Here is a new chapter. My thanks to PhoenixVersion1 for being my beta from this chapter on.

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Settling In

An easy routine settled in for Azula for the rest of the summer and fall. Winter was anything but easy for the Fire Nation native.

"How can anybody stand living in this dismally cold weather, what is wrong with you people?" Azula said incredulously. She was sitting with Suki in her little hovel. Azula was huddled under three wool tunics and trousers, thick wool socks, gloves, and a scarf. All of them were a brown or an ugly green color, and rough and scratchy. The former princess was so cold she didn't care one bit.

"Oh come on Azula it's not that bad." The Kyoshi Leader said between sips of her tea.

"Says the one from this frozen tundra. I have never even seen snow until now." She pouted.

Suki couldn't help but snicker at the Former Princess. Ever since the weather turned chilly Azula had been a miserable wreck of complaints and an all around sad state. Even now the girl was bundled up in ridiculous layers and drinking hot tea huddled as close as she can to the small oil burner.

"I'm glad you're so amused at my misery." She said dourly.

Suki took some pity on Azula and decided it would be best if she got out of her little shack and spend her first day off in weeks to go for a hike. "Come on Azula, let's get up and out of here." She said as she rose to her feet.

"Out of here? Why would I want to go outside where it is even colder?" The Ex-Firebender said as she stared at Suki like she just grew another head.

"Oh come on." Suki said in a raised pitch. "You can't honestly believe I'm going to let you stay in here all day. This is your first day off in I don't know how long. You are not spending it like a hermit."

"You want me to go outside...into the cold? You know there is snow outside right?" She said incredulously.

Suki rolled her eyes and tossed a heavy cloak at Azula and said. "Come on, let's go."

The raven-haired girl huffed but obliged anyways, following the Kyoshi leader out the door. The two girls walked along a path in the snow covered trees behind the dojo while holding idle conversation. Suki had been making it more of a point to spend more time with Azula lately. She took it upon herself to help the girl learn the social skills that she obviously lacked because of her upbringing. The girls developed a sisterly relationship, and Azula had come to look at Suki as something of an older sister, as much as she was able to at least. "Was there anything exciting in the monthly report you guys sent my idiot brother?"

"Azula." Suki scolded mildly. "He's not nearly as dumb as you make him out to be. Besides he has done a pretty remarkable job given the circumstances."

"Whatever." The former Firebender said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

She knew there would be no point to this argument. Whatever her opinion of her brother, she doesn't think she'd do any better especially with her record as the sovereign of the Fire Nation. "We did have to tell him about that incident with the merchant a couple of weeks ago." Suki said.

"That was hardly my fault, the bumbling fool ran into me. With the town's prejudices against me I'm just lucky Akemi was with me instead of one of the less hospitable girls. If it wasn't for her the ma-" Azula was cut off mid sentence by Suki who grabbed her wrist and halting their walk.

"Did you hear that?" Suki asked in a whisper.

Azula stopped dead in her tracks and listened intently for any noise, while Suki silently pulled out her twin fans. Azula's strained ears heard a subtle noise that sounded kind of like snow crunching underfoot. Both girls pointed in the same direction confirming they both heard the noise. Suki crouched down and motioned for Azula to follow suit. Azula wordlessly obeyed and followed Suki's lead. Both girls went deeper into the forest following the noise they heard. They used the trees to gain some cover as they searched for any signs of someone or something in the forest. Azula caught sight of what looked like foot prints in the fresh snow. She tapped Suki on the shoulder and pointed to the tracks. The girls crept up to the prints. The prints looked like they belonged to a person, and by the size of the print they appeared to be male. Suki motioned for Azula to stay directly behind her as she was unarmed and unarmored. Suki scanned the forest in the direction of the prints. After a few seconds of searching she saw a flash of black and green dart behind a tree. She waved for Azula to follow as she moved to pursue. The girls moved as low and as fast as they could without making noise. They used the prints of the other to maintain stealth. Suddenly, two men dressed in the black and green robes of the Dai Li dropped down from the trees and landed right in front of the girls.

"The Dai Li, what a surprise." Azula said with a mock sweetness to her voice. "Did you miss me?" She added with her hands on her hips.

The Dai Li agent closest to Azula shot out a stone fist at her. She tried to dodge the projectile but he was to close and she couldn't move fast enough to avoid it all together. She was struck with a glancing blow to her left shoulder that sent her spinning to the ground and let out a pained groan. Suki was a little more lucky, as she was able to deflect her enemies projectiles with her metal fans. The Princess was to her feet almost as fast as she went down. She charged the earthbender, using the trees to avoid his rocks. She reached the man in seconds, taking him by surprise by her speed and agility. His moment's hesitation gave enough of an open to counter attack.

She hit him in the chest with a palm strike that sent him reeling into a tree behind him. She wasted no time pressing the attack but he was ready and countered her next strike with a stone fist towards her face. Azula swiveled out of the way of the blow but it was close enough that she could feel his fist fly past her right cheek. His miss cost him because Azula had noticed his exposed flank and made him pay for it with a sharp left hook to his ribs. A distinct crack was heard and a smirk formed on the former princess' lips. She had him right where she wanted him.

Instantaneously, the ground exploded outward sending dirt, snow, and Azula flying. She hit the ground at Suki's feet and her momentum carried her through, taking Suki off her feet in the process. Fortunately, the agent Suki was fighting was part of the collateral damage as well. He was struck in the side of the head by an errant stone and now laid in a heap in the snow and dirt. Azula painfully pulled herself up from the ground. Whatever earthbending attack the Dai Li did left her a little worse for wear. She had blood dripping from a cut on her forehead above her right eye. She had a gash on her left cheek and blood flowing from her lip and nose.

Azula reached down and pulled Suki's Katana from its scabbard and marched over to the Dai Li responsible. He was laying on the ground clutching his broken rib and wheezing. A very angry Azula held the blade to his throat with one hand and with the other snatched him up by his collar and dragged him over to the unconscious Dai Li who was already leaned against a tree and tied to it by Suki. Once Azula dragged the man over to Suki she knocked him out with the pommel of the sword.

"What the hell was that all about?" Azula fumed.

"I don't know, but let's get you cleaned up. You look like hell." Suki replied.

She ripped a strip off the hem of the winter cloak of her Kyoshi Warrior uniform and used it to clean the blood off Azula's face. "Ouch!" Azula hissed when Suki put pressure on the cut on her left cheek.

"Oh, stop being a baby." Suki teased.

Azula huffed and gritted her teeth at the pain. "So, what are we going to do with these two?" Zuko's sister asked.

"Well, first off we should tie them down so when the wake up they can't bend. Then..." Suki supplied.

"You managed to state the obvious, I was hoping more of a plan. You know very well I'm not dragging them."

o0o0o0o0o

"I can't believe you're making me do this." A very un-amused Azula grunted.

"Come on Azula you knew this was going to happen the second you said it." Suki said through strained grunts.

"Well you could have at least given me the lighter one." Azula moaned.

"Don't complain you need the exercise, besides you picked the one to carry." The Kyoshi Leader shot back.

"Agni, must you throw that in my face?" Azula complained much to the amusement of Suki.

The girls dragging the unconscious Dai Li were spotted by the Kyoshi sentry on watch as soon as they cleared the forest and within seconds, a group of four of Suki's warriors were running to meet them. Once the other girls arrived, Suki and Azula relinquished the Dai Li with instructions to take them to the holding cells and make sure they were shackled tightly to prevent bending. Once that order was given, the two girls made a beeline to Sokka who was most likely in his cottage asleep. Sokka was awoken from a pleasant dream of him and his girlfriend, when he was dragged off his bed and unceremoniously dropped on the floor. He gave a yelp and flailed in a twist of blankets as he tried to get to his feet. The gravity of the situation prevented the hilarity of Sokka's tangled mess to reach the girls. Azula's impatience reached its end, and she grabbed a handful of blankets and yanked.

Sokka now freed from his blanket trap glared up at the girls who woke him. "What the hell was that all about!" He shouted as he rose to his feet.

"We have a...situation." Suki said ominously.

"Situation, what do you mean situation? Will you just tell me what's going on?" He said in a sharp tone.

"We were in the forest for a little walk where we were attacked by two Dai Li agents." Azula responded calmly.

"We managed to defeat them. We have them in the holding cells right now." Suki added in.

Sokka's face was stone as he contemplated the situation. He definitely needed to interrogate them and hopefully glean some information from them. He also needed to contact Iroh and the rest of the White Lotus.

"Hello, Earth to Sokka." Suki said after several silent minutes.

"What? Oh sorry, I was just thinking about what we need to do." the Water-Tribe Warrior replied.

"We need to interrogate the prisoners is what we need to do." Azula barked.

"You're right. Let me get dressed. I'll meet you two at the holding cells." He replied.

Sokka met Suki, Azula, and Akemi at the entrance to the holding cells. "What can you tell me about these men?" Sokka asked upon his arrival.

"They're talented earthbenders and they are Dai Li agents. We spotted something moving in the forest and decided to investigate. That's when they attacked. We don't know anything other than that." Suki said.

"Alright let's go have a talk shall we." Said Sokka.

The men were still unconscious when they entered their cell. Sokka gave a sharp kick to each of them to rouse them. The now awake men were shifted to their knees. Both men were glaring sharply at Azula, even though the Boy with the Wolf-Tail was standing directly in front of them. "Why are you here and how long have you been here?" Sokka asked sharply.

"You won't get any information out of us." Said the larger of the two men.

The two men bit down on something in their mouths and began to choke and foam at the mouth. Within a matter of seconds they were dead.

"Damn it! I should have known." The Boy growled.

This did not bode well for them. 'How long could have they been here? What was their purpose here? What did they know?' Terrifying questions swarmed his thoughts.

"I need to send off messages immediately. This could mean a thousand different terrible things. We need to get to the bottom of this and fast. Though I suspect this has something to do with you Azula." He looked to her and addressed her. "What can you tell me of the Dai Li? You have more experience with them than any of us."

"They are ruthless and efficient. They are all about shadows and subterfuge. If they are here then it is as spies. We should all be wary. If they are involved there is a plot afoot. Though they are all intelligent, there is definitely someone pulling the strings, they are followers to the last." She said darkly.

"Akemi, have your girls search the bodies for clues and lead a squad to search the forest for their hideout. Come find me as soon as you have any information."

"Yes Ma'am." Akemi said with a bow and left the small cell.

"Well this has 'something bad is going down' written all over it." Sokka said dryly after Akemi left.

"Your powers of observation are astounding." Azula said sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm just saying." He replied casually.

"Can you two be serious for five seconds this is a really big deal." Suki exasperated.

"Well standing here next to a couple of dead guys isn't getting us anywhere. What do you say we head to the shop and discuss things?"

o0o0o0o0o

"Our agents on Kyoshi Island haven't reported back yet. Their regular correspondence is a week late, Sir." A Dai Li agent said.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" Long Feng asked with barely contained calm.

"Since the weather turned cold the messages haven't been as punctual, but they've never been more than three days late until now." The other man responded.

"I want to know what's happened. They've most likely been discovered and are dead and I want to know what they knew and how they died. I need to know how much the Kyoshi Warriors know. Do not fail me Quan Yi."

"It will be done, Sir." He said with a bow and exited.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"It's been two weeks, and still nothing?" Sokka asked.

"No, nothing Master Sokka." Akemi said.

"For the millionth time. It's just call me Sokka." He exasperated.

"As you wish." She said dutifully.

"She's not going to drop the master part is she?" Sokka whispered in Suki's ear. Who just shook her head. "I thought not."

"Well what can you tell me? Did you at least find their hideout?" Suki asked.

"We know that they'd rather die than give up information. We know that they're Dai Li."

"Yes, yes, we need relevant information every idiot on this ice block of an Island knows that." Azula said with some of her old sharpness.

"Azula! Don't be rude. She's telling what she knows as asked." Suki said sharply.

Guilt flashed across Azula's face despite her efforts. "I'm sorry Akemi, please continue." She said more sincerely than she meant.

"Very well. We know from the cave they were holed up in and the lookout posts they established. They cared very little for the village itself. I surmise they were watching the Dojo, Master Sokka's shop, Azula's hut and patrol routes." Akemi said.

"I believe they are either planning on taking out Azula for whatever slight they may feel from Azula banishing them, or their part of something far more elaborate and sinister. I'm leaning toward sinister but it's too early to tell." Sokka voiced.

"Either way I'm the main focus. If I know anything about Fire Nation generals, and I know everything about Fire Nation generals, at least half of them were of the same mind as my father, the rest were either doing their duty for their nation or they believed whole heartedly in the vision of Sozin, and they are the most dangerous. I will write a list of all the generals that were under my father's command. Although, I think we should consult my Uncle Iroh he was a general much longer than I was and as well as I can read people he is just as good and he actually knew most of those men." Azula said matter-of-factly.

"I've sent messages to your uncle and many of the other members. Perhaps we could have Master Piandao can give us more information. He still lives in the Fire Nation." Sokka said thoughtfully.

"Well there's not much we can do in the mean time. I've already doubled the patrols and we are already randomizing the guard schedule making us less predictable in case something goes down." Suki said

"I have several of my girls undercover in some of the more rural areas. If the Dai Li use cloak and dagger perhaps we can throw them off with a little ourselves."

"I'm impressed Akemi, I didn't think you had it in you." Azula said honestly.

A small smile appeared on the usually stoic Akemi as she nodded in thanks.

"I think we should up your training Azula. My gut tells me something bad is going to happen soon and we should be as prepared as possible, but we need to be more sneaky than ever, now that we know we're being watched."

"Suki it would be a good idea if you had Ty Lee do more chi blocking training. Every advantage helps." Azula suggested.

"Well we've all got work to do. Meeting adjourned." Sokka said as he got up and walked back into his shop.

Azula slid on the leather apron Sokka gifted to her and followed him. That night was the toughest, most grueling training session Azula's had in years.