August 104AG

Republic City

"We'll let you know by the end of the week," the man said as he shook Sokka's hand.

"Thank you for interviewing me." Sokka had just interviewed to become the next asst. staff manager, which would earn him a higher wage and better hours.

"Thank you for coming in."

Sokka had two more hours to work before his day was up. They had an annual review coming up. "Time to start looking at the office's expenses."

They were trying to cut costs everywhere they could and administrative costs seemed to have a lot of fluff.

"Why do we spend so much getting coffee delivered when we could just get a machine here?" The coffee also wasn't as hot by the time they got it from the bakery to the office.

Sokka took out a red pen and looked for expenses that he thought were unnecessary.

Two hours later, the warrior was so into what he was doing that he didn't even notice Azula coming into his office. It wasn't until she planted a kiss on his cheek that he realized he had been inhaling the scent of her perfume.

"Hello Gorgeous," he happily pulled her into his arms.

"How did you interview go?"

"I think it went pretty well."

"Good. Hopefully, we'll have cause to celebrate this weekend."

"I always feel like celebrating when I'm with you."

"You're so sweet." It's almost disgusting.

"But seriously, your apartment is like made to party in."

"Our apartment," she told him before she kissed him. They had their own apartment! No annoying Fire Lords or mothers to get in their way. It was worth having to clean it instead of having servants.

"Sometimes, I think it's all a dream." After Sokka moved in, he got some decorative drums and other artwork that reminded him of his tribe. He wanted to add his own personal touch and also Azula's stuff was really girly, minus her weapons collection.

He got his stuff and they headed to the apartment, stopping for beer on the way.

They went out to the bar where they "met" sometimes, but they usually just got booze from the store. It was cheaper and cleaner than that place and Sokka was trying to save some money.

"I used to think Princesses were too prissy to drink beer," he told her.

She raised a brow. "I just don't like the watered down beer they sell in Capital City."

"The Fire Nation is more of a whiskey place," he agreed. They got the six-pack and were on their way home.

They got home, and Azula put the cow pig belly in the oven. She had done all the prep work before she left. Dinner should be ready around 7PM.

Sokka popped open a beer. "Did we get any mail?"

"It's on the end table. I haven't looked through it yet."

Sokka noticed he had a letter from his father.

Sokka,

Your sister and Aang are coming to visit in September. I was hoping you could get some time off work, so you could come when they do and we could have the whole family together. Also, your Gran Gran keeps asking about your girlfriend. Who is she? Why haven't I met her? Is she going to give me pretty grandbabies?

If you're too busy with work, I understand, but it would be nice we could get a few days with you.

Love,

Dad

Sokka didn't realize he had zoned out until Azula heatbended his chair, making him jump up.

"My buns!"

"What has you so checked out?"

"Oh, my Dad wants us to visit next month." Sokka wasn't sure if he could get the time off work or if it would make him look bad to get a promotion and bounce a month later.

"What's the problem?"

"What if I can't get the time off work?"

"Doesn't United Republic do business with the tribe? Just take the work with you and call it a business trip."

"I can do that?"

"Why not?"

Sokka decided to wait until he heard about this job before he asked if he could leave.

It was on Friday when Sokka got called into his boss's office.

"Can you get the door behind you?"

Sokka shut it.

"Take a seat."

I'm not fired am I? I swear I only ate the secretary's sandwich that one time, and I was really hungry, and it was 7PM and I still had to work.

"We had a few good candidates for the job," two from within the office and two newcomers. "We must say that we liked you the best. If you can start on Monday, the job's yours."

"Thank you so much. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't. Now go celebrate with that pretty girlfriend of yours."

Celebrate, they did.

Azula got ahold of Toph and Satoru, and they started to plan a night of fun for their favorite meathead.

Azula already had dinner reservations, figuring she'd either celebrate with him or let him eat away his sadness if he didn't get the job.

At 7:30, the quartet met at Fire and Ice: unlimited Surf and Turf.

"I can smell the steak already, and it's saying eat me, eat me!" Toph was ready to chow down. "So Zappy, Snoozles, how's life?"

"My life is great, now that Kuei's out of my hair." Azula was no longer working with him on financing for Republic City. Instead, she was working out financial agreements with the Council. There was a lot of trade between the two countries since Yu Dao had been the Fire Nation's.

Currently, they were having secret talks to make an economic alliance between United Republic and the Fire Nation. It was so secret that Azula couldn't even tell Sokka about it until the deal was signed. If something went wrong, it would be her ass.

"I don't make shit anymore!" Sokka said enthusiastically, causing some of the patrons to turn and stare at him.

"You don't even have any bills," Toph teased.

"Do you?" Satoru questioned, given who her father is.

"Hush!"

Azula kissed Sokka's cheek. "It's about time they realized how smart you are."

"Don't get all mushy on me! You'll make me puke before I eat!"

The waiter came and they started with a round of stiff cocktails and when the drinks arrived, they flipped their cards.

If your card was green, they would offer you food. If it was red, they wouldn't.

They had filet mignon, porterhouse, rib eye, skirt steak, hanger steak and they also had chicken, oyster prawns, unagi, zebra salmon and koi.

They also had a salad bar, but Azula was the only one from their table who went before the meat came.

"I need some greenery."

"You're such a girl," Toph teased.

Azula heated her chair.

"My buns!"

Twenty minutes later, they were stuffing their faces. "This is amazing!" Sokka sang as he finished off a filet of zebra salmon.

Toph waved her hand and said, "We need more drinks. Keep 'em coming."

A few plates later, Azula flipped her card.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asked.

"Saving room for dessert."

"I'll never run out of room for dessert!" Sokka declared boldly as he continued to eat his meat.

Twenty minutes later, they were stumbling out of the place.

"How am I so full?"

"You did eat so much that the chef came out to check you and make sure you didn't stuff the meat down your pants." He didn't believe one man who wasn't 150 kilo could eat that much.

"I think he just wanted to cop a feel," Toph told them.

The waiter got a good tip, so he was happy. "Do come again!"

"I might need like a month to recover before I come back here," Sokka told her.

They went to a speakeasy after dinner.

"What's the password?"

"Al Capone," Azula told the doorman, and they went inside.

"Who's Al Capone?" Sokka asked her.

"I have no idea."

When they got inside, they were in a poorly lit basement. People were smoking pipe tobacco (and other things in their pipe).

There were girls in flashy dresses bringing drinks to the patrons, some swanky music playing in the background, and couples dancing.

"This is my kind of place," Sokka told her.

"I know," Azula said as she kissed his nose. "Let's show them how it's done."

The music just started to pick up as they hit the dance floor. Sokka spun Azula around and they started to writhe to the music. Their movements were well-timed, sensual, and full of energy.

Toph was more for making out in the corner than dancing, although she could see on the stone floor.

"I'm so goofy for you," Satoru told her between kisses.

"You're just goofy!"

As the night went on, more and more people started to come in. Eventually, it became a bit too crowded for Azula's liking and the group said their farewell.

"We were just getting to the good part," Toph complained.

"You already got two rounds in," Azula retorted.

"It's not my fault little Satoru has surprisingly good stamina."

"Toph," he hissed at her.

"Oh get over it!"

They went home for the night. "I think it's time we celebrate just us!" Azula told Sokka as he carried her inside.

"Oh yeah!"

Clothes came off between kisses and bites.

Azula marked him as hers with bite marks and scratches and once she got his boxers out of the way, she sucked him into her mouth.

"Oh fuck!"

She bobbed her head up and down before lifting her mouth. "Tonight's for you."

He blushed as a grin covered his face. This was going to be a good night!

Saturday

Sokka didn't wake up until almost noon. Azula had opened the blinds, so he was sleeping in the sun like a bearded cat.

"Come back to bed!"

"We have to go shopping."

"For what?"

"You got a promotion. We need to promote your wardrobe."

"Again?" She just got him the clothes he had less than two months before.

"Fall fashion is in. It's time for a seasonal change anyway."

After a quick shower and a bread roll for a snack, they headed out to go shopping and then a late brunch.

When they got into the store, a flock of sales attendants ran to get there first. One woman tripped another. Sokka had déjà vu from the last time. She was about to win when a girl came from behind and shoved her out of the way.

"Ah, you're first this time." The girl in front of Azula was the one who had been tripped the last time.

"I learned to stay in the running and then go for it in the last moment."

"Very clever. Here's the deal. Sokka just got promoted, and I want his clothes to show that he is a boss, but he is not trying to upstage his boss, and it will start getting colder next month, so he will need some sweaters."

She grabbed different slacks, belts and shirts for him to try. She also grabbed one blue sweater and one grey one.

The other girls watched in envy as their competition racked up commission for the day.

"Shall we deliver this to your apartment?"

"Yes." They had her address on file.

Now, it was time for brunch.

"I'm so hungry." Sokka knew just what he wanted, chicken and waffles with poached eggs and bacon on the side, also a Bloody Ozai.

Monday

Sokka made sure to wake up early for work. He was moving into his new office, a full office, no longer his little square of an office and he wanted to make sure he read the resumes of their new employees, so he would have a good idea on where to start them.

Azula had taught him how to make a frittata, which was a beautiful thing. He just put some meat, potatoes, and eggs in the skillet, stuck the skillet in the oven and it was done by the time he came out of the shower and had clothes on.

"You want some breakfast?" he asked Azula as she came out of the bedroom.

"You made enough for two?"

"I just put in eight eggs instead of six."

She snorted. He eats so damn much.

After breakfast, they both got to work.

"Someone's looking sharp," Xena was a bit of a flirt.

"How are you doing Xena?"

"Great. Still with that Princess."

"Yeah."

"Too bad."

He just grinned as he went to move into his new office.

While Sokka got to work saving United Republic money, Azula was getting to the end of her own negotiations with the new state.

Both sides were hoping to get the agreement signed before either Kuei or the Avatar could interfere with their business. They hardly thought that the tribes would care. In fact, they were hoping to possibly get the Northern Water Tribe to join the arrangement later. Their agreement left that as an option if the tribe was willing to joint hem.

The one thing that was holding up the agreement was the currency. Azula wanted to carry out the deal in ban. It was more stable than the new yuan that the United Republic was using, and she didn't want to tie her nation to a currency that could tank.

They of course wanted this deal to help legitimize the yuan.

Eventually, they agreed to do the contract in ban with an option of switching to yuan or a new currency later.

"If we want to change, then we can modify this agreement with a supplement." They even worked out how they would calculate the exchange in the event that they wanted to change.

By the time August came to a close, Zuko and the Council were both ready to sign.

"I think this will make us a lot of money," Zuko said as he shook hands with one of the Councilmen.

"I think so as well," mostly at Kuei's expense.

September 104AG

Three months into their relationship, Sokka and Azula were on a trip to his homeland.

Sokka brought some work with him to justify being gone for a week, and he was excited to introduce Azula to his Gran Gran.

"Oh she's gonna love you."

"I hope so," Azula said as she curled up against him. It would be nice to have someone in their family who didn't freak out because they were together.

Suki still seemed to think they were a conspiracy. When Zuko came to talk to his sister about the agreement, he was surprised to see they were already living together.

"It's only been a few months," he scolded.

They had been together less than two weeks when he moved into her place, but Zuko didn't know that. "When it's right, it's right."

Zuko rolled his eyes. He could report to Suki that they were a real couple, but "What is mother going to say?"

"That she's disappointed in me like she always is."

Yeah.

They had left Republic City after work on Friday, so they would arrive in the tribe on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately, they did not have the Bei Fong suite, but they did have a pretty nice room. Azula might have accidentally scorched the ceiling.

"You need to learn to control that," he teased.

"It's not my fault you give me such wild orgasms."

"Maybe you should put ice in your mouth before sex."

"So I make steam instead?"

"I thought it might work."

"That's gonna be a lot of ice."

They made it to the tribe. Sokka was sure Azula would burn down his home one night.

The men were out trying to get their last whale of the season. Pakku was guiding the ship.

"They'll be busy until it gets close to dark; let's find Gran Gran."

Sokka led her to his grandmother's house.

"Gran Gran, are you home?"

Kanna was getting ready to make some tea.

"Sokka! Come in!"

He went inside with his girlfriend.

Kanna came forward and hugged her grandson. "I swear you get taller each time I see you."

"Maybe you're shrinking?"

She bopped his head.

"Oops."

Kanna looked Azula up and down. "Oh she's so pretty. I bet your children will be really cute."

Azula blushed. "It's nice to meet you." She stuck out a hand.

Kanna hugged her. "Welcome to the family!"

"Is Katara here?"

"She's supposed to be guiding the ships with Pakku, but I bet she slept in."

About ten minutes later, Katara stumbled into her grandmother's house. "Gran Gran, I meant to wake up, but I didn't."

"Wow that was inspired," Azula said dryly.

Sokka snorted.

"What are you doing here?" Katara glared.

"Don't be rude," Kanna told her. "And where's Aang?"

"He's probably penguin sledding."

Sure enough, Aang came back covered in snow. "I had a great time penguin sledding."

"Has an otter penguin ever bitten you?" Azula asked.

"No, why would it do that?"

"If it didn't want to be a sled."

Katara frowned. She would take the fun out of penguin sledding.

"How was your flight?" Aang asked her.

"It was comfortable. We didn't get the nonstop food and drink this time, but the dinner was good."

Kanna started asking Azula about her work.

"I represent the Crown in Republic City. I negotiate on my brother's behalf, so he can just come when the agreement is done and sign. This way he can stay with his heifer."

"I didn't know he raised cow pigs," Aang commented.

"She meant Suki," Katara said coldly.

"Oh! Oops!"

"How is Suki doing?" Aang asked them.

"That's the beauty about living in Republic City. I don't know, and I don't care."

"What about the rest of your family?" Kanna asked.

"Well I hate my uncle, and my mother wishes that I wasn't her daughter, so I don't have much reason to associate with my family anymore. I only talk to Zuko because he pays my rent."

Katara had an appalled look on her face.

Kanna was surprised and a bit terrified. "Well, she is candid."

A few hours later, Hakoda and Pakku were back from the whale hunt.

The Chief was glad to see his son. "Welcome!"

"How was the hunt?"

"We didn't see any whales today."

"Maybe tomorrow."

"GranPakku!"

"Don't call me that! How are you doing Sokka?"

"Great. I got a promotion!"

"You didn't tell me that," Kanna scolded.

"Yeah, I'm an assistant manager now." I can actually afford to drink in a bar!

"How did you get this promotion?"

"He slept with his boss," Azula told them.

"I did not!" He insisted.

"That's what he claims," Azula said.

"And you're still with him," Katara deadpanned.

She shrugged. "You do what you have to do to get a-head!"

Katara gagged.

"Nice one!" Sokka high fived her. Azula had a way of making dick/fellatio jokes at the strangest times.

They had sea prune stew for dinner. Azula was afraid that the food here would be bad for her stomach, so she packed food just in case it made her ill.

It actually didn't taste that bad. She thought Mai's cooking was worse. Aang just had sea prunes and rice. The sea prune stew had whale in it.

The others seemed to mesh together like a perfect family. Even though Sokka hadn't been living here for years, he fit right in. Azula found the whole thing baffling. Her only goal when eating with her family was to make them so uncomfortable that they did not invite her back.

After dinner, the women got stuck with the dishes while the men sat around with whiskey.

Aang still didn't look old enough to drink in Azula's opinion. With his baldhead, she'd always think of an overgrown child.

Katara handed Azula a towel to dry the dishes. Azula put it down and used her bending to dry them quickly.

"But now they're too hot to touch," Katara complained.

Azula directed the heat away with her firebending. "Now they're not."

Azula didn't realize how familial the tribe was although it wasn't a surprise. Given their low numbers, they were likely all cousins and it's not like they got a lot of travellers coming this way.

It was late, or at least it felt late since the sun was long gone, when Sokka and Azula went to bed.

"So how was the family?"

"They weren't as insufferable as my family, well minus your sister."

Sokka snorted. "Let's go to bed."

"We're just sleeping."

"That's fine. I like having a roof anyway."

Sunday

Sokka got up early to join in the whale hunt. Azula woke up with the sun and since the sun came late, she woke up late.

What is there to do here?

She left the igloo to see what looked like children playing in the distance. She wandered out there and saw boys playing with sticks.

"What are you doing?"

"Learning to fight with spears."

"Your stance is wrong."

"How do you know?" You're just a girl!

She threw a fireball at him and he fell over.

"HEY!"

"If your stance was better, you wouldn't have fallen."

She started to correct them. "You want to separate your feet and angle your arms to protect your insides. It's better to take a gash on the arm than to take a gash in the lung."

"How do you know how to fight with a spear?"

"I don't. I just know how to fight."

The men were all hunting, so no one had been here to show them what to do. This used to be Sokka's job before he joined the war.

She spent the rest of the morning working with their footwork.

"Fighters have to be quick and light on their feet. And when it's time to strike, you want to stay lose so you can move quickly." Beginners tended to try to throw as much force behind the blow as they could and this would often cause them to miss.

Aang had gone to explore the tribe and meet with people when he saw Azula with the boys.

"You're done for the day. How about we try the same time tomorrow?"

The boys were off.

"Hey Azula. How is it going?"

"Alright I guess. I've been teaching these boys how to fight."

"Did you want to check out the hot spring?"

"There's a hot spring!" How was I not informed of this?

They took Appa so they could get behind the tribe. It was a short flight, but it would have been a long walk and low and behold, a hot spring.

Azula told Aang to turn around. "No perving!"

She stripped and jumped into the spring.

Aang followed suit.

"I don't know how they grew up here." Azula was always heatbending.

"They run colder, and the air temples aren't that warm, but this is really cold," especially when you have low body fat.

"How did you discover this place?"

"Bato told me about it. He swears that he brought a bunch of girls here in his youth."

"You don't believe him."

"He's a man of tall tales."

"Most men are when it comes to women."

"I was so lucky. Most guys don't meet the one on the first shot."

"Do you really think it was luck?"

"You don't seem like the kind who believes in fate," he told her.

"I don't. What I mean is it was likely your circumstances that brought you two together just as much as it was your personas. You had been frozen for 100 years. She happened to get you out of the iceberg. You grew up in a segregated temple.

You probably didn't know many girls your own age or at least not well. You were raised to set aside your more prurient desires and you hadn't really felt them before you got frozen. If you substituted Katara out for any other female around your age and went through the same journey, might you not be saying the same thing about her."

Aang frowned. He never thought about it that way. "You don't think there's just one person for everyone."

Azula shook her head. "Everyone has a fantasy of the boy or girl of his dreams. We never meet this person. He or she is always too good to be true, but we do meet people that we like and they have some of those traits and sometimes, some of them is enough.

I think we all have possible mates and should we come across one, we start to adjust our expectations and they start to adjust theirs. We start twisting and turning hoping that we'll fit together, but I don't think it's inherent that we'll fit with any one particular person.

A lot of it comes down to the circumstances in which we met them. When you and Katara met, you were both vulnerable for different reasons. Your people were gone. Her mother was dead and her father was gone. You both had a reason to bond with someone at the time, and it's natural that you two fell for each other.

When Sokka and I first met, we were not inclined to bond, but four and a half years later, we met under different circumstances. It was really only chance that he didn't already work out with any of his past romances and that I hadn't been married off to forge some political alliance.

I don't think that this makes our love any less real. If anything, it's just a reminder that we have to work for it. It's not just going to be given to us because we all want to have romance."

"I guess I don't know if we were slated together or not, but I am glad that she's the one who found me."

"It could be worse. It could have been Suki who found you."

Aang snorted. "You two really hate each other."

"I just enjoy getting on her nerves."

"Well you are quite good at it."

"She's not the only one. Katara almost burst a blood vessel in her eye at the wedding."

"When Katara and I get married, can you try to not make her too angry?"

Azula started to laugh. "I can try, but she'll get angry because I'm there. I can't change that."

After Katara got back from the whale hunt, she asked Aang how he spent his day.

"I had breakfast at Kova's house, and Azula and I went to the hot springs and …"

"You went where?"

"The hot springs."

"Why?"

"Um because it's warm."

"I didn't realize you brought a bathing suit," she said to him.

"Um, I didn't."

OOHH!

She started yelling at him. "HOW COULD YOU BE NAKED IN FRONT OF HER? YOU KNOW SHE'S A NO GOOD TRAMP. SHE JUMPED INTO SOKKA'S PANTS THE FIRST CHANCE SHE GOT!"

"Um, to be fair, lots of girls jumped into Sokka's pants the first chance they got."

"That's no excuse!"

She stormed over to Sokka's house, demanding an explanation from Azula.

"What were you doing with Aang?"

"Well, we were planning a secret ritual to bring back the undead but now you've ruined it!"

"No zombies in the tribe!" Sokka barked.

"Were you naked with him?"

"Well I didn't get into the hot springs with all my clothes on."

"You got in without me?" Sokka pouted.

"Well after you catch that whale, we'll do whatever you want to do in the hot springs."

"Oh yeah!"

"That was completely inappropriate."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? He's my boyfriend!"

"I'm aware, but it wasn't a sexual encounter. Ty Lee's a lesbian, and I go to the hot springs with her. Sokka doesn't flip out over it."

"Actually that's pretty hot!" Sokka told them. "I encourage you being naked with Ty Lee."

"Glad to hear it. Seriously. It's not like I was checking out his trouser snake."

Sokka laughed. "Trouser snake."

"This doesn't bother you," Katara questioned her brother.

"Not unless he's bigger than I am, in which case I'll kill him."

"That would be quite difficult," Azula commented, "given that water tends to shrink men's packages."

"EW!" Katara stormed off.

Tuesday

Katara was still cross about Azula being anywhere near a naked Aang.

Azula had forgotten all about it and was out teaching the boys how to fight.

"Better," she said as they were starting to learn how to position themselves. Things were starting to get interesting when they ehard a woman shouting, "FIREBENDER!"

The boys stayed put. She was obviously a firebender.

Mothers came out of their houses after they heard the shouting and saw a strange woman with their sons.

One of them came to confront them. "What are you doing?"

"Teaching them how to fight."

"With fire? That's dangerous."

"Well duh. How do you get good at fighting without fighting?"

The boys wanted to stay with Azula. "We just want to be tough like our dads."

AW!

The mothers collected their sons and said they'd discuss it with their husbands.

Azula headed to Sokka's house. On the way, she saw Aang waterbending. He didn't notice her approaching and she threw a snowball right into the back of his head.

"HEY!" He turned around and didn't see anything, but he heard giggling. He threw a water whip in that direction, and Azula retaliated with fire.

They started sparring. Aang had an advantage since he was surrounded in water, but Azula had a few tricks up her sleeves as well, like heatbending the air behind him.

"MY BUNS!" he jumped at the awkward sensation, giving Azula a chance to throw a fireball right at his gut.

Aang retaliated with a series of snowball attacks, and Azula charged at him, melting them one by one and then she lunged.

They started wrestling in the snow, battling for position and eventually Aang was on top.

"That was a good fight."

"Yeah I haven't really sparred in a while." Her supposed sparring time with Sokka usually ended up turning into sex. They both got a two-week ban from the gym because he snuck into the women's locker room, so they could fuck in the gym shower after a spar.

They headed inside for lunch.

"I brought vegetables if you want some."

"Really?" Aang ran out.

They had been boiled and frozen already, so they just needed to be heated up.

"How long are you and Katara staying?"

"A month unless something else comes up."

"How do you not get bored here?" There's like nothing to do.

"I usually try to meet new people or work on something. It's kind of hard with the gender roles. The women all clean and they don't want me to help because I'm a guy, but the guys all hunt and I'm a vegetarian, so I'm not useful there either."

"I wish they had a mall," Azula mumbled.

Aang laughed. "The nearest shopping is probably Whale Tail Island."

"I don't even know what that is, but it sounds pretty good right now."

"We could check it out tomorrow, if they're still hunting that is."

Katara was not happy with their plan. "What do you mean you're taking Azula to Whale Tail Island?"

"She wanted to go shopping."

"I bet she doesn't even need anything."

"I don't need anything," Azula admitted when Katara confronted her. "Shopping is my therapy."

"You just want to monopolize Aang's time."

"Yeah. I'm getting him to take me shopping, so he'll secretly ravish me in the bushes."

"How come I don't' get to ravish you in the bushes?" Sokka questioned.

"Remember the day after Zuzu's wedding?"

"Oh yeah!"

"I DON'T WANT YOU FOOLING AROUND WITH MY BOYFRIEND!" Katara was really jealous for some reason.

"Don't worry," Azula told her. "I only like naughty boys, like my Caveman."

They started making out.

"EWWWW!" Katara ran off.

They didn't break the kiss for another few minutes. "What's wrong with her?" Sokka questioned.

"I thought you knew."

He shrugged. "She's usually not this bad when it comes to Aang, but she's convinced you'll try to steal him."

"The only man I want is you."

"Oh I know, but it would be fun if you showed me anyway."

She kissed him and he carried her to bed. They started stripping off their clothes and Sokka was really glad Azula could heatbend right now. As he pressed up against her, her body kept him nice and warm.

"OH FUCK!" she hissed as she felt his mouth on her shoulder. His lips were could, and her body was heating up in anticipation.

They spent plenty of time exploring the other with lips, teeth, and hands before Sokka pulled Azula on top of him and turned her around. His head nestled between her legs, and she sucked him into her mouth.

She cried in pleasure as his cold tongue invaded her inner folds. Her mouth reminded him of a volcano.

They went at it over and over. They ended up being late for dinner, showing up with rosy cheeks and mussed hair.

Azula had no idea why Katara was so ridiculous, but she was not interested in any other man.

Wednesday

To Katara's chagrin, Aang took Azula shopping.

They didn't have all that much there, but there was more to look at than snow piles upon snow piles.

The Princess ended up getting a new scarf and a ukulele. She hadn't played one in a long time, but it was easy to figure it out.

"Did you find anything?" she asked Aang.

He shook his head. "I was hoping to find a gemstone, so I could make Katara a betrothal necklace, but they said Kyoshi Island would be better for that."

"So let's go," Azula told him.

They went to the nearby island and were looking around for a jewelry store.

Before they found it, a familiar face found them.

"AZULA!" It was Ty Lee. She had been on patrol and ran over to greet them.

"Hey Ty," Azula managed to get out before she got the hug of death. Aang didn't escape either.

"Hey Ty Lee, can't breathe."

"Oh sorry! What brings you here?"

"We're looking for jewelry."

Ty Lee frowned. "You left Sokka for Aang?"

Azula rolled her eyes. "No genius. He wants to propose to his water witch."

"AW!" Ty Lee said excitedly. "I know where you should go."

She showed them this outdoor market that had all kinds of stuff. "You'll be able to find a gem much cheaper here than in the jewelry store."

Aang was on the hunt for something blue. Azula was just looking through the knickknacks when she saw a metal wolf with ruby red eyes. How odd.

It turned out to be cheap, so Azula bought it.

Aang finally found a blue stone that he could use in his necklace. He also found a necklace making kit that came with instructions. It was marketed for eight-year-old girls, but he didn't care.

"What did you find?"

"I saw this cute wolf thing. I thought Sokka might like it."

"Cool. Let's go."

They got back to the tribe, and Aang went to go work on his necklace. He was so excited about it that he didn't even realize he was ignoring Katara. She confronted him the next day.

Thursday

They finally caught the whale. A bell went off to signify their success and the women came to help prepare the meat and harvest the blubber and skin. This was the most coed project that they had. The men did the first set of cuts, but the women cleaned it up.

Katara came home to find Aang and he wasn't there. He had been working on the necklace at Sokka's, so Katara wouldn't see him.

She tried Gran Gran's next, but he wasn't there. "I haven't seen him since breakfast."

AZULA! She stormed over to Sokka's house and of course, Aang was there.

"Why is he here?" Katara demanded to know.

"None of your business!"

"This is ridiculous."

"Yeah, if you mean your behavior or your dated peasant dress!"

They started to argue.

"You might have distracted my brother from all common sense with your feminine charms, but you are not getting Aang!"

"I didn't distract Sokka from anything. Is it that hard to believe that I actually care about him?"

"YES!"

"Well, sorry for your mental handicap, but I love him, and I have no physical interest in your little boyfriend. It's not my fault he doesn't' feel like spending time with you."

Katara stormed off.

An hour later, Aang finished the necklace, but he couldn't find Katara.

"Have you seen her?" he tried Gran Gran.

"No, but she was looking for you earlier."

He tried the whale break down and Bato's but she wasn't there either.

He went to see if she went penguin sledding, but she didn't.

He tried Kanna's again and then he saw her.

"Why have you been so on edge?"

"Before Azula got here," Katara told her. "Aang and Bato got really drunk. They were going on about how attractive they think Azula is, and I was afraid I was going to lose her to him. Then, he started avoiding me!"

What? Aang barely remembered that even happening.

"Guys say all kinds of stupid stuff when they're drunk. I know Aang loves you."

He knocked on the door.

Kanna stepped out to give them a minute.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough. Katara, I'm so sorry you were worried. I don't like Azula like that. Sure, she's pretty, but she's way too much of a bitch. I could never go after her when I know how much I have with you.

I know I've been avoiding you lately, but that's only because I was making you this," he took a necklace out of his pocket.

"What?"

He got on one knee. "I'm nothing without you. You've saved my life time and time again. You were what made me realize things would be okay when I found out my people were gone. I don't want to wake up without you ever again. Will you marry me?"

She grinned and hugged him. "Yes."

He put the necklace on her neck, and after some alone time, they celebrated with their family.

Reluctantly, Katara apologized to Azula for being so crazy before.

Azula responded, "It's not your fault, entirely. I am really good looking."

Katara frowned.

Friday

Hakoda got a letter from Kuei demanding a World Summit to discuss the Four Nations Treaty. He alleged that United Republic and the Fire Nation had conspired to obfuscate it at the Earth Kingdom's expense.

He brought it to his son's attention. "Do you know what this is about?"

Sokka had no idea. "I wouldn't think any of our arrangements with the Fire Nation were less than normal."

Hakoda tried Azula next. "Why would Kuei be accusing your brother and the Council of cheating him?"

"Because he's a big baby," Azula retorted.

"Well duh, but what is he so upset about?"

Azula looked at Sokka apologetically. Then, she explained.

"At the end of the war, Earth King set pretty high tariffs for his goods when he realized that the Fire Nation had been undercutting him. At the time, we still owned the colonies, so any goods from the continent that could be made there, we bought there, but when United Republic formed, it's default had been the tariffs set by the Earth Kingdom.

This cost us money obviously, but it also cost the Republic money because now there was no reason to prefer it to the Earth Kingdom.

Unhappy with this, Zuko and the Council made a deal that they would remove all tariffs between the two countries, lowering the costs of the goods that went between us."

"What does this have to do with Kuei?" Hakoda frowned.

"Kuei is upset because his goods are now more expensive than United Republic's, so the Fire Nation will buy from the Republic more than they will buy from him and it also means that the Republic will buy from the Fire Nation more even though Omashu is closer to the Republic than our closest big city."

"So Kuei's losing out on sales," Hakoda said. "Why doesn't he lower the price?"

"Then he wouldn't get the tariff money," Azula told him. "As far as I'm concerned, we did nothing wrong." There was language in the treaty about setting fair tariffs, but that was to prevent trade wars not to force countries to set tariffs if they didn't want them."

Sokka frowned. "How did I not know about this?"

"Because I wasn't allowed to tell you," Azula admitted, "until after the deal was signed."

"Why?" he squeaked.

"Because we knew Kuei would retaliate, and we wanted someone smart to still have his hands clean."

"But we're a team," Sokka insisted. "You should have told me."

"We are a team," Azula agreed. "And sometimes, when you're in a team, you have to take a hit for the other one. I wasn't sure if this deal would go through or if it would blow up in our faces. It was possible that only one of us would escape this untouched, and I wanted it to be you. It's not that I didn't trust you. I do trust you, but I love you more."

Sokka pulled Azula into his arms and kissed him. "Alright, so on the way back, you're going to explain to me this trade stuff. I get what you said about tariffs and prices, but I don't get what Kuei's trying to pull with this."

"We'll go over everything," Azula kissed his nose.

Hakoda only had one question. "Is this going to cost me any money?"

"Probably not," Azula told him. "We didn't rise the prices on anyone else to make up for the tariffs that we're not getting from the Republic. We figured they'd buy enough goods from us to make up the difference."

The Fire Nation was buying food from them, and they were selling tools, factory equipment, and building supplies to United Republic.

"Well, alright then," Hakoda went back to his business.

Zuko was in his office, rereading the letter calling for the World Summit. He had hired a lawyer to make sure that this deal did not violate the treaty forming the United Republic, but he had not considered the possibility that it put him in violation of the Four Nations treaty. He wasn't sure if it could. The country didn't exist then and was not a party to the treaty.

Now, he had lawyers doing this comparison, trying to come up with every argument as to why this should be allowed. He knew that countries didn't always set the same tariff amounts for everyone.

The Earth Kingdom charged the Fire Nation more for rice than it charged the Southern Water Tribe even though it was more expensive to ship there. If that was legal, then why can't Zuko set country's tariff at zero if he wants to.

He needed this agreement to stand. It was really the first in a series of agreements. They were hoping that the United Republic would eventually have the same currency as the Fire Nation, still undecided whether that will be ban or yuan, and that they might harmonize their laws in other ways, such as tort law, contracts, and some elements of criminal procedure, such as extradition.

Zuko had no qualms about admitting that he wanted the United Republic to be a world power, so it wouldn't just be the Earth Kingdom vs. the Fire Nation all the time, and if he could, he wanted to be a better friend to the Republic than the Earth Kingdom was to help insulate them from the Earth Kingdom, both physically and economically.

As a sovereign, it was his responsibility to make things as good for his citizens as possible, and he wanted to do that cleverly and peacefully, which is exactly what he was doing.

There was a knock on his door.

"Come in!"

It was Suki, his ever so sexy Fire Lady. "Hey Sweetie," he said as she came over to his chair and gave him a kiss. He pulled Suki on the chair, deepening it.

"Are you coming back to bed soon?"

"I should work, but what you're offering sounds more fun."

She started to unbutton his shirt. "How about we do some work here?"

He grinned as he yanked the sash from her robe, exposing her perfect chest.

She purred as his hot mouth reached her neck.

Zuko forgot all about his trade issues with Kuei while he and his Fire Lady studied anatomy.

Katara was happy to relax. It had been tiring working on the whale hunt every day, and now she could just sit and canoodle next to Aang.

"We should spend every day like this!"

"I wish." He kissed her nose.

Sokka was finally free to show Azula around the tribe.

"So you grab an otter penguin and hold on while you slide down the hill."

"Don't they get mad?"

"No." He grabbed one and went down. "WEEE!"

What a bizarre custom! Azula grabbed one and followed suit. "OH MY AGNI!"

She shrieked as she went flying down the hill and then she went soaring off of the penguin. She had to use her fire to land.

"Whoa! You got a lot of air," Sokka told her.

"Why don't you just build real sleds?" Azula questioned.

"What's the fun in that?"

"You could make metal tracks too and have a more exciting course."

Sokka was so happy with the idea he kissed her. "This could be amazing!"

Sokka ran off to pitch the idea to his father.

Azula shook her head. He's always doing that. He gets so excited he forgets everything else.

She walked back to the tribe and when she saw Aang and Katara looking cute, she grabbed a snowball and beaned her with it before running away.

"AHH!" Katara yelled as she got a face full of snow! "Damn it AZULA!" She ran after her.

Aang only laughed.

Hakoda was confused by Sokka's idea. "What is it that you want to do?"

"We could build metal tracks and have wooden carts to ride them on. It's like otter penguin sledding, but better because you won't fall off at random moments.

This could become an attraction. People would bring their kids and pay to ride the tracks, and we could actually make money for a change."

The only exports they had were whale products and since they needed most of the whale to live, they didn't have too much to export. The Northern Water Tribe had access to more whales, so it could export more. If they could establish a commercial venue in the tribe, they could start bringing money in and could be more influential when it came to the global market.

Right now, everyone at the tribe was a peasant. They didn't have enough resources to have the haves and the have-nots. Sokka wanted to keep their lifestyle communal, but he also thought they could just have more for everyone.

"Won't this be a distraction?" Hakoda couldn't picture a ride in the middle of the tribe.

"I was thinking setting it up in one of the uninhabited parts of the tribe, but still near the water, so people could get there from the docks." They could also sell food and drinks, so people could make a day of it.

Hakoda thought this could be something. "I'll need to talk to the elders, and I'm sure they will have a lot more questions than what I can come up with right now, but I see a lot of potential."

"Thanks Dad."

Saturday

Azula thought they could sleep in, but Sokka wanted to take her fishing.

"Why are we going fishing?"

"Because I want to show you how manly I can be by catching us food."

"I think you'd be more manly if you stay here and then I ride your dick."

He grinned. "But we could do both and then I'd be the manliest."

"Well fine, if you insist on me getting up."

They got dressed and headed out to the lake where Sokka liked to ice fish. He had his spear and got into position.

Azula did like the way his butt wiggled. This wasn't so bad.

It was over an hour before Sokka caught a fish, and he was so proud when he did.

"Aren't you a stud?"

"I can show you how." He taught her how to hold a spear. She had trouble piercing the fish. The first two got away.

"It's hard to learn," he told her.

She threw lightening at the next fish and caught it easily. "Done!"

Sokka shook his head. "Benders, they're always cheating."

"How is using a tool not cheating? A real man would use his bare hands."

"In freezing water?"

"Real men are idiots!"

He kissed her before they went back home to cook their catch.

Kanna cooked quite a spread for dinner, since it was Sokka's last night in the tribe and because they had all of this whale meat from the catch.

Azula didn't think there were so many ways of cooking whale. They had whale soup, seared whale, and whale biscuits (whale fat and flour), not to mention whatever sea prune monstrosities were on the table.

Katara and Kanna were already discussing a wedding date. Apparently, the winter solstice was a good time to get married in the tribe, so they would need to get the invitations out quickly to give people enough time to make it.

Aang's people had no wedding traditions, so he was happy to sign on to whatever Katara wanted.

Hakoda already gave his fatherly speech, and Azula wished Aang good luck. "You're gonna need it!"

Sokka had to be on catfight patrol for the rest of the evening, and that night, he and Azula decided to celebrate their last night in the tribe in style.

Somehow, Azula managed to control herself well enough not to burn a hole through his home. She did set his rug on fire, but she was able to put that out before it spread.

"I'll buy you another one," she told him.

"You don't buy them. You hunt them. I'll do it when we come back for Katara's wedding."

Sunday

They said their farewells before returning to Republic City.

Azula gave Aang a big kiss, on the cheek of course, but Katara did not care.

"You HUSSY!" She chased Azula onto the boat, and the princess laughed as she waved.

"BYE! See you at the wedding!"

Katara was pissed. "Do I have to invite her?"

Aang kissed her. "You're the only one that I want."

"I know, but she's a bitch!"

"She's Sokka's problem!"

On the way back, Sokka had to do all of the work he said he'd do for the week. Azula helped him, but by the time they were back home, he was too tired to hear anything about the upcoming tariff dispute, so she said she'd explain it another day.

"Can we take a hot bath and sleep?" he asked as they got inside the apartment.

"That sounds really good."

"I love you."

"I love you more."