Hakoda makes note that it’s the first time he’s seen her do that.) (Hakoda hears tales from his men of what the princess and his son have been up to, and he thinks they’re joking until he peeks out the windows of the control room and finds Sokka with her swords and a grin he can see from thirty feet in the air. They spar nearly until dinner, with fists and weapons and even flame, and Azula enjoys herself. Sokka has trouble pulling the same trick twice, to Azula’s immense satisfaction. “Let’s go again,” Azula breezes past his horror, “unless, of course, you’re too tired.” She doesn’t know what all Aang has told Sokka, Katara, and Toph about her scar, but none of them are very good at thinking logically about it regardless. ![]() “How do you think your eye would respond to a direct firebending attack?”Īzula rolls her eyes. Sokka opens and closes his mouth a few times, and when he finds his words again-“You have a blindspot?”Īzula breathes in very, very deeply and reminds herself that the Water Tribe warriors milling on the deck likely won’t take kindly to her smacking Sokka unprovoked. “I’ve knocked you down a few times by now, and you were just able to return the favor. “We were sparring in the interest of learning from one another,” she says slowly. Clearly, she’s going to have to spell it out for him. Sokka’s smart, but he lacks nuance about these things. “You’re not mad? Because I noticed you didn’t react as quickly to attacks on that side, but-” he trails off.Īzula sighs. Apologizing ruins an opponent’s illusions about your confidence and lessens your intimidation factor.”Īzula looks Sokka in the eye and doesn’t understand why he still looks confused. You found an opponent’s weakness and exploited it accordingly. “Uh, so was that-”Īzula’s brow furrows, and she helps herself up, ignoring Sokka’s palm stretched out toward her. His head comes into view from above her, and he looks nervous, if Azula had to put a name on it. She didn’t expect it, but Sokka came up from her left and threw her off balance. Sokka sighs and ends up on his back again, and again, and again, and then-Īzula makes a rather unseemly noise as she lands hard and has the air knocked out of her, and for a moment, she looks up at the sky, blinking in surprise. “Maybe you’re just vengeful and like to see me suffer,” Sokka grumbles, but he settles too. (Azula couldn’t bend until she was seven, but she studied Zuko years before that.) Truthfully, it’s just the start of a basic kata, but it seems more impressive if she doesn’t admit her default position is one she’s practiced since she was three. “You’re too devoted to offense and leave yourself vulnerable to attack,” she comments, settling into a fighting stance again. Her uncle’s not a bad liar himself, but Azula gathered rather quickly that he was just trying to keep her men from rioting. No matter what she thought of their skill, she had strict instructions to be a gracious victor- “As is becoming of a young woman as pleasant as you, my niece.” Her uncle made her be polite to her crew when they dueled. “Shortsighted of you,” Azula agrees, then offers him a hand. “You are awful and we should’ve thrown you off of Appa when we had the chance,” Sokka declares, flat-backed on the deck. ![]() “Are we beginning with weapons or hand-to-hand?” Sometimes, the Water Tribe medic relieves her or Katara of their station, and when that happens-Īzula, having snuck into the kitchen for food when no one else is there, turns around to look at Sokka. It’s typically close to midday by that time, but Azula doesn’t mind waiting she’s getting better, but meals on the road and in Ba Sing Se, with the earnings of two tea makers, were slim-too much food at once still overwhelms her. Toph brings her breakfast when she wakes. The royal physicians didn’t hurt anything, either.”) “My memory is hazy, but most likely, spite. They talk briefly in the exchange, but Azula is firm in getting Katara out of the room. (They talk about Jet with Sokka, and Azula pretends she hasn’t heard anything.)Īzula rises early to train and meditate, and when she’s done, she takes over watching Aang so that Katara can rest. The Earth King-who is an utter moron but, Azula supposes, not within her jurisdiction to lecture-sets out on his own as soon as they find a port, and they run into two boys called Pipsqueak and the Duke. Favazulafics Stats: Published: Updated: Words: 71042 Chapters: 8/13 Comments: 397 Kudos: 1399 Bookmarks: 431 Hits: 26711Ī new routine begins, even as things on the ship shift.
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