Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko
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Puzzling Pieces
Avatar: the Last Airbender fanfiction by Vayleen
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001: roses
An atypical flower for an atypical girl.
He made it with the aid of science.
Just stick the stems of white roses in blue dye and ta da!
Blue roses.
He felt guilty, really, that was the only reason he left it outside her door. Sure, she was crazy, but Katara was right, she needed her family. And they needed their support.
He wasn't going to help things by making mean jokes behind her back. Sure, he used to hate her, but...
He didn't anymore.
There was something pitiful, something horrible, about seeing a once beautiful, intelligent mind so broken.
~*~*~*~*~*~
002: december
Azula had never seen snow before.
Her brother had agreed to visit his friends at the South Pole for winter solstice, now that the tribe had been rejuvenated, since members of their sister tribe came to settle and rebuild.
Ursa had insisted she come. A waste of time.
Katara was standing outside the wall with her brother, trying to straighten something on his formal coat, while Sokka tried to brush her hands away. He looked annoyed.
Azula smiled.
“Isn’t it lovely?” Ursa asked, disembarking behind her.
“Perfect,” Azula answered, turning away before her mother could see where she was looking.
~*~*~*~*~*~
003: desert
Dear Diary... Today I was lost in the desert with a crazy woman after the biggest sandstorm ever...
“In matters of life and death,” Sokka persisted, “I doubt our friendly Avatar would mind.”
“I don’t firebend anymore,” she repeated. It was all she’d say to him.
“You don't have to set me on fire,” Sokka said, “Just a little bit of lightening in the sky. For positioning purposes only.”
“I don’t firebend anymore.”
“Don’t? Won’t? Can’t?” he taunted, irritated.
Azula glowered. “Yes, yes, and-”
She wanted to kick sand on his boots and stomp off. But she didn’t. Of course.
~*~*~*~*~*~
004: gold
Sokka heard giggling. It could be coming from anywhere, considering the size of the palace hallway. He couldn’t even see the ceiling.
But a few steps later, he found Azula on a bench.
“Hey Sokka,” she said, “Do you know why the Fire Nation is so rich?”
She remembered my name today.
“No, why is the Fire Nation so rich?”
She held two gold coins in front of her eyes. “Because we’re made of money!” Then she laughed.
Azula... made a joke? A good joke?
Wish I thought of that one...
“Want to hear another one?”
Sokka laughed. “Sure.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
005: tapestry
Instead of silk tapestries, the igloo walls were decorated with huge pelts and ice carvings.
Azula was freezing.
Katara had offered her a coat, but the thought of wearing the skins of dead animals made her cringe.
“Here’s where we hung the pelt of that polar leopard I told you about. It weighed a ton, but it wasn’t prepared for what I - oh!”
Sokka was obviously giving everybody else a tour of the tribe’s new homes.
“Sorry,” he muttered. They left. Quickly.
Like she was still insane.
Azula pulled the gigantic pelt from the wall and wrapped it around her.
~*~*~*~*~*~
006: opaque
When she was young, her mother was the only one who could read her.
With Ursa gone, when it came the princess people believed what Azula wanted them to. To everyone, she remained a mystery. Opaque. Powerful. Her tone was always indifferent, her demeanor always calm. The girl who set her own goals and consistently surpassed them. She was in control.
During the eclipse, the blue-eyed boy could determine her ploys as though they were written on her face. Or maybe they simply thought alike and so he reached the right conclusions.
Later she wondered which idea bothered her more.
~*~*~*~*~*~
007: russet
She dreamed about his death.
She dreamed in varrying shades of red.
The metallic scent of electricity and blood lingered in the air. She saw the russet, scorched entry wound situated in the center of his solar plexus. At first she thought it was Zuko, but she noticed the tan of his skin and the cerulean eyes.
Shocked, she looked up.
Cruel, unbalanced golden eyes reflected back at her, the girl still poised, with two fingers extended towards them, feet still grounded. She was laughing.
She was looking at a reflection of a monster, a demon.
Azula woke up screaming.
~*~*~*~*~*~
008: ink
Zuko agreed with the idea. If they could get Azula to express herself at all, it would be a momumental step.
Katara in relunctant tow, Sokka marched pen and parchment to the fire princess’s rooms.
When they got there, Azula didn’t move.
“The point is to imprint your identity with the ink,” Sokka explained.
She remained silent.
“Like this.” Sokka inked his hands and printed the page. He smiled goofily and wiggled his blackened fingers.
Sokka thought it didn’t go well.
“I think I saw her smile though,” Katara said.
“Yeah right,” Sokka said. But it was a nice thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~
009: foreign
Zuko didn’t have a lot of experience with foreign policy, and everyone already knew how Aang felt, so when the young fire lord became too emotional for coherency, it was Sokka that stepped in to plead his case.
“Thank you,” Zuko said later.
“I know how you feel. Sometimes when I feel like I hate Katara, I know I’d still do anything to help her.”
“If what Uncle said is true, if good and evil really do conflict inside us because of our forefathers, then Azula must be redeemable.We can’t just break her spirit.”
Sokka wanted to believe it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
010: feathers
The Southern water tribe was unique since their culture evolved past classism during the war. No matter who you were, you did your share of the work. Even if back North you were great nobility. (Guests were the exception.)
Sokka couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw it.
Azula was helping butcher and feather the arctic hens for dinner. With an exceptional amount of enthusiasm. She wasn't quite...right...in the head yet but...
It looked... therapeutic? The most liveliness she’d shown for anything for the better part of a year?
She was covered in feathers. It made him smile.
~*~*~*~*~*~
011: innocence
Sometimes she would revert into the past. She would think she was six-years-old again, and would hide because she didn't want to run drills. It was hard to tell when relapses were happening, with someone clever like Azula.
She came across Sokka drilling with his sword during one of these times.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
Sokka didn't know how to answer right away.
“Are you one of Zuzu’s friends?”
She was suspicious, but instead of cold and narrow, her face was open like a book.
“...Yes. We have... a playdate.”
“He’s probably with mother.” She looked sad.
“Thanks.”
Strange.
~*~*~*~*~*~
012: wet
The siblings played in the courtyard. Katara used waterbending to throw her brother into the fountain and Sokka retaliated by pulling her in while she laughed violently.
“Zula?”
She didn’t turn from the window.
“I brought you something.”
Zuko sat down beside her and showed her the comb he bought.
Azula glanced at it, then back at Katara and her brother. Water dripped from their hair, wet faces hysterical as Sokka severely lost the splashing war.
“Want to try it out? I could help...”
“...Stop trying to help me, Zuko.”
She didn’t look at his hurt face. Just walked away.
~*~*~*~*~*~
013: blood
“Don’t touch me!” Azula screamed.
“Please Azula, let us help you,” Zuko pleaded.
Barely controlled blue flames erupted from her fingertips. Zuko had trouble enough concentrating on grounding them.
The gash in Azula’s forehead was frightful. Blood was pooling in her eyes and mouth.
“Someone hold her still!” Katara shouted, not able to get close to the unhinged princess.
Before anyone else could react, Sokka wrapt his arms over her upper arms from behind. Amazingly, Azula froze, and Katara was able to heal her wound.
Sokka noticed Azula was trembleing.
“Don’t be scared,” he reassured her. But she didn’t stop.
~*~*~*~*~*~
014: betrayal
“Under your mantle, the Fire Nation will rise again!” her father whispered.
“No.”
“Azula,” her mother called. “You are better than this. Listen to your heart.”
“Momma...”
“Your heart! Bah! It’s irrationality is useless to you. Who could love someone as terrifying and powerful as you? Don't foolishly betray me, daughter.”
Azula whimpered.
Who could love someone like you?
“Stop it!” Azula screamed, covering her ears. Faces filled the white walls. Her brother, angry with her. Boys who were afraid of her. The blue-eyed boy, raged, crying, demanding about the girl he loved.
No one would love her like that.
~*~*~*~*~*~
015: courage
Azula could remember a time when she feared nothing. It was like another life.
She didn’t risk anything. If she did, she was unfeeling towards it.
Ursa told her courage wasn’t the lack of fear, but the lack of being ashamed of it.
She had plenty to be afraid of now. Losing control, losing her mind. Losing herself.
“Azula? Why are you walking alone?” Aang’s worried voice broke her reverie.
She looked to see Aang and Sokka in her path.
“You should be wearing an extra coat. It gets cold down here.” Sokka offered her his.
She quickly turned away.
~*~*~*~*~*~
016: pride
There were moments of perspicuity when Azula felt the most like herself. One came while she angrily warmed her fingertips during her stay in the South Pole. She missed the tropical paradise of her home. Nothing, she thought with pride, could compare to the ideal beauty of the Fire Nation.
Nothing convinced her to live anywhere else.
Except Zuko always felt the most at home wherever his friends were, like when she saw him laughing with Aang and Sokka. And maybe she could use that to weasle herself a place in their happy family.
But why would she want to?
~*~*~*~*~*~
017: lust
He was mesmerized.
Azula cut into the rare steak, dipped a bite into the mushroom sauce and lifted it to her perfectly shaped lips. She chewed slowly.
Toph knew something was affecting Sokka. His heart was irregular, but that wasn’t weird involving steaks. But the rapid way he was breathing was strange.
“Are you okay, Sokka?”
With a groan, his head hit the table.
Azula smiled.
“... He got a steak, right?”
“Everyone has a meal, Toph. Don’t go intimidating your servants,” Katara said.
One more week, thought the poor boy, and we all go home. No more of this torture.
~*~*~*~*~*~
018: envy
It was nice to see Ty Lee again.
But she hated Suki.
She seemed to be a reasonably intelligent girl, and a good fighter, but she hated her. And she couldn’t do anything about it because she had a conscience now.
There they were. Not together anymore, but acting the way old lovers do. Flirting shamelessly and flaunting it.
She was being unreasonable, and decided denial was the only rational thing to do.
“So how are you, Zula?” Ty Lee asked, grinning in her costume and make-up.
“Fine!” she answered loudly. Perfectly fine. No one was more fine than she.
~*~*~*~*~*~
019: wrath
She was furious.
These idiots didn't know the good thing they had.
“We found the princess,” she heard them say, “Now we can lead the Fire Nation back to glory!”
Glory? They were a nation devoid of real friendship and family. Everyone was obsessed with war, discipline, and conquest. They lost the dragons that gave them their spirituality, their culture, their true path.
She had been close to real answers. To friendship and family. To falling in love.
Sokka... Was he looking for her?
They wouldn’t take that away. They would feel her wrath... but live to tell about it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
020: white
Whatever possessed him to plan this outing, in this frozen wasteland, in the middle of the night?
“Toph can’t see it, so we’re walking to where she can hear it,” Sokka told everyone.
When questioned, they were told it was a surprise.
“Meteor showers aren’t indigenous to the poles if that’s your ‘surprise’,” Azula said, doing her best to sound bored.
Sokka just glared at her.
Azula heard it before she saw it. The sky cackled like it was alive. And then she saw the white lights, like the sky was on fire.
“Well?” Sokka asked her.
She smiled, silent.
~*~*~*~*~*~
021: picture
Sokka couldn’t help it. Once he had ink and parchment in his hands, he couldn’t hold himself back. Pictures practically drew themselves. And everyone was going their separate ways tomorrow and he was feeling nostalgic.
The end result didn’t look a lot like Suki, so Sokka drew a fan in her right hand.
If anyone thought the angry firebending girl in the picture reminded them of anyone else, they kept it to themselves. Though a couple people gave Sokka a significant look.
He didn’t notice. He was carefully rolling it up and setting it aside so he could draw another.
~*~*~*~*~*~
022: father
It’s difficult to determine when Ozai’s lust for power became all consuming, and he stopped showing affection for his family. Afterwards he demanded reverence and discipline, especially from his daughter, the key to impressing Azulon.
He didn’t punish her for clever tricks and cunning lies. If they worked in his favor, he encouraged them. But he didn’t tolerate failures and shortcomings.
Azula watched Hakoda teach Sokka tai chi from the window of one of the communal snow domes. He was patient, soothing, like their martial art.
Different from the cruelty she faced in the past running drills with her father.
~*~*~*~*~*~
023: marionette
He figured she could tell. He wasn’t putting a lot of effort into hiding it. But he was welcome and polite, aware of her tenuous hold on reality.
She noticed anyway.
“Look, I was just surprised to see you with the others-”
“If that’s what you call ‘surprised’, I wonder what ‘horrified shock’ looks like-”
“I’m not ‘horrified’,” Sokka said. Just wary.
She used to manipulate people, like the world was her own puppet theater. Including him, even though he saw right through her that time. She was clever, and if she wanted to change, she’d have to prove it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
024: glass
It didn’t occur to him to get something to make up for not giving her a present when she visited during the solstice. Until now.
She’d probably hate it, but it’s the thought that counts.
“How much for this one?”
“That? You can have it. My apprentice was supposed to make a lily, but it looks like-”
“A blue flame,” Sokka finished, delighted.
“Yeah. And flames aren’t blue.”
“Yeah, blue fire! Pfft,” Sokka said, “How silly.”
He left the shopkeep what would cover cost, and hurried back to the Bei Fong house. He wanted to leave it as a surprise.
~*~*~*~*~*~
025: liquid
“I’m perfectly capable of making a stupid cup of tea!”
“Oh yeah? Then show me!” Zuko shouted.
Azula grabbed a cup and filled it with water and herbs. Then she heated it with a irritated breath.
“Drink this!” she shouted, setting the cup in front of Sokka.
“Why do I have to drink it?!”
“Just. Do it. Sokka.”
Sokka winced at the questionable liquid, still boiling a little. He casually cooled it by waving and glanced at the seething, hovering girl.
He sipped.
He had a split second to decide whether to spit in horror or pretend it was delicious.
~*~*~*~*~*~
026: mistress
Mai dreaded the question but knew it was coming. If there’s one thing she knew, Azula’s scientific approach to puzzles remained consistent.
“Mai... how do you move from ‘friends’... to... ‘more than friends’?”
Azula’s face was carefully blank. But her brother’s mistress knew her well enough to know Azula didn’t have many “friends” to chose from. So why the charade?
“Did you have a ‘friend’ in mind?” Mai evadingly answered.
“Not really,” Azula lied. She was still a brilliant liar. An outsider would believe her.
“Just be patient. If it happens, it happens.”
Obviously not what Azula wanted to hear.
~*~*~*~*~*~
027: BURN
After the first fever, when Ursa came back and took her home, Azula’s thoughts shifted from loops to lines. But she couldn’t firebend.
“It’s good “Crazula” can’t burn us down,” someone said loudly. Then he laughed at his own joke.
She was hurt by the nickname, and angry. How dare he?
Enraged, she decided to burn a nearby tapestry, but it came out as backlash, threw her back and burned her skin.
Katara and her brother ran around the corner. “What were you trying to do?” Katara demanded, healing her.
Azula wouldn’t answer her. Just stared blankly at her burns.
~*~*~*~*~*~
028: china doll
Life’s seasons of love brought very different girls. Winter was Yue, an intelligent and cultured princess, but was doll-like and subservient due to the archaic traditions of the sister tribe. Spring was Suki, a sweet girl and amazing warrior, but occasionally naive or ignorant.
Before, one might have tempted him with “the best of both worlds.”
But all he did was fight with Azula. Mostly about strategy and engineering, but she seemed to have a differing opinion on everything. Nothing he did impressed her, not even when he won their Pai Sho game in Ba Sing Se.
It was depressing.
~*~*~*~*~*~
029: pattern
Zuko liked predictability in his routine. He liked being the new Fire Lord, traveling around the world to reconnect with it in peace. He liked having his friends and family around.
He didn’t like this new pattern. He wished he took his family home before everyone left for the Earth Kingdom. That’s when it really became unbearable.
Breakfast. Azula makes a snide observation. Sokka says something imaginatively sarcastic in reply. They fight.
Zuko was waiting it to be over when Sokka brushed past him. Saying something to himself about “Karma” and “girls”.
He acted more crazy the saner Azula became.
~*~*~*~*~*~
030: flaw
Sokka let his hair grow while traveling. It grew faster on the left.
During drills, though ambidextrous, he still didn’t completely ground whichever heel was behind him, giving him a slight lean. This was a disadvantage, especially if his opponent was taller.
Sokka generally thoroughly enjoyed his food, much to the discomfort of whoever had to watch, and usually received a petulant look from Katara before he stopped.
Everything was a joke to him.
“It gets old, you know,” Azula said to the bemused boy as she walked by.
“What did I say now?!” Sokka demanded of the empty hallway.
~*~*~*~*~*~
031: mother
She got her ambition from her father. Apparently she got her talents in observation from her mother.
Ursa’s reaction to the resin-smelling, fur covered igloo they were given was gracious. She curiously exclaimed over everything, from the underground tunnels that connected the snow domes, to the unique carvings made of stone and bone.
Ursa watched wheels turn in Azula’s healing mind as Sokka explained to her how a single candle flame and a hole in the wall heated the snow dome.
He was kind to challenge her with interesting puzzles.
But it was interesting how she devoured everything he said.
~*~*~*~*~*~
032: steel
“Why?” he asked her, teasingly.
Being without firebending so long, Azula just wanted another skill to fight with. The warrior inside cannot be denied.
That was her excuse when she started to follow him towards the red water. Sokka was looking for ore, wanting another new steel sword, and he’d be a good person to talk shop with.
“Do you want me to teach you to?”
“Doesn’t matter. My brother could teach me just as well. Or I could see a master. But if you're so inclined-”
He laughed and turned back. “Coyness becomes you.”
She glared, catching up anyway.
~*~*~*~*~*~
033: lost
If they were going to be lost, Azula said they should stop walking under the sun.
After telling her why not to drink the cacti juice, Sokka found a sand dune they could rest under and hide from dust storms.
They stayed close while the sand blew over the dune, eyes closed. She had crept under his arm at one point. He felt cool compared to the air.
“What a sorry mess we're in,” she muttered.
“I feel sorry for you. You can’t stand me.”
“...that isn’t true,” she contradicted, after a moment.
He didn’t comment, but his arm tightened.
~*~*~*~*~*~
034: life
They found her by herself, curled up in a corridor, whispering apologies to her mother.
“I thought you said her fever broke,” Sokka exclaimed, lifting the girl off the ground.
Katara adjusted Azula’s dressing gown back over her legs, not that she noticed, delirious as she was.
“Well, this is a new one,” Katara shot back, waterbending to cool Azula’s forehead.
“Maybe Zuko and Ursa shouldn’t have taken her from the health facility so early,”’ Sokka said, as the siblings walked towards the family suite.
Katara disagreed. “If she’s going to get her life on track, she needs her family.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
035: spice
Sokka poked irritably at the roasted giant bug. As much as he enjoyed visiting the foggy swamp, the cuisine left a lot to be desired.
Absently, he reached for his pepper sauce again, even though his bug was already drenched.
His hand grasped air.
He looked up. Azula was hitting the bottom of the bottle, determined to get every last drop.
He started so say something, but stopped. They already had a fierce row earlier, over something mundane he couldn’t even remember. Then he stomped off and had an accidental “vision quest”...
Sokka shuddered.
He suddenly didn’t feel like eating.
~*~*~*~*~*~
036: filigree
The fire palace was sharp corners and dark hallways, broken occasionally by small courtyards. Gold, silver and silk.
There was nothing so grand in the south pole.
Azula spent the night shivering, listening to her first snowstorm.
She considered spending the whole trip inside, but became curious when she heard her mother exclaim in delight.
When she emerged, she saw the filigree of frost covering the village alpines. It looked intricately delicate.
The quiet scene was destroyed when the gangly fellow went barreling into one of the trees and was buried in snow.
“Katara!” he shouted.
She watched everyone laugh.
~*~*~*~*~*~
037: roots
She sat on the rock, meditating, feeling the heat of the sun.
Firebending was the harmony of life, the energy, rooted inside the spiritual center of the bender.
She knew this - but couldn’t bend.
Ursa said Azula closed out her heart and was holding herself back.
She was afraid.
Azula hated being sickly, feeling weak. It contradicted everything she was.
He would want someone strong.
She pushed that thought away. This was more important.
Open your heart. Don’t be afraid. Trust.
Free to love, even if it was unrequited.
Azula opened her palm, and gasped at the tiny, blue flame.
~*~*~*~*~*~
038: insanity
The strange thing about insanity for Azula was she remembered most of it. But only her rational remembered, not the way it felt. And she could only replay the memories in pieces.
She remembered Zuko, and her mother, their worried faces.
She remembered Aang sitting often with Zuko, remembered him looking unsure. Maybe hopeful.
She remembered being irrationally afraid of Katara’s cool hands.
She remembered how insensitive Sokka was when he thought she couldn’t hear, but it contradicted how gentle he was when he lifted her after she fell. She remembered the way he smelled, and reflecting made her blush.
~*~*~*~*~*~
039: prism
If personality could be refracted like light through a prism, aspects separated like colors, someone would be easier to understand.
Was Azula a good person? She lied when it suited her agenda. She liked to cheat during games. She still talked like a snob and used sarcasm regularly. Colors that made her the person she was.
The difference, maybe, was she didn’t outright hurt anyone.
So she’s not a good person, but she’s not an evil person... anymore.
Sokka mused over this, but the subject in question was a literalist, and thought his abstract theory inane.
Hence, they argued. Again.
~*~*~*~*~*~
040: define
He wanted all the answers.
With that, he’d be able to define the messages hidden in everyone’s statements. No more confusing hidden agendas.
He knew she was hiding something from him and he was fairly certain she knew he knew. So since he knew she knew he knew then either she said what she said because it didn't need to be hidden anymore or she knew he knew she knew he knew and therefore...
Okay, so she was driving him insane. That was almost poetic when considering her own mental history.
Or he's been crazy all along and didn't notice.
~*~*~*~*~*~
041: beauty
He never thought Azula beautiful during the war. Cruelty and intimidation made perfection look like stone. A man couldn’t love a stone.
Then he saw her laugh.
She was with Mai when Aang did a magic trick for them. Mai smiled a little, but Azula’s face lit up and her golden eyes sparkled. Sokka was so shocked, he walked right into someone’s tent and collapsed in a pile of skins and snow.
Blushing furiously, he righted himself to reassemble the tent, but was distracted by her renewed laughing.
It was difficult to concentrate when she looked at him like that.
~*~*~*~*~*~
042: betrothed
“It's my grandmother's betrothal necklace,” Katara said, “Now it’s just a family heirloom.”
Azula wanted the waterbender to think of her as a friend. Hence, the occasional awkward conversations.
But this was very interesting.
“Women start wearing symbols of the family crest when they marry into a new family,” Azula said, “But that's not personal like a carved pendant. It’s a lovely tradition.”
“It’s not really ‘our’ tradition. It’s the northern tribe’s, and it represents arranged marriages.”
They sat in companionable silence.
“Does... your tribe have betrothal traditions?”
Katara stared, knowingly. “If falling in love is just a ‘tradition’, yes.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
043: opposites
The greatest love stories of all time usually involved something of great polarity - places, people, ideas - and from that, opposites attract.
Oma and Shu were two people of similar disposition from feuding villages. But while they were raised with different values, in each other they found commonality - and fell in love.
In another era, two young people of similar intellect and temperament could not see a similar commonality because they were from opposing nations - in politics, in morality, and philosophy.
That excuse was, in actuality, smokescreen.
But they were raised to hate each other, and that was hard to change.
~*~*~*~*~*~
044: opinions
“There are families, people, that are simply born to rule-”
“On the authority of the so-called nobility, not the people. An electorate is the only way to ensure-”
“I didn’t say the people weren’t involved. A good, stable society knows good leadership when they see it.
As for your tribe's ‘democracy’, your grandfather and your father have been elected tribal chief. Assuming you’re interested, if you’re elected, how is that different? Maybe your family is made up of true leaders and your people know this.”
“I can’t figure out,” he said, dryly amused, “If you’re flattering me or insulting me.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
045: prejudice
“Idiotic. Anyone with half an education-”
“I have an education. I learned history through song, science through my grandfather’s journals, and letters from my grandmother. Just because I’m not afraid to make mistakes doesn’t make me an idiot.” He paused. “I learned about spirits the hard way though.”
Katara yelled at Sokka about almost getting himself killed over his latest “experiment” until she lost her voice and Sokka was soaking wet. Azula wouldn’t push him.
But she really wanted to. It was idiotic, and anyone with an education from the masters would know his experiment would have caused a rockslide.
~*~*~*~*~*~
046: forbidden
That was the thing about liking one’s friends. They already know you’re beautiful and intelligence just seems to be intimidating. So what’s a girl to do but try and manipulate the odds?
So she snuck into his room to go through his stuff.
He wasn’t there anyway, he was out with the guys doing whatever they do.
All she found was lots of junk. Also, he appeared to sleep on the floor.
Then she had to climb to the ceiling because she heard him coming back.
She waited patiently for him to leave again, thinking he better be worth it.
~*~*~*~*~*~
047: honey
“I’m not sure I want to try this stuff,” Sokka said, eyeing a fingerfull suspiciously. “I’ve had buzzard-wasp nectar and it was disgusting.”
“This isn’t buzzard-wasp nectar, it’s just bee honey. You can only get it in the Fire Nation where the fireweed clovers grow.”
“Not fireant-bees?”
“No, just bees.”
“Not bumble-treefrogs?”
“No, just bees.”
“But-”
“Eat the stupid honey, Sokka!”
Sokka obediently, and quickly, stuck his finger into his mouth. The richness and flavor surprised him, and he smiled wickedly when taste and smell reminded him of something in particular-
“What’s so funny?” Azula asked.
“Nothing,” Sokka said quickly.
~*~*~*~*~*~
048: reflections
Before she saw her mother in the mirrors, in the water. As she got older, she saw her more often. She looked more like Ursa everyday.
Then her mother became real flesh again. Azula remembered clinging to her at first, crying constantly, feeling like a desperate child.
A year went by, though she didn’t notice. Lately, she sees her father in the mirrors and water. Now that she is finding peace without power, she sees her father’s ghost, disapproving.
“Go away,” she tells the swamp water.
“Azula? We’re all getting ready to leave.” Sokka finds her.
He helps her up.
~*~*~*~*~*~
049: aphorism
It was a new philosophy.
Sokka, the first to show her friendly affection, put his arm around her shoulders, the way he did with Katara or Toph. She instinctually recoiled, and Sokka jolted his arm away and mumbled an apology.
Azula realized part of the change she was going through was accepting human touch again.
Later, when Zuko finally came back from lunch that day, Azula went to hug him in greeting.
Zuko was shocked.
“What?”
“You haven’t hugged me in a decade.” He paused. “I thought you forgot how.” His attempt to lighten the situation soothed her.
“Shut-up, dum-dum.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
050: silk
During the war, Sokka experienced his first un-brotherly, silk-clad hug when Suki glomped him clothed in Fire Nation duds, and he noticed how thin they were compared to what he was used to.
When the enormously competitive Azula jubilantly hugged him for the first time, after their team won a game of kickball somewhere in Omashu, he patted her back nervously. He tried not to think about the thin red material and hoped she didn’t notice how sweaty he was.
But it was over quickly and Sokka was relieved.
He’d never been this confused over a girl in his life.
~*~*~*~*~*~
End of Part One
