Chapter Text
Aang couldn’t breathe. Her lungs refused to work as the unfathomable, horrifying truth of herself was bearing down on her like tidal waves, threatening to drown her. All she could think about was once again being in that terrible storm a century ago, a scared child running away from the truth and the responsibilities that said truth carried.
The young Avatar collapsed bonelessly to the ground, curling in on herself, trying to breathe.
“Aang,” Kyoshi’s voice came softly, gently from her side. “Take slow, deep breaths, child.”
Aang felt the ghostly figure of Kyoshi a hair’s breadth away from her - though the barrier between the Spirit World and her own world meant that all Kyoshi could do was offer words of encouragement. She closed her eyes and squeezed her hands tightly, trying to will the vertigo and mounting fear and anxiety to go away.
“A lifetime spent in denial can be a painful thing to come down from,” Kyoshi observed quietly.
“That’s not it,” Aang finally said from where she’d dropped onto the floor, slowly uncurling to look up at the other woman. “It’s– I don’t know. How could I have been lying to myself for this long? Even after all the spiritual journeying I did both during and after the war. How is it, not once, did I ever realize this? Am I really that stupid?”
“You’re not stupid,” Kyoshi said sharply, though the older woman winced as Aang flinched slightly. “Not everyone is born knowing that their soul and physical forms differ. Even when you walk the spirit world as Avatar, you do so as a manifestation of how you see yourself in that moment. It is only in death that you take your true form, as your soul is freed from the constraints of mortality. It is why those who commit great deeds of evil walk the spirit world with afflictions they would not bring upon themselves in life.”
Aang thought of Zhao, General Song, Jinfeng.
The older woman sighed. “And as for why it has taken you so long to recognize it,” she continued, gentler now. “Aang, you were a twelve year old child. Puberty had yet to darken your doorstep, and you were asked to save the world from destruction. It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that you may have had other concerns occupying your time. Between that and everything after... have you ever had time to just think about you the person, rather than you the Air Nomad, or you the Avatar?”
Aang nodded slowly. That made... some sense, she supposed. “What do I do now?” she asked.
“What do you do now?” Kyoshi echoed with raised eyebrows. “Why, dear girl, you live.”
“I still have to deal with the Earth Kingdom - and the Republic,” Aang said, scowling at a dusty corner of the room. It wasn’t as easy as Kyoshi was making it out to be. She still had her obligations, the things she needed to do.
“Perhaps you do have obligations to uphold, the Avatar’s job is indeed never over,” Kyoshi agreed with a nod. “But I fail to see how that means you cannot live. You lived well enough during the Hundred Years’ War, taking time out of your mission to find the goodness in life, and the goodness in people who had not known it in a century. Even on the eve of the arrival of that pestilential comet that caused so much suffering, you and your friends went off to see a play to calm your nerves, did you not?”
“Yes, and regretted it immensely,” Aang quipped with a grimace. Toph had been the only one to actually enjoy that play - everyone else, including her, were only reminded of their simmering anxiety and reasons to be nervous about what was to come. About what she was supposed to do against an enemy that seemed insurmountable.
“Regardless of if you happened to regret it or not,” Kyoshi insisted. “My point still stands.”
Aang sighed and climbed to her feet. “As vague as that point might be,” she admitted with an aggrieved sigh.
“You should also have faith in yourself.”
Aang shot her a cutting look - and Kyoshi shrugged it off. I suppose when you’re an extremely tall woman who’s stared down warlords and conquerors, a much shorter Air Nomad who can’t or won’t do anything to you isn’t that intimidating.
“You’ve become so plagued with self-doubts,” she said flatly– leave it to Kyoshi to cut straight to the heart of things, and never beat around the bush. Roku grew up in a court of nobles, so he knew how to speak without actually speaking. Kyoshi, on the other hand... commonality begat honesty. “The crushing reality of humans being humans is an unfortunate thing to come to terms with, but you have many allies and friends who can make everything far less onerous.”
“I just don’t think the world can handle another war...”
“The world can - and it likely will. You underestimate the inherent strength of the world, Aang. The petty politics of men is not something you should be overly concerned with anyway. You should focus on the injustices out there and the causes of the commoner, as that is where you have always excelled, and that is where you will continue to excel. Let the politicians and princes squabble and bicker, just be ready to act in the best interest of the wide world when the time comes, not just in the interest of their ledgers and high societies.”
“You don’t like noblemen, do you?” Aang questioned.
“With all the loathing in my heart, I hate them,” Kyoshi said earnestly, and clearly without an iota of regret. “Not just noblemen either - landed gentry, aristocratic officers, the people who’ve never worked a common day in their life and instead were born with gold chopsticks in their mouth. That sort of thing.”
Aang laughed. “They can be a bit ridiculous, can’t they?” she asked, looking up at the support struts holding the roof of the building up. “The perks of luxury can be nice when you’ve spent ages on the road, but some of the manners and expectations that go along with it? Ugh!”
Kyoshi grinned. “I know you can’t relate... but there is little better to me than a night of carousing with common liquors, foods and women.”
“I can relate more than you think,” Aang replied airily, eyebrows raised. “At least in these past few months, I’ve been… rather lax in my adherence to Air Nomad traditions. Azula has been a terrible influence.”
“Fire Nation women, am I right?” Kyoshi asked cheekily. “They’re so corrupting, but there are few others who challenge us like they do.”
Aang couldn’t help but smile at the other woman. “Yeah. They’re great…” she said happily. She hadn’t expected her relationship with Azula to end up where it was, but by the Spirits, she was having fun and enjoying it. “So, you think I can do this?”
“I do - and I couldn’t be prouder of you realizing the truth of you,” Kyoshi said. “However, Aang. This is not going to be an easy journey to full self-actualization. You have been on this journey for some time now, but you must continue further. Confront the fundamentalism that was drilled into your head as a child, confront those parts of yourself that shirk away from the light of the truth. When you are done here at the Southern temple, you will head south - to the Pole. There, you will find a portal to the Spirit World. Within, you will find the answers to your quandaries.”
“What answers?” Aang asked, furrowing her brows.
“To yourself, to the Air Nomads, to everything,” Kyoshi said with a smile. “We will speak again, Aang.”
And in a blink, Kyoshi was gone - leaving Aang alone once more.
“Of course,” Aang sighed. “All the help in the world, and then leave me with some cryptic riddle that I have to chase to figure out the true meaning of. Just another day in the life of Avatar Aang.”
…
Azula wiped the sweat from her forehead and underhand tossed the last helmet into the rather large pile of them sitting in the courtyard. The Air Nomad corpses had been left alone - she wouldn’t touch them without Aang’s blessing, or at least without him telling her what to do with them - but The Fire Nation corpses, however, she had no such compunctions about moving them at her leisure. After all, her ancestors had once been Agni’s highest priests and priestesses. Her actions were merely continuing the works of her forefathers and foremothers, providing spiritual closure to lost souls, and helping them move from one plane of existence to the next without affliction or rot.
She had gathered up a pile of rotten old wood and thrown it together to make a large bonfire, providing the perfect place for her impromptu crematoria. She had even debated giving these soldiers the passing honor of having their remains burned. It was an honor that she, honestly, felt they did not deserve.
This early in the war, the soldiers who darkened the doorways of the Air Nomads would not have been terrified conscripts - not mere children. No - this was the Imperial Army at its strongest. Grown men who knew right from wrong, willing to kill men, women and children indiscriminately in a blind zeal for her great-grandfather’s dream of one Imperial Way spreading across the eight directions of the world.
She walked over to the fountain where melted snow and rainwater had gathered and washed the soot off her hands, before sitting on one of the dry patches - the fire continued to burn, reminding her that there was more work that would have to be done, and that whatever Zuko was giving the Air Nomads as recompense for their suffering and losses was never going to be enough.
She felt a familiar presence nearby, and couldn’t keep the slight smile off her face as Aang came to sit next to her. He was really good at chasing the shadows and melancholy away.
She glanced at him - he too was staring into the fire, mulling over something. His demeanor was withdrawn, almost afraid.
“Hey,” she said, gently nudging him with her elbow. “You finally found out what you were looking for in those diaries?”
Aang blinked a few times, before turning to look at her. “Yeah, you could say that. I… actually have something I need to say.”
Azula raised an eyebrow. “Is everything okay?” she asked carefully. “What did Kyoshi’s diaries say?”
Aang gently took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “Well. They said a lot of things. Not everything was entirely applicable, but there was one recurring theme throughout that… resonated with me. Struck a chord, and I… realized something. Have you ever heard of spiritual-physical dimorphism?”
The term sounded vaguely familiar - like she’d read it or heard about it somewhere. Might have been in the palace catacombs where a lot of the books banned by her great-grandfather, grandfather and father ended up. They would ban tomes and scrolls, but burning them was considered apostasy – even for the Fire Lord… at least until the Sages had been purged after the whole Crescent Island incident. It had taken her a non-insignificant effort on her part to delay and prevent her father from destroying thousands of historical scripts.
Even at her worst– even when she was under the thumb of her father, she could not abide the destruction of knowledge.
“It sounds familiar, but I don’t recognize that phrase off the top of my head. It does sound medical, though,” Azula replied lightly. “What about it?”
Aang took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s… a spiritual affliction. When children are born sometimes… their spirit’s… I don’t know, aura, or something like that, does not match the body in which they were born. Avatar Kyoshi was one of these people. She was… thought to be a boy at birth.”
Azula blinked. “Really?” she asked.
“Yes,” Aang responded. “She talks about it in her diaries. She talks about all sorts of things and… how she realized she wasn’t actually a boy. It made me realize something about myself.”
It took all of a moment for the realization to hit Azula. Suddenly, so many things about Aang made sense.
Beautiful grey eyes rimmed with kohl; soft, painted lips drawn into a blissful smile. The angel of her dreams, a divine image of Wanyu - Agni’s beloved. A goddess given form.
“Oh, Aang,” Azula breathed, gently bringing her free hand to cup Aang’s chin. “Oh, darling. Why did you never say anything?”
Aang looked up at her with teary eyes. “I- I- never realized it,” she whispered. “I thought it was just pretending… every time I dressed up for you, that it was just - you know, something with our relationship-”
Azula gently moved forward and pressed her lips to Aang’s, and lingered for a moment before pulling away. “I love you,” she said firmly. “Maybe it was part of our relationship to an extent - maybe you were just more comfortable… interacting that way once you were given a chance to. Regardless of that, you’re my wife, and I won’t let you go for anything.”
“Wife?” Aang echoed, blushing. “That- uh, wow.”
“I gave you the ruby betrothal necklace,” Azula said. “And at our hasty wedding, you took the position most commonly afforded to the bride. So yes, my darling wife. My bride, my lovely ember of hope. I’m so proud of you for coming to terms with this. It can’t have been easy.”
“It definitely wasn’t,” Aang admitted, reaching up to idly thumb her necklace. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“With Agni as my witness, yes,” Azula said warmly. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily!”
Aang started laughing - and goddesses above, wasn’t that the most beautiful sound in the world to her?
…
Aang couldn’t help the boisterous laughter escaping from her as Azula carried her across the threshold back into the ‘Avatar’s quarters’. Suki was in the room poking at some field rations they’d brought from Kyoshi Island, and looked up at their shenanigans with an exasperated fondness.
“You two seem to be in brighter spirits,” she observed, shooting them a raised eyebrow.
“Well,” Aang admitted, blushing. “A little bit, I guess.”
Azula let her down, giving her a chance to smooth out her robes, before looking at Suki carefully. “Suki, I… have something I want to tell you,” she said firmly. “I… realized that I might actually be a girl.”
Suki blinked, and sat back on her heels. “Well, to be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting that,” she admitted, before standing up and coming over. She gently took Aang’s hands and squeezed them. “But thank you for telling me. It’s my pleasure to meet you formally, again. Are you still going by Aang, or have you adopted a new name?”
“Still Aang, for now at least,” Aang admitted. “I’ll have to give it a lot of thought if I want to change it. Technically, my name is gender neutral among the Air Nomads… and I’m not sure if I even want to, you know?”
“I understand completely,” Suki said with an understanding nod, before glancing at Azula. “How are you feeling about this, Azula?”
“She’s my wife,” Azula said protectively, curling her arm around Aang’s waist - and she could feel her cheeks burn from being called her wife. “I love her no matter who she is or what she looks like.”
Suki grinned. “Good,” she said approvingly. “Are you both hungry after all your spiritual journeying? I managed to cook up some rations.”
“Famished,” Azula said with a grimace, rubbing her stomach. “Moving around a bunch of corpses is hard work. Now I suddenly realize why all the undertakers I’ve seen were in such great shape despite all of them looking like, one hundred.”
“Hey, I’m one hundred,” Aang said with a pout.
“Yes, and you look so good. The ‘frozen in an iceberg’ treatment does wonders for your skin,” Suki shot back. “That’s something I noticed back home too. I guess spending all your time moving around dead bodies can actually bulk you up.”
They settled into some companionable conversation while Suki served out the food - which came to be a bowl of rehydrated long-grain jasmine rice topped with fermented soybeans, along with a small cup of misu and a similar portion of dried ration tea.
Aang took a sip of her tea and hummed - it was a flavor she was used to with all the traveling she’d done over the years, but she might have been a bit spoiled by General Iroh’s favorite blends and brewing methods over the more recent years. Ration tea was fine, though. At least it was a standard Southern Islands blend. If it had been a bit… more fresh? She would’ve liked it a lot more.
“So, what now?” Suki asked, poking at her food with her chopsticks.
“We take a few days to rest,” Azula replied simply. “I intend to dispose of the Fire Nation corpses littering this place - and Aang, I imagine, would probably want to do much the same for her people. From there, we can talk about what the plan is for this place and how Aang wants to rebuild it into either a shrine, settlement, what have you.”
“I have to go to the South Pole,” Aang said quietly.
“What?” Azula asked. “Why?”
“I… spoke to Kyoshi who gave me some advice on what to do next. She mentioned about… finding my internal balance through the spirit portal at the bottom of the world.”
“The spirit portal at the bottom of the world? Are you even able to get down there?” Suki questioned. “Isn’t it supposed to be basically impossible to get to?”
“I should be able to. The storms are bad, but… with the right gear from the Southern tribe, and with the spirits on my side, I should be able to traverse the distance to the pole. Kyoshi was able to, apparently, so why not me?”
“Right... but why?” Suki pressed. “I mean, why go through all that to go to the Spirit World? Surely all your answers can’t lie there when you’re the Avatar and can pass through the realms pretty easily. Sokka told me about that time he got kidnapped by a panda spirit.”
“To solve the question of me, and the Air Nomads, and everything,” Aang said with a shrug. “It was all very vague, but surely there must be some reason I have to go through physically rather than just crossing spiritually.”
“Ugh,” Azula said with a grimace. “I hate when that happens. Intentional vagueness does nothing but sow confusion and misunderstanding.”
“Right?! Could it kill them to just be honest?”
“I guess there is the consideration that the journey to whatever it is they’re alluding to is a growth opportunity in itself. You know, the old philosophy of the road traveled, blah blah blah?” Suki offered. “It makes sense that way, at least.”
“I get it, I’m just saying that I don’t like it because who knows what I’m going to find on the other side of the portal. Can something in the Spirit World answer every doubt and question I have? I honestly have no idea,” Aang said earnestly. “There’s also the consideration that I may not have an unlimited amount of time to go traipsing around in the Spirit World– the situation here is so precarious.”
Suki shrugged. “The world survived one hundred years without you before, it can go a few weeks without you now,” she pointed out. “People are going to be people, and you can’t put every part of your life on hold because of that.”
“Kyoshi basically said the same thing,” Aang admitted. “It’s just...”
“Despite people telling you numerous times that you couldn't possibly be blamed for what happened, you still blame yourself for disappearing at the start of the war,” Suki said with a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, we know.”
She made a light scoffing noise, poking at her food with her chopsticks. “The world as it stands now? Oh definitely, Ba Sing Se is making moves to reassert its influence among every banner and province, but it is a slow process that will take months– if not years– to get to a place where they will be able to try to threaten the current balance in any meaningful way. The Earth Kingdom is still a litany of warlord kings and princes who seek their own share of the fortunes to be made in trading and production. The Republic is rather weak, yes, but I will point out that the Fire Nation is obligated to commit to the side of the Republic in any defensive conflict.”
“Many of the generals that are part of Zuko’s Peace Council are experienced in the terrain and local politics of that region,” Azula contributed. “After all, Yu Dao was the epicenter of many training exercises dating back to Fire Lord Sozin– plus also Kunming, the military academy was one of the Fire Nation’s finest before it was handed over to the Republic. It’s familiar territory to most of them.”
“I know all these things,” Aang said frustratedly. “It’s just... I can’t leave things to chance or let things fester without my presence. I have to be there, to be the strong Avatar everyone needs me to be.”
“It’ll be fine,” Suki insisted. “Don’t let these idiots keep you from doing what you need to do, Aang.”
“What are you both going to do while I’m gone?”
Azula sighed. “Perhaps we can venture back to Kyoshi Island to gather some supplies and start working on restoring this temple,” she said thoughtfully. “I know you’re reluctant to do it, but... I think the place you spent your childhood deserves better than to be a dusty tomb for all time.”
“I guess you’re right,” Aang admitted. “It’s just... it has been incredibly difficult for me to come back here. Every time I do, I keep thinking about Gyatso, and... I don’t know, just a lot of regret on how things ended with the man who looked after me. It’s a good idea to restore this place. The Acolytes never push me on it, but I know that I should make this place something worth living in again. It would honor Gyatso’s memory more to do that than letting it be a tomb to a dead culture.”
“Then we’ll do that,” Suki said reassuringly. “If I need to, I’ll conscript half of the damn Republic and half of the damn Fire Nation to help.”
Aang laughed. “You both are too good to me,” she said fondly. “Thank you.”
“Well, you’re welcome,” Azula said with a dry sniff. “These are just the perks of being as cute as you are, you pull people into your orbit and make them... humanitarians. It’s so depraved, you know.”
“Depraved, is it?” Aang said between laughs. “You shaved your head of your own volition, my dear.”
Azula gave her a smirk and ran her hand through the fuzz at the top of her head– just like Aang’s own, it was growing in gradually. It reminded her that she really needed to start thinking about how she was going to wear it after it grew out. She never liked the high hairlines that the nuns often wore, but she also didn’t want to hide her arrows either.
She shook her head. She’d focus on that later, for now, she needed to think about her upcoming trip. Supplies were going to be crucial to get to the pole, and if she messed up, it could have terrible consequences.
Heh. No pressure, then, huh?
...
Azula sat on her knees, trying her best to meditate while Aang loaded supplies up into the airship. They’d be dropping Aang off at the Southern tribe before venturing back to the Temple to start working on its restoration. She wasn’t fond of the idea of letting her wife venture out into the harsh terrain of the South Pole without anybody to help her, but she also understood that this was an Avatar thing, and that these were the kinds of times where she couldn’t be there for Aang.
She hated it, but she had to beware hubris. If this is what the Spirits and Avatar Kyoshi demanded of her Aang, then Azula would not interfere or insist on tagging along. Besides, the last two nights, every time she meditated over her prayer candle, she got the distinct, odd feeling of changing winds and tides.
The distant sound of a hawk’s call startled her from her meditations, and she looked up in the direction it came from, to see a hawk descending upon them from the sky. More mail from the Republic, possibly?
She was surprised when the hawk landed in front of her, looking up at her through its beady eyes.
“For me?” she asked curiously, unlatching the letter from the harness around its midsection. As soon as the letter was free, the hawk flapped its wings aggressively, taking off hastily and soaring back up into the sky. She and Aang shared a look before she shrugged and glanced down at the letter– the ribbon holding the scroll closed was a dark red silk, and she could see that the wax seal bore her family crest.
“Zuzu?” she said questioningly, untying the ribbon and popping the wax seal. She opened the scroll and read through its contents, and suddenly it felt like the bottom of her stomach was dropping out.
“Azula?”
She flinched, the scroll dropping out of her hands. Shit. Get yourself together, Azula.
“Yes, Aang?” she said smoothly, dropping her hands down to where the letter had fallen, picking it back up and trying her best to smooth out the expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” her wife asked quietly, kneeling down next to her.
“Oh, it’s Zuzu, being dumb as usual,” Azula said, unable to keep the edge of bitterness and waspishness out of her voice. Aang didn’t deserve to deal with her being nasty, she was just being a good friend and a good wife.
“Sorry,” she said apologetically, huffing and looking away. “I’ve told you about our mother, yes?”
“Most of it,” Aang said with a nod. “From both of your sides of the story. You were a prodigal bender as a child, and your father took interest in that ability, so you were often at odds with your mother. From what you’ve described, after your cousin died, your father appealed to Azulon to have him named Crown Prince instead of Iroh, and Azulon threatened to kill Zuko, so your mother... intervened, and Ozai was Fire Lord the next day.”
“Azulon never threatened to kill Zuko,” Azula shot back. “That was just a lie.”
Aang gave her a look, and she coughed. “Anyway,” she continued. “Azulon was going to do something that hadn’t been done in the family in generations, and was going to give Zuko to Uncle. He would never see Mother or Father again, and as far as the official family clan register would be concerned, Zuko would be the son of Crown Prince Iroh and Crown Princess Ilah, and that would be the end of it.”
“Your Mother disagreed with the idea,” Aang said gently. “She didn’t want to give up her son.”
“No, she didn’t,” Azula said with a nod. “So, she intervened, and by the next morning, she was gone– never to be spoken of again, Fire Lord Azulon had died in his sleep, a true tragedy, and by a royal decree, Prince Iroh had been passed over in favor of Prince Ozai. Long live the Fire Lord.”
“That explains why Zuko did all that ceremonial stuff after the war,” Aang said thoughtfully.
“You mean when he became the rightful heir to the Dragon of the West? Yes, he shored up his legitimacy by having Uncle formally adopt him, thus restoring the natural line of eldest child succession. After all, a reign gained without legitimacy is no reign at all. Just ask the Court Chronicler what they think of the reign of Fire Lady Azula the Mad.”
“Stop that,” Aang admonished softly. “Don’t devalue yourself, or put yourself down. We all had so much pressure on our shoulders, and your father... is a monster. Anyway, your mother?”
“Zuko wants to find her!” she spat. “She commits regicide, abandons me just because she loves stupid Zuzu more than anyone else, and now he wants to bring her back to the court? I know I don’t belong to them anymore, but he could just throw me out of the family instead of torturing me like this!”
“I don’t think he wants to torture you.”
“Then what else could you call this?” she demanded thunderously, tossing the scroll aside. “Haven’t I suffered enough?!”
She felt Aang’s arms wrap around her, and pull her tightly into her warm, comforting embrace. “You have suffered, and yet you’ve done so well healing since we left Caldera together,” she murmured, her lips pressing against Azula’s head. “You should go and find your mother. Find her, and settle this at last, and find some of the peace that clearly still eludes you, my darling. But, if you still find yourself on the out with your family, then please at least remember that you have me.”
Aang slowly let her go and helped her up to her feet.
“You think you don’t belong to them anymore, and perhaps you don’t. Perhaps you’ve grown beyond Caldera and the rigidity of the aristocracy of the Fire Nation. But, you do belong somewhere. You belong with me. You’re one of my Acolytes, both because I promised myself to you, and because you’re my friend. Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki, Teo, you, all of the people I’ve come to love in this world, you’re all Air Nomads too, even if you don’t realize it.”
Azula huffed, and couldn’t help but laugh. “What did this world ever do to deserve you, Aang?” she asked. “You lovely, sentimental woman.”
“It never needed to do anything to deserve me,” Aang said softly. “I’m here for a purpose– to remind people of the good in themselves and in others. That’s all.”
Azula felt marginally better about everything, though the thought of her mother and what she’d say to the woman lingered through their journey, though rather than heading South, they’d ended up returning to Kyoshi Island instead. It was much closer, and had the requisite supplies that Azula and Suki would need for their trip across the ocean to the Fire Nation.
“Are you sure about this?” Suki asked Aang carefully as they approached Kyoshi Island’s small clearing for airships to land.
“I don’t mind taking a solo ship down to the Pole. It will give me some time to think about things, and make my preparations accordingly,” Aang said dismissively. “I’d much rather you two be able to get back to the Fire Nation far quicker than if you had to take a long detour to drop me off at Tribe.”
As they landed, Aang bent down and reached into her bag of things. She rummaged around for a bit before pulling out a familiar piece of jewelry.
“Azula,” she began. “This is the first time since we began traveling together that we will truly be apart. This is not like when we were separated by a few buildings while you underwent your Trials– no, we will be in different worlds. So, I thought about it, and... I’d like for you to wear this on your journey.”
“Aang, this is your prayer necklace,” Azula said, trying to push the wooden necklace away. “I can’t.”
“You can,” Aang insisted. “You are an Air Nomad now too, just like the Acolytes. My people are your people too, and the blessings of Mother Vayyu are yours too. Please, take it.”
“If you’re sure,” she said uncertainly.
“More than anything,” Aang said fondly, gently draping the necklace over her head. “Good luck, and I hope you’re able to find her.”
Aang wrapped her in a hug, before climbing out of the airship and heading towards the village. At the edge of the clearing, Aang turned around and flashed Azula a wink and a little peace sign, before disappearing from view.
“Are you alright?” Suki asked.
“I’ll be okay,” Azula said, gripping the necklace tightly in her hand and closing her eyes to get a grip on herself. “I just...”
“It’s okay, I understand,” Suki replied, patting Azula on the shoulder. “Come on, Azula. Let’s get to Caldera before Zuko gets impatient and takes the search party out without us.”
“Yeah,” Azula replied, taking a deep breath in, and then harshly exhaling it. “Let’s go.”