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Chapter Text

Chief Kya of the Southern Water Tribe wasn't the type who took any sitting down, often assigned with looking out for the village the same way her husband, Hakoda, did, as well as the responsibility of raising two children. The Southern Water Tribe always survived. Despite their lack of Waterbenders, the last one being taken long ago, they weren't the only source of survival for those in the South.

"Well, at least we're getting a big meal tonight," her and her husband's old friend, Bato, commented with a small, pained smile, on a umiak next to them, digging another net in. "Things have been really difficult lately."

"We will make it as long as we all stick together," Kya reassured with a smile in the tandem of men and women.

"As long as you let me make the meal, my love," Hakoda teased.

"No," Kya retorted plainly. "You're a good fighter, Hakoda. Not a good cook."

Hakoda let out a small laugh. "What little confidence you have in me."

"You're not the only one with the basic survival instincts in this relationship," Kya returned tauntingly. "Sorry to tell you that."

A creaking sound made itself known, followed by a sound. They loaded up their nets on their umiaks, the sea creatures squirming predictably. They had collected a good load that would at least last them a couple of days.

All of a sudden, an ear-piercing sob erupted. She craned her head up in the direction of a nearby cave and then looked over at her husband, who returned the look and stared in the direction of the cave, the opening so big and obvious.

"Someone is crying," Kya noted with a frown.

"What if it's some trap from someone or something?" Hakoda asked worriedly.

"If it is, it is. I'm not going to take that risk." Kya returned determinedly.

Everyone looked at the cave. "We're all behind you, Chief," Bato vowed with a nod.

Kya thought about arguing against them accompanying her, but they had been together for so long, struggling, and despite everything, they didn't leave each other behind, no matter what.

The entourage of the Southerners traveled in the direction of the cave, with Kya at the lead with Hakoda at her side, prepared for whatever may jump out at them.

The crying only increased in sound, and finally, they found the source of it. Two individuals were in the cave. She looked at the larger of them and then at the shorter one, spotting a girl with black hair, sharp and scrunched, and a barbed chin. Several gasped and recoiled, but Kya controlled herself and came closer.

"Sweetie, are you alright?" Kya couldn't stop herself from bouncing back when intense golden eyes locked upon hers.

'Fire Nation!' She recognized the word spiraling every protective instinct within her body, her hand drawing down to a knife that belonged to the Southern Water Tribe on instinct alone.

A gasp followed suit, but from the taller individual. She — it was a woman — lifted her head weakly to stare ahead, her own eyes flashing with pain.

"H-her name is Azu... Azula." The old woman coughed into her palm. "She's... she's... the Princess of the Fire Nation."

"I don't know you! I don't know any of you!" The girl shrilled, golden eyes leaking.

"I promised Ursa... I would get her... I... I..." She let out a croak, and finally her head fell back, the body stilling at long last.

She had heard that noise many times, had recognized what it meant, and had wished she never could again. Sometimes, it wasn't the eldest among them, but younger individuals with much more sensitivity to the cold than the rest, and checked, still, hoping...

'Dead.'

Forcing her eyes away from the corpse, Kya looked at the sobbing girl, still alive, the scared, frightened child. In that moment, she was stuck with a choice. The Southern Water Tribe did not welcome the Fire Nation. Her husband had thought about going off to join the war with the Earth Kingdom, but wanted to stay with his family at least as much as possible. She pulled back from them and recoiled in fear, trembling.

And as she looked her over to look at a neck where a blade could stab deep, she saw nothing more than a child at that moment. A sweet, innocent child. She was instantly reminded of Katara. The girl could not be that much older than her.

She hesitated.

The thoughts of her second child flashed through her mind. She was five, but she had already decided to help around camp and did what little chores she could. She had always wanted to help even her brother. Despite her... this child, being of an enemy nation, the princess of it no less, she couldn't go back and look at her children the same if she went through with it.

Kya's hand dropped from where her weapon was located on her belt. She couldn't do it.

"It's okay, it's okay," Hakoda reassured, coming closer and kneeling cautiously in front of her. "We're not going to hurt you."

Princess Azula looked up at her with fear in those golden eyes. It was only then that she saw a big bruise on the side of her forehead.

"We're here to help, sweetie," Kya continued her husband's sport, holding her hand out. "Trust me. You're safe now."

Azula looked between the two, cringing further unconsciously against the corpse, before throwing herself forward and wrapping her arms around Kya. The woman felt her coldness against her body and saw her clearly; the girl was wearing torn and soaked clothes, hardly benefiting from this weather.

"Are you alright? Nothing's broken?" Kya asked, concerned.

"M-my leg hurts."

Observing both legs, Kya held her right leg softly, earning a whimper.

"Her right leg has been cut pretty deeply," Hakoda echoed what was on her mind. "We will have to take her home."

"Where is home?" Azula whimpered. "I don't remember. I just keep seeing this... boat thingy, and then it's..."

"You probably have amnesia," Kya informed her softly, at once. "Don't dwell on it."

"Let's get her back home and see if she can remember eventually," Hakoda agreed.

"Well, at least, maybe your little troublemakers could have a new friend," Bato added with levity that caused a few laughs as Kya reached gently over to the child and picked her up.

The child snuggled against her chest, and Kya massaged her disheveled hair as she moved away, one arm against her back as they'd left this dark cave.

Chapter Text

It was a regular day at the Southern Water Tribe. Katara hated when Mom and Dad left. She knew it was necessary, but still, it didn't leave her with much to do other than look out for her big brother.

Eventually, the sound of soft splashes occurred in Katara's ears, and the girl looked up to see the forms of Mom and Dad, with other Southerners in tow. Something was on her mother's shoulder.

"Sokka!" Katara bounced up eagerly. "Mommy and Daddy are back!"

That proclamation stirred action around the village; other children rushed up to meet their parents, who had left.

Sokka joined her seconds later, smiling wholly as he ran up with Katara to embrace their parents. "I took care of the village when you were gone, Dad! I did!" Sokka leaped up.

Dad chuckled, even while Katara rolled her eyes, snuggling into her mother's leg. "I can see that. Well done, my little warrior."

"What do you have, Mom?" Katara asked. It looked big...

Mom lowered someone in her arms. It was not some sea creature but a kid around Katara's age. "Katara, Sokka." A yellow-eyed girl... "This is Azula. Say hi."

"Woah! Why are your eyes yellow?!" Sokka shouted.

"Sokka!" Both parents scolded, but it was too late. More than half of the tribe were staring at them, seeing the girl's eyes.

Even though Katara wondered the same, she didn't say anything in the interest of the girl in front of her, well, until...

"Fire Nation!" Someone exclaimed.

Katara watched as the girl retreated, burying her face nervously against the back of her mother's right leg.

"Yes, everyone," Mom sighed, giving her first child a look, "this is Azula." She rubbed her hair soothingly while many gasped. Katara, in that moment, didn't know what to say. "I know this explanation doesn't make much sense, but we found her in a cave. While I understand you may be reluctant to accept her, I do not believe she is a threat of any sort, and if you have a personal concern, you may address it with me."

No one spoke, but Katara caught the way some of them were eyeing the girl. She didn't like the mean ashmakers either, but she knew Mom wouldn't ever lie to them. Mom always kept them safe, alongside Daddy.

"Mom, Dad, this is really, really weird." Sokka was the first speaker among murmurs and hushed conversations about this.

"You may as well get used to her, Sokka," Dad smiled dismissively. "She's for you and your sister to look after from now on."

She wasn't exactly sure how to approach the girl across from her. Azula didn't seem to be that mean or dangerous, but she had been warned about the threat of the Fire Nation for as long as she could remember.

And the girl was Fire Nation...

"Hi." Dad always told her that was the proper way to start a conversation.

Azula cringed behind Mom nervously. Mom patted her forehead, hand traveling through her moist hair with a small smile. "Don't be afraid, sweetie. Neither of my children will hurt you."

Azula looked at her apprehensively and came out of her hiding place and approached, "Hi."

"Wait, if you're a princess, that means I'm technically the prince of the Water Tribe, seeing that Grandma and Granddaddy made Mom practically the queen!" Sokka hooted. "Hey, sis, you have to call me Prince Sokka now!"

Katara shrilled, horrified, "Mom, Dad, please don't make us call him Prince!"

Both parents chuckled now.

A grunt interrupted the moment. There, standing short of them, was Gran Gran, her elderly eyes registering Azula, before staring up at Mom and Dad.

"You're far too trusting, you two. Far too trusting, indeed." That was all Gran Gran said, sounding disappointed. Katara arched her eyebrows at her grandmother, unsure what that meant.

"Children, take her to our igloo, please," Dad ordered.

"Sure!" Katara obeyed, grabbing the other girl's hand and eagerly dragging her away from her parents, the girl looking behind, shrugging, and seeing Mom motioning with a flick of the hand. "It's good that you're here. There aren't enough of us girls around here."

"Just don't get me with your cooties!" Sokka shouted, following suit.

"Explain," Kanna demanded, instantly making them feel like small children in for a long reprimand. Briefly, Kya wondered what her own parents would have said if they were still alive.

"She is just a little girl, Mother. She was in hysterics, completely lost. Considering their story, I cannot just let them deteriorate like that, freezing to death." Hakoda then filled his mother in on what they've gathered.

"The Fire Nation has killed many families," Kanna reminded. "There is no fairness in war. Bringing her here is putting not only yourselves but also your children and the entire tribe at danger, Hakoda."

"I will not kill her," Hakoda said firmly.

"Nor will I," Kya agreed. "We cannot fault someone her age for being born in the family."

"Of course, I'm not saying kill her! Do not put words in my mouth!" Kanna hissed. "But, she's not just another child indoctrinated in the Fire Nation. She's not even a cross-breed! She's. The. Princess. What are you two not understanding about that?"

"She's not only that. She's also a child." Kya fought. "She's confused and lost and needs our help, not condemnation."

"Your kind hearts are going to cost you one day, my son, daughter-in-law," her husband's mother sighed exhaustedly. "I understand that you want to do what is right and see nothing more than a child, but I have a feeling harboring a lost princess will lead to more trouble than what it is worth."

"If we send her out, she will freeze to death!" Kya insisted. "She is suffering amnesia right now and doesn't know where she is. Whether it's mild or not remains to be seen."

"Not everyone you meet in a desperate situation is a victim, Kya," Kanna replied gravely. "Nothing suggests that anyone apart of Sozin's bloodline has redeeming qualities. The girl has evil in her heart. Current Fire Lord, Azulon, is not very distinctive from his deceased younger brother, Prince Sanzo, who proudly led onslaughts and attacks until he was killed in the Earth Kingdom. Using context clues, she is even named after the man."

Kya recognized where her mother-in-law was coming from. Before crossing Azula, if asked what she would do to a child that age, she would not hesitate to say that she would end his or her life. But that situation was too overwhelming, and ending the girl's life was something that she could not do; she didn't even want to imagine the betrayal leaving those eyes as she died...

"She didn't choose the name she was stuck with," Hakoda responded sharply. "She didn't ask to be born in the Fire Nation."

"Innocent the girl may be, but nevertheless, her family draws back to Fire Lord Sozin. The Fire Nation has claimed the lives of so many innocents." Kanna replied, gripping the side of her forehead with a slight sigh. "What if she is a bender? What then? There can still be a grave danger with her not being one."

"Then she is. There have been good firebenders who rebelled one hundred years ago." Kya reminded resolutely. Her grandparents also knew some of them and spoke fondly of them before their passing.

"I will stand alongside you and your decisions: both of yours. I just hope you know what you're doing." Kanna said warningly, already shaking her head. "I have already lost many loved ones to the Fire Nation in the past."

"We will wait and see," Hakoda decided humbly. "I have faith that this was done for a reason."

"What's wrong with my eye color?" Azula questioned the two, still completely at a loss.

"Oh, I don't know," Sokka huffed, rubbing his, no, their father's club, over. "Maybe because you're part of the ashmakers."

"Mom and Dad said we have to look after her," Katara quoted.

Sokka scoffed. "Leave me alone. I'm going to nap." He collapsed on his cot, folding his arms, and before long, was asleep.

"Why is me being part of the 'ashmakers', whatever they are, a bad thing?" She blinked, rubbing the side of her head as she stared at Katara.

"They hurt the world, including us, in the past," Katara responded.

"Oh?" Azula asked, feeling hurt.

'How can I stop being an ashmaker?' She questioned herself.

"But it's alright. Mom and Dad told us that there were nice Firebenders."

"Cool," Azula nodded with a small smile.

"So are you a Firebender?" Katara asked.

"Why does it matter if I'm whatever a Firebender is?" Azula returned with a question of her own.

"Well, I want to learn bending," Katara responded. "Maybe you can teach me."

"Don't be dumb," Azula responded, folding her arms across her chest. "How can I teach you something I can't even remember?"

"Why can't you remember?" The waterbender's voice became sharper. "Or is it just because you don't want to teach me?"

"Maybe show me?" Azula recommended.

"Well, I'm not very good. We need some water!" Katara exclaimed.

"Okay, there's like water all over the place." Azula rolled her eyes. "Just take me to it."

"Alright, fine, and hey, I'm not dumb!" Katara scolded her for her earlier comment.

"Yeah, yeah, just show me what bending is."

"Alright. Whatever."

Azula huffed and followed behind her, noticing the distant forms of Ms. Kya and Mr. Hakoda talking, the wrinkles on their faces a reminder of the nickname she'd made up for the woman in a moment.

"This is Ms. Kolada's tent. She won't mind us going in." Katara said, practically dragging her there, to the form of a small bucket. "This is waterbending. Well, almost waterbending. I'm still not very good."

Azula sat next to her in the snow and frowned in curiosity. Katara removed her blue glove from her right hand and aimed. The water within whizzed, spasming ever so slightly. Finally, a small portion of it elevated into the air.

Azula's eyes widened. "Woah."

"See, this is what you can do if you're a bender," Katara pointed out.

Azula gripped her forehead. She'd felt a sharp pang occurring in the side, causing her to lurch forward, as if she was swimming within an unmerciful ocean.

"Azula!" Katara cried out worriedly, the water releasing from her levitating hand and rushing over to her friend.

But Katara's form disappeared from her vision.

Azula lurched forward again.

"Again!" A hiss came.

She was standing in a dark chamber, shadowy eyes regarding her. She unleashed fire after fire, moving in stature. She breathed in, contained the fire within herself, and unleashed it at guided targets, catching two of them but missing the third one. Almost...

This was not long after learning to adapt to the makings of a newer form that she'd just been taught.

More!

Perfection was a must if she was ever to embrace the path of a true prodigy fully.

She turned to look upon two golden eyes matching that of her own and saw nothing but a shadowy figure.

"Almost isn't good enough, Azula. Your failure at strength will be your destruction."

"She's coming back!" A voice called from afar, and she looked up to see a fair-skinned woman towering over her with blue eyes. At first, she'd believed it to be Ms. Kya, but that was impossible, for the woman herself was standing behind her with the worried face of Katara and Mr. Hakoda making up for it.

"Thank you, Kollu," Ms. Kya said, the different blue-eyed woman with dark blonde hair making space for the familiar woman to come closer and grip her with concern. "Azula, honey. Are you alright?"

"Miss Kya, I remember." Azula blinked rapidly, smiling wholly as she stood with the aid of Kya and staggered ever so slightly. "I am a Firebender."

Azula breathed, concentrating, before elevating her hand calculatedly and allowing a small flame to erupt from her palm.

It shook softly. No matter what she could do, it was not strong enough. Not perfect. It was weak.

"Weak! Pathetic! If you can't hold your flame, what perfection can you accomplish?!" The dark voice hissed.

The woman recoiled slightly, as did everyone except Katara, who looked on with awe.

Yet, try as she might, she could barely contain it.

And that hurt more than anything for some reason.

Ms. Kya regained her composure and approached slowly.

"Azula," she stated carefully, "please be careful. That is dangerous."

"Oh."

She'd thought she would be happy. Azula extinguished the fire within, making all of them sigh with relief. She was confused. It was odd how empowering she'd felt in that... dream, which she didn't feel now.

Part of her WANTED it back more than anything. She didn't know who the yellow-eyed man was, but she'd felt... indebted to him.

"Mom, Dad, don't be mad at her," Katara begged. "I wanted to know if she was a bender."

"It's alright, darling," Ms. Kya encouraged softly before adding. "But you should know that you have to be careful with Azula because of her injuries. We will have a talk later about this. Do you understand?"

Katara wiped at a tear from her right blue eye. "Yes, Mommy."

"Good, now, return to the igloo. We three will have a talk about this later." Mr. Hakoda said, much more softly as Katara walked back, head lowered. "I still hate punishing her," he commented to the woman, once everyone cleared away, leaving the three.

"I do too. Sokka is easier to punish by far, but we told ourselves when they were born we can't be too soft on either of them," Ms. Kya agreed. "It's a dangerous world they're growing up in."

"Like... me?" Azula asked.

Both adults looked down at her with the same, matching expressions that made her want to curl up into a ball.

"I'm dangerous," Azula added. "Is that why you all hate me?"

"Hate you?!" Ms. Kya looked saddened. "Spirits above, Azula, where did you get that idea?!"

"You just said I am. Because I can," Azula let out a small tremble, "bend fire."

Mr. Hakoda assured. "Every form of bending can be used for good and evil. So yes, I'm not going to lie, you're dangerous. But dangerous doesn't mean evil."

"What does it mean then?" Azula questioned, embarrassingly squirming further away.

"It means," Ms. Kya said softly, dropping to her legs and rubbing her hands alongside her hair, "you have a path to make for yourself. There are good Firebenders in the world. You could be one of them."

"I want to be," Azula responded confidently, bobbing her head up and down. "But why are you two mad at Katara for making me remember I can bend in the first place?"

"We're not mad at her for that. We're disappointed at her for triggering your memory." Ms. Kya responded patiently.

"But isn't that a good thing?" Azula prompted.

"Yes, of course, it is, but not after such an egregious affair that you have been through. If your memory is to return, it needs to return naturally." Mr. Hakoda replied. "Your injuries are still fresh."

"Oh?" Azula didn't know if she should believe them. "Should I just not bend if it's dangerous?"

Ms. Kya sighed.

"I will let you handle this." Mr. Hakoda kissed his wife on the forehead and excused himself with a caring pat on Azula's back.

"No, it will eat you up inside if you ignore what is a part of you," Ms. Kya responded as the man walked away. "While we wanted to give you time, you cannot be sheltered away from what you're capable of forever. Eventually, you may lose control of yourself. So bend."

"You want me to bend?"

"Yes," the older woman smiled.

"But what if I do it again and become evil?" Azula's lips trembled, one tear shooting out of her golden eyes.

"Breathe," Ms. Kya instructed, rubbing her shoulders. "The fire is a natural part of you. It is up to the user how they use it. Waterbenders rise with the moon. Firebenders rise with the sun. Your flame is apart of you. Every person needs a drive—a drive to go forward, to live. Embrace yourself."

Azula breathed deeply, not sure what the woman was getting at here. "B-"

"Don't be afraid, Azula. Don't let your fear control you." Ms. Kya continued. "You learn with your natural element. If you lock it away permanently, it will destroy you. If you approach with anger, you will have nothing besides that in your life, and it could lead to a dark path. But if you associate with it... if you commune with it, it will answer with love. Because, fire, sweetie, fire is natural and life."

Azula lifted her hands, face scrunched. She inhaled at length and deeply. Conclusively, without fear, without anger, the flame erupted within her hand. It manifested, guiding over her fingertips, but much more comfortingly. While it still hurt to recall, she could almost swear that the fire was larger here than any of the fires she had seen in that dream. Azula maintained it, holding it without fear, without judgment. Fire existed within her, and she was part of it.

"That's it!" Ms. Kya praised. "Excellent work."

Azula looked at the flame in awe, captivated by the way it was in her hand. She smiled in amazement as the flame did something unexpected.

"It's a different color!" Azula exclaimed in pride, that fire she'd mentioned seeming almost happy within her. "It's blue!"

"Blue is a color of tranquility and peace. You are hope." Ms. Kya nodded with a serene smile. "I'm so proud of you."

The fire in her hands beamed much more powerfully at that.

Chapter Text

The silk, light blue coat slipping around her, with dark blue pants, was clearly uncomfortable for the girl; however, Hakoda was pleased that Azula didn't put up much of a fight about it and had grown used to their way of survival in time. Katara and Sokka, after some convincing from both, were going penguin sledding with both parents watching from the top of the mountain.

"You know I have a feeling Azula is going to be searched for," Kya voiced uneasily, now that the children were out of earshot and they could discuss this amicably.

Hakoda looked at her, already knowing what she was talking about. The girl demonstrated an unprecedented amount of knowledge about bending in such a short time and with no master available. He didn't get shocked much. But how in the world could a child who couldn't be four or five years old, who had suffered a memory loss, be able to delve into and mobilize firebending to such a degree? Being a member of the Royal Family and related to Fire Lord Sozin himself, and later Azulon, he had expected it if she would ever be trained, but... this was something else.

Fire flowed with Azula in a state, and she had been able to use firebending much more proficiently within the four days.

It had left only a very few conclusions to be made.

"I can see it too. She must have been quite a prodigy." Hakoda agreed.

Kya nodded in agreement. "The Fire Nation would not want to lose her. It is likely that she would be in the position of the Dragon of the West and others of the Royal Family: quieting all rebellion, false or legitimate, without a care for the lives she ruins throughout."

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I'm still concerned that they will find out about Katara." Hakoda responded, his voice a mix of sourness and concern.

"Our sister tribe might be disillusioned with our ways, but they have also suffered attacks," Kya soothed, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I'm hoping that the war will not end in defeat in Ba Sing Se. The Earth Kingdom is the only region left that holds the warfield, along with only several colonies, and uprisings. Sokka and Katara don't deserve to grow up in a world, conquered by the Fire Nation."

Hakoda nodded. It was a distant concern of his as well. If the Fire Nation did win, the best they could hope for was that they decide to end searching for the Avatar in Waterbenders, and Katara would be able to live a life without that concern; develop, find a significant other, get married, live a life with children... that was the dream of any parent for their little ones.

"At the very least, she makes life here a whole lot more warmer," a voice came from behind them. Bato approached.

"Hence why we never estimate the children," Hakoda concluded joyfully.

"Especially ones related to you two," Bato snarked. "Hopefully, Uncle Bato could fix the damage..."

"Hopefully, Uncle Bato would stop being so closed-off and give it a shot," Hakoda smiled knowingly.

"Is this another attempt of yours for me to enter a relationship with a woman?" Bato asked, giving his father an exasperated look. "Look, I have discussed this with you before. But fatherhood isn't exactly something I wish to engage with."

"You never even gave the thought a chance," Hakoda patted his shoulder with a mischievous smile.

"One night with Harah was enough for me," Bato retorted dismissively, a mischievous twinkle gleaming in his eyes. "Unlike some people..."

"You will never let us live it down, will you?" Hakoda quipped, raising his right eyebrow.

Bato grinned. "You should have listened to your parents when they told you to control yourself."

"Yes," Kya rolled her eyes, "and we should have told them about you knowing what we were doing it in our hideaways."

It was no secret that Hakoda and Kya had often been unable to control themselves around each other when they were younger. At the age of 18, both Hakoda and Kya used to always find ways to sneak away from their parents' supervision, just for romantic reasons, on top of sexual evenings and others. It only took his parents stumbling upon them one early morning, her sleeping on his chest, both naked, for the secret to be revealed.

Fortunately, the Southern Water Tribe wasn't as strict as the North; that didn't stop his mother from giving him the earful of a lifetime, but eventually, it was sorted out when the two married, something that neither of the two particularly minded.

"I was looking out for you two when I shouldn't have," Bato laughed.

"Hey! Give me my club!" The imprudent shout of Sokka vibrated.

"You mean Dad's club?" Katara retorted, flinging Sokka's club mockingly. Just as her older brother reached her, she tossed it towards her friend, who jumped up and grabbed it.

"Azula! Give it back!" Sokka shouted, rushing over to the giggling Fire Nation.

"Who's going to make me?" Azula taunted, waving the club playfully and shoving him away.

"This might get ugly," Kya expressed, concerned.

"Uh-oh. Looks like I should take my leave." Bato took the chance as he started to walk off.

"Thanks so much, 'Uncle Bato,'" Kya remarked sarcastically, looking seconds away from bursting out into laughter herself.

"I am only available when you're both unaccounted for," Bato shrugged innocently. "But the children are too much like you two when you were young. I'm out of my league here."

"I'll handle it," Hakoda reassured, equally irritated.

By far, despite her first few days being a surprise for all and her being quiet and scared at first, once Azula settled within the ninth day, she and Sokka had fights left and right. It was worse than Katara's own verbal battles with her brother, which the girl stopped after a period of time. Azula did not let up easily and continued to fight Sokka. Arguments tended to escalate between the two, something that drove Hakoda, Kya, and his mother, as well as the other elders and adults within the village, to the brink of insanity. Even Kollu's eye twitched, despite being one of the most patient person that Hakoda ever met.

Going over the small ledge of snow, he spotted the small group. Two giggling girls, with one frustrated young boy.

"Alright, my little angels, that's enough," Hakoda interrupted as soon as he made it toward them.

"Dad, she and Katara are not giving back my club!" Sokka reported, pointing at both girls.

"Azula, give him back the club, please," Hakoda commanded politely.

"Fine, take it," she complied, tossing it towards Sokka, who stumbled ever so slightly, and murmured under her breath, "crybaby."

"Hey! I'm not a crybaby!" Sokka cried, getting closer to her face. "I'll show you what a crybaby I—"

"Both of you knock it off," Hakoda ordered.

"Why couldn't you bring a boy home, Dad? Both Katara and Azula... are so bossy!" Sokka facepalmed. "Ugh—"

The two girls glared at him, their faces making it obvious that they were willing to start another argument.

"I said knock it off," Hakoda repeated, an edge to his voice. "Don't make me say it again."

"You're right, Dad," Katara agreed with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Come on, Azula, let's keep playing with the penguins."

"Ugh, girls are crazy!" Sokka complained as he lumbered over to his father's side. "Dad, can we go back and give her to the Fire Nation and ask for a boy instead?"

Hakoda chuckled. "You'll find as you age, you'll depend on Katara for more things. The same is true for Azula. And other people in general."

"Yeah, yeah, can I head back now?" Sokka clutched his club close to him.

He looked at his son squarely, arching an eyebrow, "You want to stop playing?"

"Yes!" Sokka pleaded.

"Your mother does have chores," Hakoda warned, deciding to be the fun-dad this time. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

Sokka, for once, didn't find an excuse to go back. "Beats being at this girl-infested place."

"Hey, Katara, look at what your dad gave me last night," Azula revealed with a smile, producing a small bone knife from her belt as they lay in the snow around them.

"Yeah, I have one too," Katara rebuked, revealing hers as well. "Every member gets them for protection."

"I never seen you with yours. I thought you might be too afraid." Azula giggled.

"I'm not afraid of knives!" Katara defended, "I just don't really like them."

"You don't?" Azula blinked in shock. "Knives are cool."

"Not really."

"Name one reason why?"

"Well, they can cut through things." Katara responded. "It's kind of scary." She looked up at her with a confused expression.

"Really, scary?" Azula laughed.

"You like anything," Katara laughed back.

"What do you mean?" Azula rolled her golden eyes. "I only like cool things."

"You like weird stuff," Katara said. "I remember you wanted to help the women cut into the octopus's meat."

"Yeah, and your mom didn't let me because I could 'cut my fingers,'" Azula scoffed.

"She's right. You can get hurt." Katara added.

"You're soft," Azula huffed playfully, poking at her arm.

"Hey, stop that," the blue-eyed girl giggled. "And I'm not that soft, at least not as soft as Sokka."

Azula huffed. "No one is as soft as him. He's such a snitch."

"Anyway," Katara said, and piped up, "how does it feel to remember to bend?"

"There's more to life than bending," Azula shrugged. She was mainly going off what she could. Her memories have not yet returned entirely, but she did see flashes of herself doing stuff with her bending that she didn't even think about doing before.

"Well, you taught me how to become better at bending," Katara rebuked.

"More like, you watch me and copy everything I do," Azula quipped.

"Anything less than perfect is unacceptable."

There it was again. That voice. That sickening voice that plagued her dreams. She came to call him the "golden-eyed monster." There was nothing else to describe him as: he'd stayed secluded, merely watching her the same way a predator eyed its prey, and whispering words that clicked with her brain.

But that conflicted with words that Ms. Kya and Mr. Hakoda told her: 'You can grow through time, Azula. Perfection is all but unachievable. Growth is the most paramount thing in life.'

That clashed with what the golden-eyed monster taught her in her dreams, but every time she repeated the motions and went off their, especially the woman's teachings, her bending was stronger, driven with life and what was better referred to as harmony and peace.

"I told you I wanted to learn," Katara pleaded, giving her sea otter's eyes.

"I hate when you do that," Azula's face softened, golden eyes regarding her. "I'm not excelling at a proficient rate yet."

"Huh?" Katara blinked.

Azula cursed herself. That was another thing. Sometimes, she even had an extraordinary enough vocabulary that it took both children's parents completely by surprise. She didn't even know where it came from. But she used to be a princess, and whatever that meant in the Fire Nation, she was sure it had something to do with her. It did make her wonder what life used to be like back in the Fire Nation.

'If they wanted me back that badly, they would look across the world for me,' she told herself, unsure if she'd wanted to go back even in the first place after all the crimes that the Fire Nation did to everyone and how they'd treated the South Pole.

Azula cleared her throat and corrected herself. "I don't have a firebending teacher."

"Well, but it isn't like I can just ask for a waterbending teacher. If I learn some bending, that's something, right? You can still deliver the same movements with a different form of bending."

Azula rubbed her head, only to come up blank. "Don't have any answer to that one. But I don't think it matters. Maybe." She then decided to brighten her favorite Waterbender's mood with a sly smirk. "But you being a fighter? Come on."

Katara took offense to that before spotting the knowing smile. "I can be a fighter."

"Hmph, maybe better than Sokka, but not better than me," Azula bragged teasingly.

"I won't go home crying as fast as Sokka," the darker girl winked.

"Yeah, maybe not," Azula laughed. "You have tougher skin than your brother. When you learn waterbending, you're going to be even tougher."

"As tough as you," Katara replied in sheer awe.

"Almost, again," Azula smirked tauntingly.

"Alright, kids, time to go home," the voice of Ms. Kya cut through the air.

And they'd recognized that it was the setting sun; the penguins were even wobbling away, leaving only the two girls whose pants had been filled up with snow without them even noticing it until they stood up and trembled ever so slightly, shaking themselves off.

'Woah, time went by fast,' Azula said to herself.

"Oh, but Mom, can we stay here for five more minutes?" Katara begged insistently, giving her puppy-dog eyes toward the older woman.

Kya chuckled. "I'm afraid not, sweetheart. Everyone has to follow the rules, and your father and I said you're to be home by sunset."

"Yeah, Katara, listen to your mother," the former princess joked.

Katara batted the other girl on the left side of the face. "Quiet, you."

"The last one back is a polar bear dog," Azula taunted, ignoring the laughs of Kya as she raced back with Katara, quick on her toes.

While it was a close race, Katara beat Azula by a good two or three seconds.

"I won," Katara grinned.

"I got snow stuck in my foot," Azula snorted, reaching down to her boot and pouring out more snow.

"No excuses..." The other girl's grin didn't drop.

"Yeah, typical younger people," Azula snorted, folding her arms across her chest.

"Older."

"I'm older."

"No you're no-"

Before they could continue to fight, Azula and Katara were interrupted by a sneering group of children.

"Hello, Princess," a voice said snidely, accompanied by the giggling of a vicious type. It was none other than one of the kids Katara warned her about, Yiahak, and her "cool buddies," whose names Azula already forgot. She had a small ponytail and a very, very sharp grin.

"Leave her alone, Yiahak," Katara tried to stand up for her bravely.

She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that the girl didn't like her from day one. She was used to that, but what did she do?

'Ignore them. That's what makes bullies stop.' She'd heard that once from Gran Gran, and so she tried to follow that advice, moving away with Katara into the igloo to wait for Ms. Kya.

"Oh come on, you yellow-eyed monster, you're not leaving without saying goodbye? And I thought we were pals."

'Yellow-eyed monster?' A pang shot through her chest.

The other bullies snickered.

The drumming in Azula's ears grew bigger.

"I feel for you. Tui, I really do."

Azula wrenched her eyes closed and attempted to control the feeling rising within her.

It's got to be hard to accept that Chief Kya and Sir. Hakoda will grow so ashamed of you that she will eventually ship you away."

Katara gasped. Azula felt her blood going cold. Something dark shot through her spine, and she lunged forward, on top of the bully, and began delivering punch after punch onto the surprised bully's chest and face.

"Mom!" She faintly heard from her field of hearing, but that didn't stop her.

The other girls attempted to break it up, but she shot a fire of warning of what would happen if they got too close and continued punching her. The slightly older girl managed to block some of her attacks and eventually mugged her in the chin, knocking her down. Before Azula could recover or the bloodied Yiahak deliver a blow in retaliation, the bully came face-to-face with a leg, knocking her down.

"Chief Kya, this is an outrage!" Yiahak's mother interfered, holding the battered form of the crying girl close to her. "That ashmaker just attacked my daughter!"

"Yeah, she started hurting me for no reason!" Yiahak lied, bloody mucus and tears escaping her bruised eyes.

"That's a lie! She started it!" Katara bounced up.

"Katara, go back inside," Ms. Kya ordered firmly.

"But—"

"Now."

Her friend hesitated but left after looking into the woman's eyes. "Now, Azula, tell me what happened?"

"She started it..." That was all the girl could say.

The dark-blonde woman glared at Katara's mother. "Yiahak would never start a fight! She knows how to behave!"

Ms. Kya's face became stormy. "To my knowledge, your daughter has a repeated history of mistreating children in the village, to my recollection, Mellen. We will discuss this later. Now, we need time to allow cooler heads to prevail."

The other woman wanted to argue, "Fine, but this isn't over."

She took her sobbing and bruised-up daughter and left. Ms. Kya grabbed her and led her, not into the igloo, but away from the village.

"Are you alright?" Ms. Kya finally asked softly.

A tear rolled down her right yellow eye.

The woman tenderly rubbed her face and chest. "It will be okay, Azula."

Azula sniffled, and Ms. Kya ran a hand through her hair. "Yiahak called me a monster because of my..."

"I know, I know," the chief reassured. "Shhh, don't listen to what anyone tells you. You are one of the greatest contributions to this tribe."

"All thanks to you," the little girl sniffled, wrapping her arms around the woman and burying her face against her, letting the tears drop. Once the droplets were gone, she started looking up at her with slowly more intense golden eyes, the tears mostly gone from her own eyes as she pledged. "I will make sure to help you someday."

"Oh, sweetheart, you should never have to worry about that, Azula," the woman responded softly, stroking her face and wiping one last tear from her eyes. "The Fire Nation will likely not invade again, and even so, we have some of the best warriors in the Southern Water Tribe. No one here will ever need what little aid you can offer now. You're safe and sound. So are all of us."

"Are you sure I don't have to ever help you back?" Azula asked.

"Absolutely, my dear. Your good heart, health, and growth are the best repayment you could possibly offer. You have recovered since we found you." Ms. Kya's face became contemplative. "Speaking of which, have you seen any more of your..."

"My old life?" Azula finished and nodded. "I think so."

Ms. Kya nodded.

Azula's face concentrated as she recalled to the best of her ability. "I... sometimes smell a room in flames. I see two golden eyes not unlike myself. And I feel the ground shake as I start feeling angry. I hear... one boy's and two girls' voices when I try to sleep." Her voice shook. "Something is different about the boy. I feel... closer to him."

"Is that all?" the chieftain asked.

"Yes," the girl nodded.

"Well, if you ever do remember everything or wish to tell me more, don't forget that I'm always here."

"I won't," Azula promised.

Chapter Text

Kanna had agreed to watch the children while Hakoda and Kya were away. While she'd tried to be as affectionate as possible with each of them, Azula naturally drew most of her attention. Tui; kids had a thing to melt her heart — even Fire Nation, apparently — but it didn't mean that there had been signs of ongoing and inconsistent anxiety.

She'd reminded herself early that Fire Nation resistance consisted of Firebenders, Waterbenders, and Earthbenders who did speak out following the disappearance of the Air Nomads. That much was true. However, they were either hunted down and dealt with by Fire Lord Sozin and Azulon later down the road, or forced into the point of irrelevancy and having to go into hiding. So what was different about Azula? It was unfair and wrong, but whenever Kanna looked upon the little girl, she couldn't help but see those Firebenders who had taken away her many friends who were Waterbenders decades ago.

Her fellow White Lotus member, Jeong Jeong, was also a member of the Fire Nation, and they had discreet contact since the man had been disillusioned with his training.

You have no idea how dangerous firebending is, woman! Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart. I have grown up in a time where it has already corrupted my father, and most in my family, save for those spared from that wretched malediction. It has converted many of my students, and even me, once upon a time. The entire Southern Water Tribe, and most importantly the girl herself, is blessed with not learning any form of firebending, but repressing what she could do, so we can prevent another great evil on our hands!

It took much control from Kanna not to rip the letter on the spot and toss it into the snow, even as she reread it, wondering if he was serious about what he had written. She instead folded it up again, tucking it into her waistband. She had known the consequences of inhibiting bending. If a bender didn't get attuned to their power or allowed to explore it, eventually, it could drive them insane, unless they were emotionally and spiritually mature enough to control themselves.

And the girl has yet to achieve either of these spiritually and likely wouldn't until long beyond Kanna's time, if she were being frank.

She should have known better than to expect anything else; most of the members haven't properly met for most of the war, especially considering the diverging nations. However, both benders and non-benders within this organization transcended national and political boundaries to pursue and share knowledge. It also didn't help that one so paranoid was the last firebender that she'd at least known of in the South.

"I'm going to get you, Azula!" Her granddaughter laughed, snapping her out of her thoughts as she tossed a snowball in Azula's direction and pinned her to the ground.

Both girls started laughing—well, until a "snowman" emerged and grabbed both in their arms.

"Azula! It's alive!" Katara exclaimed, squirming desperately.

"Calm down, idiot, it's your brother!" Azula pushed the "snowman's" head off, revealing the diminutive form of the grinning Sokka.

"Ugh, Sokka!" Katara gasped.

The boy laughed. "I so got you!"

Their innocence was nothing short of refreshing on other levels.

"Kanna," an elder woman approached from behind her. Zika had been friends with Kanna from before all of their waterbenders were abducted. Together, they had watched as the last of their friends were dragged away. They'd believed in the stories of the Avatar, though Zika's faith that there was even one left had badly decreased, and so had Kanna's, to be frank. "I'm surprised you've agreed letting them play together."

"I cannot go against the word of the Chief and First Gentleman within our Southern Water Tribe," Kanna responded, her own voice betraying how doubtful she was in her son and daughter-in-law's judgment.

"Yeah, of course," Zika said bitingly, "except being born a Firebender, no less to the Royal Family. I have nothing but respect for Chief Kya. She had big shoes to fill from what Chief Mernik and First Wife Solih had left behind. But this is something I cannot agree with."

"There was a time when all four nations lived in peace," Kanna retorted, seeing the gist of what her friend was getting at.

"Yeah, before those Fire Nation people were conscripted into the army that later became full of warmongers, and the Royals transformed into an era of violence and chaos," Zika responded harshly.

"Not all," Kanna pointed out.

"Most."

"What do you believe we should have done?" Kanna asked.

"It is dangerous harboring her here," Zika replied. "We don't have any connections that link directly to the Fire Nation, but it doesn't take context clues to know that they would not give up until they discover her location, and that could bring the heat of them down upon all of us."

Kanna said nothing to that, but Zika turned and stared off in the girl's direction. She'd followed her gaze with a frown.

"That is not a mere girl, Kanna. I admit my heart breaks at the thought of killing a child, but Katara and Sokka are valued much more vulnerably in the Southern Water Tribe. They represent the future of us." The words were harsh, yet Kanna couldn't say she dissented. While she did form a soft spot for Azula, there was still a shadow of distrust. "None of the Royal Family protested at the start of the war!"

"Azula shouldn't be faulted for the crimes of her nation, Zika," Kanna replied, resigned. Of that, she'd agreed with Kya and Hakoda. "I understand your caution, but Azula could walk down a different path."

Yes, perhaps young Azula could be the makings of a new era for firebenders, but even with a more positive upbringing without the indoctrination that the Fire Nation put their students through, it didn't mean that Azula's growth as a person would be impeccable.

That was Sozin's descendant.

Evil may yet rest in Azula's heart, an evil that she would have to confront one day. That was what put fear in Kanna's heart. How could that evil turn that innocent, optimistic, and intelligent child into a bloodthirsty, heartless, and strategic monster?

Her grandchild was a waterbender, and the Fire Nation wouldn't ever accept the knowledge that she was the last one in the Southern Water Tribe.

"If it was a grown Firebender, I do wonder if the same mercy would have been extended upon them," Zika sniped, hand shooting up to her gray lock of hair. "All of them now are evil."

"Azula does have evil in her heart, much like Sozin did, but..." Kanna retorted slowly, and her eyes widened when she saw that the children were no longer where they had been just minutes ago.

She'd looked around, slightly frantically.

"Gra... Gran..." There, lo and behold, was Azula, pain in her eyes. They clogged up with tears, and she ran away to the igloo.

"That was mean, Grandma, Elder Zika," Sokka said at once. "Azula is always nice. She might be a jerk sometimes, but she's not evil."

"Yeah!" For a rare moment in Kanna's experience, Katara agreed with her older brother. "Azula isn't evil at all!"

"You will understand one day, children," Zika retorted.

"Zika, I think it's best we don't speak about this further," Kanna responded strictly. "This conversation is over."

The other woman seemed caught off guard, but offered a curt nod. "Very well. Goodnight, Kanna." And she was gone.

"Grandma," Katara glared in the walking off Zika's direction before turning her pointed stare to Kanna, "you once told us never to judge a book by its cover."

Kanna felt shame colliding into her heart. Her grandchildren were right. Azula, at the end of the day, was still a child, and it wasn't right to treat her like that because they didn't know how she would turn out

She'd known one thing for sure.

She owed Azula an apology.

Azula jumped on the bed and cried. She'd missed Ms. Kya and Mr. Hakoda. They were, at least, nice. She'd thought that Gran Gran was, too. She sometimes did help Ms. Kya with her when it came to sorting out her "memory blocker," but now Azula had doubts that the woman even liked her.

'Gran Gran thinks I'm evil,' Azula thought, burying her head against the pillow, even as the flap to the igloo was opened behind her.

"Azula..." Gran Gran's voice was softer than usual.

"What do you want?!" Azula growled, not caring about the tone of her voice.

Gran Gran sighed sadly, "Azula, I'm sorry."

"No, let's not play around it! You think I'm a monster! Don't you?!" Azula glared with bloodshot eyes. "You and that... that mean old lady compared me to Sozin!"

Gran Gran sighed as she moved over to the bed and laid a hand down on the girl's back. "Azula, I don't think you're as evil because Sozin is."

"Liar," Azula sniffled. "Sozin killed hundreds of people and probably had something to do with why all the Air Nomads disappear. And you... you guys think..."

"Azula," Gran Gran did something surprising that Azula had only seen her do with her granddaughter: she engulfed her in a hug and brought her in. "While truthfully, I do have my reservations about you, I should have spoke up instead of making it sound like I had preconceived notions that you're evil just because of an actions of an ancestor and others."

"Then why do you and..." Azula started, hating how sincere the old woman's eyes looked.

"Evil does rest in your heart, child," Gran Gran interrupted bluntly but not unsympathetically, "but not one person doesn't have an inkling of evil in his or her heart."

Azula was not pleased with the explanation. "Hmph—"

"Follow me," Gran Gran responded softly. "I haven't had a chance to show you this before."

Azula wiped a tear from her eye, stood up, grabbed her coat, and followed behind Gran Gran through the snow. She'd spotted the forms of Katara and Sokka bouncing up to her.

"Katara, Sokka, this time is for me and Azula. Please head inside." Gran Gran ordered.

Sokka obeyed. "Yes, Grandma." He looked at Azula with pity in his eyes and mouthed, "Call if you need something", before he left.

"But—" Katara put up a bit of an argument.

"It'll be fine," Gran Gran guaranteed. "Me and her just need to take a walk."

"Okay, Grandma," the dark-skinned girl accepted, rubbing the back of her head and holding eye contact with Azula as they walked away until Katara became a tiny dot in the distance.

They walked through the snow. While Azula had to grow used to the snow in her time being here, especially with the constant games that Sokka and Katara came up with, she still found the South Pole to be incredibly beautiful.

Azula had never seen Gran Gran walk this far. But it was obvious that they were going somewhere. While she'd wanted to ask where, Azula had decided to keep her mouth shut and waited, knowing that it took much for the old lady.

Finally, they'd made it: to a boat, frozen on ice shards. Azula stopped and realized that she'd wanted to come here before, but Mr. Hakoda and Ms. Kya both forbade it.

"Woah, what is that?" Azula inquired, completely enthralled with this unexplored. She'd felt a chill shoot down her thigh.

Gran Gran let out a slight, agonized noise. "A Fire Navy ship, and a very bad memory for my people."

"What happened?" Azula inquired, coming closer on instinct toward it, until Gran Gran pulled her back firmly.

"Do you not recall what Mr. Maluyu educated you?" Gran Gran questioned rhetorically. Azula was still confused. "About the raids that involved our Waterbenders?"

And it was with clarity that Azula painfully recognized what this was a wreckage of: "When the Southern Raiders kept attacking and took all of the Waterbenders."

"Yes," Gran Gran related painfully, clamping her eyes shut. "I lost many good friends of mine that day. What the Raiders have done is not to be blamed on you, but it is still going to loom over you through your time here by many, who doesn't see much of a difference."

"But I swore myself in your ways," Azula objected, painfully numbed with tears again flowing out of her eyes, but not for herself. Those poor souls. "I... I made the sacred vow."

"I know, and any hostility is undeserved," Gran Gran said softly, patting her shoulder. "But many of those Waterbenders had family. The woman you saw me talking to, Zika, lost her sister and father in two different attacks. She was not the only one. For many here, a Firebender, especially that of the former royal family, being here is unacceptable. It is walking all over those who sacrificed themselves."

Azula grimaced, knowing that to be the case, but it hurt more that her people were involved with it. Azula couldn't help but ball her fists up in anger; a bit of smoke of fire reverberated from her mouth. She wasn't mad that some of them couldn't accept her. Okay, she was. Because Azula had helped with the chores and was utterly fascinated by everyone here, and it hurts so bad...

But she was even angrier that so many Waterbenders were hurt by the Fire Nation. She knew she shouldn't. It was in the past, and history could not be rewritten. But she'd wanted to hurt everyone in the Fire Nation that dared to hurt her friends' tribe. The Southerners were kind people overall. They might not trust Azula. They probably never would.

But Azula knew that they didn't deserve to be hurt. But maybe...

"Should I just leave then?" Azula asked, looking down at the snowy ground and kicking her legs out, sending some of the snow at her feet away. "If all I'm going to be is..."

"Goodness, no, child," Gran Gran denied in a crisp tone that silenced her. "You are one of us, and in time, most can grow to see that."

Azula was still unconvinced, shameful as it was.

"Child, I love my granddaughter but her interests doesn't align with much outside of the past Avatars. You, on the other hand, have gone through a great effort to absorb into not only the Southern Water Tribe but the North as much as you can, which is nothing short of admirable. So tell me," Gran Gran ticked her index finger through Azula's hair, "how did the two tribes separate?"

Blinking, unsure how the conversation turned into a history lesson, Azula recited what she'd learned. "Well, during Avatar Rayih's time, the Water Tribe all lived in the North. The South wasn't created until later, after a massive feud that broke out due to Chief Natane's disastrous failure in reining in the massive population of men and causing the already objectified North to become even more disillusioned with women's leadership, and it escalated to the point where Chief Derlu reduced the women's positions from warriors to nothing more than healers, and they no longer were allowed to have any political power. His cousin, the first Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, Poko, disagreed with that and gathered men and women who believed likewise and established here in the South."

Gran Gran nodded, showing that she was listening. "They'd separated instantly, had they not? The North refused to aid the South?"

"Trick questions," Azula caught on instantly, noting a rare smile crossing the woman's lips. "Poko wanted to establish equal footing with the North. Derlu agreed, and for years following, they have found equal footing. But both tribes isolated from one another when Derlu's great-grandson, Derlu the Fourth, believed that allocating to the South was wasting resources."

"But the North and South both agreed on one thing: never conglomerate," Gran Gran continued.

"Another trick question," Azula nearly smiled victoriously, this time. "The North believes firmly in betrothal. The South never have. As a result of this, there have been many half-breeds at one point in time. Avatar Zelos was a half-breed and one of the first Avatars born from within the Southern Water Tribe, despite having an Earth Kingdom ancestry because of his mother."

Gran Gran hummed.

"But Gran Gran, what does this have to do with-?" Azula started to question her.

"Now do you see?" Gran Gran returned. "You know of our customs, of our sacred history. You eat our food, survive the same way we do, and you do your share, no less or more. It isn't a easy life but you continue to do what you can to survive and lend a helping hand. No matter what anyone says, you're no less Southern Water Tribe than anyone here. Just because you're born Fire Nation doesn't mean that you are like those who came and stripped us down until there were no Waterbenders left for a long time."

Azula nodded now, understanding. "I guess that makes sense. But can the Fire Nation ever be stopped? I don't want anyone to take Katara away from here."

"They won't," Gran Gran said. "As of now, you won't have to worry about that. We're trying to search for her to have a waterbending teacher so she could learn to defend herself, but as you can imagine, this is failing."

It was very inconvenient that the last Waterbender in the Lotus died five years before Katara was born.

"That doesn't mean there are other ways you can't help Katara."

"I will!" Azula jumped up. "No one will ever hurt Katara! Never! They would have to get by me!"

Gran Gran let out a rare chuckle. "I'm sure that they will be helpless." She rubbed her dark brown locks. "You have taught me something today as well, Azula. Again, I am sorry for not speaking up in your defense and shall do so in the future."

Azula's misty eyes swamped, and she buried her head against the older woman's side. "It's no big deal, Gran Gran."

The older woman nodded with that wide smile.

"I don't know what Sokka is talking about. You're not that mean looki... Oops." She moved to cover her mouth, realizing that words had escaped from her before she'd known it. She wasn't supposed to let that part slip out.

Gran Gran pulled back and stared down at her, an unamused eyebrow raised. "What does Sokka say about me?"

"Well..." Azula looked off innocently.

"Child," Gran Gran snapped in a warning voice. "If you do not tell me what Sokka says about me this instant, you're getting cleaning duties for a month."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Azula shrugged and began to talk.

Hey, he couldn't be too mad. It was only payback for the snowman's thing. And he didn't swear her to secrecy.

Sokka disagreed when he'd glared at her for four weeks while being assigned the most laborious chores.

Chapter Text

Azula bashed her club against the top of Sokka's.

Sokka clutched his club, straining against Azula's. "You aren't going to win this one."

"Oh, Sokka," Katara quipped, "you always say that, but she always wins."

As if she'd jinxed it, Azula darted around the taller boy, disorienting him temporarily and closing in with a gentle stab from the opposite side, knocking him down onto the ground.

"Haha," Azula laughed, clutching Katara's right shoulder. "Name something I haven't won against him in."

Sokka charged up and advanced on the seemingly unprepared Azula.

"Azula, watch out!"

She turned around and kicked him right in the stomach, knocking him back on the bed. Or at least, she'd tried to do that much. True, he'd landed on the bed, but his head bumped against the snowy homestead's wall. Oops, hopefully, she didn't accidentally knock his remaining intelligence out of him.

"Hey, kids," Mr. Hakoda walked in, accompanied by Mr. Bato, "would you like to go fishing with me and Uncle Bato?"

"Yeah, yeah, Mom," Sokka groaned, eyes seeing stars. "I would love to jump in a war full of seaweeds." He groaned some more and fell back.

Mr. Hakoda raised a right eyebrow at his son.

"I don't think you should even ask; if he's anything like you, my friend," Mr. Bato chuckled.

Solka shook his head and looked dumbfounded. "Oh, Dad, Uncle Bato! When did you get here?!" He grabbed his head. "And oof, I tripped and fell."

"Azula knocked you against your bed, you mean," Katara corrected. "I don't know why you keep fighting her. She's clearly the better fighter."

"No way! I'm the best fighter of the Southern Water Tribe!" Sokka jumped up and got close to his sister. "Well, except dad and Uncle Bato."

"Looks like I just stole your crown, your Majesty," Azula snarked.

"You got lucky that time!" Sokka shouted. "It won't happen again."

"You said that last time," both girls chorused in a sing-song voice.

Sokka shouted and grabbed both sides of his face. "Dad, make them stop. Now, Azula's making Katara be all mean."

"How?" Katara arched a playful eyebrow. "Because she's the only one who puts you in your place when you act like a jerk?"

"Language," their father scolded, but his lips were tugging between a small smile and trying to enforce the rules. "Anyhow, my offer for hiking still stands."

"Well, I—" Azula began, ready to walk away as she'd felt like this wasn't her trip to be on.

Mr. Bato grabbed her shoulder. "Young lady, you know you can join us, of course."

"Sure," Azula responded, looking rather sheepish. "It's better than listening to Sokka's incessant whining."

"I do not whine!" Sokka blushed in fury as Azula gripped her coat on the rack and moved over to join them, both Katara and Sokka putting on their boots and following them.

And they were off.

"Kya, we're leaving the village for a while!" Mr. Hakoda called out with a soft smile.

Ms. Kya nodded.

"Don't worry, Kya," Mr. Bato offered with a wink, "if we get into trouble, I'll get us out of it."

"Some things never change, now do they?" The other man asked dryly, shooting his friend a look that bordered on playfulness and irritation.

"You miss being a kid as much as I do, Hakoda. Only takes a wise man to admit it." Mr. Bato countered with a smirk.

"Like any of you know about wisdom," Ms. Kya grumbled with an exasperated smile. "Sometimes, it feels like me and Kanna is taking care of two overgrown children."

"Ouch," Mr. Bato gripped his chest as if offended. "Hakoda, your wife is fearless. Will that ever change?"

"I try," Mr. Hakoda shrugged. "And I'll keep trying. Believe it. Unfortunately, my best efforts are for nothing."

Ms. Kya smirked, 'You know you love it."

They trekked up the mountain and stared ahead at the wide water that Azula had grown used to in the past year.

"It's still so beautiful," Azula commented to herself out loud.

"Yeah, that's the South Pole for you," Katara agreed with her best friend.

"It's just water," Sokka scoffed, as always, ruining the moment.

"Thanks, penguin brain; none of us noticed," Azula snapped in his direction with a roll of the eyes.

Sokka stared up at her pointedly. "I'm not a penguin brain!"

"You sure act like it," Katara commented.

"No, wait, Katara, a penguin is smarter than Sokka." The harsh words from Azula earned a laugh from Katara and a cry of "Dad, make them stop!" from the boy.

"These children have been spending way too much time around their father..." Mr. Bato quipped.

Mr. Hakoda sighed. He hid his face with his sleeve, held his twitching lips, and regarded them. "Children," he said as sternly as possible, regarding each of them. "If you all don't knock it off, I will turn around and take you back to the village. And trust me, I'll tell Kya. Do any of you want that?"

No. While Mr. Hakoda was scarier up close, physically speaking, nothing compared to Ms. Kya when "Chief Kya" came out. It wasn't just Katara and Sokka that Kya disciplined, but also the other children, most of whom were without parents that have been claimed by Tui. A few months ago, Azula had accidentally smashed one of the sleds because she wasn't allowed to play with it. Suffice to say, Kya wasn't amused and had her do punishments by ripping off dry snow and cleaning up whatever messes were made for a week. Not something Azula wished to do again.

"Pulling out the 'mom card', Hakoda? How desperate must you be?" Mr. Bato tried to add humor to the situation, although he'd obviously agreed with the method of reprimand.

They continued following, no more arguing.

"Alright, this is a good place to start fishing," Mr. Bato told them.

With that, they started setting up their fishing gear. All three of them did their share in helping him speed up, and before they knew it, they had spears that were their size.

"This is nice," Katara spoke up, standing patiently.

Before long, Azula started feeling herself getting a little bored. Somehow, both Sokka and Katara had smiles across their faces, earning a slight scoff from Azula.

'Tui, how do they find anything fun about this?' Azula asked herself. 'Eh, whatever floats their boat.'

"Just a bit more," Sokka recounted to himself, noticing that an unknown number of fish were swimming around in the water.

Eventually, one must have nudged against the spear.

Sokka recoiled, stabbing his spear into the water, hooking successfully onto the fish, which startled him. As the fish began to squirm left and right, attempting to undo his efforts of stabbing the creature, Sokka pulled the spear closer and dropped it into the snow.

"Dad, look!" Sokka called out to his father.

Mr. Hakoda was banging his boomerang through frozen fish's icy holes that he had already caught, ready to feed them to polar dogs, while Mr. Bato was loading up icy logs and their other equipment.

He stared up briefly and nodded with a proud smile, abandoning his current task to grab the limping fish. "Excellent picking," he clapped the right side of his son's shoulder. "Good work, son."

The older man moved away.

Inspired by her bigger brother, Katara stabbed her spear in, catching a small fish and forcibly bringing it up as well.

"Challenge?" Katara asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively at both Sokka and Azula.

Sokka smirked. "Oh, you are on!"

"Come on, Azula, let's-" Katara pointed at her brother.

"Nah, I'm sitting this one out," Azula refused.

"Aww, why?!" Both chorused.

"This is b. o. r. i. n. gggggggg." Azula spelled out, placing both hands on her cheeks.

"You're boring!" Sokka shot back. "Fine, whatever, we all know you will lose."

Both Sokka and Katara stabbed their spears again and again. Azula sighed and rolled her eyes, putting her spear down.

All good things must come to an end, though.

"Woah!" Unfortunately for the boy, he'd bitten off more than she could chew. The fish that he'd managed to get squirmed rebelliously. Even for Sokka's slightly taller and physically muscular figure, he had a big one. "Woah! I think it's a really big one!" The edge of his spear had stabbed the fish, but it wasn't good enough. "A little too big! Dad—!"

And before Azula knew it, her friend was taken from the surface and into the arctic water.

"Sokka!" Katara and Azula cried out at the edge of the ledge, gaining the attention of the older men, who started to rush over.

But before Mr. Hakoda or Bato reached them, something shot through Azula. She jumped into the water and followed the squirming form of her friend. Thankfully, Sokka managed to stay afloat, but only just barely, struggling to keep his head above the water.

With that sheer energy and nothing else, Azula reached the boy, grabbing him.

"Azula! I think something is stuck to my pants!" Sokka yelped. Azula quickly dove under the water, holding her breath, thankful that Mr. Hakoda had taught her how to swim and what to do underwater in arctic lakes, to find that Sokka was right. She tried to undo it, but in the process, Sokka started descending, waddling his hands, his head bobbing as he attempted desperately to keep his head above or breathe.

Realizing that there was nothing to be done from this angle quickly, Azula came back up, grabbed him by the shoulders, and trudged her way through the water.

'Why do boys have to eat so much?!' Azula began to pull back to a nearby ledge, with the helpless boy doing little more than waddling.

"Come on, Sokka! Almost there!" Azula reassured, grabbing at whatever she could, feeling her hands slipping and damp as well.

Finally, the Firebender's hands found something other than water, and she pulled Sokka with everything that she had and finally successfully freed both of them from the watery abyss that would have been the end of the boy.

"You saved me," Sokka spat out the water, breathing heavily.

Azula only responded with a nod, already quick on his leg as she unwrapped the things that tied him up underneath the water: a few logs and sticks, with seaweed.

"Where's Dad and Katara?" Sokka asked, looking around for his father and sister with weary blue eyes.

Azula looked up and saw that they were nowhere to be seen. Seeing that there was no way they would have left, especially with how protective Mr. Hakoda was of all of them, it meant that they weren't...

"I dunno," the girl nervously confessed. "What's wrong?"

"It's cold. And I'm wet..." Sokka admitted, shivering, his clothes completely drenched, along with his hair, falling at his side, disentangled.

Azula frowned. She had wanted to mock him for saving his sorry butt, but felt bad for the thought in the first place when she'd remembered how scared he was, so she'd made a note in her mind to never bring it up if they got out of this.

"I can't start a fire. There's no wood, logs, or anything else around that can control or keep that fire going," Azula responded, unsure if firebenders could start a fire and keep it going for long, more importantly, without burning everything in sight.

"Isn't there a different way to start a fire?" Sokka pointed out, rubbing his hands against his shoulders as he continued to tremble.

Azula felt helpless, watching him like that. She delved into her mind, trying to think of what she could do to help Sokka in this situation. They have never been like this before. It was always the adults thinking and the children just having fun, even though she'd learned in her classes. But eventually, her mind prickled, and a familiar sensation followed suit...

"Azula, if you are ever to come to freezing habitats," the man in the shadows started, "what are you to do?"

Azula had been no stranger to such lessons. Wind traveled around them. Out there, in the dangerous world, there was no mercy. He had told her that plenty of times. No coats. No proper clothing. Not for weapons.

Azula responded, "Focus on your breathing like this." She inhaled and, after a pause, exhaled, and fire came from her nose, near the skin, warming up her entire body.

"Excellent," he praised.

The world spun back to her in the present, and she looked to see Sokka still trembling.

She didn't know that Firebenders could do that until now. Any fire that they could have was perfectly healthy and natural, but it could also escalate out of control if they weren't put out by either themselves or others.

That raised the question of whether it would work if she'd tried to use it on someone else. But Sokka was going to have a serious cold or worse if something didn't change soon.

"Sokka, give me both of your arms." Azula decided to take the risk.

The boy shuddered and asked. "W-w-w-wh-why?"

"Because I know what to do," Azula responded.

He looked at her.

Azula sighed. "Fine. Don't act like a crybaby if you get sick."

After five seconds, he held both of her arms out. Azula set herself at a certain angle, breathed out, and opened her mouth slightly, exhaling slowly, and a small patch of fire erupted from her mouth. Somehow, she'd known that she would have to be very careful, or she could burn Sokka. Thankfully, like with the dream, the fire didn't make direct contact with the boy's skin, save for only a bit of fire that made him grimace away, but wouldn't leave markings of any sort.

"Woah..." Sokka awed uncharacteristically. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I didn't either." That would have been really useful to know sooner.

Well, okay, maybe not.

"You're warm... already," Sokka's blue eyes looked at her hands still grabbing his arm. "Wait, daddy said Firebenders warm up faster!" A candle went off in his head. "I have an idea. Why do you hold me close to you so..."

Azula blinked, wondering who this was and what had happened to the boy who would have never made a request.

Sokka imprudently stared away, "So I don't freeze!"

Azula actually didn't think about that. But as much as it disdained her for the sole reason of dampness, Sokka was one of the few people that she'd cared about more than anyone in the village, along with Katara and their parents and grandmother. And they were one in the same community. She nodded and engulfed him, pulling him in.

"Don't get used to this," Azula told him dryly.

Sokka stayed shivering, lips trembling for a few moments, before a sigh of relief spilled from his lips as he nestled under Azula's neck.

"I'm warming up. Looks like I was right..." Sokka said, voice trembling as he started to snore lightly.

"First time for everything," Azula responded.

The boy was the first one who started to start dozing off. Seeing that no one was coming, Azula didn't blame him and eventually did much the same, keeping him close against her as she caressed his back like what Ms. Kya, Gran Gran, and Mr. Hakoda did with them multiple times.

"Sokka! Azula!" A voice called out, reverberating from over a patch of snow.

"Sokka," Azula hissed. "I think they're—"

"Kids!" A different voice called out in a panicked voice.

Sokka stirred.

"If you're here, please say something!"

"We're here!" Azula called out.

"Dad, Uncle Bato, down here!" Sokka joined in.

"Hang on, you two! We're coming!" The voice promised, footsteps coming closer and closer until a white light erupted from one of the holes in the ice that weren't there before, and the sound of grunting made itself known, falling across Azula's eyes and causing her to stare away.

With the sun, the form of Mr. Hakoda emerged with the frightened Katara in frank and Mr. Bato, who was clutching his club. "Oh, you two are alright!" He ran up and wrapped his arms around the two, checking both of them over. "You're both safe!"

Sokka embraced them all, forgetting himself for just this moment.

"I... It's thanks to Azula, Dad," Sokka said, embarrassed.

"Yes, I know. We saw her jump into the water." Mr. Hakoda nodded, patting both children on the shoulder. "It is about the only thing I'm looking forward to explaining to your mother when she asks what happened."

"She will be a brave warrior some day," Mr. Bato complimented. "Can't wait to see it."

"Thanks, Mr. Bato." Azula's cheeks turned red. She'd wanted to be a warrior so, so badly. Hopefully, one of these two men would teach her, if not Ms. Kya, since she was kind of a warrior.

Well, kind of not.

It was hard to get into.

"No, I mean... she warmed me up... with fire," Sokka revealed, tossing a glance to Azula and receiving a nod.

"Oh, where is the fire?" Mr. Hakoda asked, looking around curiously.

"Well, I didn't know I could do this," Azula explained timidly, folding her hands behind her back as she looked nervous, "but apparently, I could shoot small fire out of my mouth and keep myself or others warm."

"I see," the man nodded, seeming shocked but happy as well. "It doesn't matter how it's done, Azula. You're both safe and alright."

"Daddy, I'm still tired," Sokka said, engulfing his leg. "Can I—" Before the boy could finish his request, he was out again.

The older man grabbed him with a smile.

"Like his father, indeed. Always getting into trouble and falling asleep after that!" Mr. Bato commented, standing in front of them with a club.

"Bato, do everyone a favor and shut up," Mr. Hakoda chided.

"You know, you'd seemed a bit scared." Azula stood up, taunting the other girl as she came up to her side, following the older men out.

"Hmph, wasn't scared. Just... you beat me into the water. I would have done the same." Katara said dismissively.

"Ha," Azula cackled. "Sure, you would. Still don't know how to swim?"

"I do know how to swim!" Katara shouted. "You just beat me to it."

"Sure. Whatever you say." Azula sighed.

Mr. Hakoda didn't scold them, but sighed, shaking his head from behind them. Mr. Bato led them back to their location and finally set his son down on a safe pavement, gathering together the logs that he had been gathering before Sokka fell in the water.

"Do any of you want to head back after...?" Mr. Bato pondered.

A flick of flame darted over to the nearby icy logs because of Azula.

"I guess that answers that question." Mr. Hakoda sounded amused as always, placing his son down on a blanket that had been laid out.

Mr. Bato smiled. "Thanks, Azula; it makes the job of starting a fire much easier."

"What would we do without bending?!" Katara opined.

"Bending is but an aspect of power," Mr. Hakoda intoned. "What binds a community together is not what powers or strengths they have, but the ability to work as one. Love is stronger than hate. Some of the greatest people alive had power, yet didn't know when to control it. Take heart, children. There are people around you that will need your aid, and you will need theirs. Never consider that a bad thing."