defeated boy who scowled a little at her. “A population limit of two hundred, and you made a hundred and eighty villagers… did you just want to be wiped out, really?”

“Well, as much as he only had villagers, at least he wasn’t the first to fall. Next time we’re not getting paired with Zuko,” Toph pouted. Zuko jumped.

“Hey! I was working just as hard as everyone else here!” Zuko exclaimed, blushing.

“Zuko, you know as well as everyone else that your strategy skills were, uh… lacking,” Suki said, eyes wide. Azula snorted.

“Poor, innocent Zuzu, too unprepared, too lacking to practice the art of war on Age of Empires…” she snickered. Zuko huffed and glared at her.

“Shut up. That joke’s not nearly as good as you think it is,” he grunted.

“Well, the bad joke of the day really is the whole lot of you, I’d say. Beating you didn’t even take an hour,” Azula smirked. Sokka chuckled next to her. 

“In all fairness, Azula, we’re just too smart for them to handle,” he said. Azula sighed in agreement.

“Indeed. Whatever they may do, there’s no contest against us,” she said, with a contented smile. “We ought to invite Ty Lee and Mai the next time.”

“Oh? Think they might be better competition?” Sokka asked, squeezing her shoulder gently. Azula snorted.

“No, I simply want more people to crush,” she said. He laughed again.

“You’re unbelievable,” he whispered, kissing her cheek.

“I don’t know what’s more gross about the two of you, your displays of affection or your teamwork,” Toph growled, shaking her head. “Maybe a mix of both.”

Sokka only smiled proudly at his girlfriend and she gave him one of her trademark smirks too. Too often their displays of affection were over the top, just to make their friends uncomfortable, but the teamwork was something they took pride of beyond most anything else about their relationship.

It was to be expected for them to pull off such remarkable victories over their friends, seeing as they had spent the better part of two years playing games together, even before they were dating. Before they knew who the other was, too.

But while they loved playing in Dannan, they had other games they rather enjoyed, too. And Age of Empires, a game of strategic warfare, was certainly one of their favorites.

While Sokka and Azula usually spent most their free time alone together, this weekend was different. After Toph had badgered them enough about wanting to play with them, Sokka and Azula finally had decided that the best game they could play with her was Age of Empires, rather than Dannan. Yet Toph suffered from the obvious problem regarding games: she couldn’t see. So that had brought her to ask her friends if any of them wanted to help her play against the gamer pair, and that had stirred everyone’s curiosity quite a bit. Katara was the first to volunteer, but Toph had decided to pick Suki as her proxy instead, as she was more likely to listen to Toph’s orders, instead of stubbornly doing whatever she thought was best.

The conversation had caught Zuko and Aang’s interest too, and in the end, everyone had showed up that Saturday with their respective laptops, ready to install and play the game. Sokka and Azula hadn’t been expecting such a turnout, but they were far from displeased: it would be much more fun with more players.

They set up their computers in Sokka’s living room, some of them sitting on the couches, others with the computers on the coffee table. After a quick rundown of how to play, they had set up the first game between them all: a seven-player game, where Sokka and Azula had comprised the red-and-blue team, Katara and Aang had been the yellow-and-turquoise one, and Zuko had joined Suki and Toph’s unit, playing as the orange-and-green team.

Sending two teams of rookies against two experienced players could only result in total annihilation. And the pair responsible for such a feat were clearly quite proud of themselves.

“You know, we just need practice,” said Katara, scowling at Azula. “We’re going to be much stronger eventually and then we’ll fight evenly, you know we will.”

“Say what you will, I think we’ll have the upper hand no matter what,” said Azula, smirking proudly.

“Only because you’re paired with each other,” said Suki, shaking her head. “You two have been working together for ages now, of course you’d know how to beat everyone else at this game.”

“Yeah, I bet you’d stop being so smug if you got paired with Zuko instead,” said Toph, smirking.

“Uh, possibly, but really, even Zuzu can’t be so bad that he’d cause me to lose,” said Azula, shaking her head. “I’d still win.”

“Are you sure?” Aang chimed in, with a small smirk of his own. “Even… if Sokka’s in the opposite team?”

Those words were the first to make Sokka and Azula tense up in the entire day. They frowned, looking at Aang with uncertainty.

“I’m just saying…” he said, but Katara stepped forward and looked at them with amusement.

“He’s suggesting something really good, actually,” she said, with amusement. “How well would you two fare against each other, instead of being on the same team, for a change?”

“That… is a terrible idea,” said Sokka, looking at his sister pointedly. “It might end up being a twelve-hour game, or so…”

“Oh, I think watching you two destroy each other will be well worth twelve hours,” said Katara, with amusement.

“Well, unless they’re scared of doing it because, you know, they might break up because of it?” said Toph, smirking and shrugging. “Seeing how competitive they both are…”

“Please,” said Sokka, rolling his eyes. “We wouldn’t break up over something like this, of course we wouldn’t. Right?”

He looked at Azula, but she remained silent, a thoughtful look on her eyes. Sokka’s eyes widened and he nudged her with his elbow.

“Right?!”

“Uh, heh? Depends on how the fight goes, really…” Azula said, with a dry grin. Sokka’s jaw dropped.

“Say what?!”

The others laughed at Sokka’s response. Azula simply shrugged apologetically.

“What can I say? I don’t like losing and I know neither do you, but one of us is going to lose anyways…” she said. Sokka snorted, in disbelief.

“Fine then,” he said, shaking his head and standing up. Azula watched him as he picked up his laptop.

Her eyes followed him as he moved to sit opposite to her, their tilted screens in light contact. He fixed her with a steady gaze, to the brim with determination. Soon enough Azula smirked.

“Well, then… we’re doing this for real?” she asked. Sokka nodded.

“You bet we are. Though if you want to break up after I kick your ass, well, I won’t stop you, but I would’ve thought you wouldn’t be such a sore loser…” he smirked, as he started setting up the game. It was Azula’s turn to laugh in disbelief.

“Ah, well, if you’re so confident, I do hope you won’t come crying to me once I make you bite my dust,” she said, shaking her head as she leaned forward towards her computer too.

On cue, everyone else gathered behind the two players of this round, filled with perverse curiosity. Zuko and Katara drifted to Sokka’s side, while Suki, Aang and Toph moved towards Azula’s. Yet neither of the competitors took much notice to how the groups had distributed. They were too busy trying to intimidate each other before their battle.

“I’m picking the Byzantines,” Sokka declared. Azula smirked.

“Good luck. My Spanish shall blow you to smithereens,” she said. He scoffed.

“You can’t break the best civilization of the game with a few guns, I thought you already knew that,” he said, shaking his head. “But I suppose Gilded Fire has always put too much faith in firearms…”

She laughed again and looked at him with skepticism. Sokka smirked back at her, his mouse hovering over the button to start the fight.

“Ready?” he asked. She smirked.

“To write your epitaph? Afraid so. You were loved dearly, Sokka,” she said, mockingly. He couldn’t help but laugh again before starting the battle with one click.

It had been a brutal, fierce fight. The Nomad mode of the game was harsh, and without their awareness, they had set up camp far too close to each other. Battles had ensued, conflicts had arisen, but Sokka had been able to respond well at first. He built up a strong army, with large groups of priests that quite often converted Azula’s units and caused quite a lot of trouble for her.

Yet as Sokka took three relics for himself, Azula took the last two. And where Sokka walled himself in his territory, while also seeking to destroy Azula’s initial base, she set up a new base elsewhere, and waited patiently, quietly. The red soldiers were building their strengths, and she focused on developing all the technology she needed to fight back, even as Sokka frequently sought to siege her new base. But it wasn’t enough. Not even his best units could tear through the full defenses of Azula’s own walled territories.

After a few scouting missions that he couldn’t stop, she found his monastery. And with a massive army of paladins, conquistadors and trebuchets, she tore through his lands without breaking a sweat and destroyed his army, along with his every military building. Just as she was stealing the relics from his fallen monastery, the unsurprising message had blinked in her screen: Sokka had surrendered.

“Woah! That was amazing!” Toph shouted, laughing and patting Azula’s shoulder. Suki had narrated everything for her as it happened. “Damn, you kicked his ass!”

Sokka groaned and dropped his head on the keyboard as even Zuko and Katara went around the table to congratulate the winner. Azula was beaming with pride, hearing them recount the most impressive of her tactics.

“So wait, she had already set up elsewhere on that area while Sokka was busy wrecking her first base?” Katara asked, impressed. As she had been at Sokka’s side, she hadn’t seen any of what Azula was doing.

“I don’t know how she did it, but she did it,” said Aang, with an amazed laugh. “Though he almost got her at a few points…”

“He’s good at quick responses,” said Azula, smiling fondly at her sulking boyfriend. “But it’s hard to outdo me when it comes to long-term plans, and he knew that. He tried to strike first to stop me from doing what I did, but… it was too late already.”

“Yeah, well…” said Sokka, grimacing and lifting his head only to bow towards her. “Good game, good game…”

“Why, thank you,” said Azula, smirking. “Though you ought to address me with more respect, now, Sokka…”

“Huh?” he said, raising an eyebrow. Her smirk only widened as he grimaced. “What, you don’t want me to call you empress or something, do you…?”

“She did win at the Age of Empires…” Aang said innocently. Azula laughed as Sokka snorted.

“Heh, well, fine, I’ll humor you,” he said, with narrow eyes. “Empress Azula… conqueror of my heart!”

“Oh god, Sokka!” Katara groaned, as Toph made a face of disgust. The others laughed while Azula blushed but smiled, shaking her head at him.

“What? It’s still true, I wasn’t going to break up with her because she beat me!” he said, beaming proudly.

“You should kick his ass again, Azula, please.” said Katara. “Make him stop being so corny.”

“If you want me to, gladly,” said Azula, smirking at Sokka. “What’s it going to be now? Fortress? Arena…?”

“Team Islands,” Sokka said, with a raised eyebrow. Azula tensed up.

“N-no, you can’t…”

“Oh, yeah, I can,” he said, with a proud smirk.

She wasn’t very good at maps with water. Sokka was far too talented in them, better suited for water-based warfare than anything else. But she couldn’t falter. She shouldn’t.

“Fine. Fine,” she said, raising her hands before glancing at everyone else. “Well? Are you lot going to join in this time, or not?”

“Woah, are we?” Aang asked, looking at Sokka with unease. “I thought you two were going to have it out again…”

“Oh, we can. On opposing teams,” said Sokka, smirking.

“Huh, well, then I’ll join Sokka this time,” said Zuko, beaming. Sokka tensed up.

“Heh? Don’t you want to join Azula instead…?”

“Oh no, you keep Zuko, I’ll take Aang,” said Azula, smiling as Aang jumped to his computer. Katara looked at Toph and Suki.

“So I guess we’re going together this time?” she asked. Toph smirked and Suki nodded in approval.

“Let’s do this!” Toph exclaimed.

Their day was drifting by rather quickly, but the group of friends were far too entertained to notice the passage of time. As much as they spent most their time bickering through their games, this experience only seemed to bring all of them closer together.

[loopy-atla-fanfic]

Fic: The Avatar and the Fire Princess - Chapter 5

Archive of Our Own: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12471612/chapters/29168760

Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12699250/5/The-Avatar-and-the-Fire-Princess

deviantArt: http://fav.me/dbuds32

[focusas]

Azula ship challenge. Day 6. Blood

“So… how is Zuko?” Sokka asked Azula when he met her after games, wanting to know any news about her brother’s health. There was an accident while playing football where Zuko was injured and had to be transported to hospital.

“He is in emergency room, but doctors say he will live.” Azula calmly answered Sokka’s question.

“Emergency!? What?! Someone just kicked him in the leg. It shouldn’t be that bad!” Sokka was shocked by this revelation.

“Yes, he is in an emergency room put on life support till he wakes up. Yes, I know it kind of strange, but … what did you expect. You saw how everything started.” Azula stated with calm tone and momentary Sokka thought he was talking with Mai.

“Did they break his neck or what? I saw how hard it was to pick him up when he was put on stretcher. Zuko literally kissed other player’s ass four times because its carrier picked him wrong when they tried to pick him up from the ground in hurry and Zuko’s head ended up between other player’s legs and kissed its groin more time any man should have in their life until he managed to cover his face with his arms to avoid that horrible sight.” Sokka recounted the event that happened during football game. It ranged from odd to horrific, all depending on who you would ask about it. For those that don’t know football is a well known game where you use your foot to kick ball all time and not some nonsense where people carry ball at all time like it was some precious thing.

“Yeah and if you remember the carriers where rushing Zuko out of field so fast that they stumbled onto something and fell on the ground… twice and had to redo it! By that time Zuko had more problems than just painful and sprained leg! You saw how they tossed him to the ground after clearing playfield. It must have hurt!” Azula replied half joking half serious and Sokka couldn’t understand how to feel about it all. That day looked like huge mess!

“And… ?” Sokka was unsure how to express his thoughts and at same time he was curious of what has happened later that day.

“The medic that checked on Zuko suspected broken bone and called for ambulance. It’s unsure if Zuko broke his leg before or during his journey out of playfield. You had to return back to field, but I went with my brother and saw what happened next. The medics put Zuko on their wheeled bed or whatever you call that strange contraption, but they must have been too fast in their hurry… once again and Zuko fell out right on concrete! The medics noted it and helped Zuko to get back on wheeled bed, but this time they strapped him to it so that it wouldn’t ‘repeat’ again. Then everything was ok and medic managed to successfully reach ambulance. I and my mom decided to go with it too. It looked like our troubles has ended, but once the ambulance started to drive, Zuko’s bed started to roll and rolled out of ambulance and Zuko hissed cold concrete… again.”

“WHAT?!” Sokka was now even more shocked by it.

“That’s right! Someone must have forgotten to properly close the doors or something and Zuko was once again in the world of pain. The medics stopped and apologized for it before picking my brother once again, but that isn’t the worst that has happened that day because later on our journey to hospital, the ambulance never made to it and instead got in to accident when some fool hit us and forced the ambulance to jump down from overpass right in to the traffic bellow. Mom was the first to fall out of ambulance and hit her head hard on the road. She now has amnesia and doctors are unsure if she ever recovers. Zuko and his bed rolled out soon after it causing even more chaos before another car hit him. Half of his face was completely ruined so badly that everyone were too shocked to help him. It was a bloody mess!” Azula told her story like it was just a simple thing that happened everyday while Sokka’s jaw hit the floor.

“Are you ok? You were in that same ambulance too.” Sokka was worried about Azula and wanted to know if she was injured and didn’t tell him.

“Me? Not a scratch! The medics were surprised by it, but still asked to go to hospital for check up.” Azula smirked.

“Damn! That’s a luck!”

“Yes. After all I was born lucky, while Zuko was lucky to be born!” Azula smirked once again and continued her story. “Several minutes later several ambulances came and drove everyone to hospital and that is where the final accident has happened to Zuko when his leg got stuck between closing lift doors. Don’t worry he will live. The medics asked if I could give blood if they would need it for Zuko’s surgery, but I said I couldn’t since I have same blood group like my father while Zuko has same like my mother.”

“What about your uncle? I heard he has the same blood type like Zuko and could give it.” Sokka asked Azula.

“Nah, while that fool may have the same blood type, he is also consuming so much tea everyday that I wouldn’t be surprised if doctors actually found more tea than blood in his veins.”

“Well … That’s one hell of bad day for him!” Sokka was unsure how to feel about it all.

“I couldn’t agree more. Father smelled money and now is running with the lawyers and suing everyone he could for this mess while leaving me alone at home.”

“Alone you say? Well, if you are not busy, how about we go to movie this evening and maybe later even do personal check up to make sure you have no bruise anywhere?” Sokka asked wanting to change the topic. It was too painful to listen to everything that has happened to Zuko today.

“Sound fine to me. Pick me up at 8. I need to clear my head.”

[feedingthewrongwolf]

Azula Ship Challenge #4

Week Four - Oct. 30, 2017 - Lies /or/ Bad Joke

Ship: Maizula (honorable mention: Maizulee)

Obligatory Song Rec(s): Bombay by Blvck Ceiling; And You Love by Nu:Gravity

MY FUCKING HAND SLIPPED, so here, have 3k+ words of early Book Two shenanigans and bad vibes. Azula’s not as good with people as she thinks, not even with her wicked sense of humor. Can’t she ever be happy, I ask myself, me, the one who wrote it,

“Our love is effortless, stop acting like you’re scared

I get down on my knees but you’re not playing fair

My heart breaks down when you question if you’re mine, well

I don’t I don’t I don’t get it cause I’m so sweet all the time”

- ‘In My Mind’ by Maty Noyes

The moon was low and to their left in they sky when Mai and Azula set out to hunt the night’s meal. Poorly as Mai’s father had handled things, their supplies were limited. Between their mouths and the mounts’ as well, they didn’t bother to ration much. Azula had explained that they would hunt for themselves, and give most of the rations to the mounts, almost everything but the water. It would be a short trip to the next Fire Nation colony, after all, and Azula had never minded hunting. It had almost surprised her when Mai offered to help her where she could, with her limited experience.

Azula had been so anxious when they'd left the city, she was almost glad for things to be calm for a short while - a small but welcome break in the action. Traveling with Mai and Ty Lee, as well as hunting, would be a good way to take her mind off of the way things had gone, or how badly she’d marred them…She’d been so close to a victory and it had slipped through her fingers so easily.

She needed time to collect herself, as much as she hated to admit it. Now, all there was time to worry about was finding the boy Avatar and taking him down for good, which would undoubtedly lead her to her uncle and brother as well…She simply had to remember the goal, and everything would turn out the way she’d planned.

Failure was not an option this time.

As the pair made off for the tree line, Mai still adjusting the sling on her back slightly, they could hear Ty Lee cooing at the mongoose lizards, promising the three beasts that they would never be eaten. She’d been adamant about staying behind to look after the mounts and the small fire, refusing to hunt with them. Azula and Mai were less than surprised, and though they both had teased her relentlessly about it before setting off, they waited to laugh quietly until they were sure she wouldn’t hear them.

They made their way deeper into the forest, treading lightly. It was more than a bit strange for Azula to be next to another person after traveling alone, but she was happy to see Mai after all these years, even if things had gone…awry in New Ozai. She was alert and naturally light on her feet, so it seemed to Azula that she belonged. Maybe this wouldn’t turn out as badly as she’d expected it to.

She was determined to stay confident. She couldn’t let her mind slip into the dark again.

“What’s out here, anyway?” Mai asks, missing her mark on disinterest but wise enough to speak softly.

It hadn’t been nearly long enough for Azula to miss the hint in her voice that it did, in fact, matter to her. Mai had been a picky eater, if she remembered things correctly.

“Oh, the usual - elephant rats, turkey ducks,” she answered, staying quiet as well, though her smirk sounded through her words. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a stray pig chicken.”

She saw under the moonlight the movement in Mai’s eyes, one that showed her distaste plainly.

“Sounds great.”

Azula grinned a bit wider for a moment. “Shouldn’t you be telling me this sort of thing? You’re the one who’s lived out here for years.”

“I wasn’t out camping,” Mai responded, sounding like Azula should have known. Though most of Azula’s attention was on a rustling bush in the small clearing far ahead, she could hear the faint smile in Mai’s voice to match her own. She put her arm out toward Mai, and hardly a moment had passed before she stopped as well, eyes locking onto the rustling and shift of light. Azula motioned her head to their left, and Mai understood, moving swiftly yet as soundlessly as ever, drawing her set of knives.

On Azula’s signal and in a heartbeat, Mai sent the knives through the air to their target - apparently missing, because Azula spotted what looked like a turkey duck bolting away unscathed with a loud squeal of shock. In a second of instinct, she calculated speed and direction and shot a bright, concentrated ball of flame, striking it directly in its head. The woods seemed to turn to daylight for an instant, her flames illuminating the look of slight shock on Mai’s features.

“Well,” Azula said, her voice returning to full volume, “you obviously haven’t been hunting, either.”

Mai laughed to herself quietly. “Animals are quicker than people.”

“You’re rusty, Mai, admit it.” Azula had meant it, especially considering the way things had gone back in the city, but she still heard the words come out far more harshly than she’d intended. Once she’d reached the kill, she turned her head and added, “What have you been doing since you left?”

And even though she’d managed a smile when she asked, Mai said nothing to her, silently marching the rest of the distance between them. Azula felt the air thicken, if only slightly. Of course she’d said the wrong thing, the wrong way. She heard her father’s voice in the back of her mind, the same voice that told her alliances were a waste of time and a weakness before that. She was beginning to understand what he’d meant.

She remembered why she hadn’t minded the solitude. Even if she was happy to see her friends after so long, it would be the same as when they were children, even after all that had changed…Another failure for her to add to the list, something meaningless to distract her from her mission.

Still, when she looked down to the animal, Azula barked with laughter in spite of her thoughts. She took hold of its neck and lifted it to eye level, admiring the awful burn on the side of its tiny head and neck, or what was left of it.

“It almost looks like Zuko, now.”

It was meant to be funny, to make Mai - and herself - feel better. Instead, Azula felt the air become even more tense than it was to begin with. She turned toward Mai with the animal dangling away from them both, and even in the dimness she could see her frown deepen.

“Oh, Mai. Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts about capturing my brother…”

Azula had failed to sound like she was only teasing, as if the question was truly rhetorical.

Mai unpacked the sling and held it out for the creature, never quite looking away from its charred face and neck.  “It’s nothing.”

Azula felt the familiar rise of paranoia, rushing through her blood, making her skin feel hot even in the chill of nightfall.

“Is it nothing?” She spoke the word like a curse, trying not to be needlessly aggressive with her work stuffing the kill into the cloth. “You’re frowning like a scolded child.”

When Azula cast an eye toward her face, Mai was silent still, mask in place once more. She hauled the thing over her shoulder without looking away from the faint traces of ash and blood staining the dirt by their feet.

“Let’s just get back to camp,” she sighed, adjusting the sling. “Ty Lee’s probably been training the mongoose lizards to do cartwheels. She must be bored.” After that, the only sound was the ground beneath Mai’s feet as she turned away to retrieve her knives.

Azula’s mind rushed back to Mai and Ty Lee’s conversation as they were escorted to the gates of New Ozai, the way Mai had smiled when Ty Lee mentioned Zuko’s name. He had been branded unworthy, cast aside like the runt he was, a shame to the nation - she hadn’t seen him in years, and Mai still reacted this way…

The way she would when they were children, and she would tease her about her silly little crush.

Azula followed her a mere moment later, summoning a large handful of fire to help her find the set. The flame was large, and it erupted a bit more forcefully than she’d anticipated.

She didn’t particularly feel like dropping the topic.

“I never showed you the wanted poster from back in the resort village, did I?” She asked, knowing the answer and unable to hide the hint of malice in her voice. She followed behind leisurely, not bothering to conceal her grin at all.

“The scar is awful,” she continued, watching Mai locate the knives sticking out of the dirt by the shrub she’d aimed for. “Really, the resemblance between my brother and our dinner is uncanny.”

Mai said nothing, but Azula still could see the corners of her lips tugging downward again as she plucked the knives out of the compact soil, her fingers slipping a bit on the first try.

“Forget it, Azula.”

The fire in Azula’s palm blazed - hardly enough for Mai to see or feel, but it had. She’d noticed, too, the way Mai’s voice held an edge…It was the exact tone she would adopt when they were younger, when Azula would push her until something finally bubbled up to the surface. It was clear she’d had enough, and though Azula didn’t want to stop, and she never had before, something made her anyway.

Some things had changed, and some things had not.

“Oh, would you relax?” Her tone was cold, and this time, her fire kept still. “It was only a joke.”

“Well, it was a bad one,” Mai muttered, barely turning her head to say it as she dusted the blades in her hand.

Azula’s eyes widened by a fraction, more out of shock than indignation. Whatever she’d expected Mai to say, that wasn’t it. She couldn’t even enjoy the fact that she’d gotten under her skin…She glared down at the girl crouched in front of her. Azula was the heir to the Fire Lord’s throne, not Zuko. She was Mai’s princess, and she was speaking to her like she was just another commoner. She’d practically insulted her.

Even as the thoughts seared their way through her mind, Azula only let her arm fall, quenching the fire she held with a slight sound of distaste. The urge, or perhaps the reflex, to remind Mai of her place was faded out by something stronger…though Azula couldn’t give it a name.

She looked away, and decided to drop it this time.  

They walked the rest of the short way back in silence, though it wasn’t tranquil, at least not for Azula. The need to do something was faint at its strongest, and she wondered why she wasn’t more outraged. Anger was only on the edges of her thoughts. Not for the first time since the skirmishes in New Ozai, she wondered if she’d made the right choice to recruit them. It was proving to be far more distracting and disappointing than she’d planned.

As they approached, they saw Ty Lee in a one armed handstand, all the while chirping to the mounts like she had been when they’d gone.

“Whoa, what’s wrong with you guys?” She asked, falling out of form and looking between them.

“Mai’s being boring, is all,” Azula sighed. She lazily fed the fire with her bending and a raised pair of fingers, glad to be back with Ty Lee to eat up the silence. Hopefully she would serve as a simple distraction instead of another problem to dwell on when she didn’t have the time.

Hopefully neither of them would become a real problem. She would have to keep a close eye on them both…

“I’m just hungry.” Mai’s voice was perfectly flat again, but it felt like thunder to Azula. “Let’s eat before it gets too late.”

Ty Lee shrugged slightly, averting her eyes from the kill that Mai was unleashing from the cloth. With her back to the two of them, she went into her handstand again.

As Azula rolled up her sleeves and set to work on the animal with Mai watching, learning, and lending her knives every now and then, Ty Lee kept the conversation going entirely on her own. She regaled them with stories of what they’d missed in the past ten minutes. Apparently, Mai had guessed correctly - the mongoose lizards weren’t very good students.

All the while, Azula focused on the color of the blood while she worked to prepare the meat. She’d done this before, and she wondered vaguely what was making her hands so erratic and forceful as she removed the innards of the dead thing in front of her. Ty Lee’s voice was strange to hear, its highs and lows seeming out of place while she worked.

“The animals at the circus were way faster with learning all that acrobatic stuff,” Ty Lee remarked, gently petting the face of the unwilling beast in front of her. “The platypus bear was the smartest, though. He picked things up so quickly, it was like he was born to it!”

Just as she’d finished that thought, Azula’s attention came back to the one-sided conversation. The meat was already cooking over the fire under Mai’s watch, while she went and washed her hands and arms clean of blood, viscera, and stray feathers in the river beside their camp.

“They only have one job, Ty Lee,” Azula said after a moment of silence and scrubbing, taking her arms out of the water and shaking them off. “They aren’t in need of circus training.”

“Maybe,” Ty Lee admitted after a moment of thought, falling out of the handstand to her feet near the mongoose lizards, who never once flinched, or looked toward the disturbance at all. They had probably long ago realized that Ty Lee never quite stays still. “But, wouldn’t it be fun if they learned?”

Despite it all, Azula grinned slightly while she walked back toward the two of them.

“I miss it there already,” Ty Lee said softly, sitting cross-legged in front of the fire in one swift motion.

Azula felt something run through her blood at those words. She ignored the concern that Ty Lee would run off on her again, and took the portion Mai held out to her. The second was handed to Ty Lee, and all the while Mai was just quiet as she’d been since their return to camp.

They ate to the sounds of the night and the forest and the fire they surrounded. The wind agitated the blaze, or at least that’s what Azula would have blamed it on. She felt nearly the way she had when they’d left the city, like bringing them onto her mission had been a mistake. It certainly seemed that way now…It gnawed at her mind the way she gnawed at her food, the worry that they wouldn’t be able to serve their nation, or Azula herself, and help her to win this war.

After a moment, Mai sighed and waved the rest of her meat outward, her demeanor slightly more displeased than usual. “Do you want this, Ty?”

Azula couldn’t help herself.  “That’s what you meant by hungry?”

“I’ll finish it!” Ty Lee exclaimed, reaching over to take it while Mai looked away in apparent disinterest. “I’m still starving.”

Azula looked at Mai, now sitting empty handed. She felt her patience growing much, much thinner, so she returned to her own food. She was determined to stay focused. She didn’t have time to worry, certainly not about something so inconsequential. Mai was serving beneath her, and Azula could not fail. Mai would prove her loyalty, and so would Ty Lee.

Azula would make sure of it.  

“Should I be worried about your lack of appetite, Mai?” Azula saw the question register in Mai’s eyes. “I have no time for a soldier without the strength to carry out her duty.”

She watched Mai look at her, finally, and with the level gaze from her grey eyes she felt something in her blood other than fire, or anger. It was something close to worry…or something close to fear.

She did her best to push it away.

“You don’t need to worry at all, Azula.” She spoke as if nothing had changed.

Nothing at all.

“Then I trust you won’t let me down when we find my brother.”

Mai’s eyes flashed, and Azula had not missed it. She smiled, her cold gaze a warning.

“Of course not,” Mai stated calmly. She stood and feigned a stretch, looking away. “I’ll set up for bed.”

Once the fire had been doused and the mounts’ ties reinforced, the three of them settled into their bedrolls. Ty Lee apparently knew better than to give her usual round of good-nights, this time.

Azula lay awake long after she’d noticed the two others slip into their dreams. She stared up at the sky, and she stared for so long that the stars blurred into one dull and lifeless stain of light. She knew resting was necessary, yet sleep would not come so easily. The thought that she had already failed once was still heavy in her mind, but now all her thoughts could latch onto was Mai’s voice, earlier in the woods.

Azula recalled the day she and Ty Lee had reached what was then Omashu, and when she’d caught sight of Mai through the cloth of her palanquin. She had admired, then, all the ways that Mai had changed - she’d grown taller, her voice had lowered in a way Azula liked to hear…

And some things had stayed exactly the same. Her grin, her uninspired temperament. Her stupid crush on her stupid brother. Azula thought of Zuko, desperately on the tail of the Avatar with her useless uncle, walking right into the trap they’d set for themselves. She would bring the Avatar’s corpse home to her father, and the entire nation would call her a hero.

Her brother’s corpse would be a gift for Mai. She let her eyes close, calm at last, for what felt like the first time since she’d left home.

She couldn’t wait to win the war.

[azulanoid]

Most current coloring of a very old drawing for AzulaShipChallenge but not really because I’m not following the prompts and am late.  Please check out the cool kids in the tag!

[loopy777]

6, 10, 14, 25

6) least popular fic this year

Eh, probably Touchpoints. I had a few short stories I published this year that didn’t get many reviews, but the others got a lot of Likes here on Tumblr, so overall I think Touchpoints had the smallest impact.

10) shortest wip of the year

I think the only WIP I had this year is Traitor’s Face, and that’s not short. I’ve published 150,000 words of it this year so far (just another novel-and-a-half according to people I refuse to believe), and I’m still planning on cramming another two long chapters in before Christmas to finish Act 3.

I finished everything else, though.

14) a fic you didn’t expect to write

The Avatar & The Fire Princess! That actually started as one segment I wrote in a series of Aang-shipping ficlets, based on a prompt by @shorewall that I solicited for practice writing Aang before I started on Traitor’s Face. It was easily the best of the series, and I declared at the time that I would never expand it because it could probably inspire a whole novel. I knew that Traitor’s Face would be a 5-year project, so adding another novel on top of that (or at least what I think of as a novel, which is more than 100,000 words) was not anything I wanted to even consider.

Come this year’s #AzulaShipChallenge, though, I got the idea of telling a small part of the larger story, leading up to the point shown in the Epilogue. I figured that would be a good cut-off, illustrating an early era of Aang and Azula’s marriage, and teasing what the future would hold. It turned out pretty well, I think, and seemed to be pretty popular. (Relatively popular as far as my own work goes, at least.) I plan on doing a sequel - maybe more than one - in that AU.

25) a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

I really enjoyed @attackfish‘s Reach This Moment, for being a really great dive into Mai’s voice in an interesting AU, as well as the way it played with POV.

(Note: I recommend first reading the 5 Headcanons that spawned the fic, then the fic itself, then the secret background, and finally the sequel/epilogue.)

[fyrebend]

azula wallpapers credit to // @blackjingertee

[squiddybeifong]

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Day Seven of the Azula Ship Challenge

Pairing: Tophzula, Iroh being a father figure

Notes (on chronology) in tags

--

The Jasmine Dragon had barely changed since the last she had been there. The building was as pristine as ever and the scent of tea permeated through to the street below. It was a comforting sight, especially as the smells from food carts and home cooked dinners blended in the air.

Walking up the steps, Azula easily surpassed the groups of people milling about and walked up to the counter. From the corner of her eye she spotted a familiar face and casually observed her as the counter girl took her order. She knew of the woman, of course; the black hair, now so short that it just barely ended below her chin but still completely covered one eye, the signature tattoo that rested on the outside of her shoulder, the casual smirk that constantly graced her lips.

For some reason the bounty hunter was lounging around her uncle's shop. Azula noted the absence of her whip and the lack of her shirshu; deeming that June wasn't a threat, she moved to the side, grabbed her tea, and made her way to a table near the corner.

She breathed in the steam, smiling a little at the familiar scent of jasmine. Leaning back in her seat, she watched the counter as her uncle appeared, expertly balancing an arrangement of cups on a tray in one hand and a full kettle in another. Iroh was jolly as ever as he walked around the shop, greeting customers and pouring refills. Azula felt her brows jump up as he briefly stopped in front of June, smiling charmingly and placing a kiss onto her temple. He poured more tea into her cup and turned, catching her eye.

He jumped at the sight of her, the movement catching June’s attention; she just barely slid a concealed knife out of her belt, her eyes flicking across the shop. Azula allowed her gaze to flick from her uncle to the bounty hunter and back again, observing how they quickly glanced at each other, having a silent conversation without speaking at all.

June roughly tilted her chin towards the princess, narrowing her eyes at the old man. Iroh nodded slowly, making his way to his niece.

A small smile came over his face as he stopped in front of her. Before he could get a word out Azula put her hand out, interrupting, “I know you’re busy right now but I’m not here for any trouble. Just tea and maybe…” She roughly forced a cough and rushed out the rest of her words, “and maybe some advice? Once most of the customers are gone.”

The princess kept her face blank as he regarded her. Iroh leaned forward and refilled her cup, lowering his voice, “Things usually calm down right after the dinner rush. You might be waiting for an hour or so.”

He grinned at her, the movement calm and sad. Azula was surprised at the softness in his eyes as he continued, “But I’d love if you stayed.” He winked conspiratorially, “I’ll even kick out the staff early, if you’d like.”

Azula held her head high and nodded, turning away and watching the crowd of people as she sipped at her tea. She couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose at the city; while she had been there, she had stayed among the royalty, scarcely going out near the public. She commanded the Dai Li and stayed near the shadows until she took over, never bothering to see how the peasants in the city lived.

She smiled a bit at that; Toph had been sure to expose her to the ruggedness of peasant life during their trip. Her smile faltered as reality quickly hit her again; that trip was over a decade ago and here she was again, all alone.

So preoccupied in her thoughts, she didn’t realize how June continued to observe her until the older woman approached, sitting down and reclining in her chair. The bounty hunter met her gaze and drank a sip of her own tea, a pensive look crossing her features.

Azula sneered at her, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at the intrusion. “I’m allowed to be here, June.” Said woman raised a brow at the venom in the princess’s voice. “I don’t need you to talk to me whatsoever. I’m not causing any trouble and no one has recognized me. You can go back to your table now, I’ll wait until Uncle is done.”

Azula fought to keep her face neutral as June chuckled, the sound smooth and grating against her ears. The woman didn't even attempt to keep the amusement out of her voice, “Heh, the last time we saw each other, you were stuck to that blind earthbender’s hip. I wonder what happened with that?”

The princess withheld her growl, but her grip on the cup strengthened until a tiny crack! was heard. June watched curiously as the tea began to boil, jasmine-scented steam flowing up from the cup.

The princess glared at the cup and relaxed her hands. The bubbles stopped and Azula hastily put the cup back on the table, scowling as June began to snicker.

“Yeah, I thought so,” she drawled. June took another sip of tea as she got up to leave, tipping an imaginary hat as she winked at the royal, “Listen to Iroh. He's a bit better at this mutual relationship thing than you are, y’know.”

The bounty hunter turned and lazily waved at Iroh, slipping out amongst the people in the street. Azula watched her go with narrowed eyes. A few people near the entrance started looking uncomfortable and the princess dialed her sneer back, returning to her tea and staring at the scuffs on the table.

An hour passed and the commotion around the tea shop slowly started dying down. Golden eyes watched as Iroh shooed out his staff, ensuring that they fold their aprons and wipe down the empty tables. The last customers, a trio of children and their parents, quickly made their way out through the doors, giggling and humming as they left.

Iroh quickly prepared two cups of tea, disappearing into the back and returning with a scroll. He poured their cups and settled down across from the princess, a small smile making its way onto his face.

Azula frowned; his smile didn’t reach his eyes. He was worried about something.

Before she could dwell on what was concerning him he handed her the scroll, taking his cup and leaning back. “Before we talk, you should read this,” he said. Apprehensive, Azula used her nails to slice the decorative twine and unrolled the scroll, feeling her brows raise as she recognized Zuko’s handwriting.

She started to read his letter, skimming over the words. Aang had just recently found a small pack of air bison, Appa was adjusting to them nicely, Sokka and Suki were visiting the Fire Nation and the warrior had nearly eaten everything in the royal kitchen, Hakoda had come to Republic City to help out around with all the kids on Air Temple Island after Toph’s labor.

Azula felt her mind go blank as she read. Her nails dug into the paper until her knuckles turned white as she reread the paragraph again, trying to fight the near hysteria building in her chest.

She had gotten pregnant twice.

She had gotten pregnant twice.

She had gotten pregnant twice.

She had gotten pregnant twice.

Each time Azula thought that sentence, her brain fried a little bit more. The scroll trembled in her hands, the seal of the Firelord bright and waxy against the dull paper. It was comforting, seeing how his signature had yet to change much from when they were children: still a perplexing combination of stiff and flowery, yet he had refined it in her absence.

She clung to the thought of Zuko’s changing penmanship, desperate to ignore the ache in her chest. Yet again and again she read his words, his passing of the oh-so-wonderful news from Republic City. Golden eyes flitted back and forth along the page, willing her brain to accept the words. Toph was recuperating after her second pregnancy on Air Temple Island. It had been a long labor, but the child was healthy. It was another girl, Toph had named her Su Yin. Apparently the first was called Lin and she had Toph’s knack for earthbending.

A part of her recognized she should say something, but Iroh simply patted her hand and made his way back to the kitchen, preparing another pot of tea. She ground her teeth together, unsettled in the silence of the tea shop.

She roughly laid her palms out on the table, willing her shaking hands to still themselves. She forced her heavy breathing to normalize and straightened her back, immediately willing her emotions back down. She easily suppressed her tenseness when Iroh returned, a kettle and a bowl of sugar with a spoon in his arms.

Azula watched as the scroll slowly tried to roll into itself as Iroh sat down. The man was silent as he pressed the pads of his fingers together. In the pit of her gut the princess knew he wasn’t waiting for her to speak, that he was trying to figure out how to start the conversation, but something in the stillness of the air and the scent of jasmine caused her to speak first.

“Get on with it, Iroh. I’m not stupid. I know that you know that this is about Toph.”

She crossed her arms and glared as one of his brows raised. He leaned back, taking another sip of his tea. He firebent the bottom of the cup, humming low in his throat as steam began to swirl above the liquid. “You’re not stupid, but there are many reasons why you would come here of all places, Azula. I’d prefer to know just where your mindset it before I ‘get on with it,’ as you said.”

The firebender lessened her glare but didn’t uncross her arms, meeting his gaze and holding it. She offered no words as she observed him. He looked well despite his old age, although he certainly wouldn’t be around for much longer.

She bit back another shove of emotion from the thought; she had hoped that Toph was visiting him as she usually did during winter, but the earthbender was nowhere near the capital and Azula was stuck being psychoanalyzed. Iroh stroked his beard as he thought, his eyes carefully watching her. His eyes, gold yet darker than her own, took in her tense shoulders, her flexed fingers, the scrunched bit of skin in between her eyebrows. Azula bit back a curse; the old man had always been perceptive of people and she had forgotten that in her haste.

“Toph is quite a character, isn't she?”

Azula's eyes snapped up to meet his. That insufferable smile, the same one he constantly aimed at Zuko whenever he was feeling particularly paternal, was back on his face. He placed his teacup back on the table, looking around the store as he did so. His eyes traveled from the still-lit lanterns to the dragon engraved on the tile to the wooden beams -- slightly dusty, he would have to have someone dust them later -- on the ceiling until finally his gaze was back to his niece.

“Ty Lee and Mai were, and still are, quite similar, wouldn't you agree?”

The princess furrowed her brows but he continued, “While Mai was a noble, neither she nor Ty Lee could be considered true royalty. They were both submissive to your will, even if they were excellent fighters.” His gaze flicked to her eyes and stayed there, “Perhaps part of it was because you were the only bender among you three. Certainly your being the princess and a prodigy affected how you interacted with them.”

Azula hummed a bit, her nose scrunching up at how languid he was speaking. “I suppose they do share some similarities… but i don’t know what they have to do with anything.”

Iroh’s voice was far off, as if he was both advising her and figuring out the puzzle himself, “You've never seen those two as equals. They were never leaders, could never be aggressive enough to seize what they wanted, neither could be seen as prodigies in their fields. Honestly, Niece, makes sense that you and Toph gravitated towards each other.”

Azula smiled wryly, the movement revealing her teeth, “Niece? I thought you didn't think I was worth saving, Uncle?”

Iroh deflated a bit at her words but he nodded, “I didn't think you could be saved back then. I just saw you as a continuation of Ozai.” His eyes met hers and his voice grew the tiniest bit ragged. Azula squirmed in her seat at the open honesty and sadness in his tired eyes, “Ozai locked onto you as the golden child, Niece. Do not ever forget that. He used you for his own gain; there was no affection, no sympathy, no meaningful love.”

His glance flicked away for a moment as he composed himself, shoving away the bubbling anger he felt for his brother, “I should have done more. Your mother should have done more. But we didn't and up until now you’ve had to relearn everything about not being a psychopath.”

Iroh’s voice cracked and he looked into her face, “I am sorry for that. I am so sorry for choosing Zuko completely over you.”

He blinked a few times, shaking his head before taking a sip of tea. Azula pretended it was the dry air that wet his eyes; unsure of how to respond, she stayed quiet until he spoke again, “If I am being honest to both you and myself, I would have chosen Zuko regardless. He reminded me -- he still reminds me -- of Lu Ten. I clung to the idea of having a second son but ignored any potential for having a daughter, let alone a niece. But that is still no excuse. I could have put a more effort into helping raise you. I should have done so. If anything to let you know that Ozai's methods were not ideal.

“So I'll call you Niece, for anything if not to remind you that you're just as much my family as Zuko.”

He reached forward and grabbed her hands, the movement strange to them both. Her hands were smaller than Zuko’s, her nails longer and her knuckles less protruding. His hands were unnaturally warm, a strike contrast against Toph’s usually cold touch; his fingertips were soft with wrinkles instead of calloused with dusty fingerprints.

Azula kept her gaze on their hands as she bit at her bottom lip. She allowed her shoulders to hunch and she croaked out, her voice dry, “What am I supposed to do? I haven’t seen her in over ten years, Iroh. She’s moved on and I have no idea what I want.”

She let out a humorless cackle, bringing one of her hands up to rest against her temple. Her manicured nails scratched the hair away from her eyes and her gaze moved to the roof.

The inside of her cheek throbbed as she bit down, frustrated. The princess felt the beginnings of tears well up behind her eyes and groaned in annoyance, palming her face. She couldn’t stop her laughter, the sound sad and broken as it reverberated around the walls.

Iroh moved so he was sitting next to her and something in that caused her to talk.

“I just… I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do, Uncle. I bought tickets for a travelling cart to the Serpent’s Pass that leaves tonight. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get there before they depart.” Her laughter had dissolved to helpless giggles as she continued to ramble, “and I don’t even know if i want to make the trip. I can’t, I can’t face her after all this time!”

Uncle snorted at that, “If you can come to talk to me you can face Toph.”

“But she holds grudges. It’s not like I broke up with her -- I just left in the middle of the night!” Her fingertips were starting to flicker with little sparks of blue light, but she paid them no mind. She barked out another laugh, turning and meeting her uncle’s concerned gaze, “You want to know something else? I bought another ticket for a boat ride to Republic City.”

She absolutely hated this feeling, the sensation of losing all control and not having any short term way of stopping it. Without really thinking about it her eyes flicked to the sky; the sun had been down for only an hour now, if she rushed she could still make it.

Suddenly Iroh stood, making his way to the counter, “Would you like some food for the road?”

Azula cursed under her breath. Of course the old man would somehow know that she was planning on sneaking away. She stood as well and began making her way to the door, not bothering to answer.

He called out over his shoulder, “You know, Toph snuck away to follow what she loves too.” He chuckled as he tied tea bags up in a box, “Granted, she was leaving to escape her parents and join in on an adventure, but the point still stands.”

The princess opened the door, welcoming the darkness that the lanterns could not contain.

“She won't give up her life for you.”

Azula paused at that, her shadow frozen on the steps.

Iroh’s voice was calm, a steady rumble in the night ari, “That's not to say she's completely moved on. No, I know Toph quite well… She is almost assuredly still in love with you. But she won't mope about waiting for you to return, we both know that.”

Against her better judgement, Azula impulsively spat out, “Toph doesn't cling to commitment, Uncle.” The words were poison dripping from her lips, but the old man wasn't deterred. He took a few steps towards her.

“She'll let you into her life, but love is a two way street. It has to be mutual, Niece.”

June’s parting words crashed back into her mind again and she growled. Iroh’s eyes watched her tense stance for a quiet moment before he spoke again, his soft words just barely floating in the air but striking as if he were shouting them, “She seems quite happy with her daughters. I know that Lin is an earthbender, a strong one at that. Do you honestly think that she'll welcome you with open arms if it's clear that you'll just sneak away to another country in the middle of the night again?”

He glanced back at the shop’s counter, at the well-worn kettles and chairs and lanterns, a small smile ghosting over his lips, “It's never too late to fall in love, Niece. No matter how uncomfortable it makes you now, there's always time to right your past mistakes and welcome a few additional years of happiness.”

He stepped forward even more and laid a hand on her shoulder. The former princess was coiled up, tight like a spring and furious at how uncertain she was. “I don't expect you abandon everything that your life has become since you left, but I want you to consider this: are you happy living as you are? Sneaking around near the edges of your friends’, no -- your acquaintances’ lives, never allowing yourself to be embraced with anything other than the intimidation that comes from being royalty?”

Azula was quiet for a moment. A dull clang rang out in the air and she wretched her shoulder away from his grasp, surprised but relieved when he let her go easily. “The cart leaves at midnight. I need to go now.”

Iroh nodded at her words, deciding not to push, “Here, at least take the food I packed for your trip.” Without waiting for her response he sped back to the counter, surprisingly agile for his age. He hastily finished wrapping the box of tea and all the snacks he could see: lychee nuts, bean curd puffs, fried dough, and moon peaches.

He turned around, pleasantly surprised but not at all shocked that the princess was just where he had left her, her body seemingly even tenser. She accepted the bundle of treats into her arms easily.

Before she slipped into the shadows she paused, steeling herself, “Uncle… do you think that I… that we can fix things? When it comes down to it your words mean nothing. I don’t know if she’ll even want me back.”

“Things are never going to be as they were before, Niece. She has children now and you both will need to adjust.” He touched her shoulder and she met his gaze. Something in him softened even more at the helpless look in her eyes; the look of a forgotten royal not knowing if their future was heading towards what they wanted it to be and looking for some kind of guidance.

It was a familiar sight and it pulled at his heartstrings.

“It’s always necessary to give and take in relationships, Niece. You’ve taken from Toph when you left...you need to give her time and space after she knows that you want to be permanently back in her life.”

Azula tensed at that, taking a step away from him as she scoffed, “How do you know that i want to be back in her life? There’s no need for me to be entrenched.”

Iroh smiled, “You and I both know that you need to see her again. If you want to live as you’ve been, I don’t know if I’ll be around for another decade to guide you again. We both know what would make you happy, but it’s up to you to decide whether that happiness will be long or short term.”

The princess looked at the ground for a moment as she considered his words. He touched her arm and fastened the sack near her waist, “But enough talk, your cart is set to depart soon.”

Azula nodded and turned on her heel, walking away without a goodbye. Iroh watched her for a few steps before smirking, raising his hand in a broad wave and shouting out, “Just be sure to send a scroll when you two start dating again!”

He snickered as his niece dismissively waved him off, calling to her back, “And tell me how the kids are doing!”

[purpleplatypusbear21]

The final chapter is up!

Feedback is welcome, as always.  Thank you for reading my story!

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Azula Ship Challenge

Week 6: Blood

Ship: Azutara

Song Rec:  Iiris’ Dragon Song

Azula saves a baby dragon from a hunter, but in the attempt she is hit. Katara heals her and makes fun of her for landing herself in such a predicament. 

Azula could taste the copper on her lips, it bubbled up so fast and stained her lips red. She could still feel the arrow imbedded somewhere deep in her stomach. She was afraid to speak lest she spill more blood. She could probably only have managed a wet gurgling sound anyhow. It served her right for trying to be noble when she had no business doing so. Even she knew that she’d done something foolish, and she was paying for it. She watched the baby dragon half-leap half-flutter into the bushes. It didn’t even stick around to show gratitude. She couldn’t quit blame it though; it probably thought that the hunters were still lurking about, it couldn’t grasp that they knew that had to run.  It was that or stick around and finish her off. Accident or not, they’d face pretty hefty consequences, even though it was technically her own fault for taking the arrow for the beast. She grumbled to herself, considering that maybe she deserved that arrow for being so quick to jump in its path. She struggled to sit herself up right, each movement set a flurry of furious jabs spiderwebbing across her torso. She brought her fingers to the wound wondering if it was a good idea to apply pressure in this instance or if that would only drive the arrowhead in deeper.

 Her hopes perked up at the sound of footsteps. Perhaps the men had the decency to turn themselves in and get her some help…more likely they were coming back to finish her off. Instead, what approached her was the baby dragon with a mouth full of berries and a sprig of them in its claws. Azula sighed. It offered her the twig as if that would make up for anything. With a throaty squack, the dragon came to curl around her arm staring at the splotch of red that was slowly expanding. Giving her a quick sniff and dropping the branch into Azula’s hand, the dragon darted off once more. She frowned; while the sentiment was nice, she couldn’t even eat the berries with an arrow lodged in her belly.

 She couldn’t tell how much time had gone by, but she was growing dizzy and delirious. Her hand was wet and sticky from getting too near the wound. She worried about infection…not that she’d still be alive to get one. It was becoming too hard to keep herself up right, so she found herself pitching sideways, her hear smacking the ground. She felt a branch or two slice her cheek—the last thing she needed was another escape point for her blood.

 “Azula?” a voice cut through her delirium. “Oh God, what happened.”

 She could only mummer in response, an intangible sound that offered no explanation whatsoever. She felt something fall on her arm. The dragon, she realized, as the sensation of pittering claws scuttled up and down her arm. What an oblivious creature, she thought, almost envying its ignorance.

 “Hold still.” The voice instructed, implying that she could do anything but that. “I’m going to pull the arrow out and stitch this up.”

 “Right here?” Azula struggled to ask.

 “Yeah, it’ll at least hold you over until we can fix it up better. I have some water so that should make this easier.” Azula recognized the voice now. It was Katara. Any reluctance she had ebbed away like the blood from her body. Katara pressed a soft kiss to Azula’s cheek before cautiously rolling her onto her back. She healed the cuts on her cheek first, to save her at least a little strife and then got to work on the arrow.

 Azula couldn’t help but flinch as Katara yanked the arrow out. She didn’t dance around it and hesitate like others would have. And she gave no warning, she only winced and apologized after she had removed it and Azula cried out.

She worked quick though, alternating between needle and water. She’d tie three or four stitches and then apply water, bending it skillfully to fill in the cracks and soften the blows. It stung a bit, but eased the pain in the long run.

 “Do you want to tell me what happened?” Katara  asked as she stitched.

 “Not really.” Azula grumbled.

 “Does it have anything to do with the dragon that led me here?”

 “It might.” Azula replied as the creature unfurled its wings and nuzzled against her arm.

 “You have to stop doing this.” Katara frowned. “One of these days I won’t be able to heal you. I don’t know what I’ll do then.” She took Azula’s hand. “There, now all we have to do is wait for Zuko to come with our ride home.”

 Azula shifted positions, flinching as a fresh droplet of blood prickled from the new stitches.

 “Careful!” Katara scolded and dabbed the blood away. She scooped the dragon up and placed him in Azula’s palms, hoping that it would keep her busy and from hurting herself.

  Azula stroked the dragon’s head and peered up at Katara. “Thank you.” She paused. “For the healing and what not.”

 “Hopefully I won’t have to do it again.” Katara replied.

 “They would have killed him.” Azula pointed out. “There aren’t many dragons left. I couldn’t just let them hunt this one.” She held him out to Katara. “Even if you think it was a dumb thing to do, you can’t tell me that you’d have let this precious creature be killed.”

 Katara sighed, knowing full well that Azula was right. She’d have taken the arrow for the baby dragon too. “I guess we’re both idiots then, huh?”

 Azula snickered and took in a sharp breath as another sting flared up. Katara squeezed her arm. “At least this time it was worth it.” She muttered. She let Katara stroke her back in comforting circles as the dragon bounced from one of her shoulders to the other. It finally found a cozy spot, nestled in her hair, circled, and lie down in a nest of fine black hair. She didn’t bother to shoo it off.

 “Yeah, we’ll have a new pet dragon named…”

 “Bloodbath.” Azula filled in sardonically. “His name is Bloodbath.”

 Katara rolled her eyes, “alright, fine his name is Bloodbath.” She paused, “but only because I named our last pet.” She lifted Azula’s shirt again to make sure the wound was staying closed. “Looks like you’re gonna live.”

 “Well that’s anti-climatic.” Azula shrugged.

 Katara gave her arm a light punch. “It means I did a good job.”

 “If you say so.” Azula offered a slight grin. Despite the remarks, she was grateful. More than grateful. She couldn’t count how many times Katara had offered her a good healing session; be it for something like this or for something as simple as tired muscles after a long day of training. Some water and a few perfectly placed kisses put most all of her disarrays back in order. She was going to thank her again and tell her just how much her healing meant. But she held her tongue. They may be three months into their relationship but Azula wouldn’t for a second let Katara think she had gone that soft.

[fanwright]

Azula Ship Writing Challenge 2017

Hey Azula fans! Please free to participate in this 8-week writing challenge. The rules are simple:

Each Monday, post a story or story chapter based on the corresponding prompt (see below for dates and prompts).

Azula must have at least one ship - it can be anyone; it can be multiple people; it can be a BroTP!

Tag your work with the #AzulaShipChallenge tag

No word limit - write as much as you want!

You can write 8 separate stories or one 8-chaptered story or anything in between. The choice is yours!

Each chapter can involve a different ship for Azula - highly encouraged!

All ratings are accepted. Please tag any work with adult oriented content with the additional #NSFW tag when applicable. 

It is highly encouraged to branch out from your OTP/OT3 and write something unexpected. You may surprise yourself!

Dates/Prompts:

Monday, October 9th, 2017: TBD*

Monday, October 16th, 2017: TBD*

Monday, October 23rd, 2017: TBD*

Monday, October 30th, 2017: TBD*

Monday, November 6th, 2017: TBD*

Monday, November 13th, 2017: TBD*

Monday, November 20th, 2017: TBD*

Monday, November 28th, 2017: TBD*

*(Note - Prompts will be determined in a poll soon to follow. Please make sure to vote!)

Please contact @purpleplatypusbear21, @clarielparke, or @fanwright if you have any questions!