Old Shame, Part 2

Gold eyes met blue, and the surge of electricity that passed between them was no less powerful for being completely invisible.

Only Azula's masterful self-control kept her from falling off the throne in shock. It was Sokka. Here in the Fire Nation. Being presented as Uncle's slave. Standing there mostly naked. And looking much sexier than any boy had any business being while Azula was ogling- er, looking at- him!

Only an obscure Firebending technique kept the flush from her cheeks.

Sokka himself didn't react visibly to her. He just stood there and acted like the heat of the throne room didn't bother him, despite all the sweating he was doing. That was good. She had no idea what he was doing here, but if it was discovered that they knew each other, there would be trouble, and Azula had no time for trouble. Could they just keep on pretending that they didn't know each other? Would Sokka allow that? No, she knew him well, and she couldn't imagine that he would be content to ignore her. He'd play it safe, but would eventually arrange a meeting. Did Uncle know his significance to her?

Uncle.

Yes. This was all deliberate. A trap for her. But a Princess accepts difficulty with honor. Too bad for Uncle that Azula was smarter than he was.

Also, she didn't have to keep this charade up much longer. His time was running out. In less than two months, it wouldn't matter what Uncle Iroh suspected.

Grandfather dismissed the court so that he could lunch with his son, and Azula immediately headed for her room in the tower. She had important plotting to do. Completely professional plotting, that had nothing to do with the last lingering look she gave Sokka's glistening torso.

For two days, she managed to avoid prolonged contact with Uncle, and any encounters with Sokka at all. This was no easy task, considering that the suite of rooms where the pair was living sat just down the hallway from hers. Fortunately, for all that Grandfather was pleased with his son for doing something other than gorging on tea and winning amateur Pai Sho games, he wasn't ready to take the fool into his inner circle just yet. Uncle Iroh had still spent too many years after Ba Sing Se freeloading, never mind the debacle of the abandoned siege and the year he spent Spirits-knew-where.

Two days wasn't much, but it took Azula to the first of her checkpoints. Unfortunately, it was during the event itself that Sokka finally managed to confront her.

She had arranged to have the afternoon off, claiming to Grandfather that she felt a disturbance in her Inner Fire and wished to consult the Sages in the Capital Fire Temple on the matter. She eschewed her armor for this trip, instead dressing in pious red robes with a covering for her head, and made her way out of the palace without fanfare. Passing through the gates into the city was impossible to do quietly, but she drew her dupatta scarf close around her face and hoped that none of her fanboys who waited around the palace would recognize her. (She made a mental note to set another one on fire to see if she couldn't finally discourage their stalking behavior.)

As she waited for the gates to swing open, a shadow fell across her from behind. "Well hello, Princess," a deeper but still very familiar voice whispered.

Azula refused to look. "Slaves aren't supposed to address royalty without permission, you filthy savage."

Sokka's soft chuckle came back. "Ooh, you say 'savage' so well. Have you been practicing? And anyway, I thought my old set of permissions was still standing. Does that mean I'm not allowed to touch your royal hair anymore, either?"

At this rate he was going to get them both killed, which he was no doubt banking on. With a sigh, she whispered, "Walk with me, a step behind until we're out of sight of the palace."

He didn't reply, but when Azula moved through the massive mechanical gates, he followed. She didn't make for her original destination, but instead headed into the market sector. "Good choice," Sokka said as they moved into the crowds. "My excuse is that your Uncle sent me out to do some shopping for him. I'm hoping to pick up a shirt for myself."

Azula didn't say anything until she reached a certain plaza away from the thoroughfare. The space was dominated by a metal statue of her grandfather, an amazing likeness for his meanest glare, probably explaining why everyone avoided it. Finally alone, she pushed the dupatta scarf back to fully expose her face. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here."

She finally got a close look at Sokka, and despite the way he shrank back from the venom in her voice, she could see that her earlier impression had hardly covered the changes in him. He had grown, in more ways than one, and she could see some of his father in the shape of his face. Sokka wasn't overly muscular, but now he was toned and solid, and she could plainly see the strength like steel beneath his skin (especially in his chest and abdomen). It was a shame he had tattooed himself, but she recalled him speaking ill of such 'piratey' practices as a child, so perhaps there was hope that they were fake. She preferred his hair tied back in the Warrior's Wolftail, but there was no denying that his blue eyes- those sparklingly innocent eyes that hid sharp intelligence and corrosive cynicism- were classic Sokka.

Azula felt an uncomfortable burning in her chest, but she banished it by focusing her thoughts on her mission. She couldn't let him make her late for her appointment at the Temple.

When her glare failed to abate, Sokka straightened and stuck out his chest (don't stare don't stare) in defiance. "Not that I'm apparently going to get any appreciation for it, but I actually came to Evil Land here to see if you needed any help."

"Help."

"Yeah, help." He pointed a finger right in her face. "You left to join a wacko with a bundle of issues bigger than Katara's Survivor's Guilt, then after two years your Uncle shows up and tells us that you're hanging out with the guy who ordered your death when you were just a little girl, plus he says you're mixed up with some kind of crazy secret society at war with another secret society. Forgive me for thinking that you might need a little help."

Wait, Uncle knew of her Red Lotus connections? That could be troublesome, but it was good to know. This conversation wasn't completely valueless. Covering her surprise, Azula poked a sharpened fingernail into Sokka's chest, right over his heart. "This is because I'm a woman, isn't it? You still haven't gotten over your Tribe's odd little obsession with gender. You think I've been lost since I left your manly care, and now you need to come bring me home to cook for you. Well, I have news for you, savage, my ambitions are far beyond that." She crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"No, it's that I-" He cut himself off, and stuck his hands out pleadingly. "You're my best friend ever! Starting when we were kids, you showed me how capable you were, and I like the idea of us going out and having manly adventures together, thank you very much. I care about you. As a person! We... we arestill friends, aren't we?"

"That was two years ago, and we were both children." Azula threw a glance back at him and rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you haven't been obsessing over me since then." She had always been an excellent liar, although some people liked to call it 'acting.' The terminology made no difference to Azula.

Sokka took a step back from her, eyes going harder. "The way I remember it, you're the one who kissed me. Gee, sorry if that made an impression!"

The memories came back vividly. That kiss was the last personal indulgence she had taken for herself, and she- no, she couldn't be thinking about this. "Yes, I suppose it would have made an impression. After all, there were no other girls there for you, true? You didn't have to come all the way to the Fire Nation to chase me down. You could have just gone on vacation to some Earth Kingdom city and found a woman to play with there." She moved her eyes to the statue of her Grandfather and kept them there. "I certainly have enough admirers here to keep me busy; I don't really have time for another one."

She didn't move her gaze from that sneering statue, not even when his thick voice came back loud enough to make her jump. "But- I think I- I really care for you. I have met other girls, and believe me, I don't think there's another girl in the entire world like you!"

The burning feeling was back in her chest, but a princess accepts difficulty with honor. She couldn't- she had to- "Good for you," she ground out between clenched teeth. "My father was the last person who thought I was special, and now the only thing I care about is getting my proper due. If you'll excuse me, I have an appointment I cannot miss." Drawing her dupatta back close around her face, Azula left him standing there, carefully avoiding the sight of him.

"Ah, Your Royal Highness. Welcome to the Temple. How can I be of service?"

Azula waited out Sage Shigai's bow, and then followed him up the stairs into the Capital Fire Temple proper. It wasn't as large or ostentatious as the palace, but had a sprawling grandeur all its own. Apparently, the Sages had been supportive of her Grandfather, to their benefit. "Thank you for seeing me," she said as she walked within. "I woke up this morning and sensed... a problem with my Firebending. I fear for my Inner Fire, and seek the guidance of your learning in the matters of the Great Element."

The old Sage led her to a Reflection Room, waved her inside, and then followed and closed the door. The only thing in the windowless chamber was an ornate fire pan, and as Shigai kneed in front of it he tossed a stream of flame into it that lit up the room. "Now, Princess, for what problem do you seek help?"

Azula kneeled across from him and met his gaze. "You've heard of my blue fire?" He nodded, leaning forward a bit with sharp eyes. It was no secret that part of what made Azula the new darling of the Capital was this rare gift of hers. (Jeong-Jeong had taught her well, just like- well, like Dad.) The Fire Sages especially were fascinated by it; some called it a good omen, but they were probably just being sycophants. "This morning, when I did my morning exercises, I found that I could no longer summon it." She raised a hand, and plain old ball of fire snapped to life just above her palm, the same color as the flame in the pan. "Something about today has felt... cold. I don't understand it. Could I have taken sick in some way?"

Shigai nodded confidently, and gave Azula a small smile that was probably supposed to comfort her. "I think I understand, and there is nothing to worry about. Today is actually a special day, predicted by the Temple's astrologers. The moon will pass in front of the Sun, a temporary eclipse that will dampen all Firebending for several minutes. You are probably extra sensitive to the phenomenon, and so the heat of your Fire diminished. I expect the blue color, and extra heat, will return after the eclipse, once the moon has moved far enough away from the Sun."

Azula gave a long, light sigh. "Oh, I'm so relieved. You have my undying thanks." Blinking shyly in a very calculated way, she added, "Do you- do you think I could see this eclipse? When will it occur?"

"As it happens, it will be happening shortly. If you like, we could step out into one of the Meditation Gardens and watch. But do not look directly at the Sun as the moon passes over it! It is a blasphemy and you will be struck blind for gazing on it."

Azula resisted the very strong urge to roll her eyes. What a backwards way of rationalizing the eye-searing dangers of watching an eclipse. "Oh, what fortunate timing. Come, Wise One, let us go confront this Sky Enemy together and show it the strength of the Fire Nation."

They rose and left the room, Shigai leading her further down claustrophobic hallways. They passed several more Reflection Rooms, then turned a corner and abruptly came to a small, open atrium. A wide flight of stairs led down to the marble floor of the "garden," and the only plants visible were a trio of potted little trees shaped like the flame sigil of the Fire Nation. As they passed out beneath the open sky, Sage Shigai motioned up at the sun above them. "See, the moon approaches."

Azula looked up, and, raising her arms to point directly at the sun, shot a long flare of red and orange flames up towards the celestial body. The fireball dissipated just beyond the temple's roof, fading into the air. "Ah," Azula sighed, "still the weaker color. Let us wait out this eclipse." She was careful not to look at the sun as the moon passed in front of it, but the light all around her dimmed unmistakably, leaving everything looking dead and washed out. She felt the eclipse, deep within her, and knew her Firebending was gone. The nature of the sensation wasn't unlike the feeling that came when Sokka confessed to her, only reversed.

Azula reflected on that revelation as a group of masked men jumped down into the garden from the Temple's roof, guided by the flare she had just sent out for them, and moved in at Sage Shigai to seize him. She ignored the activity as they all grappled, and the tallest of the attackers, a huge man with freakishly muscled arms, wrapped his biceps around Shigai's head. The Sage was an excellent martial artist, of course, but he was trained as a Firebender, and during the eclipse, would be without his normal defenses.

And so there was no worthwhile resistance as the big man twisted Shigai's head, and the neck snapped with an awful crack.

The lifeless body was carried and laid out at the base of the stairs leading into the garden, as though Shigai had taken a fall, then the masked figures clambered up their ropes back to the roof and disappeared from view. The team was always so efficient with their tasks, whether it be neutralizing the White Lotus spies in the city or Grandfather's troublesome toadies. It was a shame that people had to die like that, but unavoidable. Azula nodded at a job well done and left the garden as the eclipse ended. She felt her Firebending rekindle in her heart, but it was a dull sensation compared to some. Still, it was good that it wasn't distracting. With Shigai eliminated, Azula had to put the next part of the Red Lotus' plan into effect.

She hurried from the Temple, but not before summoning a blue tongue of flame on one finger, just to be sure.

"Oh, how absolutely tragic, Grandfather. Imagine if the Earth Kingdom armies learned that our greatest Fire Sages are too clumsy to ascend a set of stairs. But wait, Sage Shigai? Wasn't he the one who was going to serve as the Master of Ceremonies for your..."

"Yes. Typical of that old fool to get himself killed on the cusp of his most important political appearance. Now each of the other Sages will begin their polite little infighting and try to impress me enough to be chosen as the replacement. As if someone like me could care about their petty accomplishments."

"Hm, a thought occurs to me, Grandfather. Why don't I take Sage Shigai's place? I think his task well within my ability, with practice, and the inherent message of the Royal Family's place over the Sages would be well taken, I think."

"Heh, heh, heh. I like your sense of humor, Princess Azula, and your political astuteness is most impressive. If only Iroh could- But very well, you shall be our new Master of Ceremonies."

"Thank you, Grandfather. I will do our family and nation proud."

It was a good excuse to keep away from Uncle and Sokka, at least. Every day, Azula left the palace early to practice the rare Firebending she would need for her part in the ceremonies, and when she returned she made sure she stayed in public view so that she couldn't be ambushed again. Mostly, Azula kept to the company of the various military advisors who had places in her Grandfather's court. She had no use for the noble class, especially given the Red Lotus' agenda, and with both of her old childhood friends gone abroad, there was no one of any personal interest to her in the whole Capital.

Then, as she was having a light conversation with General Shinu in the palace about two weeks before Summer's End, a servant came up to her and offered her a scroll wrapped in a ribbon. Shinu cut off his ranting about civilian Earth Kingdom 'freedom fighters' as Azula unfurled the missive.

It was an invitation from Uncle to visit in his suite that night. The scroll proclaimed that a shipment of exotic tealeaves had just arrived for him, and he wished the opportunity to finally match her up with a preferred drink. Shinu nodded and said, "Ah, General Iroh might be a bit soft-headed these days, but he knows his teas. I wouldn't have discovered the Keemun varieties if it weren't for his taste-matching skills."

Azula resisted the urge to light the invitation on fire. So, he had finally come up with a way to confront her. She could refuse him, but she had no good reason to do so (at least, not that she could let become known in the court) and there was less risk in indulging Uncle than in acting suspiciously. She said to the servant, "Tell my Uncle that I accept," and dismissed him with a motion.

After dinner, she shed her armor, put on her best formal robes, and called on her Uncle at his suite. Sokka answered the door, of course, and stayed silent as she entered. As soon as the door was closed again, his placid expression lit up in a grin. "You almost fooled me! You said all that stuff the other week to get me to go away, didn't you? You really still like me."

Azula walked right past him. "Uncle has been filing your head with romantic delusions, I see."

"Keep telling yourself that, Princess."

Uncle Iroh himself was waiting for her in his receiving room, seated at a low table. "Ah, Niece, so good of you to join me. I'm not going to insult you by pretending to be disinterested in your place with the Red Lotus, but I really do intend to match you up with a tea before you leave." He smiled pleasantly and motioned at the full service before him; the pot was already being heated.

Azula kneeled at the table's opposite side. "I can't say I like tea, Uncle. It seems I have a tendency to associate it with weakness and failure."

He laughed. "Then I can see that my talents are needed here. Sokka, sit down. No need to act like a servant around your lovely friend, here."

In a flash, Sokka was seated at the table, right between Azula and Uncle. At least he had put a shirt on. "So, Azula," he said. "I hear you're part of this Red Lotus club. That's a really great name for a conspiracy inside the Fire Nation. Are you going to overthrow Azulon? Because I'm totally on board with that."

Azula ignored him and accepted the teacup Uncle passed to her. She sipped at it, and then placed it down on the table. "Bitter."

Uncle moved to his box of leaves and began searching through it.

Sokka snagged the teacup for himself and took his own swig from it. "Ew, that is pretty bitter. Anyway, if you're not going to tell us your plan, maybe you can just talk a little bit more about your friends in your little club. Is Jeong-Jeong still crazy?" At Azula's silence, he leaned forward on the table and stuck his face in hers. "Don't make me tickle you. I know all your secret spots."

Azula used her special Firebending technique to keep the blush off her face as Uncle passed her another teacup. She did not approve of the way he was raising his eyebrows at her. After sipping the latest cup, she said, "I don't like fruit flavors in my tea. Especially not whatever that is." She handed it over to Sokka.

He chugged the tea down. "Hm, I think that's mango."

Uncle poured more hot water into yet another teacup, and then placed some new leaves in it to steep. While they waited, he met Azula's eyes with a look that was sharper than he normally turned on her. "Your silence says more than you think, Niece. I know you received instructions from the Red Lotus, and you in turn have likely been told of my own White Lotus connections. Jeong-Jeong would not have broken from us if he did not know and disapprove of our plan to put me on the throne. Your own refusal to work with me says that you already know that the Red Lotus Agenda is not something I would support, and yet it is still something that would work against the Fire Lord. So it is either something against my own morals, or something self-destructive that I would feel compelled as your family to stop."

The old general looked at the teacup and, apparently satisfied with its color, passed it over to Azula. As she sipped, he continued, "The fact that you won't tell Sokka, either, indicates to me that the latter assumption is correct, and perhaps the former as well. Certainly, in our time together, Sokka has proven to be a fine young man who I would be proud to have as family, and despite his antipathy for our Nation, there are indeed some lines he still will not cross in opposing it. I have to say, I'm quite impressed with your taste in boyfriends."

She nearly choked on her tea. Once she was done coughing, Azula turned to Sokka and shrieked, "You discussed our kiss with him?"

Sokka blinked. "Actually, no."

Azula used her anti-blush Firebending technique again and took a long pull at her tea. Uncle, of course, just laughed. "I have eyes, Niece, and have lived a full life. And I would like you to do the same. Please, trust in the people who care for you. Tell us what you can."

She finished the tea and lightly returned the cup to its place. "Trust is what killed my father. That you care for me has little to do with the fact that you both lack the will and power to assist me. Just like you're abandoning Ba Sing Se to the Fire Nation now. Just like you, Uncle, couldn't do anything but abandon your will to live when Lu Ten died. I don't care that you gave up on avenging him, but you must understand that I'm not you."

Sokka looked back and forth between her and Iroh, mercifully silent for once. Uncle didn't so much as flinch at the accusations. "Vengeance is no comfort, Niece. I have been a warlord my whole life, since before Lu Ten was even born. Trust me, I know its taste, and do not find it pleasing. The only ones willfully abandoning honor are your allies in the Red Lotus. Sokka's father here should already be preying on the Fire Nation forces meant for Ba Sing Se, with the support of the White Lotus. By eliminating my network here, all that your friends have done is made the fight for Ba Sing Se all the more urgent. Tell me, what plans do you have for the world after your thirst for blood is fulfilled? Revenge is ever a blinding landmark in our lives; the glare obscures everything around it."

"Our plans reach wider than even you can imagine, Uncle." Azula stood, and bowed deeply at the waist. "Thank you for the tea. That last blend was delicious."

Uncle sighed. "It is the Silver Needle white tea. I am pleased I was able to help you in some way."

Azula nodded. "You don't mind if I exit through your bedroom window, do you? I have other obligations tonight." Then she began shedding her robes. Beneath them, she wore one of her training outfits, trim in cut and dark in color. She untied the black silken cord from around her waist, and then walked deeper into Uncle's suite. Sokka followed her into the bedroom and out onto the balcony, and watched as she anchored the cord around the railing. "Azula, why are you doing this? Who cares about revenge? If you have a choice between remembering your hate for your granddad or our friendship, why are you picking the one that's going to hurt you more?"

She leaned against the railing and gave him a pitying look. "I burned the need for happiness out of my heart years ago. You should do the same. You'll be much more capable that way." Then she tipped herself over and out into the night air. The cord that she had wrapped around her right arm went taut and rubbed against the fabric of her sleeve, but the friction was slight and what little heat it generated she was able to absorb. The angle of her fall curved towards the palace tower's wall, and she landed against it easily, bending her legs to absorb the impact without sound. Not looking down, she began descending the wall slowly, holding the cord tight in both hands and letting out only enough slack to progress with each step.

Soon enough, she was on her Grandfather's balcony. She abandoned the cord, almost invisible in the night, and stepped into the Fire Lord's bedroom. She could hear him breathing, asleep and defenseless in his bed, but now was not the time for her to take revenge. There was so much more at stake, and whatever Uncle and his conspiracy of gaming enthusiasts thought, this would not end the war. So she eased her way through the pitch-black room and out into his wider suite.

His office, as expected, had no lock.

Soon enough, she was passing through the bedroom again and out onto the balcony, a stack of papers folded beneath her tunic. The office had been full of top-secret reports, but all that had interested Azula was the stack of blank invitations to Grandfather's anticipated ceremony. While Azula was acting as Master of Ceremonies, the elite of the entire Fire Nation would be gathering as her audience, but only those with an invitation bearing the Fire Lord's seal would be admitted. Azula now had a set of those invitations that needed only to be filled out with names.

When she ascended back to Uncle's balcony, Sokka was still waiting for her, but she marched right past him and out to her own suite of rooms, stopping only to pick up her robes.

Azula had filled out the invitations that night before going to sleep, but held onto them for a few days just to be sure no one noticed the theft. Then, on the way back from her daily practice session, she stopped in a park where her mother had liked to take Zuko to feed turtleducks, found her Red Lotus contact standing innocuously under a tree, and passed him the papers without even breaking her stride.

That was it, then. She had only to wait for the big day.

The practice at the Temple was still invaluable, of course. Under the direction of the Sages who believed they would be assisting her during the ceremony, Azula learned the intricacies of Lavabending. Naturally, it wasn't realLavabending; only an Avatar could do that, but it was certainly possible for a Firebender of enough skill and power to affect the heat within existing lava, and through a complicated manipulation of that energy, the lava itself could be made to rise and lower, bubble and dance, flow and harden.

Every day she met the Sages in the deepest of the Dragon Catacombs beneath the Temple, and within those natural caverns where lava still flowed freely, she learned.

On the day of Sozin's Comet, while the Fire Army made use of the enhancement to their Firebending halfway around the world, the nobles and military command of the Fire Nation would be gathered in a special stadium on the edge of the Capital Caldera to witness the birth of a new Lava Fountain on the side of the mountain, the beginning of an extension to the island itself. The Fire Nation would be taking its own destiny in its hands at the most fundamental level, shaping its own lands by putting lava where it would cool to solid ground, and starting the process that would someday make the Capital Island into a continent the size of the Earth Kingdom.

Or so the theories went, and thus received the approval of Fire Lord Azulon. Azula hardly cared, even if she was scheduled to be acting as the lead Firebender at the ceremony.

What she was really excited for was the Red Lotus' true plans.

Or rather, she was supposed to be. For some reason, as the day of Sozin's Comet approached, she was afflicted by a burning in her chest, and a lump of ice in her stomach. She tried to spend the whole day before the Comet meditating in her rooms, but tranquility would not come to her. She tried sleeping, tried breaking things, tried simply clearing her mind, but none of it worked. Eventually, she decided to head for the Messenger Hawk Roost and just wait for Jeong-Jeong's confirmation that the plan would be proceeding tomorrow. It didn't matter if the letter was innocuously coded to look like a note from Ty Lee, there was still benefit in making sure no one else handled the message.

Or so she told herself.

At least Grandfather was too busy whipping his court into a frenzy to care where she went. She hadn't seen Sokka or her Uncle since the tea tasting.

The Messenger Hawk Roost serviced the entire Capital City, but there was a small room reserved for the Royal Family's exclusive use, where especially large and fierce hawks were housed. For such an important feature, though, it was still made from the same plain and sturdy wood as the rest of the building, and smelled like bird waste and feathers. Azula couldn't initially decide if it was better to breathe through her nose and deal with the odor, or breathe through her mouth and risk tasting it. Electing to take a third option, she moved out to the balcony and accompanying fresh air. What did it matter if she was spotted? It would all be over, soon.

She hadn't been there half an hour when Sokka arrived. He was still dressed like a barbarian servant, of course, but as Azula examined his chest in the light of the setting sun, it looked to her like his tattoos were more faded than they had been the last time. So they were fakes, then. The confirmation made her happy enough to smile, but she bit down on it. She would only have one chance at this, and couldn't mess it up.

Azula sneered as Sokka moved towards the balcony and said, "What are you doing here? Wait, don't tell me; the smell reminds you of your old family home?"

He just shook his head (his hair whipped so teasingly) and leaned against the balcony railing beside her. "Naw, the kid I've had following you for gold pieces tipped me off that you were here. Uncle Iroh told me to check on a not-real letter he's not really expecting, and I came to see if you remembered that you have a heart, yet. Sounds like not. I can wait, though, if you think it will be soon."

"Wait, who have you had following me?"

"Cute little kid. Told me that her sister is an acrobat for a circus in the colonies. I think she liked playing spy more than the gold."

"...Typical. Well done, savage."

Sokka sighed. "Azula, why are you doing this? I understand that you don't want me involved in whatever it is you're doing here, but why are you trying to be so hurtful? I know you know there's no such thing as a savage."

"Because I enjoy it." She tapped a long, sharp nail on the balcony's rail. "I denied myself too long in that pit you called a village. This is what drives me- the acquisition of power, and inflicting hurts on my enemies. Insults might be petty, but I can kill with a thousand petty barbs what I'm not permitted to light on fire. It just takes more time."

"And that's what I am, an enemy?"

He was certainly a threat, but perhaps not in the way he suspected. Azula knew, of course, how to push him. She had done it in far more playful circumstances for many years before. Just poke at his Water Tribe pride and feelings of inadequacy about living up to his Warrior legacy-

"Of course. You're Water Tribe, and I am once again proper Fire Nation. Tomorrow, my Grandfather will begin a new age for the Fire Nation. Even if your obsessive murderer of a father succeeds in saving Ba Sing Se, it won't end the war. It will only expose the Fire Nation's enemies, so that we can wipe them out bit by bit. Perhaps, in ten years, you will be the last of your kind left. Uncle will have quite a prize in you. What began in this era with your mother will finally be complete. It would be fitting, if your sister was the last to die thanks to your absence, don't you think?"

"You really are a monster," he snarled. "Maybe coming here for you was a big mistake!"

Ah, there it was. The cold in her belly intensified. "Yes, it was. Feel free to leave anytime."

"I-" He slumped profoundly on the railing. In the distance, the last of the sun was slipping below the edge of the caldera. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

The burning in Azula's chest flared, and she smacked an armored forearm hard against the railing. The metal clank echoed into the air. "What are you still doing here? What do you want?!"

Sokka turned and looked Azula straight in the eyes. "I want to be free of you, the way you are obviously free of me." With a smile growing on his face, he said, "Just tell me how you went from... from the girl I loved... to what you are now, and I'll leave. Forever."

Her breath turned to frost in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, to tell another lie about how she was never the girl he thought he knew, but then-

"Because my heart doesn't really think you have changed. At all." As the starry night sky began its domination of the night, Sokka's softly spoken words floated in the air between them, just loud enough for her to hear and settled as clinging dust within her ears. "When you left, I spent a year thinking you are what you're pretending to be right now: a Fire Nation princess who got too comfortable in a hideaway where she was dragged by her mother, who stayed sharp by playing with the people around her the way a tigerdillos plays with its catches. Seriously, you ever see one of those things bat a meadow vole around? Evil.

"I was mad at you. Really, really mad. I thought our kiss, and your promise not to leave, was just you being as mean as possible. But I was really just hurt from your leaving.

"Soon enough, I realized why you actually did it. It was because we were so similar, but not in one important way. See, you're a princess from the Fire Nation, and I'm just a head-knocker from the South Pole, but otherwise, we're exactly the same. We're both smart people, strange people who can't fit into the slots we're supposed to. We both lost a parent when we were kids, and neither one of us knew about it until after the fact, and I don't think either of us ever really learned what it was all actually about. I think we both suspected that everything was always more about our siblings, even though it hurt us just as much.

"And we both grew up wanting the same completely opposite things. We both wanted our family back, wanted to build over the gap in our lives. But we also wanted to go out and hurt our enemies until they regretted ever hurting us in the first place, just like everyone always taught us. Just like we were always told was the best possible thing we could do with our lives. Except I was willing to admit to myself what I felt for you, so I could get out of that trap. You... I think you were afraid to admit to caring for someone again. So you decided to go for revenge when Jeong-Jeong came calling. And if you changed a few details, it could have been me instead."

He reached over, and took her hands in his own. "But Azula, it's not too late. I'm here for you now, and I'm trying to be enough so that you pick the choice to build something new and good. It doesn't mean we can't still knock some Fire Nation heads, but we can do it for the right reasons, and we don't have to wreck ourselves in the process. Best of all... my favorite part... is that we can do it together. I love you, Azula. I think you love me, too. If you can explain to me why I'm wrong about all of this, then I'll give up. But you can't. I know it."

Azula finally found her voice. "Why?"

Sokka let go of her hands, and reached a finger up to her cheek. When he pulled it back, a tear clung to the tip and glistened in the moonlight. "Because you're crying. I'm not really out of your heart at all."

She snapped her hands up to her face, and realized that he was right. The tears were flowing freely from her eyes. "Sokka-"

Then he leaned over and kissed her, and the burning in her chest turned into the soothing warmth.

They stayed on the balcony through the night, and not just because going back through the room with the smell of bird mess would have been completely inappropriate for what they were finally sharing. Sokka and Azula just sat on the balcony in each other's arms, luxuriating in being close. There may have been a few kisses, but in the dead of the night, with no one around to witness them, could they be said to really happen? Eventually, the couple fell asleep, snuggled against each other.

That made it harder for Azula to sneak away when she awoke at dawn.

Fortunately, Sokka had only become an even heavier sleeper in the two years since she really knew him last. Azula left him snoring on the balcony, closed the door to the Royal Roost and melted the lock, then passed down into the city. She had work to do.

Jeong-Jeong's confirmation had come for her during the night.

At the appointed hour, Sozin's Comet sank into the world's atmosphere, turning the sky the color of blood and kindling a never-ending fountain of Chi within the heart of every Firebender on the planet. Dressed in her armor, in the chamber that would lead to the lava-oozing labyrinth below, Azula inhaled sharply and felt like she would burst from all the power she suddenly had access to.

Yes, with this power, she could easily bring the volcano back to life again. She had no doubt.

The Red Lotus arrived precisely on time, but then, that was expected of Master Jeong-Jeong. He led his Firebenders into the chamber with a minimum of noise, just as Azula had warned him to do, for they weren't yet deep enough in the Temple that a disturbance would necessarily go unnoticed. Leaning against the door that closed off the stairs to their target, Azula let Jeong-Jeong come to her before she spoke. "The invitations were accepted?"

Jeong-Jeong, all dressed up like the celebrated Admiral he used to be, nodded. "We had no difficulty infiltrating the Capital or the Temple. The people are gathering above, and have no inkling of our presence. Now, let us go and finish this, at last."

Showtime.

Azula gave a theatrical sigh and drawled, "I'm afraid, Master, that I've been convinced to make a change of plans."

Jeong-Jeong's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

Azula straightened up from her lean and took a step closer to her teacher. "I've decided that the original scheme is inefficient in concept and non-viable in execution. I can feel that your theories are correct and we could use the Comet's power to reactivate the Capital volcano, but I no longer have the desire to kill everyone on the island." Least of all Sokka.

Jeong-Jeong remained silent, but to Azula's trained eyes, he was obviously preparing himself for a fight, setting his breathing into a slightly faster tempo and loosening his body. She knew, from the training he gave her, that his mind was placing layer upon layer of a willingness to fight like armor over vulnerable skin. She had always admired how he was able to bury his natural pacifistic nature for revenge against the Fire Nation. He had planned this suicide mission to destroy the entire ruling class, had trained her so hard that she had cried herself to sleep some nights, and yet it was all because of some innate morality that kept him from serving the Fire Nation in its war of conquest.

And with the Comet's power in both of them, it would have to be a fight to the death in this closed little room. Some of their Red Lotus audience would undoubtedly die, too.

Azula readied her own body for a fight. "It's not that I'm giving up on our ideas," she told him in an even voice. "But after careful consideration, I've decided that I very much want to live instead of perishing in a volcano blast of my own making, and besides that, the White Lotus' original plan to depose Azulon and end the war through my Uncle is perfectly adequate. No need to waste it. Why not simply steal it?"

The rest of the Red Lotus simply watched the confrontation; they might have been suicidal fanatics, but they were still very disciplined. Jeong-Jeong, on the other hand, was shedding more inhibitions with every passing moment. "Coward," he finally said.

Azula shook her head. "No, cowardice was why I was willing to kill myself to destroy everyone who contributed towards my father's death. Cowardice was why I let you talk me into the idea that I had to die to be free of the taint of my Grandfather. I've simply become brave enough to live without my father's long-dead validation, and brave enough to face you." She opened his hands and held them out at her sides, a symbol of peace and defenselessness. "Please, Master, let us work with my Uncle to get rid of Azulon. We have been ill-used by our Nation, but a Princess- any Firebender- accepts difficulty with honor."

Jeong-Jeong made a retching sound in the back of his throat. "What do you know of honor, Betrayer? Stand aside and I will lead the Lavabending efforts myself. Go running to your Uncle, if you wish."

Azula simply smiled and kept her hands out. "We define our own honor, Deserter. I've been trying to teach my brother that since we were children." Then, she took her Inner Fire, the energy that normally fueled her Firebending, and pumped the entirety of the Comet-enhanced Chi into a pair of twin flows right in the muscles of her arms. Moving like lightning, Azula slammed the heel of one palm after another into a rib on each side of Jeong-Jeong's body with pinpoint accuracy. The bones snapped with audible cracks, and all the breath burst out of her old master with a cry of pain. He collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

Azula lowered her hands and looked down at him. "I've been holding that move back since you first told me that Firebending comes from the breath. That's why warriors should wear armor."

Then she flicked into a Firebending stance and aimed her right hand at the Red Lotus ranks standing stunned in front of her. "Anyone else care to challenge a Firebender named for Azulon the Scourge?! Time to pick a side."

Uncle's voiced sounded from the hallway behind the group: "You don't have to die to erase your burdens. Just by forsaking the Fire Lord, you have repented your previous service to him, and you can honor the White Lotus members you hurt by finishing their jobs for them now. Azula and I may have enough power to deal with all of you, but together under the Comet, we can take the city. I need your help, all of you, and without Jeong-Jeong and Azula, there is nothing more for you to do here. Please, do some good with this power you feel you've been cursed with. You don't need to let your pasts destroy you."

Azula smirked at her former compatriots. She had left Sokka behind to keep him safe, but meeting up with Uncle Iroh this morning and explaining everything had been well worth the time. "Looks like you're all caught between rocks and hot places."

Sokka would have been proud of that line.

Below her, Jeong-Jeong shifted. "Do it," he wheezed. "Help them. Do not waste this day, or the Fire Nation wins."

Chey, who had brought Azula's family to their house back in the old village, was the first to step forward.

Even with the help of the Red Lotus, it was a difficult fight. The nobles fled at the very beginning of the attack, so all the fighting Firebenders were quickly able to cut loose with the firepower granted to them by the Comet. A good chunk of the city was damaged, but in the end, Azulon the Scourge and his Royal Guard fell to the Dragon of the West, the Princess of the Azure Flame, and the Red Lotus Resistance.

The Messenger Hawk Roost building was undamaged. Some might have called that lucky, but Azula liked to make her own luck. Once the fighting was over, she personally went back to the Royal Roost, melted her way back into the room, and found Sokka sleeping on the floor of the balcony. She crouched over him and blew on his face to wake him up. "Lazy boy," she cooed.

He yawned and beamed up at her. "Oh good, us making out wasn't a dream. Again." Then he blinked, and sat up. "Wait, if it wasn't a dream, you locked me up here all day! I was thinking of jumping off the balcony when all the fire starting wooshing everywhere! Do you know how many bones I could have broken, trying that?!" Without waiting for an answer, he looked up at the still-scarlet sky. "Oh, wow, I had a long nap. Is that the Comet?"

"Yes, it's leaving. What did you do, wear yourself out pounding on the door?"

Sokka gave her a reproachful look. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're on my side again, but I was hoping that would mean we could really be together for your little war, you know? What did I miss?"

Azula wrapped an arm around his bare chest and dragged him away from the balcony. "Nothing important. You weren't really involved, anyway. Now come, Fire Lord Iroh is going to give us a ship. He'll need help putting a final end to the war, and we're only the beginning. Perhaps our parents will finally see the value of an alliance, but if not, there are plenty of warriors in the world. Perhaps we can even find some more of your kinfolk in the South Pole. Before all that, though, we should really wash those tattoos off of you. They're positively barbaric."

Sokka let her lead him down through the Roost in a daze. "I must be dreaming. You back, the war ending, and our team going out to make everything right? Definitely a dream."

"Team? Or something more?"

Sokka smiled down at her. "Always a team, no matter what else happens." They stepped out of the building into the empty streets of the Capital. Above them, the sky was darkening as the sun finally set on the Day of Sozin's Comet.

Azula let out a breath she'd been holding onto for years. "I never thought that would sound so good. But a Princess accepts help with honor, I suppose. You've been a horrible influence on me since the day I first punched you."

To that, he just pulled her into a full-body kiss, and she let him. A blush burst out on her cheeks, and this time, she simply luxuriated in the sensation.

Love was a dish best served warm.

END