Princess Azula

“Yep some fresh fish.” He smiles, sitting down on the new finished shelter and working on descaling and gutting the caught fish

“I think you would know the answer to that question better than I would.  I didn’t know you back then after all,” he pointed out and thought for a moment.  “We might be able to come up with a better disguise than a cloak however.  An old friend of mine, or well, more like an old enemy was quite good at disguising himself and making himself look like an entirely different person.  There was a machine he used for it and I think I still have that very machine in the TARDIS somewhere.  It would be temporary with a time limit however.”

Azula smirked a little. She was always proud of her intellect, and hearing  someone she figured must have been very intelligent tell her she’d know the answer to something better than he did, it made her feel good about herself. Maybe a bit too good, but she wouldn’t admit to that.

The smirk fell the moment he said he had a better idea than her cloak plan. But, she was always one to hear other options presented to her, and agree to the best plan of them. So, hearing the options the Doctor was now giving, using this machine of his- or of his friend’s, rather- she couldn’t deny that it sounded better than a cloak.

“I’m glad,” he smiled as he began to try all of it himself.  “It’s all pretty delicious,” he assured her.  He could tell she was a bit unsure and couldn’t completely blame her.  The food was most likely all relatively foreign to her, but he was still certain she’d enjoy it.

Oliver continued to work on getting a shelter made, even managing to pull up a few large fish while Azula was out.

“Yes my Empress,” James bowed slowly, hoping the information he had shared would secure his place within the castle. He was tired and mentally strained. All he wanted was some sort of safety and security even if it was at Azula’s side. “I do hope you are pleased with what I have shared, may I offer any other services for you?”

Oliver soon had the structure of the shelter set up. Then set up a fishing line and smiled at Azula, handing her their water skins.  “Lady Azula would you please head into the trees and try to find drinkable water for us? I’m going to stay here and check on our fishing line and work on the shelter. If you look out that way…” He points out towards the west “Another storm is about to blow in. Fortunately if we can’t find drinkable water, I happen to know some tricks. I once lived with some outcast water benders who taught me a few things while I recovered from an injury.” 

Azula took a look at the water skin and frowned when she saw it was empty, before registering what it was he was asking for.

“Since you asked so nicely, I suppose I will,” she said dryly. “Get ready to weather out the storm here. We don’t need to take another hit like we already have.”

“Oh of course Azula.” He gives a smiles, getting to work on building a shelter and hanging their clothes to dry. Through his work Oliver remained shirtless the whole time.

Azula gave a small roll of her eyes at how pliant and quick to follow her orders he was. Granted, she’d normally love that sort of thing, but now it reminded her of Ty Lee, who was rotting away in the Boiling Rock still, she figured.

Tobi wouldn’t look up from his nails.  He wanted to know what was happening upstairs. He didn’t need to stay down here.  He wanted to do something for Aksel. Something he knew he would like. He lowered his hands down slightly, and turned his head to look at one of Aksel’s cameras. His tail twitched. His nose wrinkled. His ears folded back, then snapped forward again.  He looked at Zuko.

Zuko lifted a brow as he watched him. This was getting very concerning. Azula, where are you? he found himself asking silently, aware entirely that she wouldn’t hear him. No one would. And here he was, banking on his cruel little sister to save him and herself. He trusted she’d survive, but himself? Would she save him? He couldn’t begin to guess.

Oliver shook his head again. “Not with the way you were reacting when I came to. This goes beyond any use I may have and wanting to not be alone.” He says, pulling himself into a sitting position and wincing slightly. He was an average fighter when it came to his bending, but he was quite good at reading people, and right now despite her denial Azula was an open book.

For a moment, Sokka was quiet, slightly stunned at the small, personal deluge of Azula’s thoughts. 

“Well,” He finally spoke after a few minutes. “What worked for me was making an ass of myself, and/or getting said ass kicked. “ A grin tugged at the corner of his lips, his tone light and overly jovial in an attempt to cheer her up.

A lot of time had passed their last interaction during the War; enough time clearly, that had gotten Azula to thinking. Sokka had no doubt that had he found her immediately after her escape, things would have ended up ugly; maybe he would have lightning in his chest, maybe she would have been dragged away again, wailing. 

But something had changed in her since being on the run, noticeable enough that even when his guard was high and his dislike of her higher, he felt compelled to act on it. Noticeable enough that he, in her words, tolerated her; that he, in his own exasperated words, liked her. 

“Okay, maybe no dates for a while,"  He patted her shoulder again before crouching slightly in front of her so they were eye to eye, a small smile on his face. “But hey, at least you’re not..Well, you’re a lot different now. Less uh. Shocky.” He furrowed his brows; Katara was always better at pep talks than he was. “What I mean is, you’re clearly trying to turn things around. Anyone could see that; I can see that. And..I think you’re doing a good job.”

“The whole uh, ‘you being wanted thing’ will be..difficult to sort out, but hey, you’re stuck with me.” He grinned, pretending to roll his eyes in annoyance. “And I guess you haven’t been completely awful to be around.”

Azula hadn’t ever expected- would have never expected- that Sokka would be someone she’d one day find herself confiding in. If asked to choose between her brother’s friends, she would have said he or the earthbender were her favourites, if only because they were sometimes amusing to her.

But Sokka was smart, smarter than she’d expected him to be. The more time she spent with him, the more she found she genuinely did like him. It had come as a surprise to her, but then again, Sokka was a surprise more often than he wasn’t. And now that they were no longer in war, a good surprise.

She lifted a brow at him when he began to talk about how she wasn’t as ‘shocky’ now, but the smirk on her face betrayed her amusement. “I’m glad you think I’m doing such a good job,” she said. “Do you think I’ll be ready to be released back into society again soon?”

Clearly, she was teasing him, especially considering she felt as though she had essentially just spilled her guts to him. Whatever he thought about how far she had come, she decided to skip over it. It was a nice sentiment, yes, but not one she was ready to dive into just yet.

“Or am I on parole and you’re keeping an eye on me?” That had crossed her mind, of course, but she wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. So, she simply shrugged. “Oh well, I suppose there’s worse people who could be stuck with me. Because... you are. Stuck with me now. And I’m not apologising.”

They smiled, warm and genuine. They all came out alive and had come so far from the start of all this. Yes the circumstances for having to quickly mature and grow up weren’t exactly ideal, they mused, but in the end, it ultimately benefited them all in a way, bringing the group closer than before through all the trauma.

Something akin to pride expanded their chest while listening to Azula, she had come the most far since the start, and once again they felt honored to be able to have been able to be a part of it.

At the most likely more rhetorical question, the airbender tilted their head thoughtfully. “I think…I know I don’t have all the answers; I’m no Aang,” they jested, “but I do believe even with all that if you find the right people to build you back up, that are real and genuine in everything they do, you will. With time of course; it’s an uphill battle but you’ll get there,” Haru finished giving their entwined hands another affectionate squeeze.

Azula had grown up far too quickly, when she thought about it. She’d already been coming up with war plans at seven years old. Sure, she was a prodigy, but she had been a prodigy in firebending. War plans, and making them... that was something a child had to be taught. She’d been forced to grow up so she could be her father’s weapon.

She had come a long way in understanding the world, in deserving her place wherever she went, but that innocence was something she’d never recover, as was her childhood.

Tobi’s mind buzzed, he made a sound similar to that of an angered cat that came from the back of his throat. His ears were pressed tight against his head, and his tail was frizzy and twitching. He turned around to face Zuko, leaning against the counter with some kind of nail tool in one hand, it looked like he was sharpening his claws. He didn’t look up from his hands.

“Would you really be able to disguise yourself in a way where your family wouldn’t recognize you?” he asked her, “Because if anyone should be able to recognize you through any disguise, it would be them.”

The Doctor held out a chair for her and pushed her in once she had a seat and took a seat at the table as well and filled up his own plate with a bit of everything.  “Does it look good to you?” he asked her.

“Sounds good to me.” The water bender himself was soon in a light, but restful slumber leaned up against the log. His breathing would be soft and rhythmic, if she were close enough to hear.

The fire died in the night and the storm brought Koru a better rest than he normally would’ve gotten propped up on the side of a log and a rock, even despite the occasional lightning and thunder. It would pass before daybreak, and the change in atmosphere would stir the water bender. He yawned and groaned gently as he stretched and regained his bearings, but ceased any noises after he remembered the woman he’d met was sleeping a few feet away. He patted his person to check for the shards of ice he kept formed on his person. He wasn’t sure why he always did that when he woke up, he knew he usually converted them into water, Or they melted at night.

He grabbed any water left from the cave to prep his ice shards, and stepped out of the make-shift home to do morning stretches and search for some breakfast. He’d be successful in nabbing two fish, and an egg. He passed on berries, since he still wasn’t sure what was safe and what was poisonous. When he returned to the cave, the soft orange glow that came right before dawn was appearing, and he hoped Azula was awake. He didn’t think he could start the fire silently, and was ready to eat.

Likewise, Azula slept peacefully throughout the night. Or at least, it appeared as though she did. In reality, her dreams were marred by the image of herself on her knees, her father standing before her, his hand reaching toward her face...

She woke with a quick, deep breath, her eyes opening in such a way one might could believe she’d been startled, though the rest of her body appeared to remain calm. And if there was no need to discuss how her heart was pounding, how her stomach was turning, and how it took a conscious effort to keep her breaths slow and normal, then she would never say. She wasn’t a fan of opening up unnecessarily, especially when she was waking just as Koru returned, and she could tell herself he’d not seen her wake- regardless of how certain of that she could truly be. If he didn’t need to know what sorts of things plagued her nightmares, then she wasn’t going to say.

The Princess sat up a little as she watched him return to the cave, bringing with him the food which she figured he meant for them to eat. Well, he was already paying off, if he could prepare the food properly and not poison either of them. Perhaps keeping the waterbender around was going to be more help than she realised- more beneficial.

James could take the hint, the light airy authoritative tone that lingered with each word that she spoke. Rather than have himself back into enslavement the young water bender decided to give her the information she wanted. “The avatar .. he flies on this .. giant beats!” James began hesitantly, “I know it sounds crazy but he’s accompanied by two other people belonging to the water tribe .. but they are all literally children.”