A/N – Hey all! This is the latest, and we're clearly winding down to the end… I can't believe it! I want to thank all of you – the readers, the reviewers. Those of you who are new, and those of you who have (unbelievably) stuck around since the beginning and put up with my absolutely dumb posting schedule.

Two notes. Number one – obviously this was begun before Avatar ended, and I didn't have the context of the final season. So you'll notice some things that are against canon (namely that Azula isn't crazy and that she's still more-or-less friends with Mai and Ty-lee) Sorry! If I ever do a complete revise (which I would like to do) I'll fix that in a believable way (as well as making the whole fic more cohesive).

Number two – apparently kills my section breaks. This must make things much more difficult to read, and I never realized. I'll try and go back and fix these things as I have time.

Azula had no plan. It was so unlike her to be impulsive – she had not planned on speaking with Katara, but it was impossible to resist the temptation.

So she led the girl to the pavilion that she had taken her before, for moonwatching. She sat, regally, back very straight. Her hair was starting to come out of the updo, strands slipping down in soft waves around her face. Her eyes were shadowed, so far from the torches, but her lips were deep red and full.

She didn't even realize that she was staring until Katara's mouth tightened sourly and she spoke. "What do you want, Azula?"

The question startled her. How had she lost track of the situation? She frowned deeply in irritation, then forced herself to smooth her features out and put a light smile on. "To talk."

"You've made that perfectly clear." Katara raised an eyebrow slowly, and Azula couldn't help but notice how perfect her skin was in the moonlight. She shook herself a little, taking a breath. "But you're not talking."

"I…" She caught her breath and realized her cheeks were heating up in embarassment. "This is ridiculous."

"I agree." Katara said, voice firm, arms crossed. She looked every inch in control and Azula hated that. She wanted to rip that control from Katara, make her feel as off-balance as Azula herself felt. "You wanted Zuko to banish me."

"I never said that." She protested quickly, eyes narrowing. Oh, Zuzu was in trouble for letting that slip. She was going to make his life absolutely miserable. Plans started forming in her mind, swirling… maybe she could convince the Avatar that Zuko still had a crush on Mai. Or she could ruin trade agreements. Have a little discussion with the cooks.

"You implied it though, didn't you?" Katara's voice cut through her planning.

Azula snorted a bit, not caring how indelicate the sound was. "Should I want you around?"

"You don't?" And Katara's voice was entirely too innocent, making Azula grind her teeth.

"Would you keep the innuendo to a minimum?"

For some reason that made Katara start laugh, a full rich sound that just clenched Azula's stomach in ice and boiled her blood. "Oh, Princess… no innuendo meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

The waterbender's smile sharpened, deadly. Azula couldn't remember when she had learned that. Had she always known it? "Don't you want me to help you overthrow Zuko…? Place you on the throne?" Katara was standing, leaning over her, one hand bracing on the back of the seat. "You know, I could. Between the two of us, even Aang wouldn't be that much of a problem."

Azula caught her breath, looking up into the endlessly blue eyes that were thrown into sudden relief by sheer proximity, feeling desire nailing her to the bench. "I… I.." Oh no. No, she couldn't be stammering. She took a deep breath, collecting herself firmly. "I know." She swallowed, mouth feeling… thick, coated in honey. "We could be great, you realize."

"We could." Fingers reached up, caressing her cheek. "We could be amazing. But couldn't we also be great without the inconvenience of running a country?" Katara murmured softly, her lips coming to brush over Azula's brow, making the princess shudder a little.

"But that's always been what I was destined to do.." Azula was startled to hear how.. confused her voice was. Startled even more to feel that confusion, honest and overpowering as it was. What was she, if not the future Fire Lord? She had no idea.

Soft lips pressed against hers slowly, nipping. "Maybe you were destined for something more."

Azula moaned a little, pressing into it, gasping as the warm sweetness of Katara's mouth was suddenly gone.

"You have a quandary, princess."

"What is that?"

"You know what it is." Katara smiled, an expression that should be cloyingly sweet but served to simply melt Azula a little more and add to her confusion. "And you know where to find me when you make your decisions."

Azula let out a soft, shaky breath… seeing the smile on Katara's face, the way it held tight victory. She hated it, and hated the way that she couldn't form a coherent reply to save her life.

Even after she couldn't see Katara any more, she stayed in the pavilion, shifting in the seat, turning to look outside. It was dark, so she even allowed herself to fold her arms and rest her chin on them, sighing deeply.

"What are you doing out here?" A voice broke into Azula's thoughts, making her jerk and frown up at the girl who was literally hanging upside down in front of her.

"Ty-lee." She grit out, dryly.

"Hi~" And she flipped, releasing her legs from the beam that held her up, landing in front of Azula lightly. "I was just practicing my balancing and…"

Azula's face heated up. "How long have you been here?" She asked sharply. Humiliation was terrible enough, without an audience.

"Only a few moments… you were really out of it, weren't you?" She waved her hand in front of Azula's face. "Are you sure you're okay? Should I call someone..?"

Azula growled and batted the hand away. "Quit that."

"But something clearly wrong.." Ty-lee pouted, dropping her hand. "Your aura's all… spiky again."

"What are you talking about?" Azula snapped, irritated, rolling her eyes.

"Your aura! I mean, before it was all muddy red and spiky.. and for a while there it was clearing up. Almost… uh.. rose? Flush? No.." She nibbled on a fingertip, thoughtfully.

"It doesn't matter, Ty-lee. Get to the point."

The slight girl sighed, sitting and playing with the end of her own ponytail. "My point is, that you were doing so well! What changed?"

"Nothing. Don't be ridiculous. I am the same as I ever was."

"Azula…" Ty-lee tilted her head, eyes wide, mouth opening in a soft little 'o.'

"What?" Azula snarled, drumming fingernails, slowly, wishing they were still long enough to scratch satisfactorily with.

A grin broke out over Ty-lee's face, and she waved her finger. "Nothing~" She declared, in that terribly annoying sing-song.

"What?" She said again, folding her arms. "Tell me or so help me, I'll have you hung from the battlements for the wild hawks and lizard birds!"

"You're so mean, Azula.." She pouted, tickling her own palm with the edge of her braid.

Azula smirked. "Yes, so you should tell me quickly, before I lose my temper."

"Zuko wouldn't let you hurt me." Ty-lee stuck her tongue out. "And neither would Katara."

"Katara?" Azula's voice did her the indignity of breaking on that, disbelievingly. "She is not in any position to tell me what to do."

"Of course she is." Ty-lee gave her a smile that would have rivaled the innocence of a child. "You love her."

Azula's mouth fell open for a moment before she closed it, lips pursing, glaring at the acrobat. "I do not." And her voice didn't sound sulky at all. It didn't.

"Well maybe you don't." She said, just proving that she was an idiot who didn't think at all about the words that came out of her mouth.

"Exactly!" Azula said, triumphantly, then gasped as Ty-lee started talking over her, of all things.

"You might not love her, but you like her. And she likes you. It's cute!" She bounced to her feet, lightly. "Ooh, I know what to do! We should have a party! A big party for the two of you as the Fire Nations's cutest, most wonderful celebrity couple!"

Azula felt panic, utter panic rising in her chest. "That's quite unnecessary, Ty-lee."

"But it'll be beautiful! We can get those little lamps and hang them in the trees and lots of red and blue silk… and a dance floor of course. Now that the Avatar has shown us some of the traditional dances, it's really popular and I've gotten pretty good at most of them—"

"Ty-lee, quit it." She interrupted her, hand grabbing her arm, shaking just a bit. "No parties. Nothing. She and I aren't even seeing each other, right now."

Ty-lee squeaked and held still, but her eyes twinkled. "Hm… I don't think that will last. You still like her."

"Spare me." Azula let her go. "And leave me alone. I don't want to be talking to anyone."

"Okay." She grinned, much too mischievously. "I've got a lot of planning to do, after all!"

Azula snarled out a curse, lashing out with a fist… far too late, Ty-lee having swung away with a light giggle that was really far too crazy-sounding.

Damn her. Azula dropped back down onto the bench, seething, really feeling like setting the whole pavilion on fire.

She didn't have feelings for Katara. She didn't. And even if she did, those feelings couldn't hold a candle to her ambitions, to her destiny. She would be the greatest Fire Lord the world had ever seen!

The thought didn't fill her with the fire it had, before. It felt more like ice, pooling in her stomach.

Eventually, Azula stood, straight-backed, her jaw tight. She was not sulking. She would not be accused of sulking. She would go to her room and brush out her hair and have some chilled lychee, and she would not think about Katara.

She wouldn't.

One sleepless night later, Azula was counting the shadows on the ceiling again… though they had faded and nearly disappeared. She remembered where each one should be, had been staring at them enough.

Fine, she admitted, with a taste viler than durian welling up in the back of her throat. It was unlikely that she'd unseat her brother. The game was stacked against her. There was no way to win this particular round. Not right now.

She rose, pacing the apartment, yawning and stretching – conscious of the effect she would have on a potential viewer, even though none were in the room with her. Katara wasn't curled up in her bed, hair loose and tangled, lips swollen. She wasn't where she should be was the thought that sprang to her mind unbidden.

Damnit. She banished the thought ruthlessly and picked up a hairpin, twirling it between her fingers, going to draw the light curtain back from the window. It was getting hot, and she needed some air.

She hissed when she saw the courtyard. Katara was there practicing, quickly moving through complex forms, water swirling around her. Previously, she would have seen those forms as simplistic, the motions of Katara's limbs weak. But she knew better now.

She realized that she was digging the pin into the window when it bent in her hand. She looked down at it, cursing under her breath, starting to straighten it out carefully.

When she looked up a moment later, Katara was gone, leaving the plants in the courtyard a glittering mess that would evaporate quickly in the heat of the day.

Had she realized she was being watched?

Azula wasn't sure if she could deal with the humiliation of that or the humiliation that she was sure would come, soon. She closed her eyes tightly.