#wlig

The Reason, the source of the red string that then spills down into the rest of the artworks!

Gladiator Part 1, the handshake that started it all.

It Had To Be You, their unintentional first date!

Gladiator Part 2... this is honestly just a general thematic Sokkla make-out session, which as we know they were very likely to do throughout Part 2 x'D

The Love Advisor, reading a book together for the first time.

The White Lotus International Games, their rejoicing after they rushed their finals to watch each other winning at their competitions.

Matching Heartbeats... I picked the Yakuza AU as a reference to this one because people really missed it this year. But DAMN did those tattoos kick my ass to kingdom come, most difficult part of this entire mini project x'D

Underneath Starlit Skies, I picked the final scene of the Happy Family prompt because I couldn't decide on a better scene from any of the other prompts that year hahaha.

Leap of Faith, here I chose my personal favorite story from this year, Toph matchmaking Sokka and Azula, with Sokka in his councilman outfit and Azula in her ambassador attire.

Gladiator Part 3... spoilersssssss!

Alas, it was crazy to work on a project like this one on relatively short notice and pull it off regardless. I did know I wanted to do something like this, should the chance arise, and it kinda did? So I'm really glad I could finish it, maybe not exactly on time (two days late actually), but still within this month, haha.

I really hope you guys enjoy this massive piece, thank you to everyone who has been supporting me for the last decade, whether those who have been here all along, those who have only come by my work recently, as well as those who come and go. That my stories have touched anyone's lives is a miracle to me, and one I won't ever stop cherishing.

Thank you for ten years of Sokka and Azula <3

First off, I’ll say Azula is generally a virgin in my stories because canon outright established her as what I like to call a social inept :’D the only romantic interaction she has with anyone, genuinely romantic, is with Chan. And while she successfully manages to sway him briefly, she scares him away moments afterwards. Her conversation with Ty Lee establishes that that’s the general way boys react to her, therefore, she has very little experience in the field of romance.

Meanwhile, Sokka is the entire opposite of that. He’s had at least two relationships in canon, he tries to get into another one with a really unpleasant girl in the Lost Adventures, girls have crushes on him everywhere he goes… therefore, he’s established by canon as someone who is a thousand times more successful in terms of relationships than Azula.

This, then, is part of the characters and, if you ask me, these traits should be preserved in any depictions of them in any canon-based settings. As much as I understand the feeling of unfairness elicited by this unbalanced situation between them, it’s not something I established myself, but something established by core concepts of their characters.

Now then, on to the actual question. Due to Azula’s circumstances in Gladiator, she wasn’t very likely not to be a virgin when she and Sokka meet. If she hadn’t been one, at best it would have meant she had carried out a secret relationship with someone else before Sokka… at worst, she might have been a victim to sexual assault of some sort, an idea that really makes me sick to my stomach and so, for my peace of mind, let’s stick to the first thing. At any rate, Sokka wouldn’t have been likely to resent her for having previous relationships, though he would have probably felt insecure if she truly had held another secret relationship with someone else… not because he would have been angry that she wasn’t “pure and untainted” or any such bullshit, but because he already has a million reasons to fear he’s not good enough for her, and he might have thought any past relationship she’s had might have been with someone better, or at least less inconvenient for her, than him. So he wouldn’t hold it against her, he’d hold it against himself instead because of his frequent insecurities.

Now, of course, Sokka has shown some jealousy in some really silly ways, such as being outraged that Azula had a crush on Zhao when she was a little girl xD but that was always meant to be a humorous thing, since he has no idea what she’d see in him, and he feels the same way about her claim that Jet was handsome. Now, Chan is her only actual romantic experience (just like in canon) before Sokka in Gladiator, and Sokka’s reaction to discovering this is NOT along the lines of “OMG HOW COULD YOU HAVE HAD YOUR FIRST KISS WITH SOMEONE ELSE!” Instead it’s, and I quote directly from chapter 115:

“I can’t think of anything I’ve not told you, honestly. You even know about my first kiss now, so I’d say you know all that needs to be known…” said Azula, shrugging.

“Uh, well, I know what happened but I still don’t know who it was, now I think of it” said Sokka, tapping his chin and eyeing Azula with curiosity “Anyone I knew, by any chance?”

“Eh… no” said Azula, with a grimace “But you know of him. It was… the same jerk I was supposed to marry ages ago”

“Wait, what?!” Sokka asked, his eyes widening as Azula sighed.

“Okay, so now you do know all there was to know about that” she said, with a smirk, as she approached the dresser and closet where Sokka kept his armor and weapons “It’s time to get ready for training, Sokka”

“B-but then… that’s why you didn’t want to marry him, isn’t it?” Sokka asked, blinking blankly “The prick wouldn’t dominate the world with you, so…”

“Yes, yes, well, that’s neither here nor there” said Azula, approaching him with one of his blue shirts in her hand “Come on. Get dressed”

“I’m very sorry you kissed that guy” said Sokka, as she threw the shirt over his shoulders “You certainly deserved better”

As you can see, his reaction isn’t that of a jealous madman, but instead he’s very surprised that the guy she was engaged to when she first hired him was her first kiss. And then he’s sorry she gave her first kiss to him, since he knows all too well that she wanted nothing to do with that guy. He believes she deserved better.

While none of this really may seem to hold a torch to the stuff Azula has to wrap her mind about regarding Sokka’s past “partners” (if they can really be called that, most of them being forced one-night-stands…), I’d like to think that this reaction of Sokka’s would apply just as well in a world where Azula, theoretically, had other romantic partners before him.

Now, though, the second thing you bring up… IF Azula had gotten involved with other people to get over Sokka? In either Gladiator or The Reason?

I’m not sure if you mean Azula finding another love interest halfway through Gladiator Part 1, back when she was sure things between her and Sokka would never work, or if you’re asking about a hypothetical breakup at some point in the future. Likewise, if Azula had found someone else halfway through the Reason because Sokka still had Suki? Or past a future, potential breakup too?

Well, I’ll try to address it all, in any case… Gladiator Azula wouldn’t be likely to find someone else just to get over Sokka, I’d hope the way I’ve depicted Fire Nation society by now should show that engaging in sex out of wedlock is a very risky thing for women to do (Ty Lee’s situation serves as the better example of the consequences of that). Azula only went for it with Sokka because their partnership started to take an unexpected turn and, as they grew to understand each other better, they fell in love. She didn’t love him from the get-go, that’s true, but once she stopped being so impulsive in the earlier chapters of the story, she realized he was “right” to put a stop to their relationship before it really begun because of the potential nefarious consequences she could have faced if they were caught together. So they even struck the deal about not trying to be anything other than a gladiator and a sponsor, and why? Because she wasn’t ready to make a decision that could put her entire future in jeopardy. And if she wasn’t ready to make it with Sokka, she wouldn’t have been likely to make it with anyone else.

Therefore, if in the wider “will-they-won’t-they” part of the story, Azula wouldn’t have risked losing her virginity to the man she was developing feelings for, I don’t think she would have done it for someone casually, just for a fling to “get over Sokka”. She wouldn’t have risked reaching a future marriage without being a virgin because of the repressive way her society treats women.

But alas, in the off-case that somehow she had wanted to do this… Sokka wouldn’t have been pleased for it, but he wouldn’t have been outraged or angry either, since, like I said before, he has more than enough doubts about being good enough for Azula as he is. A glimpse at Azula’s birthday arc should probably help further with showing he wouldn’t have acted like some irrational jealous idiot when he thought he had no right to be one, if she had chosen to be with someone other than him. This time, chapter 69:

“I mean… I kind of had taken for granted that it was going to be the two of us, always. I had forgotten that… that you’ve got a lot of responsibilities and pressures and expectations to uphold. And… I don’t mean to get in the way of that by being a selfish prick. I’ve been selfish when it comes to you enough times by now, I think, so… so I won’t be anymore. I'm… I’m not going to tell you not to marry someone. But… I’m also not going to tell you to get married.”

“Then what are you trying to tell me?” asked Azula, looking at him with mild despair, her hand gripping his leg a little tighter than intended.

“I… I guess I’m saying…” said Sokka, sighing. “That I’ll accept whatever choice you make… I’ll accept whatever man you choose, so long as I know you’ll be happy with him. If you can guarantee you will choose whatever makes you happiest, then I’ll be… I’ll be happy too. That's… that’s all I dare ask of you.”

See? If he had thought there was someone better for her, if he had seen her with someone else, he would have absolutely backed off. Would his heart have broken? Sure! But he wouldn’t have played the territorial dumbass pretending he was entitled to her or anything as gross as that if she had started another relationship, whether a serious one or not.

The same applies to The Reason. Frankly, if she had found someone else halfway through the story, Sokka would have likely stayed with Suki and probably done his best to remain cordial with Azula and her new love interest if possible. He probably would have even tried to encourage Azula in her new relationship, because as you may recall, things between them in the Reason were more than a bit problematic, as he was still with Suki :’D he might have hoped this new love interest of Azula’s would be good for her. And of course, if the relationship was shortlived he would have worried she might be hurt for it, but if it had lasted he would have done his best to be supportive of her, even if on the back of his mind he would have likely always wondered what might have happened if he had tried to be with Azula for real.

And now, in the scenario of “if they break up after their relationship begun”, which is honestly something I scarcely want to even ponder… I’m not sure, frankly, that Azula’s reaction to losing a relationship as valuable and extraordinary as the one she’s had with Sokka in either of these stories would be “I gotta get it on with someone else to get over him”. I know that’s the popular trend in general in fanfiction these days, especially popular with multishippers who like to sprinkle their other interests in fics that are meant to be about one specific couple… but it’s not the road I generally take with stories. It’s not the one I took in my original story when I did break up the main couple (to clarify, there was a love triangle there, and the guy who had been pining after the girl makes a move after she breaks up with the one she loved. She rejects him right away because she’s in no place to have relationships as she is), and I really don’t think I’d want to take it with Sokka and Azula either.

Again, that being said, I don’t think Sokka would hold it against Azula if she ever decided to move on and try her luck in love with new people. If things between them don’t work out, the above quote applies again: he would want her to be happy. If he couldn’t be the one to make her happy, even if he wanted to be, then he’ll be content if she finds that happiness with someone else, in whatever form it might be.

Oof, so that was a lot of explanations, huh? :’D aaanyways, I do want to clarify, I understand the discomfort caused by stories and situations where men are “experienced” and women are meant to be pure and virginal and innocent, because yeah, it’s not fair. It’s stupid that men are heroes for having sex with anyone who’ll have them but women are disgusting if they engage in the same behavior. I agree 100% on that account. Nevertheless, I tend to write both Azula and Sokka as characters who are seeking a deeper emotional connection than just a quick release. If Sokka had no canon relationships, he would have been every bit as much of a virgin in The Reason as Azula was. Now, in Gladiator I had the possibility of keeping him a virgin: I didn’t because on one hand, his situation as a gladiator in Hui Yi enabled me to portray how dark and dreadful things can be for slaves in the lowest levels of the Fire Nation… and on the other hand, what happened between him and June was meant to prove exactly why he can’t have random flings: it doesn’t work for him. It doesn’t cut it. It’s pointless because the one person he wants to be with is Azula. He ended up feeling WORSE after it, not better, despite he was doing it to get over her, exactly as you described it. Therefore, he never even tried again. He has no other flings or one-night-stands after June because it’s useless and he feels worse for it.

At any rate, if you’re bothered by the numerical imbalance of romantic or sexual partners Sokka and Azula have had in those two stories… then I suggest you check out my Modern AU story, It Had To Be You. While I kept Azula as a virgin anyways, because it fit her personal backstory in that AU, she is part of the “popular kids” in school, while Sokka is one of the “nerds”. Azula has had a few love interests in the past, she even recounts the story of her first kiss to Sokka, even if it went even worse than it did in canon… but she was popular, sociable and had a lot more experience in the fields of dating and romance than Sokka did. Sokka’s only kiss before the story begins is also recounted in the story: it was no kiss, it was Aang giving him CPR after he drowned at the beach :’) Therefore, while Azula was still a virgin, she’s the experienced one in terms of romance in that particular story, and Sokka instead is clueless while she teaches him the ropes, once things get started between them.

Another story of mine where I flipped things around (and this might even suit your interests better?) is The White Lotus International Games, where Sokka breaks up with Suki but doesn’t have any rebound romances. He’s Azula’s partner in the White Lotus, they’re both agents for the Order there. And while this is only referenced rather than shown outright, Azula has had many casual flings through their travels while Sokka remains completely chaste and hasn’t had any relationships at all after Suki, especially because he starts developing feelings for his partner that he doesn’t act on (it’s literally Azula who makes the first move). He doesn’t judge her in the least for her flings, she even teases him sometimes and tells him he should have had one-night stands of his own at one point:

“You should have done what I did, though. You didn’t have to stay dry for so long.”

“I didn’t really feel like doing anything else,” said Sokka, shrugging. “And while there might be something fun to having one-night-stands, they’re really not my thing as they were yours, you know.”

“Your loss,” said Azula, smirking.

So, there we go :’) in this particular story, Azula has definitely slept with more people than Sokka xD and Sokka doesn’t hold it against her AT ALL, it doesn’t even occur to him to do so. So, if that’s what you were hoping for in terms of balancing their personal dating histories better, then I suggest you check it out.

Now, as for your last question… did Ozai look for other lovers after Ursa was gone? I’ve answered it before, and Gladiator’s official stance on the matter is an absolute, resolute, undoubtable NOPE. Ozai has very few redeeming qualities as things stand, making him pine for his wife hopelessly for the rest of his life seemed just right to me. Turning him into a womanizer, giving him a harem…? Some people like doing that: I, personally, don’t see the appeal. Ozai is a thousand times more interesting a character with a handful of weaknesses, and his doomed romance with his wife certainly gives the character an interesting dimension that warrants being explored (and I shall certainly explore it further in the story’s future).

Now, as a final addendum, I’d like to say… that original story I mentioned up there? The one with the love triangle? It actually turned into a bit of a love square. Another girl fell in love with the guy who gets rejected, but he’s still hung up on the girl he likes even if it’s unrequited and always will be. He doesn’t move on for AGES and dates absolutely no one for years. Meanwhile, the girl who likes him assumes he’ll never really see her that way, for obvious reasons… and she has about a thousand flings and short-lived relationships while trying to move on from her crush on the guy, who has become her best friend at that point. She often tells him about her experiences and the problems in her dating life, and he always listens, even admires her for it, never judges her for what she does and is 100% supportive of her living her life however she pleases. They’re well into their twenties when they start a relationship of their own: by that point, this guy has only kissed one girl in his entire life and got rejected. Meanwhile, the girl has had tons of relationships. Total different proportions from the stereotypical way relationships are often presented in media, I’d hope… and yet the guy is not turned off by it in the least. He doesn’t find it disgusting, doesn’t think she’s amoral, doesn’t think she’s any lesser for having lived her life in a completely different way than he did.

And while this has nothing to do with how I write stories set in the Avatarverse, it does have something to do with how I write relationships. Like I said above, I hate the tendency of showing men as experienced and women as sluts. I’m tired of it just as much as you are, which results in certain “trope inversions”, you could say, as the one I pulled in what I just explained of my original story. I don’t usually pull it with Sokka and Azula for the reasons I mentioned at the very start of the post (nevertheless, It Had To Be You and The White Lotus International Games INTENTIONALLY switch things around for balance and variety), but it doesn’t mean that I’m on the bandwagon vouching for female purity and male experience. Absolutely not. Part of Gladiator’s eventual purpose is to have Azula stand up against all those expectations and prove her worth goes far and beyond the ridiculous trappings society imposed on her just for being a woman, even if she’s had to abide by those trappings for a very long time (and even then she has defied them subtly, despite it’s not easy and it’s very dangerous, even for someone as powerful as she is).

“Two hours…” Azula growled, staring at the window. “I could’ve slept through at least one more, damned Zuko…”

“Did you say something, Princess?” the servant called. She groaned.

“I’ll be up briefly, get lost!” she snapped.

She heard the man whimper outside the door before his footsteps gave out that he was scurrying away. Azula might not be quite as abrasive as she used to be, but she was not a morning person, especially not when she had been woken without her express permission or request. Especially not when she was slightly more tired than she should have been…

“Who was that…?” said a sleepy voice next to her. Azula sighed and turned to look at Sokka, splayed across her bed, with his eyes still closed.

“A servant. It’s not even dawn yet, damn it,” said Azula, clenching her teeth. “Well, either way, you have to go now, Sokka.”

“I do…?” he asked, grimacing as he stretched lazily. “I dun wanna…”

“Not my problem. Out you go,” Azula said, trying to shove him off the bed, but one of his arms slid around her waist and brought her close to him.

With no difficulty, and without opening his eyes at all, he managed to press a kiss to her lips that silenced her and made her a lot less commanding. He certainly didn’t care to get up, no matter what they had to do today, because what mattered most was that they were together and free to act on their feelings…

“Sokka…” she gasped breathlessly, as she pulled away. Sokka smiled. “We have to get ready. The race…”

“The race…?” he repeated slowly, frowning. “The Games, you mean? Ugh, do we have to…?”

“Uh, yeah,” she said, kissing the tip of his nose. “Get up, scramble off to your inn, get ready. We’ll see each other again in no time, won’t we?”

“It’ll feel like forever, though…”

“You keep saying that, dummy” said Azula, dropping her head on his chest briefly. Sokka smiled.

“Because it’s true, you know?” he said. “Besides, what do you want to go to that race for…? You’re already firebending champion, aren’t you?”

“Well, you’re not non-bending champion, remember?” said Azula, raising her eyebrows. “Besides, I’d much rather be an all-around champion, and as it is, the Avatar still outdoes me there, remember?”

Sokka remembered, or at least he did now. Indeed, Azula remained the uncontested firebending champion, and it was apparent that nobody would dethrone her from that position. Katara had struggled in her events against a particularly talented Northern Water Tribe waterbender, but by now she had put enough advantage between herself and her top rival and secured the spot of waterbending champion. Toph, on the other hand, was just as uncontested as Azula, despite Bumi had indeed granted Flopsie a medal that, by all means, had belonged to her.

Yet nobody had earned as many medals as the Avatar had so far. All the open bending events had been won by him, except for the team ones, and he had taken medals in most events he had participated in, even if not always gold ones. He stood one gold medal above both Azula and Toph in the All-Around ranking, something the firebender and earthbender were not entirely pleased by.

Everyone’s sights had been set on winning the Games’ very last event. Sokka and Suki had to settle their tie, and Hahn was eager to make that a triple-tie instead, so he could stand on par with them both. Azula and Toph wished to even out with the Avatar, and Aang needed to triumph in the last game if he wanted to keep the title of champion of the games all to himself.

But as Sokka laid in Azula’s extremely comfortable Palace bed, he wished he could forget all about the competitions and just sleep the day away. He didn’t care if he didn’t get crowned as non-bending champion, as long as he could carry on relaxing with Azula…

“Is it you think being champion is more important than being with meeee…?” he asked, with a deliberately manipulative voice. Azula scoffed.

“If I answer that I’m sure you’ll be affronted and you’ll jump off the bed right away…” she said, smirking. “Which is what I was trying to achieve, actually, so yes, it’s far more important than being with you.”

“You’re lying…” Sokka said, smirking. “I know you are.”

“How would you know that?” Azula said, looking at him defiantly. Sokka only giggled to himself. “Is it that whenever I say something you don’t like you’ll claim it’s a lie just to feel better about yourself?”

“Basically, yes,” he answered, smiling. Azula snorted.

“You’re hopeless,” she said, leaning close to kiss him again. “But seriously, Sokka…”

“Okay, okay… it is a long way to the inn, I should go now,” he admitted, sighing and sitting up, bringing Azula with him as he did.

“We’ll meet again at the race,” she said, kissing him softly. Sokka groaned and caressed her body intimately as he deepened the kiss.

They spent at the very least three more minutes greeting each other properly, their lips too busy with the other’s to even speak anymore. Despite she had urged him to hurry out of her room, she felt a little reluctant to release him from her embrace by now. He was smiling broadly by the time they finally parted, breathless again.

“Morning,” he said, licking his lips. Azula huffed.

“Morning to you too,” she said, pressing one last kiss to his forehead. “Get going.”

“Stop hugging me and I might do it,” he said, teasingly. Azula sighed, shaking her head before kissing him one last time.

“Alright,” she said, climbing off him. “Now you can go. No more excuses.”

“Drat. Here I hoped you’d have rearranged your priorities,” Sokka sighed, punching the air with frustration. He smiled as he saw Azula was laughing softly at his words.

“You won’t be that lucky. Get going,” she said, climbing off the bed and tossing his clothes at Sokka. “Here. Your turn to make a walk of shame.”

“Fine, fine…” he said, smiling as he reached for them.

He was ready to go in about five minutes, but he surrounded her with his arms again and kissed her deeply before leaving. Azula was left smiling somewhat foolishly after he had climbed out the window and escaped through the Palace grounds, rushing on his way to his inn outside the crater.

It was hard to come back to her senses at first, but she managed to focus once more as she put on her Fire Nation uniform, fastening her belt over her long red shirt. She tied her hair in a tall ponytail, her bangs framing her face, but kept out of the way with the help of her white headband. She took deep breaths, staring at herself in the mirror. It would be the very last time she’d have to wear this outfit… well, unless someone decided to repeat this event, but even then she imagined the Fire Nation uniform might be redesigned.

Still, she let a soft breath escape her as she stared at her reflection. She had been the most important representative of a nation that had grown wary of her, and yet they had cheered for her since she had stepped out for her very first event. The uniform had grown to symbolize much more than just her belonging to the Fire Nation: it actually symbolized her return to the Fire Nation, and a change in the way the world saw her. And despite it was true that she wouldn’t apologize for her actions because she had never believed she’d be forgiven, it seemed she was welcome to come home now regardless of it all.

She could stay here a little longer, she thought… maybe she could suggest to Sokka that they could spend a few more days here, if he’d like to take a short break before they went back to their job. Though she wouldn’t mind if he wanted them to head back right away, either. As it was, knowing she was no longer scoffed at, scrutinized as though she might lose her mind and banish everyone all over again, was already a bigger relief than she had expected to experience during these Games.

She had breakfast by herself, but she joined the rest of the delegation later, or at least, the ones who would take part of today’s competition with her. Zuko and Iroh gave motivational speeches that made her yawn, and eventually they filed out to the front gates, where the other delegations had started to gather already.

“Today’s going to be my day, count my words, Spicy,” Toph said to her, smirking as Azula approached. The Princess only smirked mockingly.

“Since when are you any good at running, Dirt Worm?” she inquired. Toph snorted.

“I don’t need to run. I just need to use my bending to my benefit. Don’t you know that it’s a free-for-all race? We’re supposed to be allowed to bend here, from what I’ve heard.”

“Is that so? Then I suppose I’ll be allowed to to use mine as well?” Azula said, intrigued. “Why, then they might as well give me the medal already and be done with it…”

“Ha! You’d wish!” Toph sneered, folding her arms over her chest. Azula only smirked more.

Aang and Katara were busy stretching, whispering encouraging words to one another. The display made Toph roll her eyes, and she confessed to Azula that she had never wished she didn’t have seismic sense until those two had started to get so mushy around each other. Azula was busy listing off possible solutions for her problem, such as asking the Avatar to take her bending (something that made Toph gasp in horror) so she would never hear them again, when a familiar hand clapped her shoulder.

“It hasn’t started without me, then? Here I thought I’d be late.”

Azula’s heart accelerated as she found herself expecting, or perhaps even hoping, that Sokka might kiss her as a greeting. But he did nothing other than pat her shoulder and interrupt her as she listed absurd ideas to the troubled earthbender. Toph raised an eyebrow in Azula’s direction, but she shook her head as a response to Sokka’s question.

“You’re not late, but you’re not exactly early either,” she said, smirking. “We’ll have to gather at the start line, I think your sword master has some sort of briefing for us all. So come on, come on. Better to get away from the Sweeties and their love fest.”

Indeed, Katara and Aang were busy holding each other and kissing by now. Azula smirked as Sokka made a face and moved to follow Toph. Still, he walked a little slower, and so did Azula. Their hands grazed each other.

“You made it just fine, then?” Azula asked. “I assume you took a carriage, you don’t look tired…”

“Had no choice, or else I would have been worn out already by the time I got here,” he said, chuckling. “Not much point in wasting my stamina before the race, right? And truth be told, I actually spent a lot of it last night…”

“What, you did?” Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. “Why was that, last minute training?”

“Of course,” said Sokka, biting his lip and smirking. “Didn’t you do the same?”

“I have no clue what you mean,” she said, putting up her most innocent front. Sokka could only laugh.

A group of White Lotus agents helped Piandao arrange the runners at the starting line, where he told them to stand by as he informed them of the technicalities of the competition. Quite a number of non-benders who would be taking part in the contest were concerned about how disadvantageous this event could be for them, and as expected, the White Lotus had come up with their solutions for that particular problem.

“Bending is allowed, as long as you don’t use it to attack any other competitor directly.”

Naturally, the backlash of outraged benders made Piandao cringe. Why was he always the one who had to deal with the benders in their backlash over apparently unfair rules? Oh, because he was the youngest and least experienced of the Grand Lotuses, that was why…

“If we allowed all-out bending, then non-benders would have to be allowed to bring weapons with them too!” he shouted, and the uproar died down. “And I’d think nobody wants to get stabbed in the kidney in the middle of a race, right?”

“Well, there’s no need to be so extreme…” Aang said, grimacing.

“If anyone gets caught bending directly at their rivals, they will be disqualified,” Piandao finished. “The same goes to direct aggression without bending: no punching, no kicking, nothing. This is a race. You’re supposed to run, to prove your speed and stamina, not to kill each other on your way to the finish line.”

“And what about using our bending as a boost?” Toph asked. Piandao’s eyebrow twitched.

“If any competitor is caught flying with firebending, or using only earthbending to move instead of actually running, they will be disqualified as well,” he stated, and Toph made a sound of disgust.

“Heck, if that’s how it is you might as well just forbid bending altogether!” she shouted. Piandao smirked.

“I still could, if you’d rather I did,” he said. Toph froze. “But I won’t. If you have no idea how to use bending to your benefit in any other way, you’ll just have to learn to be more creative. There will be checkpoints at each stage of the circuit around the crater, with members of the White Lotus standing guard at them. If anyone of you is caught cheating these rules in any way…”

“We’ll be disqualified. We got it,” Toph snapped, rolling her eyes. Piandao chuckled.

“Exactly. So, as you know, you’ll run from here, straight to the edge of the crater. The first checkpoint is there. You’ll make a complete lap around the crater and then run back here through the very same street. You’ll run one lap around the Palace, and then you’ll have to cross this very same line at the gates to finish your run in the race. If you don’t finish, whether because you need to retire or for any other reason, you’ll be, naturally, disqualified…”

“All that matters is getting to the first three places, though,” muttered Hahn, frowning and poising himself in a running position already. “So who cares about the ones who retire…?”

“… And there will be a team of physicians ready to help anyone who lags behind if they can’t keep up with the race,” Piandao finished, missing Hahn’s words altogether. “Finally, remember this may be a competition, but it’s a cordial one. You will respect the other runners and you will give your best to bring honor to your delegations. Is that understood?”

The group of runners grunted a positive response, and Piandao nodded. Everyone got into position as he stood out of the way, nodding at the agent who held the flare so he would be ready to set it off. The man lit up the firework as Piandao made the calls to start the race.

“Get ready! Set…!”

A blast of red in the morning sky, and the race began. The runners leapt out, starting their run immediately…

Or at least, they tried to.

Because a clumsy earthbender, who may or may not have understood Piandao’s rules, decided to cause as good as an earthquake, shattering the earth so that his rivals would fail to take off properly. Azula and Sokka stumbled, struggling to make it out of the chaotic mess amongst tripping runners, trying to get away before they were injured by the falling debris. Once they had put a fair distance between themselves and the walls Azula dared glance back, grimacing as she saw how damaged the walls were.

“Who the hell was the madman who…?!” she asked, aghast. Sokka shook his head.

“Not important! Keep running!” he said. “There’s others behind us, and Aang’s ahead of us…!”

“Your blind buddy was with him!” Azula growled. “You don’t think it was them, do you?”

“No, it wasn’t!” came another voice from behind them. Suki rushed to their side, breathing heavily as she pressed herself to move faster. “Piandao’s grabbed the guy who did it! But we’ve got to hurry if we want to stay at the front…!”

“Okay, but this is an endurance race,” Sokka said, breathing rhythmically as he looked at Suki. “If you put everything into it right now you’ll have no more energy by the end!”

“That’s…” said Suki, swallowing hard and knowing Sokka was right. But to her surprise, Azula smirked.

“Speak for yourself, snow peasant,” she said.

She winked at Sokka, still smirking as she suddenly started moving far faster than either Suki or Sokka… with sparks of blue starting to appear at the soles of her boots.

“What the…?!” Sokka said, his eyes widening. “Azula!”

“See you at the end of it, Sokka!” she shouted, as she carried on boosting herself through her bending, to Sokka’s chagrin.

“But that’s not fair!” he cried out. “That’s cheating! Right…?”

“No idea! I mean… she’s still running!” Suki said, frowning in confusion. Sokka huffed.

“This is ridiculous!” he growled. “But heck, at least that’s only something she can do! The rest of the benders can’t possibly…!”

His words were lost when he felt an unexpected amount of ice water pouring down his body. It was certainly helpful to be refreshed in the middle of the race, but not with water that cold, nor when he didn’t see it coming. He actually screeched, to Suki’s surprise, but she was a victim of the same attack only a moment later. By the time Sokka lifted his head he snarled as he saw a blur of blue passing between them.

“I’ll be going on ahead, Sokka!” Katara said, smirking as she rushed in hopes to catch up with the current leaders of the race.

“I… I’m going to disown her! YOU HEARD ME?! I’M DISOWNING YOU!” he shouted, snarling as he forced himself to keep moving. Next to him Suki laughed, shaking her head in disbelief.

“I think we’re going to lose all our friends after today!” she declared. Sokka huffed.

“And I’m going to lose a sister, because I’m going to kill her!” he shouted.

Not long behind them was another competitor, glaring at their backs with determination as he pondered his possibilities. If he took it easy, keeping up with the two runners ahead of him, he might actually manage to pass them when it counted…

Azula smirked as she reached the Avatar and his former earthbending teacher, still using her fire as a boost for speed while still running properly, as Piandao had warned them. She highly doubted she was doing anything out of bounds, most unlike the earthbender who, taking advantage of the fact that the upcoming checkpoint was still too far for them to see she was bending, was using the street’s grounds to her advantage. She kept her feet adhered to the ground as the mounds of earth she was bending helped her go far too fast for the Avatar to catch up to her.

While Aang was easily the most agile of the runners, he couldn’t quite compete with Toph’s actual cheating of the rules. He was yelling at her to do it fairly, since she couldn’t just bend that way, and Toph decided to obey by no longer bending the mounds of earth… but she left the grounds behind her completely uneven. Aang groaned with frustration, and the girl laughed happily as she carried on using her bending to slow down Aang and everyone else behind her, crafting earth obstacles they would struggle to sort out.

“Who’s being creative now?!” she shouted. Aang huffed.

“I can’t wait to see what they’ll say about that at the checkpoints, Toph!” he shouted. “To think she’s using her bending like this, didn’t she hear what Piandao said…?”

But as he mumbled to himself he missed out on the fact that someone was gaining on him… and his eyes widened upon seeing who it was.

She was sorting out the obstacles without a hitch, skipping through the uneven earth as though she were dancing, maybe. Aang’s jaw dropped as he struggled to skip past one, wondering just how was Azula doing this… until he noticed the flares of blue under the soles of her shoes.

“What the…? Oh, great! If that’s how it is then I can do it too!” he declared, angrily.

Two little swirls of air appeared at the bottom of his feet, helping him skirt past the obstacles more easily, for they served him as wheels. He felt bad, since he had the feeling he was cheating just like the other two… but he was still making the necessary running motions, wasn’t he? This still had to be legal… at least, he believed so, if Azula’s bending was fair too.

The intense rushing through Toph’s obstacles ended a little faster than they anticipated it to, though, when she suddenly stopped bending as she had and began running perfectly legally once again. Aang frowned: was she only going to break the rules while she wasn’t seen? Because that was just so messed up…

Yet even though he wasn’t sure if what he was doing counted as cheating, he stopped doing it too, and so did Azula, for the first checkpoint was right up ahead. And a happy cackling old man sat at it, while a group of White Lotus agents wrote down which competitors had reached the checkpoint allegedly fairly.

“Bumi!” Aang shouted, once the man was in sight. Bumi waved.

“Aang!” he replied. “Did you have a good breakfast?!”

“It was fine, but you have to hear me out here! Toph has been using her bending to…!”

“Oh, you tattle-tale bastard, you…!” Toph roared.

“Whatever is your problem, Avatar? You were using your bending just fine too, weren’t you?” Azula said. Toph gasped.

“Seriously now?! You hypocrite!” she shouted, as they finally reached Bumi.

“You have to disqualify us, then, don’t you?” Aang asked Bumi.

The King only laughed as the agents around him looked at him questioningly. Was he going to do it or wasn’t he going to…?

“Bend away, kiddies! That’s how you become a master, isn’t it?” he said, cackling. “It’ll make the contest more exciting!”

Aang’s jaw dropped. Toph actually snorted and put up a triumphant fist into the air as she got back to her bending. The agents around Bumi were just as shocked as the Avatar.

“Well, if this is how it is…” said Azula, smirking and rushing forth, her fire helping her speed up again. Aang huffed.

“This is absurd!” he grunted, but he kept up with the Princess as they sorted out Toph’s obstacles, slowly but surely gaining on her as they started to run around the edge of the crater.

The race remained intense for the contestants at the top, especially when a rock bent by Toph missed Aang’s head by inches. Azula smirked, noticing she’d never seen him quite as mad before. To her surprise, the usually pacific monk began bending in a way she couldn’t quite understand… yet it was making Toph slow down somehow. She frowned as she noticed Toph struggling against something invisible, a light breeze reaching Azula…

She snorted upon realizing Aang was using a stream of air to hinder Toph’s progress. Clever, harmless, and it would only ruin Toph’s hairdo, at most. Which Azula doubted the girl would care much about anyways.

But this was a perfect opportunity for her, she realized. She had to speed up now and…

And suddenly Toph stopped bending again. Azula grimaced. She would have only done that if…

“Checkpoint!” she shouted. Aang stopped bending at her. “Fuck you, Twinkle Toes!”

“You’ve been ruining the race for everyone and you’re going to be mad at me for a little breeze?!” Aang replied, smirking.

Without the chance to set up earthbent obstacles, Toph was slowing down compared to the other two, even if they weren’t boosted by their bending either. By the time they reached Jeong Jeong’s checkpoint post they were almost even, and Azula and Aang glanced at the man as they passed him by. Jeong Jeong didn’t speak a single word, busy only scrutinizing them with his eyes as the agents beside him wrote down the names of the three runners.

Yet when they were out of Jeong Jeong’s sight, and their bending battles were free to start again, a new contestant joined their struggle just as they were passing by the largest of the lakes in the city.

Aang had managed to hinder Toph so much that she had been passed by now, but not by him. Handling two streams of air so that they would only hinder Azula and Toph, without ruining his own rhythm, was a little more complicated now, but Aang was managing to do so… until he sensed someone else coming up behind him.

He probably should have seen from the corner of his eyes that the water of the lake was shifting, but it wasn’t until it was pouring down his body that he realized what was going on. He yelped, the air walls he had set before Azula and Toph disappearing, to their surprise and disbelief… but when they were soaked by water too, and passed by a proud waterbender, they had no questions left about what had happened.

“Hey! Sugar Queen, you bitch!” Toph roared, trying to wreck the roads ahead, but she was only met by another stream of cold water, which slid down her back; Katara saw to it. “AGH! Stop that!”

“You’ve ruined all the roads, you have no right to be mad over this!” Katara declared, amused.

“Well, then, how about this?!” Azula shouted, shooting a blast of blue flames forward, that landed just where Katara would step next.

“Woah! What the hell?!” Katara asked, trying to bend at Azula again, but a new fire blast at the ground before her forced her to focus on what was happening before her, instead of behind her “If you burn me they’ll disqualify you!”

“Well, I’m only burning the grounds, aren’t I?!” Azula smirked as she dashed forward. Katara cringed as she was passed by the Princess.

“You won’t get away with that!” she shouted, as she skirted off a weird ledge of earth Toph had clumsily bent before her.

Aang couldn’t possibly carry on bending the small swirls of air that had boosted his speed, and Azula couldn’t do the same with her fire either. Not when Aang was bending air streams that would hinder the three girls, and when Azula was busy casting fire behind her to create further obstacles for the three other benders. Katara would be busy now using her water to put out every little burst of fire that Azula conjured, and Toph still tried to bend the earth before the two girls up ahead in the race right now, but it wasn’t paying off anymore. Especially when she kept stepping on puddles of hot water that made her cringe and wish, for once, that she had shoes so she could avoid potential burns with that accursed water…

The all-out bending combat stopped again, of course, once they were before Pakku’s checkpoint. And it began again as soon as the man couldn’t see them anymore, now with Aang dashing ahead next to Azula, trying his hardest to create a potent enough current of air to slow everyone else down. It wasn’t paying off so well, though, since Katara kept bending water right ahead of him, prompting him to slip in the mud, unable to keep running and bending at once. All the while, Toph kept shifting the grounds, making it hard for everyone to keep their footing even if they were casting blue fire with their feet to heat up the earth, which made it hard for the earthbender to step on it at all.

“What the hell are they doing…?” Sokka asked, panting as he saw the bending battle up ahead. They were at least fifty feet away from them, but the chaotic bending was still easy to see for him and Suki.

“I have no idea,” the girl replied, shaking her head. “But hey, maybe they’re wearing themselves out with that…”

“I sure hope so,” said Sokka, swallowing hard. “Though I admit… I’m starting to get a bit tired now…”

“You have to keep up, though! Come on, Sokka!” Suki said, jumping over a puddle and landing with difficulty on a crevice Toph had bent. “We can catch up!”

“We can’t! Look at them! They’ll kill us if we get anywhere near them!” Sokka said. “Remember what Katara did to us?”

“That’s not important! Come on, hurry up!” Suki said. “Are you giving up so fast?”

“N-not really, but I’m being realistic, okay?!” Sokka shouted. “No way we can beat them!”

“Well, maybe there’s no way you can beat them, Sokka,” said Suki, smirking. “But… ah, there! Iroh’s near!”

“What? The last checkpoint?” Sokka asked, huffing as he tried to catch his breath.

“They stopped bending! They do that with all the checkpoints! Come on, it’s our chance!”

Sokka cringed and followed suit, guessing Suki had a decent strategy indeed. The four up ahead were clearly exhausted, for they weren’t going quite as fast as they had been at first. All that bending had taken a toll on them…

He struggled to skirt past all the obstacles, hoping to keep up with Suki as she ran ahead of him. Soon the grounds were properly even again, and the two of them had a better chance to speed up just as the four leaders were almost by Iroh’s station.

“Ah! Good luck, younglings, good luck! Carry on, it’s just the final stretch now!” said Iroh, sitting only a couple of feet away from where Bumi still sat, smiling as he relaxed under the sun.

“We’re… getting there!” Katara shouted, giving him the thumbs up. The others hardly replied.

“Keep it up! Ah, and you two as well, of course!”

The words were like another blast of cold water, even though Katara hadn’t bent any of it for the last few minutes. Who were those two he was talking about…?

The question was answered when Suki rushed past them at full speed, with Sokka gasping and huffing right behind her. The four benders only had a brief moment to realize what was going on, and to take action immediately.

They didn’t dare get back to their obvious, potentially illicit bending, while they were still within Iroh’s sight, but that didn’t stop them from pushing forth while running, with Aang, Katara and Azula passing Suki while Toph managed to stay ahead of Sokka. As soon as there was nobody to see them bending, though, the madness began again. Toph’s techniques to shatter the street caused trouble amongst the group again, making Sokka lag behind again despite his best efforts. Yet Suki proved to be far more agile than anticipated, avoiding stepping on dangerous grounds and even evading a stream of water that could have struck her, but got Azula instead.

“You guys…! Wait up, damn it…!” Sokka gasped, hardly strong enough to jump over the debris Toph had left behind. Okay, so he had to work on his resistance for these sorts of things, he got it. Maybe he shouldn’t spend heated nights with the Fire Nation Princess before these competitions, either…

But there was nothing to be done as the chaos of bending carried on ahead, getting ever closer to the Palace as they progressed through the streets. By now Aang had managed to get ahead, but after he sank in one of Katara’s puddles Azula took the lead, rushing forward and finding that they were already within Piandao’s sight. She didn’t slow down at all, though, only rushing ever faster towards the end of the race. Yes, she had to run a lap around the Palace, but if she put enough distance between herself and the rest of them right now…

She was breathing heavily, knowing she was going to need a long break to recover properly after this. But she couldn’t possibly stop now when she was right about to finish this race. She could rest later, first she needed to get to the Palace, to run around it, to cross that line.

She heard the footsteps behind her fading away and she smirked. She was putting proper distance between them, now it was just a matter of carrying on at this rate. She could do it, absolutely…

Guards were poised all around the walls, even though part of it had collapsed when the race had started. The finish line had been rebuilt with difficulty by some White Lotus earthbenders, although it was apparent that fixing the entrance completely would take time. It didn’t matter, though, Azula resolved. She just had to keep running, she just had to keep running, she could worry about the Palace’s architecture later…

A quick glance over her shoulder when she was around the eastern walls made her smirk. They weren’t even behind her… well, that is, as long as they weren’t making the lap around the Palace in the opposite direction. Was that even possible? Wouldn’t Piandao have gestured at her if he thought she was going the wrong way? Oh well…

But as she reached the south gate she didn’t come across anyone, and by the western end of the Palace she hadn’t seen any of her rivals, so no, they hadn’t been running the lap in the opposite direction. No, she was the uncontested leader right now, as it was supposed to be… a wild smile spread over her face as she rushed forth. She could already hear it, the sound of the cheers and congratulations, she could even feel the crown of the All-Around Champion of the White Lotus International Games on her head…

Azula could see the buildings that stood in front of the Palace again. She smirked, slowing down ever so slightly so her body would have a small reprieve after the crazed race.

But that was when she caught sight of someone collapsing not too far from the Palace gates.

Sokka’s breathing was heavy, his limbs horribly overheated, his hair soaking wet both because of Katara’s waterbending and because of his own sweat. He wasn’t going to make it, he knew it from the start, but he was still running because he had no idea what else to do. He had already lost sight of Aang, Katara, Toph and Suki, and he was sure they had lost sight of Azula, who had suddenly sprinted so fast nobody could keep up with her. Well, good for her. He’d have to celebrate her gold medal later, maybe in his next life, because at this rate he was certainly only going to die.

“Fuck… everything…” he was gasping as he finally reached the Palace, ready to take the turn and start the lap around the building.

And that was when he felt a sharp burst of pain on his lower back.

Sokka fell hard on the uneven grounds, his eyes shutting as he gasped in pain. What the hell…? Was he stabbed? What on earth was…?

“See how you fare with that, southern scum!”

His eyes widened as he saw Hahn was passing him. Hahn… what had he done to him? Sokka reached with a hand to his wound, finding there was no blood, but he had punched him at least, if anything. It actually felt like chi-blocking, if he thought about it.

The bastard had attacked him, and now he couldn’t bring forth enough strength to get up again. He couldn’t even fight back! This was truly low, no doubt, even for one like Hahn. If only he could get up again he’d give him the beating of a lifetime…

But Hahn didn’t get very far before a fist impacted directly against his jaw.

His cry of pain was even more pitiful than Sokka’s, and if the sound of a bone cracking hadn’t alerted Sokka of what was happening, the little shriek certainly did. Along with the sound of a body collapsing clumsily on the grounds, only a few feet away from him.

Sokka lifted his head with difficulty, finding Azula was standing before Hahn, her right hand clenched in a powerful fist. He hadn’t seen her eyes glowing with such golden rage in a very long time…

“Stay down if you know what’s good for you, bastard!” she shouted. Hahn clutched his face and actually fell sideways, groaning in pain.

Sokka was breathless, black spots swimming in his vision. Even so, he heard Azula stepping towards him, and felt her hand on his hot cheek as she looked at him in chagrin.

“Sokka, answer me, are you…?”

“I’m kind of… exhausted and hurting,” he said, with a weak grin. “Damn it… I can’t really see…”

“Don’t end up blind like your friend, will you?” Azula said, grimacing as she scanned Sokka’s back and legs carefully. “What the hell did he do to you? I just saw you falling, and when I saw he was right behind you I knew he’d done something…”

“I think he… punched me? Maybe chi-blocked me by accident, I don’t know…” said Sokka, making a face as he struggled to push himself up with his arm.

“You’re not bleeding at least. Damn him for this…” Azula grunted, shaking her head.

“But hey… hey, you should be happy…” Sokka said, smiling a little as Azula tried to help him up.

“Why? Because he attacked you?” she asked, frowning as she slung Sokka’s arm around her shoulders. “Don’t be ridiculous, it’s not something I’d…”

“N-no, I mean, the race…” said Sokka, frowning. “Didn’t you… win?”

Time seemed to stop when Sokka said that last word. Azula’s eyes widened. She… oh, curse it all, she hadn’t crossed the finish line!

She turned her head to the gate, horror-struck, to see the Avatar passing through the Palace gates with a broad grin, while, to her utter surprise, Suki came up right behind him. And struggling to outrun each other, Toph and Katara ran at their full might… for Katara to give out in the end, and Toph crossed the finish line before her.

“YEAH! I… did it!” Toph shouted, before collapsing on her knees right after passing the threshold, a bright grin on her face.

“Yeah, you know, Azula crossed first so… so you don’t have a medal either way,” Katara said, breathing with difficulty. Toph snorted.

“She didn’t cross anything! She just ran off over there to… eh, what the heck happened to Sokka?”

The winners of the race only turned to look at the pair just then and there. The scene was slightly confusing, with Azula standing with one knee on the ground, as she tried to get Sokka to stand upright, and Hahn lying on the floor a few feet away from them, complaining away over his injury.

Piandao breathed out and shook his head, telling one of the guards nearby to keep an eye on the next runners. More of them were currently racing the lap around the Palace, so it would be good to keep a proper register of their order of arrival, no matter if the three winners had already crossed the finish line.

He approached the bizarre scene, stopping by Hahn first to tell him to head into the Palace for medical support before turning to Sokka and Azula, staring at them in confusion.

“Care to explain?” he asked, his hands on his hips. Azula grimaced as she pulled Sokka up.

“You saw what that asshole did,” Azula growled, glaring at Hahn. Piandao folded his arms over his chest now.

“Actually, I didn’t,” he admitted. “I only saw Sokka toppling over, and then Hahn suspiciously showed up behind him. I would have stopped him from crossing once he’d finished the lap, and forced him to admit what he’d done… but you got to him a little faster than me, didn’t you?”

“Well, it’s not like you made much of a move to get to him. Was I supposed to do nothing?” Azula muttered, her eyebrow twitching. Piandao smiled and shrugged.

“I don’t know if you were or weren’t, I’ll take this as evidence that you two are really such tight partners that you forget all about victories or rules when it comes to saving each other. It’s good to know,” he said. “But Princess Azula… you’re disqualified for injuring another competitor. Just as Hahn’s disqualified for the same reason. As for you, Sokka… I’m afraid you shouldn’t finish the race. Head inside for medical support as well, it’s better than for you to force yourself to keep running while injured.”

“Not like I’m getting any awards anyhow,” said Sokka, grinding his teeth at the pain of his back. “So it’s fine… if she gets disqualified for helping me, I should be too, for making her help me at all, right?”

“Sounds honorable,” said Piandao, smiling. “Come on, then.”

Runners kept crossing the messy finish line as time passed by. Hahn was being treated by Northern Water Tribe healers for the rather gruesome red bruise on his jaw, fortunately far enough from the Avatar’s group so that he wouldn’t be a nuisance to them. While Toph laughed at Katara for having given up on the bronze medal, the waterbender was busy healing her brother’s back, where he had a nasty bruise of his own. Aang stood by, watching warily, all the same as Azula did. Suki had wanted to check up on Sokka, but the Fire Lord had swept her into a hug and was currently kissing her to congratulate her for such a remarkable second place.

“Feeling any better yet?” Azula asked. Sokka smiled at her, sitting awkwardly as he was while his sister worked on him. He was currently shirtless, so Katara could patch him back together again with further ease.

“Somewhat. Eating something sure helped,” he said, setting down the apple he had just finished.

“And drinking too,” Aang commented, with a weak smile, for Sokka had already drained five tall water glasses in one fell sweep.

“I get it, I need to train more for constant exercise,” he said, waving a hand. “I didn’t think it’d be this bad, though… then again, I think I overexerted myself because of you lot.”

“Us?” Azula asked. Sokka looked at her skeptically.

“Toph ruined all the roads, and Katara left puddles everywhere. It was like… twice the work just getting through all that mess!”

“Why, fire did nothing to you,” said Azula, stubbornly. “If anything, you should just be grateful I helped you when I did.”

“I am, but that doesn’t mean you’re not partly to blame for that mess,” said Sokka, smiling. “You guys went slightly overboard.”

“Only because we couldn’t attack each other for real,” said Azula. “If only we’d been able to…”

“Yeah, well, it’s a good thing we couldn’t or who knows how many injuries I’d be treating now,” said Katara, sighing. “And even though we weren’t supposed to hurt each other, that asshole Hahn did this…”

“At least Azula gave him payback, eh?” said Sokka, smiling at the Princess. “I owe you for that.”

“You don’t. If anything, you should be mad I took your chance to punch him yourself,” Azula said.

“I can’t say I mind. It’s stuff like this that makes us partners, shared enemies and all…” he said, chuckling.

“Well, that’s all great, you guys, but…” said Aang, frowning and looking at Azula. “I’ve been kind of confused by all this, honestly.”

“By all what?” Azula asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, by what happened just now, really” said Aang. “From what Piandao said, you were like… inches away from reaching the finish line and suddenly you’d run all the way to Hahn to punch him?”

“Yes, so?” said Azula, rolling her eyes. “If you want to rub it in, you can get in line because the Dirt Worm has already started mocking every last one of us…”

“That’s not what I was going to do, no. The thing is, I was thinking you could have crossed the line and then ran to punch Hahn as you did. So why didn’t you?”

Azula was left speechless, and so were the rest of them. Everyone looked at her, waiting for an answer, but she didn’t have one. Not aside from the embarrassed blush rising in her features as she struggled to find a reason, anything…

But what was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to cover up and save her image after that blunder? Everyone saw her as an ambitious and driven woman, whose mind was only ever set on absolute victory. Nobody thought she had softened up, at least she hoped they didn’t, even after all the time she’d spent with Sokka. Everyone thought she had a single priority in life, and it was herself. She only wanted to prove her superiority, and to show everyone she was born for greatness…

Most of those notions weren’t true, but she’d never tried to convince people otherwise. She had been fine with their fear, with their misconceptions about her. It was amusing, even, to see them so distrustful even when she meant nobody any harm.

But now… now they’d seen her act on a whim. That was how it was: there was no rationality, no thoughts given to what she was putting in jeopardy for Sokka’s sake. She had been dreaming of absolute victory and glory one second, and as soon as she saw him fall, she had forgotten about all of it. None of it had mattered anymore. Not if Sokka was in danger. Not if he was hurt. She couldn’t stand the thought of tending to him again, not after having feared for his life after that crisis against those brigands, before the Games even began…

And it was fine for her to feel that way, and for her to show Sokka how much she cared for him, but it absolutely wasn’t fine for her to make it obvious before everyone. It wasn’t, because now they’d know the truth…

She looked at Sokka, her eyes bright with panic. But his blue eyes, on the other hand, only gleamed with gentleness and gratefulness.

His back still hurt when he stood up, to Katara’s surprise.

“Sokka, you shouldn’t do that yet-… Sokka?”

His hands were on either side of Azula’s face. The Princess’s eyes widened.

Before she knew it, he was kissing her before the entire world. Before his friends, before his family, before the representatives of every other nation, before the White Lotus guards and Grand Lotuses… and her heart was about to burst out of her chest as her entire body went unresponsive under the touch of his lips. Was he actually doing this…?

She was far too aware of their surroundings, and it was clear he wasn’t. He didn’t want to be, either. All he wanted to do was show her how much he appreciated what she’d done for him. Truth was, he had thought she’d crossed. He had been sure she had. When he discovered otherwise he was shocked, but now that Aang had brought up that question he could only think of one answer for it. Because she had picked him, and his wellbeing, over victory. She truly had…

He had been right that morning, after all. She had lied about caring about victory more than she did about him.

He smiled as he pulled away, but he swept her into a full hug right afterwards. He half expected her to burn him, but was relieved when all she did was press her face to his shoulder, swallowing hard as she remained tense in his arms.

It didn’t even take another second before the hoots and embarrassing cheers began, and Sokka only laughed as Azula clutched at him, feeling her legs weakening. Well, curse this jerk. So now everyone knew. Now everyone knew and they would start poking fun at them for being together, and… and she didn’t really care that much, she realized. Because truth was, she had never expected Sokka or anyone else to show open affection for her in such manner, in front of so many people. Those sorts of things didn’t happen to her, they happened to other people… but maybe Sokka really loved her that much.

And after how she had given up on victory without a second thought for his sake, maybe she loved him back just as much, didn’t she?

“What the…? What the hell?!” Katara shrieked, her hands going up to her head in horror as she stared at the embracing pair.

Was this their first kiss? Had this insane race brought Sokka to fall in love with the girl she’d never want as her sister-in-law? Or had it happened earlier and she just hadn’t known…? Whatever it was, Katara knew she didn’t like it. There was no doubt on her mind that she didn’t-…

“It was about time,” said Aang, giggling beside her. Katara’s jaw dropped as she tore her eyes away from her brother and the Princess, and stared at her fiancé instead.

“What did you just say?!”

“C’mon, Sugar Queen, everyone saw it coming but you!” Toph sneered, smirking as Katara’s irritation turned to her instead.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”

Not too far from where they stood, Zuko still had his arms around Suki but his eyes were now set on his sister and the tall, shirtless Water Tribe man embracing her. Suki smiled awkwardly at the blank expression on his face.

“Didn’t see it coming either?” she asked. Zuko swallowed hard and shook his head.

“I… wait, did you?!” he asked, finally reacting with some sort of emotion. When Suki smiled guiltily he looked at her accusingly. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I wasn’t sure you’d like it,” she said, smiling awkwardly. “But I mean, I did see him with lipstick smeared all over his face the other day… looked an awful lot like her shade, too.”

“M-maybe he was trying it out on himself. Sokka likes doing those things,” Zuko said, grimacing as his sole eyebrow twitched. Suki laughed.

“Well, he certainly tried it by taking it off her lips,” she said. Zuko scowled. “Calm down, it’s not a big deal that they’ve been dating, is it?”

“It’s… probably not, but it’s still weird! Your ex will be my… brother-in-law?” Zuko asked, grimacing. Suki smiled.

“I’m glad you’re already warming up to the idea. I think they make a pretty good match,” he said. “And I can hardly believe I do, but… who knew? Maybe those two were always suitable for each other and we never thought about it, huh?”

“I guess?” said Zuko, raising his eyebrow. “I’m allowed not to like it, though, aren’t I?”

“Why don’t you?” Suki asked, laughing.

“Because now I’m thinking I’ll have to pay for their wedding…” he said, sighing. “Haven’t I blown enough money already with the Games as it is?”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Zuko. You should let those two worry about that, stop trying to take charge of everything,” she said, smiling. “Besides, you should be thinking about our wedding before theirs, right?”

Zuko was ready to answer her until she uttered that last sentence. His eyes widened.

“Wha-… ours?” he asked. Suki smiled and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“Well… yeah,” she said. His cheeks were suddenly colored red after that.

“Huh. Ours…” he said, a slow smile spreading over his face as Suki laughed.

As people were now busy whether discussing weddings or secret relationships, Azula seemed to relax a little in Sokka’s arms. Sokka smiled as he raised his eyes to find his dad was standing a few ways away from them, giving him the thumbs-up. Sokka chuckled as he held Azula ever closer, feeling her turning her head into his neck.

“You’re the worst, damn you… what was that for?” she asked, with a thread of a voice.

“What was it for? Really?” he asked, smiling. “You just gave up on absolute victory to help me, you realize?”

“I realize, yes…” she answered softly.

“Then you should also realize that I’m grateful for it,” he whispered to her. “Because it really means a lot, you know?”

“Well, I’m glad you appreciate it,” she said. “I’m not doing it again.”

“I won’t ask you to,” he said, smiling and kissing her temples.

But she knew she was lying. He knew she was lying, too. She would do it every single time she had to, because she had been doing it from quite some time ago already. She would turn her back on glory every single time if it was for Sokka’s sake, no matter the cost. He had always known what love meant for him, but Azula finally understood what it meant to her.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice soft and gentle. “You’re amazing.”

“And you’re an idiot,” she said, surrounding him with her arms too. “But… but I love you anyways.”

The words took him by surprise, regardless of how her actions had already established her feelings quite clearly. Still, he smiled brightly before leaning in to kiss her deeply. This time she responded, choosing to forget all about everyone who might be watching. Who cared anyways? She had Sokka, and he was more valuable than any reputation she’d held on to, than victories or greatness. He was the man she loved, he loved her just the same, and she wasn’t afraid of revealing that to the world. Not anymore, at least.

Not two blocks away, the noisy crowd for the finals in the swordsmanship tournament wasn’t loud enough to keep Sokka from hearing the sound of the Fire Nation anthem only a couple of blocks away. His eyes widened. No, it was starting already? He had wanted to be there! Azula would be fighting her own finals now, in the most important of the firebending events… and he was stuck here, unable to give her his support because their schedules kept clashing. To think that they were both in the finals for their favored events, yet couldn’t go support each other…

“Ugh, can you guys hurry up over there?!” Sokka groaned, looking over at his opponent.

Zuko was standing only inches away from Suki, whispering something to her while she prepared for the combat, her katana in her waist. What on earth was the matter with them? Couldn’t they wrap it up so that he could fight Suki and rush to see Azula before her fight was over?

“Give them time,” Piandao said, as Sokka sulked. “The fight will begin when both competitors are ready. Be patient, Sokka.”

“But Master…” Sokka complained, looking at him hopelessly. Piandao smiled.

“You needn’t worry. She’ll do fine,” he said. Sokka blushed and sighed.

“I hope so,” he whispered. Trying to cover up the truth behind his impatience would be pointless, he knew as much. As it was, he had the feeling that everyone knew, or at least suspected, what his relationship with Azula was becoming as of late.

Yet there was nothing to be done about the fight’s delay, not while the Fire Lord stood before his bodyguard and girlfriend, staring at her in worry as she readied herself for battle.

“You can relax, Zuko,” she said, smiling as she finished fitting her armguard. “I’ll be okay. Sokka is good but he’s not that good.”

“It’s not Sokka I’m worried about, it’s his sword,” said Zuko, scowling as he looked at the Water Tribesman from the corner of his eyes. “You know what sort of crazy things he’s done with it, don’t you?”

“I know, I know. It’s the sharpest sword in the world, but my sword isn’t half bad either,” said Suki. “I can do this, Zuko. Trust me.”

“You know I do,” said Zuko, sighing. “Just… be alright, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt…”

“I won’t, silly,” she said, beaming and cupping his face before kissing him lightly. “I’ll do my best, and I’ll try to get the gold, too.”

“I hope you can,” said Zuko, smiling as Suki pulled away and walked towards the enclosure where the fight would take place.

Zuko had thought, initially, that he would attend the firebending finals where his sister was currently fighting. Yet when Suki made it into the swordsmanship finals he had asked Iroh to watch over Azula himself, while he attended Suki’s fight instead. A lot of people had given him odd stares, seeing how there were no Fire Nation contestants in this final fight, but he had done his best to ignore them as he focused on supporting Suki.

They had been together for only a few months, although they had spent years working together before that. Rumors about romance sparking between them had been spread ages before they had started dating for good, though. He had thought that all that gossip would have prepared people to see him so concerned over the Kyoshi Island competitor’s performances, but it seemed people were still surprised seeing the Fire Lord as worried about a foreigner as he was. He would try his hardest not to pay any mind to it, though. He knew better than to be swayed by the public’s opinion too easily.

Sokka sighed as Suki finally arrived. She smiled at him and he reached for his sword.

“Finally, we can get this…” he started, but Piandao lifted a hand.

“These are the swordsmanship finals. You know what it means,” he said. Sokka’s eyebrow twitched.

“Y-you don’t mean…”

A group of musicians Sokka hadn’t noticed in the stands started playing their instruments, and he cringed as the songs of the Southern Water Tribe and Kyoshi Island played one after the other, in the solemn ceremony preceding such an important match between the two representatives. His eyebrow twitched as he realized the Fire Nation song had ended long ago as it was. She was already fighting, damn it, and he hadn’t even started…

The heat was building up in the firebending stadium, as Azula deflected the Royal Guard’s attack skillfully, amid the cheers of the crowd. Rui Shi was ruthless with his attacks because he knew that giving her a single chance to strike would be one too many. The Princess was well known as the best firebender alive, and she wasn’t likely to lose today. She meant to shine in this competition, and regardless of Rui Shi’s attempts to overwhelm her, she wouldn’t waver against him.

She had started by deflecting the blasts with ease, sweeping the fire away with her elegant movements, but once Rui Shi’s fire grew slightly more unstable she took her chances to bend his flames right back at him. The Royal Guard flinched as he realized she was playing with him. He had guessed he wouldn’t win from the start, but the gravity of the situation was only becoming apparent now as he watched his fire turning blue in her hands. Well, the silver medal would be a great honor, no doubt…

Yet as Rui Shi stopped bending briefly, bracing himself for Azula’s counterattack, sounds drifted into the stadium. Azula’s eyes widened. Was that the Southern Water Tribe’s anthem…?

Curse it, she had to finish this now! She had planned on being there to watch Sokka’s fight, yet she was still caught up here instead of roasting the Royal Guard when she had a chance. What a fool!

Rui Shi jumped back as the blue fire came hard upon him. It was his turn now to defend while the ferocious Princess attacked relentlessly, her mind and heart drifting towards a fight taking place at a nearby stadium instead…

“I want a fair fight from the both of you,” Piandao said, eyeing Sokka and Suki warily. “No foul play whatsoever. And I know you two have history, so…”

“No worries, there’s no hard feelings altogether, none whatsoever, so can we just…?” Sokka said, gritting his teeth as Piandao looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Suki looked at Sokka with confusion too as she watched him fidget. What was up with him? Well, whatever it was, clearly he wasn’t on his best state of mind for a fight, was he? She smirked and took her stance in her side of the fighting ring. Piandao breathed out and lifted a hand between them.

“Ready?” he asked. Sokka and Suki nodded. “Start!”

The swords clashed loudly as Sokka jumped forward. Suki inched away, now uncertain of her assessment of Sokka’s mental state. Did his eagerness to be through with this fight make him more dangerous, or did it mean he wouldn’t focus properly? As he slammed his sword on hers repeatedly, forcing her to step back, she started to think it was the former. She flinched before swinging the sword horizontally, forcing Sokka to jump back to evade her, and now she stepped forward to avoid being pressed against the ring’s enclosure.

“Well, what’s up with you? Didn’t you say there were no hard feelings?” Suki asked, raising her eyebrows. Sokka blushed.

“There aren’t but I’ve got things to do!” he said, attacking again. Suki parried the sword.

“What could be more important than this?” Suki asked, looking at him in confusion as she wrestled him off by swinging her sword powerfully, forcing Sokka away again.

“Y-you….! You wouldn’t understand!” Sokka pouted, reaching to attack once more.

Suki frowned but she defended herself again and moved out of Sokka’s way. If this was how it’d be, fine by her. Sokka could carry on being reckless, she’d likely find a proper chance to strike him down if he kept this up… though she was undoubtedly curious as to what was he so eager to get away for. One would think that these Games, unique as they were, would be a priority for the Water Tribesman, but it seemed Suki didn’t know Sokka as well as she used to…

The barrage of blue fire was tireless, rushing through the air in different forms and shapes, but all of it directed towards the same place. Rui Shi blocked however he could, but there was just no contest altogether. He couldn’t win, tried as though he might. The Princess’s skill was unquestionable, and somehow she seemed more desperate to fight now than she had at first. She was somewhat reckless, though… that was unexpected. Her mind was set on victory for sure, yet her defense wasn’t quite as firm as he would have thought it would be. Why, though?

He frowned as she brought forth a wheel of fire, potent and larger than any he had seen before… but her defenses would be down once she had finished casting it. If his calculations were correct, that was the opening he should reach for…

A stumble. One stab too far: his stance was wide open. Suki’s eyes widened as she realized this was it. She had to make the most of the opportunity now, when Sokka’s lethal sword had slipped past her. It was now or never.

One hand shot out, casting orange flames right past the blue ones.

A silver sword slid through the air, through an opening that led directly towards the rival’s chest.

A step back, jumping away from the danger. Crouching quickly, to avoid potentially lethal blows.

Both the blue firebender and the swordsman with the black blade shifted in their movements in the exact same way, taunting their opponents and drawing them into a trap they hadn’t foreseen.

A punch of fire struck Rui Shi in the chest.

The black sword cut through the katana’s steel swiftly, leaving Suki holding only a hilt in her hand.

The crowds erupted in cheers at the same time, the sound loud enough to keep both the winners from hearing what was happening at the other stadium. Azula breathed out in relief as she delivered the winning hit flawlessly, destroying her opponent’s defenses and leaving him lying on his back, his will to fight completely obliterated. It was over.

“The winner is Princess Azula,” Jeong Jeong declared, and she allowed herself a smirk before waving at the audience. Her uncle clapped happily, hooting with glee.

“Well done! That’s my niece!” he shouted. Azula raised an eyebrow as she stared at him skeptically, but she smiled as her opponent was helped up to his feet by Jeong Jeong.

“Thank you for the fight,” said Rui Shi, bowing down to her. Azula bowed her head curtly as well.

“Thank you as well. You did fine,” she said.

“Not as well as you did,” said Rui Shi, grinning. “You truly are extraordinary.”

“Why, that’s flattering, and I’d love to hear more but…” she said, glancing away to where she knew the swordsmanship tournament was ending. “I will hear it later, alright? I need to…”

“It’s time for the medal ceremony,” Jeong Jeong, staring at her in confusion as Azula stepped away. “What are you trying to do, Princess?”

“It’s something quick, I’ll be back shortly,” she said. Jeong Jeong frowned.

“This will be over shortly, too,” he said. Azula cringed.

“And it can wait, also. Give me a moment, prepare the ceremony, I’ll be back here before you know it,” she said, climbing down the fighting platform without another word.

Jeong Jeong and Rui Shi looked at each other in confusion. The White Lotus firebender also glanced at the Fire Lord’s Uncle, who seemed just as puzzled by his niece’s behavior as everyone else was. What was so important that she’d leave before she’d been awarded the gold medal she had earned fair and square?

“No, no, no, I have to go now!” Sokka complained, as Water Tribe people rushed down from the stands to cheer him for his performance. “Thanks, seriously, but…! I really have to go!”

“What exactly is up with him?” Suki asked, rubbing her hand as Zuko surrounded her shoulders with an arm. Piandao sighed.

“He has someone to see, from the looks of it,” he said, smiling. “Shall we wait for him to be finished with that before we hold the medal ceremony?”

“I guess?” said Suki, raising an eyebrow. Zuko frowned.

“If he’s going to leave now, Suki should take the gold. He’s showing disrespect to his prize!”

“Sokka won fairly, Fire Lord Zuko,” said Piandao, amused. “It would be dishonorable to take away his medal after all his hard work to achieve this level of success. Not to mention he was patient and waited until Lady Suki was ready to fight, regardless of how eager he was to take off from the get-go…”

Zuko grimaced at Piandao’s words, knowing the man was right, but too bitter about Suki’s loss to admit it aloud. Suki smiled and kissed his cheek.

“I’m fine with the silver, stop worrying. Sokka is a force to be reckoned with when he’s got Space Sword, that’s for sure,” she said. “Maybe if he’d had a normal sword I wouldn’t have been out of the fight so easily.”

“You should have won…” Zuko mumbled, as Suki giggled.

“I’ve beaten him in other events,” she said. “He didn’t pass the quarterfinals in judo after crossing paths with me, after all. And I took gold there, too. So we’re even, I guess.”

“I guess,” Zuko sighed.

Sokka thanked people rather nervously as he made his way through them, only waving at his father, sister and friends before finally detaching from the crowd that had been holding him back. He started running once he had a chance, and he left the non-bending facility in a heartbeat. He had to go, he had to get there now, he couldn’t miss watching her win, not when he had beaten Suki as quickly as he had. He just had to make it…

He took a sharp turn, halfway to the firebending stadium, when he saw someone running in the opposite direction, only a few feet away from him. His eyes widened as he slowed to a halt, but she kept running, her eyes only raising when she as good as ran into him.

“Sokka?!” Azula exclaimed, as she wound up in his arms. He was panting, looking at her in surprise.

“A-A… Azula?” he said, sweat rolling down his forehead, holding her close still. “Y-you…?”

“Did you finish already? Sokka…?” she asked. He smiled and nodded.

“I… I did, I won, I… wait, but you? How did it go? If it didn’t start yet I could…!”

“You… you were coming all this way to watch me?” she asked, a slow smile spreading over her face. Sokka swallowed hard.

“Am I too late?” he asked. She laughed and nodded.

“So was I,” she said, lowering her gaze. “I was on my way to…”

“To watch me, too?” Sokka said, smiling. Azula looked at him guiltily.

“I won as well, if that was worrying you. I just heard that song and knew your fight was starting, so…”

“So you tried to finish it off as quickly as you could,” said Sokka, chuckling and caressing her face. “And once you did, you were going to run to the stadium to cheer me on. Isn’t that right?”

“And you were doing the exact same thing, weren’t you?” Azula asked, smiling. Sokka laughed and pressed his forehead to hers.

“We’re hopeless, aren’t we?” he said, as they both laughed and held each other.

“I’m glad you made it, though. Congratulations,” she said, smiling and hugging him.

“Congratulations to you too!” he said, embracing her so tightly he lifted her from the ground. Azula laughed as he twirled them, kissing her cheek. “You’re the best firebender in the world!”

“And you’re the best swordsman, no contest,” she replied.

Sokka was leaning back slightly, his back arched as he lifted her comfortably in his arms. Azula beamed as she cupped his face, kissing his lips enthusiastically despite her mind warned her that Sokka might lose balance in such position. He kissed her back passionately though, ushering her to encircle his hips with her legs so he could hold her with further ease. They were both smiling still as they parted, looking into each other’s eyes with unfathomable joy.

They decided to watch each other’s medal ceremonies after all, walking back to the firebending stadium first, hand in hand until they entered the fighting area. Azula smiled and made her way to the podium, where Jeong Jeong waited with a judgmental look on his face.

“It was all because you wanted to bring him here?” he asked, as she stood behind the highest position of the podium. Azula shrugged, wishing her cheeks weren’t flushing upon being questioned by her superior in the Order. “I know you two are partners, but you can spend an hour or two away from each other, can’t you?”

“It was longer than that. I hadn’t seen him at all today,” said Azula, smirking a little. “So it was much longer than an hour or two, at any rate.”

“And that’s such a bad thing now, Princess?” said Jeong Jeong, raising an eyebrow. “I seem to remember you two kept complaining about each other when you began working together. I even recall petitions from the both of you to change partners…”

“Well, we keep complaining about each other even now, that’s for sure,” said Azula, smiling. “But we won’t make such requests anymore. That’s what has changed.”

“Huh,” said Jeong Jeong, glancing over at the Water Tribesman.

Sokka was standing by Iroh, chatting with him as they waited for the medals to be brought out for the ceremony. Upon noticing he was being watched he lifted his gaze in his direction, and he beamed before waving unexpectedly enthusiastically. Jeong Jeong wondered briefly if the swordsman truly thought he’d get a wave back… and then he realized he wasn’t waving at him. He was waving, no doubt, at the Princess, who was smiling gently, her cheeks tinged red again.

“Oh dear,” he muttered, swallowing hard. “That’s all that changed, no doubt…”

Azula missed his words, focused as she was on Sokka’s wide smile. Her chest burned at the sight, and all she could want was to run to kiss him again. Sure, the medal would be a great honor and it would bring her happiness all the same, but his wholehearted support meant so much to her that she could easily forget about the gold altogether.

She still laughed to herself as she realized they had both rushed their way to the other’s competition, and she was still smiling in the same way as her Uncle presented the medals, in the Fire Lord’s stead. Rui Shi and Tai Wei, the bronze medal winner, accepted their medals solemnly, and they smiled and waved at the crowd as they cheered for them. Yet as Iroh placed the golden medal around Azula’s neck there was one voice that stood out amongst the rest.

“WOO! YOU’RE THE BEST! WAY TO GO, AZULA!” Sokka roared, prompting her to laugh softly. She tried to look at him disapprovingly, yet all she managed to show in her smile and eyes was fondness.

Everyone had to fall silent again as a new song was played to honor the triumph of the three athletes. And as he listened to the song, Iroh couldn’t help but think that, in all his years of knowing his niece, he had never seen her smile quite like this. She would smirk with pride with every success she achieved, but this time she had not reacted as she often did. No doubt something was different about her now, and he could only suspect it was because of the young man she couldn’t take her eyes off of. Even as the song carried on, she kept glancing at him, her smile widening whenever their gazes met.

Iroh raised an eyebrow and grinned, too. Well, he had not expected Azula to find in the Water Tribesman, but love could certainly bloom in some very surprising places…

Sokka rushed to Azula again once the ceremony was over, hugging her again and lifting her with ease. She told him to let her down, embarrassed to be watched by so many people, but she couldn’t seem to stop smiling even then. Sokka grinned as she breathed deeply, staring at the golden flame emblazoned on her medal with utmost joy.

“It’s a pretty one, huh?” said Sokka, as she raised her eyes to look at him.

“And you have to collect yours now, don’t you?” said Azula. Sokka bit his lip.

“Woops. I hope they’re not mad I kept them waiting so long,” he said, chuckling. Azula smiled.

“Let’s go,” she said, urging him to follow her out to the non-bending fighting ring.

The swordsmanship ceremony would have to wait a little longer, though: just as they were leaving the firebending stadium, Sokka grabbed Azula’s wrist and pulled her close to him. They turned around so she would wind up pressed against the wall, as his lips devoured hers most eagerly. Azula gasped and moaned under the power of his feverish kiss, his leg between hers as her arms slid around his neck. The tenderness from before was starting to take on a whole different nature, and she found the change very agreeable, despite it wasn’t the best timing for this right now.

“Sokka…” she gasped, her hands sliding through his hair. “W-we’ve got to… to get to your ceremony…”

“Maybe… maybe someone else can pick up my medal for me?” he said, her forehead pressed to his. She smiled.

“Come on. There will be time for this later,” she whispered, leaning close to kiss him again. “Let’s go.”

“Oww…” Sokka sighed, letting her lead him, her hand in his. He smiled, though, his fingers intertwining with hers as they hurried along to the non-bending grounds.

Zuko’s patience had as good as run out by the time they arrived. Sokka apologized to everyone for his delay, smiling awkwardly over having disrupted the ceremony’s schedule. That he would show up with Azula, though, raised all sorts of flags for the more observant people waiting for the ceremony.

“You took forever! Why couldn’t you just wait until the ceremony was done and then run off?” Zuko snapped at Sokka. Azula huffed.

“Well, well. So here’s the absentee Fire Lord, who did not grant me my gold medal because he’d rather watch his girlfriend lose her swords finals instead of doing his job?” said Azula, making Zuko’s eyebrow twitch.

“If you had a relationship like this you would understand!” Zuko growled.

Azula held back the urge to say she actually understood better than he thought she did. A lot of people seemed to be able to draw conclusions from Sokka’s sudden reappearance with Azula by his side, but Zuko wasn’t one of them. He just scowled at his sister as Sokka approached Suki by the podium, looking at her apologetically as the third place, another Earth Kingdom representative, stood at his other side.

All things considered, Azula as well had held Sokka above a medal ceremony, much as Zuko had likely even forgotten about the firebending one over Suki. Azula’s event wasn’t quite as important as making sure Suki would be fine, and as it happened, that was just why Azula and Sokka had rushed through their fights quite desperately, wanting to watch each other’s competitions to make sure all would go well for each other. The medals hadn’t been at the forefront of anyone’s thoughts in the slightest.

“So, you did what you had to do?” Suki asked. Sokka blushed but smiled.

“Yeah, I… I did, I guess. I mean, I was late either way, but it’s all good,” he said. Suki smiled back.

“I’m glad for you,” she said. “Though… you’ve got her lipstick all over your face, just saying.”

“I-I… crap,” said Sokka, blushing harder as he tried to wipe the stains as unsuspiciously as possible. Suki giggled next to him.

“You’re lucky it’s not that noticeable, or else Zuko might have had a seizure,” said Suki. Sokka pouted.

“Heh, I don’t know if he would have understood what it meant either way…” he said, glancing over at Azula to find she was still smirking as she dismissed Zuko’s rants about Sokka’s tardiness carelessly 

Sokka grinned and waved at her once he caught her gaze. Azula smiled, but Zuko took Sokka’s gesture to be a slight against him. His eyebrow twitched and he shook his head. Not only had he crashed most the Fire Nation’s celebration nights through the last week and a half, eating most the food and causing trouble left and right, but he had taken the gold in this competition and now waved at him as if to rub it all in his face?

All in all, Zuko’s convictions remained in place: these Games were just no good at all.

The medals were granted to each competitor, and the crowd cheered enthusiastically as the athletes were granted the highest honors of their discipline. The song honoring the winners was played at this venue as well, and Sokka smiled through the tune as his gaze kept drifting towards Azula. His friends and family were there too, yet he couldn’t help himself. Watching her standing there, her gold medal around her neck, smiling proudly at him, was a thrilling sight he couldn’t possibly get enough of.

“Alright! That’s your second gold medal, isn’t it, Sokka?!” Hakoda exclaimed proudly, surrounding his son’s neck with an arm and hugging him against his body, once the ceremony was over. Sokka chuckled.

“Damn right it is, dad,” he said, smiling.

Suki as well held two gold medals, for judo and non-bending swimming, along with her bronze for free non-bending martial arts. All in all, they were fully tied in the medal ranking, since Sokka had a silver for the free accuracy event – his boomerang had failed to beat Mai’s knives, despite he had somehow outdone Longshot’s precise arrows –, and a bronze in spear-throwing. Hahn, Sokka’s sworn enemy, didn’t have any bronze medals, but his gold in spear-throwing certainly brought him close to the two top-ranked non-benders.

Nevertheless, Sokka wasn’t thinking about the current standings in the competition. His eyes were on Azula again, as Aang asked her about the firebending finals – she had taken him out of the competition in the quarterfinals, and Aang had graciously accepted his loss while admitting he wasn’t quite as masterful with fire as she was. He congratulated her for her success before being distracted by some question Katara was asking, which gave Sokka the opportunity to slip out of his father’s grip and move towards Azula.

“Do you have to celebrate your golden win with your family today too, or…?” he asked, leaning close to her. Azula raised an eyebrow.

“Do you have a more compelling proposal in mind?” she inquired, smirking. Sokka bit his lip.

“I think I asked you quite a few days ago if we could just go out to drink something… still haven’t done it, have we?” he asked. Azula smiled.

“I suppose I could give them the slip today. They might even be relieved if I disappear in the middle of the party, after all,” she said. “What do you have in mind?”

“That inn I’m staying at, it has a pub of its own…” said Sokka, looking at her with uncertainty.

She breathed deeply, but he could sense she was about to smile all the same. He didn’t have the most impure intent in mind, for sure, but if things got to that he certainly wouldn’t complain. It was up to her if they would, though… and given how pleased she seemed by his proposal, she might just want it as badly as Sokka did.

“I’ll stop by at the party for half an hour or so,” she said. “I’ll have to show up at least if I want to get them off my back. I’ll go see you later, if that’s alright.”

“I’ll wait for you,” said Sokka, smiling too, his hand brushing hers.

She wanted to kiss him again right then and there, but it was ill-advised to do so in front of everyone. Not that it mattered that she held back, though, for only two people amid their group remained oblivious to the new quality the relationship between Azula and Sokka was gaining by now.

“I’ll try not to make you wait too long, then,” she said, caressing his fingers gently. He chuckled and she beamed.