"Don't you know that danger is my friend."

Azula doing silly things is pretty underrated lol.

"Zuko, you're going about this all wrong. Stop trying to be better than her at her thing. Do you see me trying to be a better waterbender than Katara? Exactly. You need to find your own thing and be awesome at that. Like me. I'm the meat, plans, and sarcasm guy."

"Zuko, Zuko, Zuko. You can't get bent outta shape every time she insults you. That's just what little sisters do. You can always get her back later."

in “the beach” azula notices zuko’s not doing ok and tries to make him feel better by making him join the others

in “the headband” azula finds out zuko is visiting iroh and does NOTHING about it. she just tells him to be careful.

She's literally in her single digits yet held responsible for maintaining healthy relationships with adults.

Note how he looks once she's defeated, chained up, wailing, and thrashing around. There's no victory in his posture or expression. He doesn't say any one-liners that show how he finally conquered the most enduring obstacle to his destiny. Just somber exhaustion.

It's as if Zuko has a silent epiphany that Azula is not some demon spawn who lives to get in the way of his destiny and make him miserable, but a lonely, misguided kid bending over backwards to live up to Ozai's expectations and example for a sliver of his approval - just like Zuko himself was at the start of the show.

I've said this before, but I think fandom - and I'm deliberately ignoring any media or commentary outside the show itself because the show stands on its own - often sells Zuko and Azula short in their potential for genuine reconciliation, especially once Ozai is out of the picture.

We see how in sync and unstoppable they are when working together, as they demonstrate in the Crystal Catacombs in "The Crossroads of Destiny" and in the kuai ball game in "The Beach." Throughout Book 3, we see that they get along fine, despite the usual sibling annoyances, when they aren't actively pitted against each other.

"I don't care what everyone else says. You're pretty smart." –Aang

Zuko is hard-headed, self-absorbed, and impulsive, but not stupid. He figured out on his own that chasing after Ozai's approval was pointless. He figured out on his own that what he was taught about the greatness of the Fire Nation wasn't true.

Sokka and Katara are not perfectly behaved little snow angels. They bicker, tease, and mess with each other all the time. But they also help, comfort, encourage, and stand up for each other. There's no doubt that they love each other deeply and fiercely.

It inclines me to wonder if Zuko is becoming aware that this is the same bond he could have had with Azula if not for the war and their father.

"Good. That place was a nightmare and probably just made her problems worse."

"But... it's Azula!"

"So?"

"She's dangerous! And... mean! And... really mean! You need to capture her and take away her bending!"

It’s very subtle, but I think there’s something there. It shows up in:

the ways she tries to get Zuko to spend time with her

that smile when Zuko fights on her side in the Crystal Catacombs

how she looks out for Zuko after bringing him home

freely offering information and advice despite how annoyed she can get with him

cutting Zuko off during the war meeting before he blunders and gets burned and banished again

And here’s the biggest one: the closest Azula comes to defying Ozai directly involves Zuko. Her orders were to bring Zuko back dead or in chains. She brought him back a war hero, thus restoring his status as Crown Prince. Furthermore, she lied to Ozai’s face so that Zuko can share in the glory of taking down the Avatar. She puts her reputation on the line to give Zuko everything she thinks he wants. That’s…that’s a lot.

The thing is, here? There’s one person in the world who might have had a chance of overtaking Ozai is Zuko. Azula would deny it until she’s blue in the face, but her actions scream it. They’re probably the only way she knows how to show him that she has his back, that for all that they lash out at each other, when the chips are down, she’ll be on his side.

How close was Zuko to claiming that loyalty?

When they meyowl pathetically for more food, it's not because they're trying to "trick" you into feeding them again. They just want to be fed, and they're smart enough to notice the correlation between certain sounds they make and the responses they get from you.

They've figured out that if they want to communicate to you that they want more food, if they make those pathetic sounds, you're more likely to behave as if you've understood what they're trying to communicate.

When your cat waits for you to look away then yoinks food off of your plate, it's not because they love crime. It's because they're social colony creatures who instinctively share food with each other and they don't understand why you're not sharing the best foods with them.

Your cats are very intelligent, social creatures who see you as their Very Strange sibling.

They've learned how to make intricate sounds just to communicate with their humans. When the sounds they make elicit the responses they want, they learn that those sounds are the most effective way to communicate their desires.